Convict
| Convict Role | |
|---|---|
| Author | Karl Garrison |
| Download | link |
| NetHack PatchDB | 421 |
The Convict is a role added in the Convict Role patch and also in UnNetHack. It was designed to be more difficult than Tourist (Statistically the most difficult class in Vanilla NetHack), a goal at which it succeeds handily.
Starting inventory
A Convict also starts chained to an iron ball and with a sewer rat as a pet.
Intrinsics
Convicts gain intrinsics at these experience levels:
- XL 1 : Sickness resistance
- XL 7 : Poison resistance
- XL 20 : Automatic searching
Skills
| Convict skills | |
|---|---|
| Max | Skills |
| Basic |
|
| Skilled |
|
| Expert | |
Convict 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.
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 Mine Town 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 an numerous edible corpses.
