Dispater

& Dispater
Difficulty	40
Attacks	Weapon 4d6, spell-casting

& Dispater
Difficulty	40
Attacks	Weapon 4d6, spell-casting
Base level	36
Base experience	1923
Speed	15
Base AC	−2
Base MR	80
Alignment	15 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	Unique
Genocidable	No
Weight	1500
Nutritional value	500
Size	Medium
Resistances	Fire, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
Dispater: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. can see invisible creatures. is poisonous to eat. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. is a demon. is an overlord to its kind. is male. is normally generated hostile. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. can pick up weapons and food. wants the Amulet of Yendor. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. appears only in Gehennom. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line2704

Dispater, &, is one of the many demon princes that can appear in NetHack. Like all demon princes and lords, he is covetous and capable of flying, and will attempt to steal the Amulet of Yendor if you possess it.

In addition to the standard demon ruler traits of fire and poison resistance, Dispater has a decently strong weapon attack and powerful mage monster spells—up to and including curse items, summon nasties, and the touch of death.

Dispater has the fourth-highest monster difficulty and experience point yield in the game behind Baalzebub.

Generation

Dispater is one of three demon princes without his own lair in Gehennom, with the other two being Geryon and Demogorgon. Under normal circumstances, Dispater will only appear if summoned via the summon nasties monster spell being cast in Gehennom, or being gated in by another demon prince (e.g., Asmodeus, Baalzebub or Geryon). It is also possible for him to appear in a bones file.

Dispater is always generated with a wand of striking.

Strategy

Being lawful, Dispater can be bribed for safe passage with a portion of your visible gold - if you are wielding Excalibur at the time of his appearance, refuse him when he asks, or else he cannot see where you are due to displacement, he will become hostile.

Dispater is a rather dangerous spellcaster in spite of his relatively poor AC (surpassed by water demons and horned devils). He has a lot of hit points, a high MR score of 80, and 15 speed. However, he will always use his wand of striking first, which should be no danger to any player at that point.

With that in mind, even if you possess magic resistance, it is still best to kill Dispater as quickly as possible if he appears—his magic is far more annoying to contend with once his wand is spent, and using shock damage against him may prematurely destroy the wand. Players going for speed ascensions should bribe Asmodeus and Baalzebub or else deal with them quickly before he can be gated, although it is still possible for the Wizard of Yendor to summon him if he gets a chance.

Some extinctionist players may want to have a hasted Asmodeus or Baalzebub gate him in if they plan to eradicate all unique monsters.

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.

Wielding Demonbane prevents bribery as Excalibur does.

Per commit 2288452, monsters will remember players resistances and reflection and adjust their attacks accordingly - if Dispater sees that his wand of striking is rendered ineffective by your magic resistance, he will stop using it and become a nuisance far quicker than he would otherwise.

Origin

The NetHack incarnation of Dispater is derived from his portrayal in Dungeons & Dragons source books, where he is a unique archdevil—this is in turn based on Dīs Pater, a Roman god of the underworld later subsumed by Pluto or the Greek Hades. Originally a chthonic god of riches, fertile agricultural land, and underground mineral wealth, he was later commonly equated with the Roman underworld deities Pluto and Orcus.

In Dungeons & Dragons, Dispater's appearance is that of a handsome human about 2 meters (ca. 7 feet) tall, with two small horns, a tail and a cloven left hoof—this is partially reflected in NetHack, where he is human-sized and the default tileset portrays him with his horns and tail. He is also known to carry a powerful rod that symbolizes his authority, and also acts as a staff of striking—this is why he always generates with a wand of striking.

The "City of Dis" mentioned in the encyclopedia entry is derived from Dispater's appearance in the Inferno, where the infernal city under his rule made up the entire sixth circle of Hell. Some variants of NetHack add a lair inspired by the City.

History

Dispater was introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.

Variants

Many variants give Dispater his own lair in Gehennom.

In the Lethe patch, Dispater has his own lair, and sits on a throne at the eastern end of the level past a river of Lethe water.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, all demon princes have lairs. Dispater's lair is located between levels 10 and 15 of Gehennom, and Dispater himself waits near the center of the long winding hallway contained within the maze. Since wands in SLASH'EM start with more charges, it will take him longer to exhaust his wand of striking, giving the player more time to kill him before he starts casting spells.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, Dispater occupies a throne in the center of the citadel of Dis, and is a far tougher opponent with a much higher AC that favors the curse items and turn to stone monster spells while being immune to stoning himself. He also possess a corrosive touch attack and an armor-rusting passive, and his artifact weapon, the Rod of Dis, adds +1d8 damage to his attacks and can stun the player.

Dispater should not be confronted without several lizard corpses in open inventory, as characters that begin to stiffen have only a few turns to eat one before becoming a statue—free action can buy players an additional 3 turns to act.

Encyclopaedia entry

The Roman ruler of the underworld and fortune, similar to the Greek Hades. Every hundred years, the Ludi Tarentini were celebrated in his honor. The Gauls regarded Dis Pater as their ancestor. The name is a contraction of the Latin Dives, "the wealthy", Dives Pater, "the wealthy father", or "Fater Wealth". It refers to the wealth of precious stone below the earth.

[ Encyclopedia Mythica, ed. M.F. Lindemans ]