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 cursed striped shirt
• some rocks

A Convict also starts chained to an iron ball and with a sewer rat 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

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

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. 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