Rabid rat
r rabid rat 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 4 |
| Attacks |
Bite 2d4 poisonous (constitution) |
| Base level | 2 |
| Base experience | 17 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 6 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 30 |
| Nutritional value | 5 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | poison |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A rabid rat:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line742 |
A rabid rat, r, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a tiny carnivorous animal and one of the more dangerous rodents, and can be seen via infravision.
A rabid rat has a single bite attack that is poisonous and drains constitution, unlike most other poisonous attacks. Rabid rats possess poison resistance.
A rabid rat corpse is poisonous to eat.
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated rabid rats are always created hostile.
Wererats can summon hostile rabid rats by calling for help, with a 1⁄9 chance of generating a hostile rabid rat on each adjacent square, and a hero that gets lycanthropy from a wererat can similarly summon tame rabid rats by using the #monster extended command for the cost of 10 power.[1]
Rabid rats appear among the random r that are part of the first quest monster class for Healers and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Healer quest. Several rabid rats are also generated on each level of the quest branch at level creation: ten are generated on the home level, one is generated on the upper filler level, eight are generated on the locate level, two each are generated on the lower filler levels, and three are generated on the goal level.
Strategy
Rabid rats have a stronger bite than other rats, and are among the earliest poisonous monsters that a hero can encounter: even if their bite does not manage to cause an outright instadeath, non-resistant heroes will not want to deal with constitution damage well before they are able to obtain a unicorn horn or other means of easily restoring lost attributes. Outside of this, rabid rats are just as frail as other rats and can be killed fairly quickly, but they are worth using ranged attacks on to prevent any from getting close enough.
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.
Poison no longer causes instadeath, but still results in significant damage to HP and attributes. Unicorn horns no longer restore lost attributes.History
The rabid rat first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Origin
Rabies is a lethal disease caused by lyssaviruses, including the rabies virus and Australian bat lyssavirus, and is spread by infected animals to other animals or humans via bite, scratch, or saliva that comes into contact with the eyes, mouth, or nose. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia or "fear of water", due to the symptom of panic when presented with liquids to drink. Other symptoms include fever and abnormal sensations at the site of exposure early on; these are followed by nausea, vomiting, violent movements, uncontrolled excitement, an inability to move parts of the body, confusion, and loss of consciousness. Symptoms usually appear 1-3 months after exposure, with variance from less than one week to more than one year depending on the distance the virus must travel to reach the central nervous system. A rabies vaccine administered during this incubation period will almost always prevent the disease; once symptoms appear, however, the result is virtually always death due to encephalitis (swelling of the brain), regardless of treatment.
While rodents such as rats can be infected with rabies, such occurrences are very rare: infected dogs are the most common source of rabies cases globally, with the Americas being a relative exception where bat bites are the most common source.
Variants
In variants that incorporate the Convict patch, Convicts can pacify or tame rabid rats by chatting to them.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, rabid rats are not randomly generated in Gehennom.
Three rabid rats appear on the rat level at level creation, with two placed in the Rat King's room and the third placed in another room within the level.
Rabid rats appear among the random r that are part of the first quest monster class for Yeomen and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest. Several rabid rats are also generated on some levels of the quest branch at level creation, with two each being generated at particular squares on the home level, and two each being generated on the lower filler levels and the goal level.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, rabid rats are omnivores rather than carnivores and lack poison resistance.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, rabid rats can hide under objects, making them nasty surprises for early heroes despite the fact that poison can no longer cause instadeaths.
SpliceHack
SpliceHack uses the same map for the rat level as SLASH'EM, with rabid rats generated accordingly.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, an alternate "sewer" map is used for the rat level, with one rabid rat placed on a particular square in the Rat King's dwelling at level creation - all other SLASH'EM details apply.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, rabid rats cannot be tamed and have a chance of going berserk like other 'rabid' animals.
The rat level has an equal chance of using either the SLASH'EM room-and-corridors map or the SlashTHEM sewer map, with rabid rats generated accordingly - Hack'EM also has the Yeoman role and quest, with SLASH'EM generation details applying.
Encyclopedia entry
Rats are long-tailed rodents. They are aggressive,
omnivorous, and adaptable, often carrying diseases.
"The rat," said O'Brien, still addressing his invisible
audience, "although a rodent, is carnivorous. You are aware
of that. You will have heard of the things that happen in
the poor quarters of this town. In some streets a woman dare
not leave her baby alone in the house, even for five minutes.
The rats are certain to attack it. Within quite a small time
they will strip it to the bones. They also attack sick or
dying people. They show astonishing intelligence in knowing
when a human being is helpless."
