Dispater
& Dispater 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 40 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 4d6, spell-casting |
| Base level | 36 |
| Base experience | 1923 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | -2 |
| Base MR | 80 |
| Alignment | 15 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1500 |
| Nutritional value | 500 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | Fire, poison |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
Dispater:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2704 |
Dispater, &, is one of the many demon princes that can appear in NetHack. Like all other demon princes, he is covetous, has fire and poison resistance and will attempt to steal the Amulet of Yendor if you possess it.
Dispater has the fourth-highest monster difficulty in the game behind Baalzebub.
Generation
Dispater is one of three demon princes without his own lair in Gehennom, with the other two being Geryon and Demogorgon. He will only appear if summoned via the summon nasties monster spell or gated in by another lawful demon (e.g., Asmodeus, Baalzebub or Geryon).
Dispater is always generated with a wand of striking.
Strategy
Dispater has a lot of hit points, great monster magic resistance, and can move almost as quickly as a fast player. He has a decently strong weapon attack and powerful mage spells at his disposal - up to and including curse items, summon nasties, and the touch of death - but he will generally not use them until after uses up his relatively harmless wand of striking.
While not enough of a threat to warrant his own kit as with Demogorgon, it is still best kill Dispater as quickly as possible if he appears - beware using shock damage against him, as he will cast spells that much sooner if his wand is destroyed prematurely.
Origin
NetHack's incarnation of Dispater is based on the unique archdevil found in Dungeons & Dragons source books, who is in turn based on Dīs Pater, a Roman god of the underworld later subsumed by Pluto or the Greek Hades. Originally a chthonic god of riches, fertile agricultural land, and underground mineral wealth, he was later commonly equated with the Roman underworld deities Pluto and Orcus.
In Dungeons & Dragons, Dispater's appearance is that of a handsome human about 2 meters (ca. 7 feet) tall, with two small horns, a tail and a cloven left hoof - Dispater's portrayal and default tile in NetHack draws from this, although it retains only the former trait.[1][2][3] He is also known to carry a powerful rod that symbolizes his authority, and also acts as a staff of striking (hence why he always generates with a wand of striking).
The "City of Dis" mentioned in the encyclopedia entry is based on the portrayal of the deity in the Inferno, where it was the infernal city that the sixth circle of Hell consisted of. While this city does not appear in NetHack itself, some variants add a lair inspired by it.
History
Dispater was introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, all demon princes have lairs. Dispater's lair is located between levels 10-15 of Gehennom.
Encyclopaedia entry
The Roman ruler of the underworld and fortune, similar to the
Greek Hades. Every hundred years, the Ludi Tarentini were
celebrated in his honor. The Gauls regarded Dis Pater as
their ancestor. The name is a contraction of the Latin Dives,
"the wealthy", Dives Pater, "the wealthy father", or "Fater
Wealth". It refers to the wealth of precious stone below the
earth.
References
- ↑ monst.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 2708: Dispater has size
MZ_HUMAN - ↑ num_horns in mondata.c
- ↑ mbodypart in polyself.c: Dispater does not have a hoof
