Dwarf king

h dwarf king
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Weapon 2d6, Weapon 2d6

h dwarf king
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Weapon 2d6, Weapon 2d6
Base level	6
Base experience	83
Speed	6
Base AC	10
Base MR	20
Alignment	6 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	900
Nutritional value	300
Size	Medium
Resistances	None
Resistances conveyed	None
A dwarf king: can tunnel through walls. needs a pick-axe to tunnel through walls. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. is omnivorous. is a dwarf. is an overlord to its kind. is male. is strong. likes gold. likes gems. can pick up weapons and food. has infravision. can be seen through infravision.
Reference	monst.c#line469

A dwarf king, h, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. A dwarf king is a humanoid monster that is the strongest type of dwarf, possessing infravision and the ability to tunnel with a digging tool like other dwarves. A dwarf king has two weapon attacks.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Dwarf kings are now known as dwarf rulers, with "king" and "queen" being gendered titles.

Generation

Randomly-generated dwarf kings are always peaceful towards dwarven and gnomish characters, and will mostly be peaceful towards other lawful characters. Dwarf kings do not appear in Gehennom due to being lawful. A dwarf lord can grow up into a dwarf king.

In addition to random generation, a dwarf king may appear as the random h that is generated on level creation for each of the filler levels in the Gnomish Mines. A dwarf king may also be one of the monsters generated in a throne room as the occupant of the throne.

A dwarf king can be generated with each of the following items:

• A ⁶⁄₇ chance of a pair of iron shoes and an independent ⁶⁄₇ chance of a dwarvish cloak.
• A ¹⁄₄ chance of a dwarvish short sword and dwarvish iron helm, combined with an equal probability of either of the following:
  • A dwarvish mattock, or
  • A dwarvish roundshield paired with either a dwarvish spear or an axe, with an equal probability for each weapon., and a ; the other half receives a ** Dwarf kings that receive a dwarvish short sword and dwarvish iron helm also have a further ¹⁄₃ chance of receiving a dwarvish mithril-coat.
• Dwarf kings that are not given a dwarvish short sword and dwarvish iron helm will instead receive either a pick-axe (¹⁄₃ chance) or a dagger (²⁄₃ chance).

As overlords, dwarf kings will always generate with armor of at least +0 and weapons (but not tools) that are at least +1.

Strategy

Dwarf kings have two weapon attacks, which makes them quite deadly when wielding a dwarvish mattock, and they can have excellent AC from their starting armor.

Since dwarf kings and mind flayers share the same glyph, you should use far look to correctly identify a purple h, especially at lower dungeon levels, or in the Gnomish Mines where the random h generated on level creation monster can be a mind flayer.

History

The dwarf king first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Variants

Some variants grant dwarf kings and other monsters AC bonuses for wearing racial equipment, and may additionally generate them with a potion of booze. Others adjust monster names so that female counterparts to the dwarf king are properly named and generated.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the Gnomish Mines replaces dwarf kings with hostile war orcs at level creation with the exception of bones, so that player dwarves and gnomes will have to deal with hostile monsters like other races - this does not occur in practice, since dwarf kings are never specified for generation when creating any of the Mines levels.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, dwarf kings generated outside of the Gnomish Mines have a ⁶⁄₇ chance of being generated with a potion of booze.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, dwarf kings that are randomly generated outside of the Gnomish Mines are always generated with a potion of booze.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the monster is referred to as a dwarf royal, and dwarf royals gain +1 bonus AC for each piece of worn dwarven armor.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, the monster dwarf is also known as a dwarf royal as in EvilHack, and dwarf royals gain +1 bonus AC for each piece of worn dwarven armor. Dwarf royals generated outside of the Gnomish Mines have a ⁶⁄₇ chance of being generated with a potion of booze, as in UnNetHack.

Encyclopedia entry

Dwarfs have faces like men (ugly men, with wrinkled, leathery skins), but are generally either flat-footed, duck-footed, or have feet pointing backwards. They are of the earth, earthy, living in the darkest of caverns and venturing forth only with the cloaks by which they can make themselves invisible, and others disguised as toads. Miners often come across them, and sometimes establish reasonably close relations with them.... The miners of Cornwall were always delighted to hear a bucca busily mining away, for all dwarfs have an infallible nose for precious metals.
Among other things, dwarfs are rightly valued for their skill as blacksmiths and jewellers: they made Odin his famous spear Gungnir, and Thor his hammer; for Freya they designed a magnificent necklace, and for Frey a golden boar. And in their spare time they are excellent bakers. Ironically, despite their odd feet, they are particularly fond of dancing. They can also see into the future, and consequently are excellent meteorologists. They can be free with presents to people they like, and a dwarvish gift is likely to turn to gold in the hand. But on the whole they are a snappish lot.

[ The Immortals, by Derek and Julia Parker ]