Foocubus

&& succubus / incubus
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Seduction (see article), claw 1d3, claw 1d3

&& succubus / incubus
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Seduction (see article), claw 1d3, claw 1d3
Base level	6
Base experience	122
Speed	12
Base AC	0
Base MR	70
Alignment	-9 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Medium
Resistances	Fire, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
A succubus or incubus: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. is poisonous to eat. does not eat. (*) is a demon. is normally generated hostile. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse. A succubus also: is female. An incubus also: is male.
Reference	monst.c#line2366

In NetHack, the term foocubus (plural foocubi) refers to either one or both a pair of monsters that can be encountered in the dungeon: the incubus, &, and the succubus, &.

Incubi and succubi are major demons that are identical save for gender: they are humanoid, inediate, have infravision, are capable of flight, and follow you to other levels if they are close enough. They possess the standard demon resistance to fire, poison, death magic, and life-draining, and have three attacks: they lead with a special seduction attack which is equal parts dangerous and empowering for the player character, and follow with two claw attacks.

Attempting to apply a saddle to either type of foocubus will abuse Wisdom and print YAFM; applying a mirror at a foocubus will cause them to steal it and teleport away.

One of the hallucinatory monsters that can appear while hallucinating is a "voluptuous ampersand", referring to the glyph of a foocubus.

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

"Amorous demon" is the official gender-neutral name. Succubi and incubi are no longer distinct monster types, but rather different genders of the amorous demon type.

Generation

In addition to random monster generation, foocubi can be generated by the following methods:

• A hostile foocubus of either gender can be summoned by kicking a sink.
• A foocubus is one of the major demons that can summoned by same-race sacrifice on a chaotic or unaligned altar if Yeenoghu and Juiblex are already generated in a game (e.g. being summoned through the same method); the foocubus will be peaceful if you are chaotic, and hostile otherwise. ⁸⁄₉ of the major demons summoned this way will be foocubi.
• Foocubi can be gated in by other major demons, though they are incapable of gating any demons themselves; the same applies to you if you perform an unarmed attack on a monster while polymorphed into a major demon other than a foocubus.

Four incubi and two succubi can be found within the dwelling on the west side of the Tourist quest goal level.

Foocubi cannot be targeted for genocide, and do not leave a corpse upon death like all major demons.

Foocubus seduction

Foocubi are heterosexual, and will only seduce you if you are of the opposite gender to them; the seduction will trigger if you #chat to a foocubus of the opposite gender, or if such a foocubus lands their seduction attack while hostile. A hostile foocubus of the same sex as you will not use their seduction attack against you, and chatting to any such foocubus will have no effect. Against other monsters, the seduction attack simply causes the foocubus to steal items if possible, much like a nymph. If the SEDUCE compile-time option (enabled by default) is disabled, this attack will be replaced with a drain life attack similar to those of vampires.

First, the foocubus will attempt to remove all of your armor, regardless of if it is cursed - with a probability of ^CHA⁄₂₀ they will ask your permission for each item, and otherwise will just remove the item. The foocubus can only remove your suit if you have not kept your cloak on, and can only remove your shirt if you have not kept your cloak or suit on. If you are riding a mount of the opposite sex to the foocubus, they might steal the saddle and forcibly dismount you onto a nearby square; if you are dismounted onto water or lava, you will drown, burn up or sink into the lava accordingly.

A foocubus will never attempt to remove an amulet or blindfold, and will ignore rings except for a ring of adornment - an incubus may offer to put the ring on one of your fingers, while a succubus may ask you for it; both prompts occur with a ¹⁄_CHA/20 chance (where CHA is your charisma before donning or doffing the ring), and the foocubus will otherwise go through with their action. If a female character is already wearing two rings and neither of them are rings of adornment, while you have a ring of adornment in open inventory, the incubus may replace the worn ring on the left hand with that ring of adornment. The foocubus will not put on or remove a ring of adornment if your gloves have not been removed at this point, though this does not affect succubi stealing rings of adornment that are not worn.

If at this point, you are still wearing body armor or a cloak, the foocubus will leave you alone and try to teleport away; otherwise, they will initiate an encounter - this does not increment the turn counter. At the end of the encounter, you will experience either a positive or a negative effect; the likelihood of a positive outcome depends on the sum of your intelligence and charisma stats. The probability of a positive effect is (INT+CHA+1)/35, where the sum of INT and CHA is capped at 32, giving a minimum 5.7% chance of a negative effect no matter how high your attributes are. Chaotic characters gain a point of alignment for taking part in a foocubus encounter.

After the encounter, whether positive or negative, the foocubus may try to take some gold from you as a payment and teleport away; the amount taken usually consists of a 500zm flat fee, plus a random percentage of your current gold outside of any container. However, if you have more than 32757zm, the foocubus's percentage will not take into account any gold beyond that amount. The attempt will fail with a probability equal to your charisma out of 20 (or always, if you are polymorphed into a leprechaun); if you have no gold in your main inventory, the foocubus will instead simply teleport away unpaid, with no change beyond an alternate message. Furthermore, a peaceful foocubus will charge only ¹⁄₅ of the usual price—rounded down, but always at least 1zm; a tame foocubus will never charge you.

If you got a positive effect, the foocubus will complain of having a headache and will do you no more favors for 1-100 turns; if you got a negative effect, the foocubus will be ready to go again immediately. In either case, there is a ¹⁄₂₅ chance that the foocubus will complain of a severe headache: this means that it has been cancelled and will never be able to seduce you again.

Positive effects

If the sum of your intelligence and charisma stats plus one is no less than a random number chosen between 1 and 35, you experience one of the following positive effects, with an equal probability of each:

Effect	Message
Constitution increases by 1 and is exercised.	You feel good enough to do it again.
Wisdom increases by 1 and is exercised.	You will always remember <the foocubus>...
Heals all hit points and exercises strength.	You feel restored to health!
Restores all power and increases maximum by 1-5; exercises constitution.	You feel raised to your full potential.
Raises your level by 1 and exercises wisdom. This increases your hit points and power, even if you are already level 30.	That was a very educational experience.

Negative effects

If instead, the sum of your intelligence and charisma stats plus one is less than the random number chosen between 1 and 35, you experience one of the following negative effects, with an equal probability of each:

Effect	Message
Constitution reduces by 1 and is abused.	You are down in the dumps.
Wisdom reduces by 1 and is abused.	Your senses are dulled.
Strength is abused and you take 6–15 hit points of damage.	You feel exhausted.
All your power is lost, your maximum energy is reduced by 1-10 and your constitution is abused.	You feel drained of energy.
You lose 1 level unless you have drain resistance.	You feel out of shape. (if you lost a level) You have a curious feeling... (if you have drain resistance)

If you are killed by the HP loss, the cause of death is livelogged as "killed by exhaustion"; if you are killed by the level drain, the cause of death is livelogged as "killed by overexertion".

Strategy

Foocubi do very little melee damage, and are easy to kill even for character at low levels - note that they have a high MR score of 70, significantly limiting the effectiveness of spells.

The foocubus's profitability for high-intelligence and high-charisma players - a very efficient way to gain XL, HP and power - is counterbalanced by two factors: the negative effects of encounters (which, as discussed further below, are surprisingly simple to cure), and the primary danger of what seems like a humorous side effect of the seduction: the player is left at least partly disrobed in the presence of any other monsters that happened to be in the room. Players who rely on armor items for reflection or MR can find themselves suddenly annihilated by attacks they would usually shrug off.

Setting up

If possible, when initiating an encounter make absolutely sure that the immediate area is clear, and that most monsters cannot close in on you after. You can lead a foocubus (or multiple foocubi) to a safer location before initiating the encounter, since they will follow you when next to you while you are branchporting with The Eye of the Aethiopica, levelporting, or going up or down stairs.

An amulet of change may be of interest to players looking to maximize their gains from foocubi as much as possible - Tourists in particular may be tempted to use one for the foocubi on the goal level of their Quest branch.

Stat boosting

Higher charisma and intelligence naturally increase the odds of a a beneficial effect from an encounter with a foocubus, but both stats are very difficult to raise outside of the potion of gain ability, and neither can be exercised. Wizards are high-intelligence roles that are excellent for obtaining boosts from foocubi, and can often do so well from the beginning of the game. Meanwhile, the most reliable method of raising charisma is the ring of adornment - unfortunately, as described above, foocubi also take an interest in them. Female characters will not have their rings taken by an incubus, but they may be made to remove a vital worn ring if they are wearing two non-adornment rings, including a ring of levitation keeping them from drowning or burning in lava. Conversely, male characters do not have to worry about worn rings being removed, but the ring providing their charisma boost may be stolen unless they have a boosted charisma of at least 20.

Magic traps have an effect that increase your charisma by one point and tame any monsters in the vicinity if they are tameable. However, this is unreliable, and there are more frequent negative effects such as: being blinded, deafened and surrounded with monsters; being hit by a tower of flame, as from a fire trap; or else having the magic trap explode, removing it (though it also provides a boost to power if you survive the explosion). Having fire resistance, a means of mitigating blindness (e.g. telepathy), and the ability to handle the summoned monsters is recommended; see the article on magic traps for more detailed information on handling magic trap effects.

Quaffing from magic fountains have a ⁷⁄₁₀ chance of increasing a random attribute by 1, or increasing all your attributes by 1 with a natural Luck of at least 4. However, there is no way to tell if a fountain is magical before quaffing, and the negative effects that quaffing from non-magical fountains can produce are much worse to deal with compared to magic traps, such as cursing your inventory; placing your items in a bag beforehand is a good idea, as is being prepared to deal with water moccasins or even a water demon. See the article on magic fountains for more detailed information.

A helm of brilliance can raise intelligence, but the foocubus may try to take it off - as detailed above, they are more likely to ask if you have higher charisma. Unlike rings of adornment, the foocubus will not steal the helmet, allowing you to put it back on before trying again. A negatively-enchanted helm is of no concern, as you can always give consent to take the helmet off.

Dealing with negative effects

Most negative effects of seduction can easily be dealt with: loss of wisdom or constitution can be cured by applying a unicorn horn; hit points will heal over time, though this makes it unwise to consort with foocubi when you are nearly dead; a lost level can be quickly regained by means such as killing a monster or eating a tripe ration to get it back before playing with the foocubus again. Wielding Excalibur, Stormbringer or the Staff of Aesculapius can protect against the level drain effect. However, there is no "cure" for loss of maximum energy, though non-cursed potions of gain energy can boost it back up.

Overall, while it is very possible for a low-intelligence or charisma character to still benefit from dealing with a foocubus, the negative effects can make the process tedious - a player concerned about this can wait to raise their intelligence and charisma before an encounter and tip odds of energy gain in their favor.

The following steps should also be taken to minimize post-encounter vulnerability:

• Never voluntarily allow a foocubus to remove anything other than your cloak and body armor, unless you are trying to take off a cursed piece of armor.
• Again, whenever possible only consort with foocubi in an area you have emptied of other enemies. You can keep the foocubus off your back while clearing out an area by luring it up or down a level, or else using Elbereth whenever it approaches. For further details and special cases, see the "Possible YASDs" section below.
• Finally, remember to get dressed again afterward!

To prevent a foocubus from taking your gold, simply keep it in a container, or drop it on the ground if it is an emergency. A gentlemanly and/or ladylike player may wish to retain a small amount of gold in their inventory, so that the foocubus will receive at least a token payment for its services. Once the foocubus develops a "severe headache", you can kill it and recover any gold it took from you if you so wish.

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

Unicorn horns can no longer restore reduced attributes. Alternatives include potions of restore ability, the restore ability spell, prayer, or gain ability.

Taming foocubi

As pets, foocubi can augment their base AC of 0 with the ability to use all non-silver armor, but they are not at all strong offensively. More importantly, tame foocubus represent easier encounters compared to a hostile or peaceful one - though the actual encounter itself is no different (as you simply initiate the encounter via #chat), it is much easier to account for all relevant problems: they can be led away from hostile monsters, have nothing to fear from other pets, and can be more easily guided to a safe spot for the encounter, usually making your armor easier to put back on after. Additionally, if you possess a magic whistle or move to a no-teleport level, it will not be necessary to chase down the foocubus after each encounter - they will also never charge you any gold.

Tamed foocubi can be obtained in various manners:

• Activate a figurine of one. The probability of a tame foocubus is ⁴⁄₅ for a blessed figurine, and ¹⁄₅ otherwise.
• Polymorph an already-tamed pet into a foocubus, though this is very unreliable.
• Gate in a foocubus by attacking a monster bare-handed while polymorphed into a major demon; note that you have a ⁵⁄₆ chance to gate in a demon of the same type as your current form, and that foocubi cannot gate demons themselves.

Once the foocubus becomes cancelled, you can abandon or polymorph it as you like - the resulting monster will still be cancelled, so you cannot polymorph it back into a useful foocubus, and the new form may also be less effective.

Safe seduction

There are several ways a foocubus can kill you outright, though they are generally easy to avoid. Nevertheless, a player should remain aware of the following:

• Be cautious when using levitation boots or water walking boots 0 the foocubus may remove them, dropping you into water or lava.
• Female characters should be similarly cautious when wearing a ring of levitation on their left hand, a second ring on their other hand, and carrying a ring of adornment: an incubus may replace the ring of levitation with the ring of adornment.
• If you are riding a flying steed (such as a dragon) over open water or lava, and they are the opposite gender of the foocubus, that foocubus may seduce it and remove the saddle, causing you to drown or burn up. Though being seduced yourself is safe in such a situation provided the steed is not of the same sex as you (and thus opposite of the foocubus), it may be more pragmatic to avoid foocubui entirely until you are on land.
• Avoid wielding footrice corpses around foocubi unless you have charisma of 20 or more - they may remove your gloves and leave you stiffed.
• Characters at experience level 1 should stay well away from foocubi, as one of the possible negative outcomes is a level drain. In practice, this means that low-level characters should not kick sinks.
• Always be sure to double-check and put back all of your armor once you and the foocubus are done.
• Always have a backup source of reflection for Medusa's chamber - entering and having a foocubus immediately seduce you and remove your only source of reflection will likely prove fatal.

Removing cursed items

Foocubi can remove any armor, including cursed armor, providing an alternative to nymphs for removing cursed armor. Succubi can also remove cursed rings of adornment from male characters, while incubi can remove any cursed ring from female characters wearing two rings and carrying an additional ring of adornment.

Conducts and other habits

For a pacifist player, a foocubus represents one of the primary means of gaining experience levels still available to them.

Finally, some players that like to prepare for the "demigod bar" may optionally use one of their remaining wishes on a blessed greased figurine of a foocubus of their choice.

History

The incubus and succubus are introduced in NetHack 3.0.0, when the various types of demon were introduced.

From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on these versions, a foocubus will not account for whether or not you are wearing gloves when they put on or remove a ring of adornment; applying a mirror to have it stolen would also only work on succubi. The current behavior for mirrors and rings of adornment are introduces in NetHack 3.6.0.

In NetHack 3.4.3, earlier versions and variants, foocubi were one of many monsters utilized in drain for gain strategies.

From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.6.0 (including some variants), the outcome calculation also uses uncapped attributes, making it possible to guarantee a positive result with a combined INT and CHA of at least 34; the current calculation method is introduced in NetHack 3.6.1.

Origin

The incubus and succubus are folkloric demons or entities that seek out sexual intercourse with sleeping humans of the opposite gender, with parallels in many cultures. Some tales and sources state that repeat encounters with either an incubus or succubus may result in the deterioration of health, an impaired mental state, or even death; others suggest that they may require these encounters in order to survive.

The incubus and succubus of NetHack are primarily derived from Dungeons & Dragons, where succubi appear in all editions; incubi were first introduced by a 3.5e article in Dragon issue #353, titled "Demonomicon of Iggwilv: Malcanthet". Incubi and succubi are shapechanging demons that dwell in the Abyss, and seek to seduce and tempt mortals and ultimately slay them, then take their life energy back to the Abyss; they were often found in the service of many other evil beings. In their true form, they appear as stunningly beautiful humans of statuesque 6-feet builds and perfect figures, with flawless skin and typically red or raven-black hair; they also have clawed fingers and large dark-hued or reddish bat-like wings on their backs, as well as possibly small horns and/or a tail.

Succubi and incubi are described as lusty creatures, as in many real-word folkloric traditions, and manipulate other lower demons using wits and threats; their trademark deadly kiss could drain victims of a level, and they have many other abilities, including charming, ESP, and even demon gating, that their NetHack counterparts often lack. Incubi and succubi were rarely seen in these true forms, as they often used their shapechanging to assume a humanoid form and could maintain it for as long as they liked. More recent editions posit that incubi and succubi are wholly separate species, with the former being significantly rarer; others note that their shapechanging powers allow them to each shift into the other with ease, though most had a preference for one or the other.

Other messages

The dishwasher returns!

A foocubus appeared as a result of you kicking a sink.

Shame on you!

You tried to apply a saddle to a foocubus of either gender; this abuses wisdom.

The <foo>cubus cajoles you.

You chatted to a foocubus of your gender.

You're such a <sweet lady/nice guy>; I wish...

The foocubus failed to initiate an encounter, and teleports away if possible.

Time stands still while you and <the foocubus> lie in each other's arms...

The foocubus initiates an encounter, leading to one of the effects #Positive effects

You seem to have enjoyed it more than <the foocubus>...

You experienced a positive effect from the encounter.

<The foocubus> seems to have enjoyed it more than you...

You experienced a negative effect from the encounter.

It's on the house!

You had no gold in open inventory for the foocubus to take after an encounter.

Variants

Some variants give the foocubi's seduction attack to additional monsters as well.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, polymorphing into a foocubus sets your charisma to 18.

A gypsy telling your fortune can pull the 4 of trumps (The Lovers), which generates a foocubus of the opposite sex.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, an incubus and a succubus appear in a 'brothel' on the home level of the Pirate quest. Foocubi of both genders may also appear in the audience of a throne room ruled by an orc of the ages of stars.

An encounter with a foocubus is one of many possible options for a starting Madperson to remove their cursed straitjacket.

Encyclopedia entry

The incubus and succubus are male and female versions of the same demon, one who lies with a human for its own purposes, usually to the detriment of the mortals who are unwise in their dealings with them.

See also

• The NetHack Incubus and Succubus Spoiler

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