Ghost
ghost 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 12 |
| Attacks |
Touch 1d1 |
| Base level | 10 |
| Base experience | 238 |
| Speed | 3 |
| Base AC | −5 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | −5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 0 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | Cold, Disintegration, Sleep, Poison, Stoning |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
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A ghost:
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| Reference | monst.c#line2515 |
A ghost, , is a type of monster in that appears in NetHack. It is one of two members of the ghost monster class, along with the shade.
Ghosts are undead, incorporeal humanoid beings that are capable of flight and phasing through walls, and will follow you to other levels if adjacent. A ghost resists cold, sleep, poison, stoning, and disintegration; as undead, they also have drain resistance and death resistance.
A ghost's default glyph makes them difficult to see and locate properly, e.g. via telepathy - some players use the SYMBOLS option to give ghosts and shades a different appearance, such as X or 8.
Contents
Generation
Ghosts are not randomly generated, but appear in graveyards, including the Valley of the Dead's three large graveyards and the graveyard in Orcus Town. A ghost is also generated at level creation on the Rogue level, in Asmodeus' Lair, and in Baalzebub's Lair.
In addition, a ghost will occasionally generate when you step into a haunted temple, and quaffing a milky potion may also cause a ghost to appear. Both instances will cause you to be paralyzed by fear for 3 turns, which is not blocked by free action.
Ghosts are not a valid target for genocide, cannot go extinct, and naturally do not leave a corpse when killed. They are also not a valid form for polymorph.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
One of the themed rooms contains the ghost of an adventurer, which may be generated atop a fake bones pile of one or more items.Bones
Ghosts often appear in bones levels, which are copies of levels where previous players died. Most standard causes of death for a player character will leave a ghost behind - see the article on bones files for more information and exceptions.
Player ghosts in bones files are generated asleep on top of their original inventories, and has the same name and experience level of that character; their pet(s) may be nearby, and depending on the circumstances may also be hostile. Any objects that were carried in the deceased player's main inventory have a 4⁄5 chance of becoming cursed, even if they were originally blessed. Other objects on the level and the contents of containers in the player's inventory maintain their beatitude.
Ghost names
Ghosts in bones files are named after the dead adventurer they represent. The ghost generated on the Rogue level is named Michael Toy, Kenneth Arnold, or Glenn Wichman. Ghosts created on other special levels have a 1⁄7 chance of being given the name of your character, or else of another character from the score list. Otherwise, they are given a random name from the following list:[1][2]
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Named ghosts are special-cased to be referred to as <name>'s ghost rather than <name>, but their names are otherwise treated as ordinary names given by the #call command, and they can be renamed like other monsters.
Strategy
Ghosts are very slow and do very little damage, but they possess a very low AC, and will likely evade most attacks unless you have a decently enchanted weapon. Their MR score of 50 also makes using certain kinds of magic against them somewhat difficult. If you meet one in the early game and cannot reliably dispatch them via regular attacks, using ray-type wands and spells can do the job - if all else fails, kicking the ghost will eventually bring them down.
In most scenarios involving a bones pile, the player ghost can be led away with little trouble, especially if you plan to use certain wands such as a wand of fire to destroy the ghost. Be sure not to forget about their original killer or their pets, or you may well become a ghost yourself.
Turning
Ghosts are affected by the turn undead spell and extended command like other undead. However, if you successfully revive the corpse of a dead player character while their ghost is on or next to its square, the ghost will be pulled into the corpse on the item pile, leaving behind a confused monster. This also works if the corpse is not of a standard playable race, provided the target was killed while polymorphed into that form (e.g., wearing an amulet of unchanging). If the ghost is tame, then the resulting monster will be tame, and is otherwise generated peaceful or hostile as normal based on your alignment and race.
History
The ghost first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. In Hack 1.21, the ghost uses the apostrophe glyph, '; in Hack for PDP-11, they are somehow coded to use a tab-key character. In Hack 1.0, the ghost uses its current glyph.
Origin
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. Descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes to realistic, lifelike forms. The belief in the existence of an afterlife, as well as manifestations of the spirits of the dead, is widespread, dating back to animism or ancestor worship in pre-literate cultures. Certain religious practices—funeral rites, exorcisms, and some practices of spiritualism and ritual magic—are specifically designed to rest the spirits of the dead.
Ghosts are generally described as solitary, human-like essences, though stories of ghostly armies and the ghosts of animals other than humans have also been recounted. They are believed to haunt particular locations, objects, or people they were associated with in life, either to communicate with the living or to seek vengeance for past wrongs.
Messages
- <Name>'s ghost is suddenly drawn into its former body!
- A wand or spell of turn undead revived the corpse of a dead player character by reuniting the ghost with its former body.
Variants
In variants that include the Convict role, 1-3 ghosts are generated at level creation for each of the upper filler levels in the Convict quest. In variants that include the Pirate role, several appear on the Pirate quest upon the creation of certain levels: three on the home level, one in each upper filler level, four in the locate level, and three in each lower filler level.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the Lawful Quest has two spots within the Boulder Path section where a ghost can be generated on level creation, with a 3⁄5 chance for each square. Another ghost appears in the prisons of Grund's Stronghold.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, ghosts use . as a glyph, making them slightly more visible normally and easier to spot via telepathy.
Ghosts may appear in the audience of a throne room ruled by a vampire lord.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, ghosts are now part of the W wraith monster class.
The ghost's base level is reduced to 4, their speed is increased to 5, their AC is increased to 5, and their magic resistance score is increased to 80. Similar to shades, ghosts can only be hit by magic, blessed or sufficiently-enchanted weapons, artifact weapons, or objects made of silver or bone; unlike shades, ghosts are not silver-haters.
1⁄3 of ghosts will generate invisible. Instead of solely relying on a touch attack, a ghost will also turn invisible every so often and try to frighten their target by reappearing next to them, which paralyzes that monster for three turns. This cannot prevented by free action, but fails if the player is able to see invisible or otherwise sense the invisible ghost.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, ghosts can grow up into spectres.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, ghosts have their behavior and properties altered similar to xNetHack, though their glyph and monster class are not changed.
The ghost's base level is increased to 7, their speed is increased to 5, their AC is improved to 0, and their magic resistance score is increased to 80. Ghosts can only be hit by magic, weapon that are blessed or else sufficiently-enchanted (i.e. at least +2), artifact weapons, or objects made of silver or bone.
As in xNetHack, instead of solely relying on a touch attack, a ghost will also turn invisible every so often and try to frighten their target by reappearing next to them, which paralyzes that monster for three turns. This is not prevented by free action, but fails if the player is can see invisible or otherwise senses the invisible ghost.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, ghosts now use 8 as their glyph.
Encyclopedia entry
And now the souls of the dead who had gone below came swarming up from Erebus -- fresh brides, unmarried youths, old men with life's long suffering behind them, tender young girls still nursing this first anguish in their hearts, and a great throng of warriors killed in battle, their spear-wounds gaping yet and all their armor stained with blood. From this multitude of souls, as they fluttered to and fro by the trench, there came a moaning that was horrible to hear. Panic drained the blood from my cheeks.
