Angel
A Angel 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 19 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 1d6, weapon 1d6, claw 1d4, magic missile 2d6 |
| Base level | 14 |
| Base experience | 485 |
| Speed | 10 |
| Base AC | -4 |
| Base MR | 55 |
| Alignment | 12 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | Cold, shock, sleep, poison |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
An Angel:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1087 |
An Angel,[1] A, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the most prominent of the angelic beings.
Angels possess a melee-range magic missile attack that they can use ignores both reflection and half spell damage, but deals no damage if you have magic resistance. The magic missiles they fire at range are similar to those from a wand of magic missile, but can be done at will. Like other monsters with magic missile attacks, Angels have magic resistance.
Contents
Generation
1⁄3 of randomly appearing Angels will be minions of a random god from your pantheon and are usually peaceful to co-aligned players, with "renegade" Angel minions being peaceful towards cross-aligned players instead.[1] The remaining Angels are lawful by default.
Several Angels in service of the gods appear on the Astral Plane - upon reaching this level, if your alignment is sufficiently high and you are not causing conflict, you will obtain a tame guardian Angel. If you are generating conflict when you arrive or begin to generate conflict at any point on the Astral Plane, a group of hostile Angels will be generated instead.
Angels are generated with an uncursed erodeproof large shield 3⁄4 of the time, and a shield of reflection otherwise; their weapon will be a blessed erodeproof long sword, with a 5% chance of the sword being either Demonbane or Sunsword if the artifact has yet to be generated. The tame guardian Angel you get when entering the Astral Plane gets somewhat better gear: their weapon is blessed and has its enchantment raised by 1-4 points if it is under +4, and they will be given an amulet of reflection if they do not get a shield of reflection.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Demonbane is now a mace, so Angels can only receive Sunsword.Strategy
The wand of death is completely ineffective against Angels, and they have a 1⁄4 chance of a shield of reflection, which neuters other attack wands and spells. They are cold-resistant, but still vulnerable to fire, so casting the spell of fireball at Skilled or Expert might do significant damage; however, you may have trouble mustering the necessary power to cast spells repeatedly in most situations involving Angels, which will usually occur on the Astral Plane while you are carrying the Amulet of Yendor.
When fighting Angels in melee, Fire Brand and Stormbringer are among the best weapon choices; however, on the Astral Plane, you will likely be seeking to find your high altar, so a footrice corpse and a wand of teleportation will be preferable in that scenario.
To avoid generating a group of hostile Angels when you arrive on the Astral Plane, wait a few turns after you arrive before generating conflict.
Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, Angels have a mutual grudge with demons, and they will attack each other on sight.
SpliceHack
SpliceHack previously had Angels as a starting race, but they were later removed.
Encyclopedia entry
He answered and said unto them, he that soweth the good seed
is the Son of man; the field is the world, and the good seed
are the children of the kingdom; but the weeds are the
children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the
devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers
are the angels. As therefore the weeds are gathered and
burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
[...] So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels
shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
[ The Gospel According to Matthew, 13:37-42, 49-50 ]
Notes
- ^ While "angel" is a common noun in English, in the NetHack source code (and thus the game) it is capitalized, and this article reflects that.
References
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.4. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-364}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
