Orc (monster class)

For other uses, see Orc.

Orcs are a monster class that appear in NetHack of monsters represented by a lowercase letter o. All orcs are, unsurprisingly, orcish.

The orc monster class contains the following monsters:

• o goblin
• o hobgoblin
• o orc
• o hill orc
• o Mordor orc
• o Uruk-hai
• o orc shaman
• o orc-captain

Common traits

Unlike player orcs, monsters in the orc monster class lack poison resistance.

Orcs attacking you while you are riding have a ¹⁄₂ chance of hitting your steed versus the standard ¹⁄₄ chance for other monsters - a comment in the source code explains this as orcs liking to "steal and eat horses".

Wielding Sting or Orcrist will warn you of any orcs on the current level.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

As part of resolving issue #679 regarding congruence between non-player monsters and their player counterparts, commit b6a3d4b makes it so that polyself into a strong orcish monster caps strength at 18/50 to match that of player orcs, and additionally gives poison resistance to all orcs except the goblin and hobgoblin - this is done in order to distinguish them from the other orcs.

Generation

Orcs may generate peaceful towards chaotic characters, but will always be hostile to player elves. All orcs except for "plain" orcs can be encountered via random generation.

Most orcs have a default ¹⁄₂ chance of generating with an orcish helm, and a separate ¹⁄₂ chance of being given an orcish dagger or a scimitar, with an equal chance for each weapon. Goblins will always receive an orcish dagger if they generate with a weapon; Mordor orcs, Uruk-Hai and orc captains have their own designated cases governing their starting inventory.

Orcs are throne room monsters, and many of them can appear among the members of its "court" - looting a throne while confused and carrying gold if there no chest on the level can also randomly generate hobgoblins and other orcs.

"Orcish Town" is a variant of Minetown overrun by orcs, with the usual inhabitants all dead - the level contains numerous named orcs within and outside the walls (including "plain" orcs), and all of them will be generated as hostile. In a game with Orcish Town, more named orcs can be encountered throughout the Gnomish Mines and the Dungeons of Doom, carrying loot that would normally be found in Minetown: this includes weapons such as armor from the watch, the watch captain's long sword or silver saber, and even candles normally sold by Izchak to ensure there is a source of candles for the Candelabrum of Invocation later on.

Strategy

Individually, goblins and orcs are generally easy targets unless you happen across one with a very powerful weapon or a wand. Orcs often appear in groups, however - even then their strength is not too great, but the poisoned weapons of stronger orcs may catch you unaware and lead to an untimely death. Poison resistance and crowd-control tactics such as the following can make battles against them much easier:

• Lure the orcs into a corridor to avoid being surrounded and fighting more than one or two at a time.
• If weakened, climb the staircase and wait until you heal, then return to the level to kill the remaining orcs.
• Engrave Elbereth and scatter the orcs while you pick them off.

Variants

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM introduces several new orcs to the monster class:

• o war orc
• o great orc
• o snow orc
• o demon orc
• o Grund the Orc King

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, orcs hold a grudge against elves, and will attack each other if they meet.

The deep orc is introduced as a new orc.

Origin

The orcs of NetHack are derived from Dungeons & Dragons, which in turn are based on their portrayal in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Encyclopedia entry

Orcs, bipeds with a humanoid appearance, are related to the goblins, but much bigger and more dangerous. The average orc is only moderately intelligent, has broad, muscled shoulders, a short neck, a sloping forehead and a thick, dark fur. Their lower eye-teeth are pointing forward, like a boar's.
Female orcs are more lightly built and bare-chested. Not needing any clothing, they do like to dress in variegated apparels. Suspicious by nature, orcs live in tribes or hordes. They tend to live underground as well as above ground (but they dislike sunlight). Orcs can use all weapons, tools and armors that are used by men. Since they don't have the talent to fashion these themselves, they are constantly hunting for them. There is nothing a horde of orcs cannot use.

[ Het Boek van de Regels; Het Oog des Meesters ]