Knight
The knight is one of the player roles in NetHack. Knights are always lawful humans.
Contents
Starting Equipment
- +1 long sword
- +1 lance
- +1 ring mail
- +0 helmet
- +0 small shield
- +0 leather gloves
- 10 to 20 uncursed apples
- 10 to 20 uncursed carrots
Starting pet is always a pony with a saddle.
Abilities
Knights can identify all weapons and non-magical armor from the beginning. They also have a special intrinsic ability to #jump like the knight piece in chess. They are able to #turn undead, and their special spell is turn undead.
- At Experience Level 7 knights gain intrinsic speed.
Skills
| Knight skills | |
|---|---|
| Max | Skills |
| Basic | |
| Skilled |
|
| Expert |
|
Quest
- Main article: Knight quest
The quest monster is a quasit. The quest nemesis is a dragon called Ixoth. He is a rather tough opponent, although he can be dealt with by using Elbereth or paralysis. Knights receive the Magic Mirror of Merlin after the quest, which allows them to become powerful spellcasters.
Code of conduct
There are special rules of conduct for a knight:
Honor in combat
"You caitiff!"
Knights take a -1 alignment penalty for attacking sleeping, paralysed or fleeing monsters (even if the monster continues to attack while fleeing).
If monster is a weak one then it is a good idea to dismount and let your horse finish it: your horse will get an additional HP.
Frugality in food
"You feel like a glutton!"
There is a -1 alignment penalty for eating while satiated.
Honorable Shopping
"You feel like a common thief."
There is a -1 alignment penalty for digging down in a shop.
Strategy
Difficulty
The knight is perhaps the easiest class in the game if you apply the proper tactics. There are more tactics you can use than just fighting on foot with a sword and trading blows with monsters. Knights should joust by fighting mounted, using skillful retreats and the lance's special abilities. Using this tactic, you should be able to deal with Minotaurs, Dragons and ArchDaemons without losing a single hit point.
Since the lance does less damage than the long sword and there is no lance artifact weapon, people playing knights tend to discard the lance and rely on the long sword. However, the ranged attack of the lance (by applying it) and jousting more than compensate. In fact, it is best to use the lance at all times, even when you have an artifact weapon, except when you need the artifact's special ability (eg Excalibur's protection against level draining). At high skill levels the lance is ideal for dealing with situations where you find youself surrounded: every joust (and you will be getting a lot of them) will push a monster one square away, meaning there is one less monster who will attack you this round and possibly allow you to slip away. At base skill levels you will rarely succeed in jousting, so if foes get next to you, jump away. As an aside: you don't get paralyzed when you apply your lance on a floating eye.
To make full use of your lance you need two things: light and speed.
You will be unable to apply your lance if you cannot see your foe. Detecting it by telepathy doesn't work, so having a light source is important.
Speed is more important for a knight than for other classes. If you are faster than your opponent and you joust it, it will be unable to hit back. In this way, you can attack a monster without it ever being able to attack. Being encumbered slows you down and bars you from jumping. Never fight while encumbered; get a bag, put everything you don't need to have on hand for a combat into it, and drop it as soon you see a monster. At 7th level you will become fast, but becoming very fast (eg by getting boots of speed) will make your jousting much more effective.
Don't charge your opponent unless there is a very good reason: it will probably get an attack before you can begin to joust it.
Become invisible: Monsters will detect you only if they move adjacent, but if you stay at a distance of two you will remain undetected (even if carrying a light!) and they will move aimlessly while you apply your lance on them again and again until they are killed.
Care for your lance: Lances are nearly impossible to replace (short of wishing for one) and lances can break. If your luck is good, the probability of it breaking is very low. At the beginning use it only for bashing, not for close combat (specially during a new moon)) until you can increase your luck. You can switch weapons with no time penalty by using the command 'x'. Once you get to Expert skill level with the lance there is no point in useing it on weak monsters; shift to the sword to avoid breaking your lance. Until you can get it rustproofed (or at least covered with grease) don't wear it in places likely to have rusttraps (eg most levels of the Gnome Mines), unless you have a supply of potions of oil.
Care for your horse: You don't want to mount your pony as soon you enter the dungeon, because there is a high probability you will fall and lose 14 of your 16 initial HP, and you also want your pony kill some newts and jackals in order to build more hit points. Wait until you are at least level 2 or 3 before you mount it. If you find a harmless monster like a yellow mold or a lichen, then dismount and let your pony dispatch it. If your horse has been repeatedly hit and you are mounted, flee. If you aren't mounted but you have a magic whistle, use it to get your horse out of danger. Get a stethoscope as soon as possible. If your horse is low on hit points then look for a safe place (telepathy is great for checking if there are no monsters around), remove your armor and cast healing spells on him ( direction is ">" if you are mounting it). As soon as you can see invisible or get telepathy then make your horse invisible; monsters will attack it less. You start with a dozen apples and carrots; these are not for you but for your horse. An apple or carrot will keep you fed for only a few turns but will keep your horse fed for as long as a full ration would for you. If you are starving, pray instead of eating the apples if you are able to. Feed the horse the apples first as carrots can be used to cure blindness. Happy horses are more likely to steal from shops and nothing makes a horse happier than an apple or carrot. Reward your the first or second time it steals something, but not any more than that. You need to save the food for your horse in case you can't find any more. If your horse ever comes close to starvation ("you feel concerned about your hose" or "your horse is confused from hunger"), you must heal it as soon as possible after feeding it; a starving horse has his maximum HP reduced to one quarter from the original. Feeding him restores his maximum HP but not his current HP which remains at the very low amount they had. Don't miss the opportunity to tame a second horse (by throwing it an apple). If it is more powerful than your current horse then dismount, move adjacent to your saddled horse, #loot towards it in order to remove his saddle, then move adjacent to the new one, apply the saddle towards it and ride it.
Take care of your saddle: If your saddle becomes cursed and you aren't riding you will be unable to mount your horse, and if you are riding then you can't dismount. Reading a spell of remove curse or zapping a wand of cancellation downwards doesn't work. Only a praying to your god will dismount you. Once you get holy water potions to spare it is a good idea to use one of them to bless your saddle. It is best to use your lance and speed to keep monsters that curse from ever coming in contact with you. Your saddle's worst nemesis is black dragons. By the time you meet one of them you will probably be immune to disinteration, but your horse won't be, and the saddle will suffer his fate. Saddles are nearly as difficult to replace as lances. It is usually a good idea to quickly close with black dragons, joust them and then finish them before they recover.
External links
- Knight FAQ (unfinished)
