Convict

Convict Role
Author	Karl Garrison
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NetHack PatchDB	421

The Convict is a role added in the Convict Role patch, which is incorporated into UnNetHack, dNetHack, DynaHack, SpliceHack, EvilHack, and SlashTHEM. It is designed to be more difficult than Tourist, the most statistically difficult class in NetHack - a goal at which it succeeds handily.

Convicts always start out as chaotic. In the original patch they can be humans, dwarves, gnomes, or orcs. UnNetHack adds Vampires as a starting race; dNetHack adds elves, vampires, half-dragons, incantifiers, chiropterans, and yuki-onna as possible Convict races. EvilHack adds hobbits, illithids and drow as compatible races for the Convict.

Starting inventory

• a cursed striped shirt
• some rocks
• a +0 spoon, which the convict can use to make sneak attacks (in dNethack)

A Convict also starts chained to an iron ball and with a sewer rat named Nicodemus (reference to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH) as a pet, which can grow up to be unusually large. Additionally, convicts can pacify and tame other rats by #chatting with them.

Intrinsics

Convicts gain intrinsics at these experience levels:

• XL 1: Sickness resistance
• XL 7: Poison resistance
• XL 20: Automatic searching

Skills

A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:

"What skills do Convicts start with (in each of the variants that include them)?"

In UnNethack, Convicts start with 0 skills at basic level. They will have a difficult time overcoming the required 100 hits to level any weapon to Basic skill, you will have to balance whether to get rid of the iron ball or to keep it as a weapon and advance the Flail skill.

Convict skills
Max	Skills
Basic	Weapons: mace, short sword Spells: attack
Skilled	Weapons: dagger, hammer, dart, sling Combat: bare hands, two weapon combat
Expert	Weapons: knife, pick-axe, club, flail Spells: escape

The Convict's special spell is teleport away. Spell success is determined by intelligence.

Special rules

Convicts burn nutrition at half the normal rate while hungry or worse.

Convicts have a chance of pacifying or taming rats by #chatting to them.

Races that would normally be friendly to the player based on race will be generated hostile if the player is a convict.

For convicts only, wielding the heavy iron ball uses the flail skill.

In dNethack only, convicts can use spoons to make sneak attacks like a rogue. Since spoons aren't randomly generated, this is usually only relevant to their starting spoon and their quest artifact.

Quest

The convict quest sees you fighting Warden Arianna for the Iron Ball of Liberation, a heavy iron ball that grants magic resistance, stealth, searching and warning. When invoked, it allows phasing for a limited time. The downsides are its weight (almost as heavy as a normal iron ball) and the fact that it chains itself to the player every time its power is invoked.

Gods

• Lawful: Ilmater
• Neutral: Grumbar
• Chaotic: Tymora

The Convict pantheon is made up of deities worshiped by human inhabitants of Faerûn in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons.

Ilmater is the god of martyrdom and perseverence. His followers seek to ease the suffering of others, even if it requires enduring suffering themselves. He is described as similar to the god Issek in the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber.

Grumbar is the Elemental Lord of Earth, known for constancy and changelessness, but also indifference. He is influenced by the god Grome in the Elric series by Michael Moorcock.

Tymora is the goddess of good fortune, invoked by risk-takers and adventurers. She is inspired by the Greek goddess Tyche.

Rank titles

The status line shows you to be one of the following ranks when you reach the specified experience level:

• XL 1-2: Detainee
• XL 3-5: Inmate
• XL 6-9: Jail-bird
• XL 10-13: Prisoner
• XL 14-17: Outlaw
• XL 18-21: Crook
• XL 22-25: Desperado
• XL 26-29: Felon
• XL 30: Fugitive

Strategy

Convicts start the game on the verge of becoming hungry, with no food in their inventory and no ability to pray for food. Their ability to descend through the dungeon looking for food is also limited by the iron ball chained to them, as they face death from falling down the stairs. It is advisable to always wield the ball before attempting to descend, as that will reduce the damage to 1-9 (average 5) instead of the 1-26 (average 11) you will take if the ball falls on you. You should wield the iron ball most of the time anyway, as it makes a superb weapon, doing d25 damage (average 13), which is higher than any non-artifact, even a dwarvish mattock – if you can hit with it. For a convict (and a convict only), fighting with the iron ball advances flail skill, which can eventually reach expert.

The early game is dominated by a desperate search for food. It is therefore critical to get the most out of any food they do find. Convicts burn nutrition at half the normal rate while hungry or worse, meaning that you should wait to eat food rations and the like until you are at least weak with hunger. Convicts are also immune to sickness from level one, enabling them to eat tainted corpses. In particular this allows them to eat corpses left by zombies and mummies, and to finish every last bite of their kills without worrying about how long the corpse has been lying there.

Races that are normally friendly to them (e.g. gnomes and dwarves to themselves and each other) are hostile to the Convict. This may influence the decision whether to do the Gnomish Mines or Sokoban first. The Minetown watch will also be hostile to Convicts, making the mines an even less appealing early destination. However, a short foray into the mines can yield good armor and numerous edible corpses.

Convicts' difficulty in obtaining food and equipment is compounded by the fact that shopkeepers who see their striped shirts will not allow entry to their shops (even if later the shirt is removed or covered). An exception to this is the Black market, where convicts will receive a reduction in prices instead.

Once free of the iron ball, a convict will want a weapon that is less heavy. In some variants, a convict has a guaranteed first sacrifice gift called the Luck Blade, a chaotic short sword (broadsword in UnNetHack, DynaHack, and EvilHack) which also acts as a luckstone. Given that they will only be able to reach basic, however, this is likely to only be a viable weapon in the early game.

Vampiric Convicts

Vampires get the advantage of being able to fly, so you will never take damage when going downstairs with the iron ball (wielded or not). The sickness resistance is not very useful for food, but it may be useful late-game. Unless you get incredibly lucky, you will most likely not make it to turn 600 without fainting.

The monsters in the first few levels don't have much nutrition in their corpses, and since you only get 20% of the base nutrition it's even less. Getting lucky on the extra bite attack will give you a significant amount. Since this is unlikely, you may need to find a place to faint for 50-100 turns to make it to turn 600 in order to pray successfully. This goes a little contrary to the suggestions for vampires to constantly fight and for convicts to do whatever is necessary to find nutrition, but it may be necessary in some games.

The gnomish mines are a feast for vampire convicts. Once you have your first prayer, slaughtering a bunch of gnomes and dwarves is relatively easy. It's important to make the most out of your regeneration and not get overwhelmed, so make sure you play cautiously. This will level you up quickly and get you to poison resistance (convict specific). Once you have that, it opens up a new set of corpses that can be drained.

Minetown is especially dicey for vampire convicts, since the watch captain usually has a silver saber (50% chance) and is always hostile towards you. Since you are powerful and your iron ball does a lot of damage, it is feasible to kill the watch, but make sure to have an escape plan. You regenerate health faster than they do, so a hit and run strategy works well. Avoiding the watch captain until the rest are dealt with might be a good idea.

Once you survive, vampires can be a great race. With intrinsic flying and regeneration, combined with the sickness immunity from a convict makes you a very strong late-game character. Your death effect immunity can even supplement MR in some cases. If you can get over the early-game hump, a vampire convict can be very rewarding.