Homunculus
i homunculus 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 3 |
| Attacks |
Bite 1d3 sleep |
| Base level | 2 |
| Base experience | 19 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 6 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | -7 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 60 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | sleep, poison |
| Resistances conveyed |
poison (7%), sleep (7%) |
|
A homunculus:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line504 |
The homunculus, i, is a monster that appears in NetHack. It is among the earliest minor demons a player may encounter. Its corpse is poisonous and has a small chance of conveying poison or sleep resistance.
Generation
Homonculi will often generate as peaceful for chaotic characters.
Strategy
The sole bite attack is not as dangerous as the floating eye's gaze, but it can put unwary adventurers to sleep, making the homonculus a hazard. It is best to take them out with ranged attacks or bring them down quickly. Sleep resistance will nullify their sleeping bite and make it much safer to fight them hand-to-hand, as they can only do 3 damage at most.
Origin
The homunculus appears in alchemical writings of the sixteenth century as an artificial creation in the shape of a miniature, fully formed human. These are not to be confused with the modern cortical homunculus, which is a distorted scale model of the human body representing its relative brain space.
Encyclopedia entry
A homunculus is a creature summoned by a mage to perform some
particular task. They are particularly good at spying. They
are smallish creatures, but very agile. They can put their
victims to sleep with a venomous bite, but due to their size,
the effect does not last long on humans.
"Tothapis cut him off. 'Be still and hearken. You will travel
aboard the sacred wingboat. Of it you may not have heard; but
it will bear you thither in a night and a day and a night.
With you will go a homunculus that can relay your words to me,
and mine to you, across the leagues between at the speed of
thought.'"
