Weresnake
@ weresnake (human) .png){kind=small}
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 10 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 3d4 |
| Base level | 9 |
| Base experience | 191 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 10 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -7 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | poison |
| Resistances conveyed | conveys lycanthropy |
|
A human weresnake:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line3670 |
S weresnake (animal) .png){kind=small}
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 12 |
| Attacks |
Bite lycanthropy 3d6, Bite poison 2d6 |
| Base level | 9 |
| Base experience | 200 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 2 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -7 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Always starts in human form |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 300 |
| Nutritional value | 120 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | poison |
| Resistances conveyed | conveys lycanthropy |
|
An animal weresnake:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line3112 |
A weresnake, @ / S, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. The weresnake is an omnivorous human werecreature that can shift between human and snake form - in both forms, they possess enhanced regeneration. In human form, weresnakes will seek out and pick up weapons and food.
A weresnake in human form has a weapon attack—in snake form, they have a bite that can cause lycanthropy in the hero, a poisonous bite attack, and the ability to summon other snakes on nearby squares when in melee range. Weresnakes possess poison resistance and drain resistance, and are weak to silver.
A weresnake corpse is poisonous to eat, and a hero that eats a weresnake corpse or tin or digests one while polymorphed will be given lycanthropy.
Generation
Weresnakes are not randomly generated, and normally-created weresnakes are always hostile and in human form. Neither form of weresnake can be chosen for normal polymorph or genocide.
A weresnake summoning help has a 4⁄5 chance of generating a hostile snake and a 1⁄5 chance of generating a hostile pit viper on each applicable square[1] - in Hack'EM, this is changed to a 4⁄5 chance of generating a hostile snake, a 2⁄15 chance of generating a hostile pit viper, and a 1⁄15 chance of generating a hostile cobra. Heroes that get lycanthropy from a weresnake can summon these monsters as pets using the #monster extended command, which costs 10 power.
Weresnakes may appear among the @ generated within the Lawful Quest's Chamber of Junk, including ones that are generated as peaceful.
A weresnake that leaves a corpse upon death will always leave a corpse of its human form: their animal form is considered to be corpseless.
Strategy
Werecreatures in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM are already made more dangerous than in NetHack due to changes in polymorph mechanics, which allows them to revert to human form if killed while in animal form—if the hero cannot dispatch the werecreature fast enough, they may have to be "killed" several times before going down for good.
The new lycanthropes introduced in these variants are also far more dangerous than their NetHack counterparts overall—though this also applies to the weresnake, who has higher difficulty ratings than most of the other werecreatures introduced alongside it, weresnakes also move slower at 12 speed; for comparison, the werepanther in both forms and the werespider in animal form both move at 15 speed. Their higher difficulty and monster level also mean that they will be generated later in the dungeon: by this point, a hero is likely to have any combination of poison resistance, a source of speed and the ability to use the speed system against them, various forms of ranged attack, and/or silver weaponry to quickly bring a weresnake down. This also means that while the snakes and pit vipers that can be summoned are more deadly in theory, in practice almost every hero encountering them will have a source of poison resistance, rendering their hit dice weaker than the hostiles summoned by some other werecreatures.
As always, silver items are good options for dealing with weresnakes and other lycanthropes, and there is a better selection of silver weapons and items available compared to NetHack. The ring of protection from shape changers is considerably stronger against lycanthropes, since they only need to be killed once while locked into human form, and cannot give the hero lycanthropy or summon help. Ranged weapons with multishot bonuses can bring them down before they get close enough, and engraving Elbereth can scare off both a weresnake in animal form and any help they summon in order to either create space for an escape or more efficiently kill them.
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Origin
The concept of humans shapeshifting into animals has been a common concept in folklore among various human eras and cultures, while "therianthropy" and related terms as a means of describing specific forms of human-animal shapeshifting have been in use since the early 20th century.
While not considered lycanthropes in a majority of instances, human-snake hybrids and shapeshifters occur somewhat frequently among the folklore of various cultures. One notable example is the Nagas (or "demon cobras") and naginis of faiths such as Hinduism and Buddhism: they were human-headed snakes whose kings and queens who lived in jewel-encrusted paradises that were underground or underwater, and were perpetually at war with Garuda the Sun-bird. In North America, there is a Brule Sioux tale of three brothers transformed into rattlesnakes that help and guide their human relatives, and various North American snake-spirits could change between human and serpentine forms whilst keeping the characteristics of both. Likewise, the Korean snake goddess Eobshin was portrayed as a black snake that had human ears.
Wereserpents appear in Dungeons & Dragons, where they make their debut in the 2004 3.5th edition campaign "Serpent Kingdoms". Like other werecreatures, these reptilian therianthropes have three forms: a human form, a snake form, and a hybrid human-snake form. The hybrid form has the appearance of a bipedal humanoid covered in scales, with flexible limbs as well as a long tail in place of legs. Wereserpents much prefer to fight in their hybrid form, where they can use their poisonous and infectious bite alongside a mix of their humanoid and snake-like abilities, such as enhanced dexterity and strength; in addition to weapons and magic, they can also constrict targets. Wereserpents are also incredibly stealthy and make adept climbers and swimmers. Like other werecreatures, a silver weapon stops their regeneration.
Wereserpents often stick together and are fairly common in tropical areas and yuan-ti (serpentfolk) enclaves, typically integrating themselves into a society unaware of their presence—they also often band with nagas as well. Individual wereserpents developed very differently, exhibiting diverse skillsets and leaning towards adventuring as rogue, mages or (very rarely) priests; they enjoy the company of snakes and snake-like creatures, often keeping them as pets, but generally hate yuan-ti and nagas.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for werecreature.
