Difference between revisions of "Vampire (monster class)"
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{{main|Vampire (starting race in SLASH'EM)}} | {{main|Vampire (starting race in SLASH'EM)}} | ||
| − | Vampires are a starting [[race]] in [[SLASH'EM]]. In addition, there are | + | Vampires are a starting [[race]] in [[SLASH'EM]]. In addition, there are four new vampires added to the monster class: |
* {{monsymlink|Vampire mage}}, a spellcaster who notably has access to the [[summon nasties]] spell on top of three attack per turn, including a stronger claw and bite that can drain levels. | * {{monsymlink|Vampire mage}}, a spellcaster who notably has access to the [[summon nasties]] spell on top of three attack per turn, including a stronger claw and bite that can drain levels. | ||
* {{monsymlink|Fire vampire}}, which is a [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraftian]] alien rather than undead, though it shares the vampiric weakness to silver. Fire vampires can use unreflectable fireball attacks, move twice as fast as a normal hero, and have five attacks per turn, including fiery touches. | * {{monsymlink|Fire vampire}}, which is a [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraftian]] alien rather than undead, though it shares the vampiric weakness to silver. Fire vampires can use unreflectable fireball attacks, move twice as fast as a normal hero, and have five attacks per turn, including fiery touches. | ||
* {{monsymlink|Star vampire}}, which is another extraterrestrial from Lovecraft's works, and similarly weak to silver. They lack the fire vampire's speed and any elemental affinity, but can attack six times per turn with three drain life attacks mixed in. | * {{monsymlink|Star vampire}}, which is another extraterrestrial from Lovecraft's works, and similarly weak to silver. They lack the fire vampire's speed and any elemental affinity, but can attack six times per turn with three drain life attacks mixed in. | ||
| + | * {{monsymlink|Count Dracula}}, the [[Undead Slayer]] [[quest nemesis]] and another monster based on the 1897 Bram Stoker novel ''Dracula''. | ||
Player vampires and players [[polymorph]]ed into undead vampires can fly and do not need to breathe, but they cannot eat solid food and have to rely on fresh blood from corpses as their only food source; they may also get nutrition from combat using their ''bite'' attack in combat. If they wait too long, the blood will ''coagulate'', becoming useless as a nutrition source. While blood consumed in this manner provides a very small nutritional value, the drained corpses are still eligible for sacrifice, reducing the need to weigh staying full against sacrificing. The usual penalties apply for draining other [[Human (monster attribute)|humans]], as well as [[dog]]s and [[cat]]s. | Player vampires and players [[polymorph]]ed into undead vampires can fly and do not need to breathe, but they cannot eat solid food and have to rely on fresh blood from corpses as their only food source; they may also get nutrition from combat using their ''bite'' attack in combat. If they wait too long, the blood will ''coagulate'', becoming useless as a nutrition source. While blood consumed in this manner provides a very small nutritional value, the drained corpses are still eligible for sacrifice, reducing the need to weigh staying full against sacrificing. The usual penalties apply for draining other [[Human (monster attribute)|humans]], as well as [[dog]]s and [[cat]]s. | ||
Revision as of 22:51, 22 August 2022
- For the monster, see Vampire.
The vampire is a monster class in NetHack represented by an uppercase V glyph (V). The class contains the following monsters:[1]
- V vampire
- V vampire lord
- V Vlad the Impaler
- V vampire mage (deferred monster)
Vampires are designated internally by the macro S_VAMPIRE.[2]
Contents
Common traits
Vampires are human undead - they are breathless, capable of flying and regeneration, and possess sleep resistance and poison resistance; all vampires have a characteristic life-draining bite, and will follow you to other levels if on an adjacent square. Vampires are chaotic-aligned and are vulnerable to silver weapons.
Non-unique vampires can polymorph at will into vampire bats or fog clouds - vampire lords can additionally shapeshift into wolves. They often turn into their animal forms when outside of the player's sight, and shift into fog cloud form to flow under locked or inaccessible doors; if killed in either of these forms, they will resurrect in vampire form.
Standing on any altar scares vampires, similar to standing on Elbereth or a scroll of scare monster.[3]
Players in the form of a vampire will turn into vampire bats if they polymorph without polymorph control. Human characters killed by a member of the vampire class arise as a vampire instead of a ghost in any bones file that is created.[4]
Strategy
Vampires often make for annoying fights, due to their ability to rob you of experience levels unless you have drain resistance, e.g. from an artifact weapon like Excalibur; MC3 is the next best option in the event you lack this resistance. Vlad the Impaler is the worst offender by far, due to his high speed and covetous behavior.
As pets
Vampires are decently strong as pets, with vampire lords being significantly popular choices - vampires need only two levels to grow up into vampire lords. However, pet vampires will shapeshift as normal unless you are wearing a ring of protection from shape changers - in their other forms, they are weak fighters that cannot wear armor, and will break body armor if they shift into wolves. A tame vampire will not shapeshift back to humanoid form unless killed or forced back to normal by the ring of protection from shapechangers - players planning to keep vampire pets should identify this ring as soon as possible.
Vampires' huamnoid forms are their strongest by far, with good base AC and access to all armor giving them the potential for high survivability. However, their silver weakness and lack of elemental resistances can easily work against them.
As a polyform
Both available vampire forms are good for players with polymorph control - they can wear armor and wield non-silver weapons, and their regeneration, flight, breathlessness, and lack of hunger are all unambiguous boons. The vampire lord is a strictly better choice in all respects, with slightly more AC and speed. The vampires' silver weakness is just as much a danger to you as it is to other vampires, however, and you will need to avoid engaging certain monsters such as cockatrices in melee.
Messages
For the purpose of these messages, a vampire regards you as "kindred" if you are in the form of a vampire yourself, and considers you a "night child" if you are in the form of a wolf (including winter wolves and their cubs).
The following five messages occur if you chat to a tame vampire in its humanoid form:
- Good evening to you Master!
- You are kindred, and it is night.
- Good day to you Master. Why do we not rest?
- You are kindred, and it is day.
- <Child of the night,> I can stand this craving no longer!
- It is midnight, with the prefixed message occurring if you are in wolf form.
- <Child of the night,> I beg you, help me satisfy this growing craving!
- As above during the night, but it is not midnight.
- <Child of the night,> I find myself growing a little weary.
- As above, but it is day.
These messages occur if you chat to a peaceful vampire:
- Good feeding <brother/sister>!
- You are kindred, and it is night.
- How nice to hear you, child of the night!
- You are a night child, and it is night.
- I only drink... potions.
- You are neither kindred nor a night child, or it is day time.
These messages occur when chatting to a hostile vampire:
- This is my hunting ground that you dare to prowl!
- You are kindred.
- <Young> Fool! Your silver sheen does not frighten me!
- You are polymorphed into a silver dragon; "Young" is appended if you are polymorphed into a baby silver dragon.
For chatting to hostile vampires in other forms, one of the two following sets of messages is randomly chosen, with the first set depending on your body parts:
- I vant to suck your life force!
- You are polymorphed into a sphere or vortex.
- I vant to suck your juices!
- You are polymorphed into a jelly or fungus.
- I vant to suck your blood!
- You are in a form that is not any of the above.[5]
Otherwise, their response is one of the following:
- I vill come after a <man/woman> without regret!
- You are a human. [6]
- I vill come after a <race> without regret!
- You are polymorphed or naturally non-human.
Variants
Many variants add the vampire as a playable race and add the deferred vampire mage to the monster class, often alongside other members.
SLASH'EM
Vampires are a starting race in SLASH'EM. In addition, there are four new vampires added to the monster class:
- V Vampire mage, a spellcaster who notably has access to the summon nasties spell on top of three attack per turn, including a stronger claw and bite that can drain levels.
- V Fire vampire, which is a Lovecraftian alien rather than undead, though it shares the vampiric weakness to silver. Fire vampires can use unreflectable fireball attacks, move twice as fast as a normal hero, and have five attacks per turn, including fiery touches.
- V Star vampire, which is another extraterrestrial from Lovecraft's works, and similarly weak to silver. They lack the fire vampire's speed and any elemental affinity, but can attack six times per turn with three drain life attacks mixed in.
- V Count Dracula, the Undead Slayer quest nemesis and another monster based on the 1897 Bram Stoker novel Dracula.
Player vampires and players polymorphed into undead vampires can fly and do not need to breathe, but they cannot eat solid food and have to rely on fresh blood from corpses as their only food source; they may also get nutrition from combat using their bite attack in combat. If they wait too long, the blood will coagulate, becoming useless as a nutrition source. While blood consumed in this manner provides a very small nutritional value, the drained corpses are still eligible for sacrifice, reducing the need to weigh staying full against sacrificing. The usual penalties apply for draining other humans, as well as dogs and cats.
Undead vampires are often generated with opera cloaks and can provide a valuable method of farming them, especially if they are randomized into the cloak of magic resistance; the tradeoff is the vampires in question being harder to dispatch depending on the cloak, particularly vampire mages. Spells that don't destroy potential loot, such as the acid stream spell, are good substitutes for the usual magic missile in such scenarios.
UnNetHack
As with SLASH'EM, UnNetHack also adds the vampire as a starting race, and randomly generated vampires are also often generated with opera cloaks. The same conditions for player and polyself vampires apply as in SLASH'EM.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, vampires are also a starting race. Pet vampires will drain corpses for nutrition the same way a player vampire does, with similar conditions (i.e. corpses must be less than 3 turns of age and have blood).
References
- ↑ src/monst.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 1843
- ↑ include/monsym.h in NetHack 3.6.6, line 62
- ↑ src/monmove.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 154
- ↑ src/end.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 517
- ↑ This quote comes from the 1994 film Ed Wood, but is commonly mis-attributed to Bela Lugosi's titular character in the 1931 Dracula.
- ↑ This "famous vampire quote" appears to be an oblique allusion to the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, as determined by this RGRN discussion regarding Vlad.
