Lycanthropy
Lycanthropy is an intrinsic conveyed by being bitten by a werecreature – a werejackal, wererat, or werewolf.[1] It is also conveyed by eating the corpse of one of the above; if you are human, this is considered cannibalism. The intrinsic transforms you into the animal form at regular intervals; quaffing a potion of unholy water will immediately cause you to shift to your animal form. While in this form, you can also use #monster to call for help, which summons a few monsters of the same species as your animal form. Polymorphing will toggle between forms.
Contents
Strategy
Lycanthropy is generally considered undesirable; animal forms have low carrying capacity, and werewolves will destroy their shirt, cloak, and body armor when transforming to animal form. As lycanthropes are also silver-hating creatures, if a player character is given lycanthropy, they will take silver damage like other lycanthropes; additionally, they cannot handle any silver-based items in either form, and any silver items being worn or wielded will be forcibly dropped, with 1d10 points of damage dealt for each silver item. As of 3.6.0, this check will also cause the player to "retouch" everything in their inventory, meaning that they may also take artifact blast damage as well if they are carrying any cross-aligned or cross-role artifacts.
Lycanthropy does have some benefits, however - it confers drain resistance while in animal form, and you have the option of summoning many tame pets. If you wear an amulet of unchanging, or have polymorph control from wearing or eating a ring of polymorph control, you may avoid transforming into your animal form as long as you are conscious and not stunned, asleep, or confused, leaving no adverse effects.
Prevention and cure
To prevent catching lycanthropy when bitten, you can wear a ring of protection from shape changers, or reduce the chance with magic cancellation.
To remove lycanthrophy, you can pray to your god, as it counts as a major problem.[2] You can also eat a sprig of wolfsbane[3] or quaff a potion of holy water.[4][5] If none of these options are available, an amulet of unchanging or ring of polymorph control will keep the intrusive changes under control. You can force yourself to transform back into your normal form by letting yourself take damage; when you reach zero HP in your animal form, you transform back to normal temporarily.
Summoning fellow monsters
While in animal form, using the #monster command will call for help by summoning a few monsters of the same species, the same as the enemy werecreature's skill (e.g. using #monster so as a werejackal will call jackals, coyotes and foxes). Calling for help with #monster requires some power – the same kind that the character uses for spellcasting – and if you don't have enough power, you cannot summon any monsters. This can pose a bit of a problem for very low-level characters.
The monsters summoned by using the command are considered pets and will remain tame even after you have returned to human form or are cured. This can be used to acquire a very large number of pet jackals, rats, or wolves over the course of several transformations, which can easily be polymorphed into much better pets; at bare minimum, they can serve as temporary meatshields.
SLASH'EM
The lycanthrope is a starting race in SLASH'EM that always begins with the lycanthropy intrinsic, though you are automatically a werewolf, and cannot choose to be any other werecreature. However, unlike characters that have been bitten by a werewolf, natural Lycanthropes will remove their armor before transforming, rather than destroy it (unless it is cursed).
In addition, the doppelganger race gains intrinsic polymorph control by reaching level 9, allowing them to mitigate the side effects in a manner similar to wearing the ring.
Messages
- You feel feverish.
- You were given lycanthropy from a werecreature's bite.
- You can't handle your foo!
- The player was wielding a silver weapon at the time they were given lycanthropy, and is forced to drop it.
- You lack the energy to send forth a call for help!
- You tried to use the #monster command while shifted to your animal form, but do not have enough power.
- You feel purified.
- You successfully cured yourself of lycanthropy.
References
- ↑ In general use, the word "lycanthrope" (from ancient Greek λύκος (lýkos, "wolf"), άνθρωπος (ánthropos, "man")) simply means "werewolf", but in D&D, which NetHack heavily borrows from, the term is extended to apply to all shape-shifting were-creatures.
- ↑ pray.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 169
- ↑ eat.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 1681
- ↑ potion.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 467: Code path for chaotics
- ↑ potion.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 483: Code path for nonchaotics
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