Dwarf thief

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A dwarf thief, h, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. They are a type of dwarf similar to the standard dwarf.

Dwarf thieves and share the same attributes and weapon attack as standard dwarves in NetHack (as opposed to the two weapon attacks such dwarves have in SLASH'EM) - they also have a theft attack that works similarly to that of a nymph, with a successful theft causing them to teleport away afterwards (though they do not possess or convey teleportitis).

Generation

Dwarf thieves are not randomly generated, though they are a valid form for polymorph. A normally-generated dwarf thief will always be hostile.

SLASH'EM

Each variant of Minetown will always generate a pair of dwarf thieves at level creation.

Like other live dwarves, a dwarf thief can be generated with each of the following items:[1]

SlashTHEM

SlashTHEM includes all variants of Minetown present in SLASH'EM, where two dwarf thieves are generated at level creation as usual. Of the new variants of Minetown that are available, three of them each generate a dwarf thief at level creation: Zoo Town, Creek Town and Ruined & Dangerous Town.

The dwarf thief's starting inventory is the same as in SLASH'EM.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, each variant of Minetown imported from SLASH'EM will always generate a pair of dwarf thieves at level creation - Hack'EM also includes Zoo Town and the dwarf thief generated at level creation.

Like other live dwarves (minus racial monsters), a dwarf thief can be generated with each of the following items:

  • A 67 chance of a pair of dwarvish boots and an independent 67 chance of a dwarvish cloak.
  • A 14 chance of a dwarvish helm and either a dwarvish short sword (45 chance) or a dwarvish bearded axe (15 chance), combined with an equal probability of either of the following:
    • A dwarvish mattock, or
    • A dwarvish roundshield paired with either a dwarvish spear or an axe, with an equal probability for each weapon.
    • Dwarf thieves that receive a dwarvish iron helm also have a further 13 chance of receiving dwarvish chain mail.
  • Dwarf thieves that are not given a dwarvish short sword and dwarvish iron helm will instead receive either a pick-axe (13 chance) or a dagger (23 chance).

Strategy

Dwarf thieves tend to have better AC than the nymphs they replace in Minetown, and can inflict damage outside of stealing items from you. Thankfully, they only have one theft attack and cannot charm you into disrobing - they also cannot teleport unless they steal successfully, and move at half the speed of a nymph, making them considerably easier to track down and kill.

Dwarf thieves can be a source of dwarvish mithril-coats (or dwarvish chain mail in Hack'EM) as well as pick-axes for lawful, dwarvish and gnomish characters that do not want to risk their pet's well-being or a huge hit to alignment record by attacking peaceful dwarves.

References