Ki-rin

A ki-rin
Difficulty	21
Attacks	Kick 2d4, kick 2d4, butt 3d6, spell-casting

A ki-rin
Difficulty	21
Attacks	Kick 2d4, kick 2d4, butt 3d6, spell-casting
Base level	16
Base experience	552
Speed	18
Base AC	−5
Base MR	90
Alignment	15 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Large
Resistances	None
Resistances conveyed	None
A ki-rin: can fly. has no hands. is an animal. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. is a lord to its kind. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line1013

The ki-rin, A, is a monster that appears in NetHack. They are capable of seeing invisible, flight, and spellcasting, and are the second strongest angelic beings after the Archon.

Ki-rin are not eligible forms for polymorph.

Generation

Ki-rin appear very rarely, and may first show up within the Castle - as they cannot generate in Gehennom, most players will encounters them on the ascension run. They will generate as peaceful for a lawful character with a good alignment record, and can appear as minions of lawful gods.

Strategy

Hostile ki-rin are quite dangerous to face - AC of -5, a repertoire of mage monster spells and high monster magic resistance can render them a serious nuisance, especially if they are high enough level to summon nasties or even employ a touch of death. Furthermore, as angelic beings they do not respect sanctuary or Elbereth. Fortunately, they also lack any actual resistances and can potentially be brought down from afar before getting into casting range - interestingly, an applied mirror can still scare them 80% of the time.

Ki-rin are highly sought-after steeds for their flight, base 18 speed, fighting power, and AC by roles capable of advancing the riding skill, to the point that some players will use a wish for a blessed figurine of one. Their MR of 90 makes them very difficult to tame normally, but also ensures they will never buck you off a saddle due to conflict unless they are level drained below 15. Additionally, ki-rin will cast haste self, giving them the same speed as an unhasted warhorse or unicorn.

However, they are inediate and thus cannot have their tameness raised - any non-Knight riding a charmed ki-rin will usually end up untaming it after mounting, kicking, or whipping it five times. As such, non-Knights should not dismount their ki-rin steed unless absolutely necessary, and should ideally have at least Basic in riding skill if at all possible prior to obtaining one.

For Knights, ki-rins are the most ideal steed by far and the most likely to survive a trip through Gehennom, and they are the only role that can reliably keep a tame ki-rin for long amounts of time. However, even a ki-rin will have trouble surviving the Elemental Planes, and their lack of resistances often spells doom on the Plane of Fire.

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.

Ki-rin now have poison resistance, and are no longer considered animals. They also now have the ability to cure themselves using their horns, like unicorn horns. As they do not leave corpses, they do not drop their horns either.

History

The ki-rin and other angelic beings are introduced in NetHack 3.1.0. Before that, the ki-rin, u, appeared in NetHack-- 3.0.10, where it was a part of the quadruped monster class. It was changed to A for its debut in vanilla, and retains this glyph for its appearance in NetHack-- 3.1.3.

In NetHack 3.4.3, ki-rin were able to wear amulets, boots, shields, and gloves despite being animals - this was bug C341-18.

Origin

The ki-rin originates from Chinese mythology, and it is considered benevolent. It resembles a horse- or deer-shaped Asian dragon with deer-like horns.

The name is more often romanized as "qilin".

Variants

Variants based on 3.4.3 that did not fix bug C341-18 may allow a ki-rin to wear additional equipment, including obtaining reflection from an amulet or shield.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, in addition to being able to wear amulets and non-body armor, ki-rin have implicit enchantment resistance and thus require a +3 weapon to hit, while additionally hitting as +3 weapons themselves. This makes them better pets and steeds, as they are immune to most physical attacks, including those from powerful minotaurs and even some demon princes - it also makes them more dangerous should you encounter a hostile one.

Ki-rin are not level-drain or stoning resistant, so an amulet of drain resistance or an amulet versus stone is a good option for their amulet slot. Ki-rin are also given as minions to lawful players, starting at level 13, though minions cannot be saddled or ridden.

EvilHack

EvilHack introduces the eldritch ki-rin, a "fallen" form of ki-rin that serves as a chaotic analogue. As such, they can appear in Gehennom and cannot be tamed by lawful Knights, but are an excellent steed choice for chaotic Knights (who cannot tame normal ki-rin).

Encyclopedia entry

The ki-rin is a strange-looking flying creature. It has
scales, a mane like a lion, a tail, hooves, and a horn. It
is brightly colored, and can usually be found flying in the
sky looking for good deeds to reward.

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.0. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-360}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.