Pixie
n pixie 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Claw 1d2 steal item |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 31 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 3 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 60 |
| Nutritional value | 30 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A pixie:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1108 |
A pixie, n, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. The pixie is a tiny nymph that is inediate and can see invisible, and will seek out gold and other items to pick up.
A pixie has a single item theft claw attack that deals damage.
A hero polymorphed into a pixie has their carrying capacity set to the maximum, and can use the monster extended command to remove a heavy iron ball that is chained to them.[1]
Unlike most nymph monsters, eating a pixie's corpse or tin does not grant teleportitis.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated pixies are always created invisible and hostile, and are not randomly generated in Gehennom.[2]
Pixies are generated asleep 4⁄5 of the time unless the hero has the Amulet of Yendor, in which case they will always be generated awake.[3]
Four pixies are generated in the Lawful Quest, where they are placed in a specific area within the forest of Nightmare during level creation, and four more pixies each have a 3⁄5 of being placed as well.
Pixies can appear among the nymphs that are generated on the nymph level during level creation.
Pixies appear among the random n that are part of the first quest monster class for Rogues and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Rogue quest.
Pixies have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a mirror, and an independent 1⁄2 chance of generating with a potion of object detection.[4]
Strategy
A pixie has only one item-stealing attack, but has 15 speed and better base AC than the standard nymph. This makes them a major nuisance for most heroes once awakened: they are quite likely to steal an item and teleport away before you can respond, and appear early enough that most characters will generally lack a means to see invisible monsters or otherwise detect them beforehand. Intrinsic telepathy combined with a blindfold or towel is one method of spotting pixies.
Once you can see invisible monsters, pixies are no more of a threat than the usual nymphs—they cannot steal as many items, lack seduction theft attacks, and are weak enough that you can usually bring them down quickly, being slightly more difficult to hit at most.
As a polyform
Pixies can be a decent early polyform for doppelganger heroes: while they are too small to wear armor or wield weapons and are unable to open doors, their base speed and invisibility makes escapes from hostile monsters much easier and can be useful to line yourself up with a distant monster for attacks. A pixie's size can also be used to shrink yourself out of any cursed armor you may be wearing. If you are willing to take the risk, you can use the pixie form's claw attack to steal especially nasty weapons, armor and/or wands from monsters.
History
The pixie first appears in SLASH 6, where it is part of the leprechaun monster class (l)—SLASH'EM moves the pixie to the nymph monster class.
Origin
A pixie is a mythical creature of British folklore, speculated to be particularly concentrated in the high moorland areas around Devon and Cornwall (which suggests some Celtic origins). Similar to the Irish and Scottish Aos Sí (or "Aos Sidhe"), pixies are believed to inhabit ancient underground sites such as stone circles and barrows.
In traditional regional lore, pixies are generally benign if mischievous, and are short of stature; they are typically childlike and fond of dancing and wrestling outdoors throughout the night. Traditional stories describe them as wearing dirty, ragged bundles of rags, which they discard for gifts containing new clothes; in the modern era, they are usually depicted with pointed ears, often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat.
Encyclopedia entry
Do fairies live in the hedge by the lawn?
With pale, violet eyes and wings that shimmer?
Not in my garden of thistle and thorn,
Well, not since I tidied it up with my strimmer.
