High priest
@ high priest 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 30 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 4d10, Kick 2d8, spell-casting (clerical), spell-casting (clerical) |
| Base level | 25 |
| Base experience | 1054 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 7 |
| Base MR | 70 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Human |
| Resistances | Fire, shock, sleep, poison |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
A high priest:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2408 |
A high priest or high priestess, @, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. They are humans that act as the head of all religious activities related to a given deity.
High priests have the same weapon attack as aligned priests along with a stronger kick attack, and can cast two spells per round from the full list of clerical monster spells. They have fire resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, and poison resistance.
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.
High priests are now referred to as "high clerics".Generation
Four high priests are guaranteed to appear in the game: the high priest of Moloch that tends to Moloch's Sanctum, and the three high priests for each deity of the player's pantheon, who appear in their High Temples on the Astral Plane. In addition to those four, aligned priests can grow up to become high priests.[1][2]
The high priests on the Astral Plane are always generated peaceful, and will remain that way unless you provoke them. The high priest of Moloch is likewise generated peaceful, but will become hostile once you enter the temple.
Inventory
Like aligned priests, high priests are generated with a mace, small shield, 20–29 zorkmids, and one of the following cloaks: a robe (6⁄7 chance), cloak of protection (2⁄21 chance), or cloak of magic resistance (1⁄21 chance).[3] Those generated normally within temples additionally receive 2–4 spellbooks, and their cloaks are uncursed if the temple is co-aligned with you and cursed otherwise.[4] The high priest of Moloch will also have the Amulet of Yendor in their possession.
Strategy
High priests are much more difficult to take on compared to regular aligned priests, due to powerful physical attacks and access to the full list of clerical monster spells, including paralyze, curse items and geyser. Thankfully, the high priest of Moloch holds the Amulet and is typically the only one you will have to actually fight - the other high priests on the Astral Plane pose no threat to you unless they are subjected to conflict.
High priest of Moloch
Players tend to save a wand of death charge for the purpose of killing the high priest of Moloch, as they present a major obstacle otherwise: Moloch will fire rays of lightning at you each time you attack his high priest, and the priest's melee-range attacks and clerical spells may spell as mentioned above. They can generate with a cloak of magic resistance and have an MR score of 70, with the cloak all but forcing you to get up close and personal regardless.
As mentioned above, the high priest of Moloch only becomes hostile once you step into the temple - in other words, killing them from the outside before they become angry is murder for lawful and neutral characters. Make sure you are prepared for the fight before opening the door, even if you plan to step back out and/or zap them with a death ray.
For players dealing with a magic-resistant high priest, a means of stoning them such as a footrice corpse or egg can prove a useful alternative. Otherwise, they should have a source of magic resistance on hand, as well as possibly half spell damage, to blunt or negate the impact of certain spells (e.g. paralyze and curse items). Summon insects will be a mild annoyance at worst, the blind spell is trivial to cure, and you should already have shock resistance and fire resistance to negate damage from lightning and fire pillar spells, though they can still destroy inventory.
History
The high priests are introduced in NetHack 3.1.0, which also introduces the modern Astral Plane and Moloch's Sanctum.
From NetHack 3.1.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, monsters' covetous behavior towards the Amulet of Yendor could be exploited to obtain it from the high priest of Moloch: By luring a covetous monster such as the Wizard of Yendor or any of the demon lords and princes into the Sanctum, they would teleport to the high priest, engage and hopefully kill them, and take the Amulet before warping back to attack you, all without you having to leave the vicinity of the staircase.
References
- ↑ src/mondata.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1008
- ↑ "funcrunch", Priest promoted to high priest? rec.games.roguelike.nethack, 17 April 2008.
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 689
- ↑ src/priest.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 259
