EvilHack

EvilHack is a new variant based off of NetHack 3.6.2, created by Keith Simpson (also known as User:K2). Work began on October 20th 2018, and was released for public play in April of 2019 on the Hardfought public NetHack servers. The Github repository for EvilHack can be found at https://github.com/k21971/EvilHack; a direct link to the change log can be found here, and is updated on a regular basis. The latest build of EvilHack incorporates 'bleeding-edge' code updates to NetHack, technically considered version 3.6.3-1 'Work-in-progress', which are primarily bug fixes (EvilHack version 0.3.2, last build Wed May 29 01:24:13 2019 UTC - git commit 720a5cb).

About EvilHack

Evilhack was designed from the outset to be a much more difficult game to win than vanilla NetHack. The inspiration for this game mainly comes from the variants Grunthack and SporkHack, incorporating many of the same features that make those variants difficult in their own right. Some of those features have remained the same (for example, SporkHack's reflection changes), but many have been altered to set them apart and provide the player with a new experience. Elements from other variants have been included as well, such as from Slash'EM, SpliceHack, UnNetHack, and XNetHack. There is also a significant amount of custom content that has been developed that is not found in any other variant. In the near future, much more custom content will be added, mainly in the way of optional branch quests.

It is not impossible to ascend EvilHack (there have been a handful of ascensions already as of this writing, see this page at the NetHack Scoreboard for a listing), but there are several aspects of this game that the player might take for granted from vanilla NetHack that can easily end a promising run. In general, monsters are tougher and have more hit points, they can fight more intelligently, and they can and will use a variety of items and spells against you that previously only the player could use. Players that lean heavily on using Elbereth will need to re-think their strategy, especially during the early game. Some improvements have been made for the player as well, so there is an attempt at balancing game play, but overall, this variant will be a significant challenge for even the seasoned player.

Major Changes

Below is a quick list of the more obvious/significant changes in EvilHack vs vanilla NetHack:

• Random dungeon levels are more varied and distinct.
• Gehennom is no longer a series of mazes, but are mines-style levels with lava.
• The first four Planes levels are randomized and appear in a different order every game.
• Additional variants of the Castle, Fort Ludios, Mine Town and Mines End have been added.
• You cannot use Elbereth until you've learned it in-game (via rumor, reading it, etc).
• Object materials - many objects and items can spawn made from something other than its base material.
• The mysterious force has been removed.
• Some monsters ride other monsters as steeds, namely The Riders at the endgame.
• The Gnomish mines have rivers running through them.
• The Quest can be unlocked by killing the quest leader if you've made them angry.
• Vlad the Impaler and Medusa have been... enhanced to a certain degree.
• New player races: Centaur, Giant and Hobbit, replete with their own special abilities and restrictions.
• Several role/race combos have been added/unlocked.
• Gaining intrinsic resistances is no longer binary, but are percentages instead.
• Reflection is not 100%; it can lessen the effects of an attack it reflects, but will never negate it.
• Shower of Missiles attack from monsters that utilize it is not completely negated by magic resistance.
• New artifact weapons (both normal and quest artifacts), and several tweaks to existing artifacts.
• Players can twoweapon with an artifact in each hand, if those artifacts happen to get along with each other.
• When sacrificing, your deity may gift you a regular piece of gear instead of an artifact.
• Sokoban End has more prize variety, with a catch...
• Shopkeepers can be a variety of different races; your race vs theirs directly affects pricing.
• Several new objects that the player (and monsters) can use and interact with.
• Intelligent monsters can use a whole new range of weapons/objects, either defensively or offensively.
• Unicorn horns no longer cure attribute loss; they can now be wielded in one hand.
• Most dragon scales have secondary abilities (as does the source of those scales).
• A few new spells (some for the player, some for monsters) have been introduced.
• Spellcasting while wearing body armor will negatively affect your spell success rate.
• Spell levels have been adjusted; some higher-level spells are now at a lower level, and vice versa.
• Several new monsters have been added, and several existing monsters have been adjusted - some that used to be considered harmless may now be deadly.
• All Demon Lords/Princes have their own special level in Gehennom - you will encounter all of them.
• Monster players (mplayers) can be encountered throughout the game. They covet the Amulet much the same as the Wizard of Yendor, and will try to steal it.
• Any monster, should it get a hold of the Amulet of Yendor, can and will sacrifice it on an endgame altar.

There are many more changes as well, but the above list will give you a good idea as to what to expect. More in-depth descriptions of various facets of EvilHack can be found below (and will probably be a work-in-progress for quite some time).

Player Race/Role Combinations

Any combination marked with an 'X' is playable.

	Human	Elf	Dwarf	Giant	Gnome	Hobbit	Centaur	Orc
Archeologist	X		X		X	X
Barbarian	X			X			X	X
Caveman	X		X	X	X
Healer	X	X	X		X	X
Knight	X	X
Monk	X	X	X	X			X
Priest	X	X	X	X		X	X	X
Rogue	X	X				X		X
Ranger	X	X			X	X	X	X
Samurai	X
Tourist	X					X
Valkyrie	X		X	X			X
Wizard	X	X			X	X		X

Many alignment combinations have been unlocked as well vs vanilla NetHack, allowing for some race/role combinations you normally wouldn't expect to see (a neutral Dwarvish Healer for instance, or a chaotic Elven Knight, etc).

New Items

EvilHack adds a variety of new artifacts, weapons, armor and other usable objects. The vast majority of these objects take advantage of the object materials code incorporated from XNetHack, and have the potential to be generated made of a material other than its standard base material. The exception to this rule are artifacts - their material type is hard-coded and cannot be altered, even via a wish.

Artifacts

Artifact	Symbol	Base type	Alignment	To-Hit Bonus	Damage Bonus	Notes
Lifestealer	)	Two-handed sword	Chaotic	1d5	1d2	Wielded by Vlad the Impaler, drains levels and also grants drain resistance when wielded.
Keolewa	)	Club	Neutral	1d5	1d6	Keolewa is a Hawaiian war club, and is the first sacrifice artifact gift for Cavemen. Grants shock resistance when wielded.
Dirge	)	Long sword	Chaotic	1d5	1d8	The 'Dark Knights' sword, can only be obtained by chaotic Knights by sacrificing a same race monster on a co-aligned altar while wielding a long sword. Does additional acidic damage as well as conferring acid resistance when wielded.
The Sword of Bheleu	)	Two-handed sword	Chaotic	1d10	1d10	The Sword of Bheleu delivers a significant amount of damage, especially against creatures not of its alignment, and is made of mithril. It is also permanently coated in poison, and does extra poison damage against monsters that are not resistant. Wielding this sword confers stoning resistance.
Magic 8-Ball	(	Orb	Non-aligned	N/A	N/A	The ultimate rumor generator. Applying the Magic 8-Ball delivers a rumor - whether that rumor is true or not depends on its BUC status. Reading the Magic 8-Ball randomly generates one of twenty responses one would find from the Real Life™ commercial product. This artifact does not count against the player for wishing purposes, as it's guaranteed to show up early in the game. The Magic 8-Ball confers warning when carried, and if conditions are just right, there's a very small percentage chance it could grant the user a wish when applied.
Xiuhcoatl	)	Atlatl	Lawful	1d5	1d24	Xiuhcoatl replaces The Orb of Detection as the Archeologist quest artifact. The atlatl is part of the spear family, and this artifact has its roots in ancient Aztec lore. Can be thrown, and it will return to the thowers hand just like Mjollnir, but a dexterity of 18 or greater is required for this to happen. Xiuhcoatl does a massive amount of fire damage to monsters that are susceptible to fire, and confers fire resistance when wielded, ESP when carried, and can be invoked for levitation.
The Ring of P'hul	=	Ring	Chaotic	N/A	N/A	The Ring of P'hul replaces The Heart of Ahriman as the Barbarian quest artifact. The Ring of P'hul is a ring of free action, confers magic resistance when worn and disease resistance when carried.

Changes to existing artifacts:

• Only lawful Knights can dip for Excalibur.
• Mjollnir and Ogresmasher have had their base types changed from a war hammer to a heavy war hammer, which deals significantly more damage.
• Demonbane and Sunsword are made of silver; Demonbane has been switched from a long sword to a mace, and is the first sacrifice artifact gift for Priests.
• Fire Brand and Frost Brand are now short swords, and are each made of mithril.
• Dragonbane has been switched to a pair of dragonhide gloves that provides reflection, warns against dragons, and provides acid resistance.
• Various artifacts that have a nemesis monster warn against those monsters.
• Almost all of the stock weapon artifacts have had their to-hit and damage modifiers adjusted in the players favor.
• Certain artifacts can either deliver extra damage to their nemesis monsters, or have a small percentage chance of delivering a fatal blow - this applies to the player as well, so beware of that hill orc wielding Grimtooth if you're playing an Elven character.
• Artifact weapons can be dual-wielded for those that can twoweapon, but there's a catch - lawful and chaotic artifacts cannot be dual-wielded together, and will resist the attempt if tried. Like-alignment artifact weapons can be dual-wielded together, and any aligned artifact weapon can be dual-wielded with a second neutral artifact weapon.

Dragon Scale Mail

This bit was taken from SporkHack and then modified - most DSM has a secondary extrinsic effect when worn.

DSM	Extrinsic	EvilHack secondary extrinsic
Blue dragon scale mail	shock resistance	speed
Black dragon scale mail	disintegration resistance	passive disintegration attack
Gray dragon scale mail	magic resistance	none
Green dragon scale mail	poison resistance	passive poison attack
Orange dragon scale mail	sleep resistance	passive slow attack
Red dragon scale mail	fire resistance	+1d6 to all melee damage
Silver dragon scale mail	reflection	none
White dragon scale mail	cold resistance	freezes water/lava under foot
Yellow dragon scale mail	acid resistance	stoning resistance
Shimmering dragon scale mail	displacement	none
Gold dragon scale mail	fire resistance	radius 2 light

What's new for EvilHack that you won't find elsewhere, is that the dragons these scales come from enjoy many of the same secondary extrinsics. Blue dragons are faster, red dragons hit harder, etc.

Weapons

A few new weapons were added to either flesh out a monster type, or to serve as a base for an artifact weapon.

Weapon	Symbol	Base type	Base material	Weight	Damage vs small	Damage vs large	Notes
Atlatl	)	Spear	wood	30 aum	1d8	1d12	Made specifically for the Archeologist quest artifact Xiuhcoatl. Does not appear randomly.
Elven long sword	)	Long sword	wood	35 aum	1d10	1d12	Racial soldiers are a thing in EvilHack, and the elven types needed a long sword they could wield since elves have an aversion to iron. Lighter than its iron counterpart, but susceptible to fire damage. Damage output is on par with a katana.
Orcish morning star	)	Morning star	iron	120 aum	1d4	1d6	Made specifically for two new monsters, the Goblin Outrider and the Goblin-captain, but can appear randomly.
Heavy war hammer	)	Hammer	iron	60 aum	1d8	1d10	Made specifically for the artifacts Mjollnir and Ogresmasher. Does not appear randomly. Damage output is significantly more than its weaker cousin the war hammer.
Staff of Divination	)	Quarterstaff	wood	40 aum	1d6	1d6	The Staff of Divination confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any divination-based spells when wielded. This staff and others like it can help non-casters attempt to cast certain spells that normally would have been either extremely difficult or impossible to cast otherwise.
Staff of Healing	)	Quarterstaff	wood	40 aum	1d6	1d6	The Staff of Healing confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any healing-based spells when wielded.
Staff of Holiness	)	Quarterstaff	bone	40 aum	1d6	1d6	The Staff of Holiness confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any clerical-based spells when wielded.
Staff of Matter	)	Quarterstaff	mithril	30 aum	1d6	1d6	The Staff of Matter confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any matter-based spells when wielded. It is also slightly lighter than its counterparts.
Staff of Escape	)	Quarterstaff	wood	40 aum	1d6	1d6	The Staff of Escape confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any escape-based spells when wielded.
Staff of War	)	Quarterstaff	iron	50 aum	1d6	1d6	The Staff of War confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any attack-based spells when wielded. It is heavier than its counterparts, but also has an extra d2 to-hit bonus.

Containers and Tools

Item	Symbol	Base type	Base material	Weight	Notes
Iron safe	(	N/A	iron	900 aum	A secure container that can only be 'cracked' using a stethoscope. Cannot be locked again once it's been unlocked. Can appear randomly.
Eight ball	(	Orb	plastic	20 aum	The base item for the artifact Magic 8-Ball. Does not appear randomly.