EvilHack

From NetHackWiki
Revision as of 01:00, 28 September 2020 by K2 (talk | contribs) (Weapons: heavy war hammer update)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This article is about the variant. For diabolical feature ideas, see Evil Patch Idea.

EvilHack is a variant initially based on NetHack 3.6.2, created by Keith Simpson (also known as User:K2). Work began on October 20th 2018, and was released for public play in April of 2019 on the Hardfought public NetHack servers. The Github repository for EvilHack can be found at https://github.com/k21971/EvilHack; a direct link to the change log can be found here, and is updated on a regular basis. The latest build of EvilHack incorporates the official release build of NetHack 3.6.6 (EvilHack version 0.6.0, last build Fri Sep 4 04:46:38 2020 UTC - git commit 66d6678). To download the official release (version 0.6.0), which includes windows binaries, visit this link.

About

EvilHack was designed from the outset to be a much more difficult game to win than vanilla NetHack. The inspiration for this game mainly comes from the variants GruntHack and SporkHack, incorporating many of the same features that make those variants difficult in their own right. Some of those features have remained the same (for example, SporkHack's reflection changes), but many have been altered to set them apart and provide the player with a new experience. Elements from other variants have been included as well, such as from Slash'EM, SpliceHack, UnNetHack, and xNetHack. There is also a significant amount of custom content that has been developed that is not found in any other variant. In the near future, much more custom content will be added, mainly in the way of optional branch quests.

It is not impossible to ascend EvilHack (there have been a handful of ascensions already as of this writing, see this page at the NetHack Scoreboard for a listing), but there are several aspects of this game that the player might take for granted from vanilla NetHack that can easily end a promising run. In general, monsters are tougher and have more hit points, they can fight more intelligently, and they can and will use a variety of items and spells against you that previously only the player could use. Players that lean heavily on using Elbereth will need to re-think their strategy, especially during the early game. Some improvements have been made for the player as well, so there is an attempt at balancing game play, but overall, this variant will be a significant challenge for even the seasoned player.

Special thanks

From the variant author – a special thank you to community members Tangles, aosdict, AntiGulp, NCommander, jonadab, Demo, hothraxxa, jt, elenmirie, raisse, Grasshopper, ShivanHunter, Ogomt, riker, amateurhour, microlance, mobileuser, Tomsod, various members of the DevTeam, and everyone else who play tested and provided invaluable feedback and code fixes. EvilHack would not have progressed as far as it has without their help and constructive criticism.

Major changes

Example of HTML dumplog output.

Below is a quick list of the more obvious or significant changes in EvilHack compared to vanilla NetHack:

  • Random dungeon levels are more varied and distinct.
  • Gehennom is no longer a series of mazes, but are mines-style levels with lava. Areas such as the Sanctum and the entrance to the Wizard's tower have also been adjusted.
  • Cerberus guards the entrance to Gehennom.
  • Vlad the Impaler's tower has undergone a complete revamp.
  • A completely new and optional side branch has been created, known as the Ice Queen's Realm, which features new terrain and new monsters that will not spawn anywhere else within the game.
  • The first four Planes levels are randomized and appear in a different order every game.
  • Additional variants of the Castle, Fort Ludios, Mine Town and Mines End have been added.
  • You cannot use Elbereth until you've learned it in-game (via rumor, reading it, etc).
  • Object materials – many objects and items can spawn made from something other than its base material.
  • Object properties – various weapons and armor are sometimes created with magical properties.
  • The mysterious force has been removed.
  • The Rogue level has been removed.
  • Some monsters ride other monsters as steeds, namely The Riders at the endgame.
  • The Gnomish mines have rivers running through them.
  • The Quest can be unlocked by killing the quest leader if you've made them angry.
  • Vlad the Impaler and Medusa have been... enhanced to a certain degree.
  • New player races: centaur, giant, hobbit, and illithid, replete with their own special abilities and restrictions.
  • New player roles: Convict, Infidel.
  • Several role–race combos have been added or unlocked.
  • Gaining intrinsic resistances is no longer binary, but are percentages instead.
  • Reflection is not 100%; it can lessen the effects of an attack it reflects, but will never negate it.
  • Shower of Missiles attack from monsters that utilize it is not completely negated by magic resistance.
  • New artifact weapons (both normal and quest artifacts), and several tweaks to existing artifacts.
  • Players can twoweapon with an artifact in each hand, if those artifacts happen to get along with each other.
  • When sacrificing, your deity may gift you a regular piece of gear instead of an artifact.
  • Sokoban End has more prize variety, with a catch...
  • Shopkeepers can be a variety of different races; your race vs theirs directly affects pricing.
  • Several new objects that the player (and monsters) can use and interact with.
  • Intelligent monsters can use a whole new range of weapons and objects, either defensively or offensively.
  • Unicorn horns no longer cure attribute loss; they can now be wielded in one hand.
  • All dragon scales and dragon scale mail have secondary abilities (as does the source of those scales).
  • A few new spells (some for the player, some for monsters) have been introduced.
  • Spellcasting while wearing body armor will negatively affect your spell success rate.
  • Spell levels have been adjusted; some higher-level spells are now at a lower level, and vice versa.
  • Several new monsters have been added, and several existing monsters have been adjusted – some that used to be considered harmless may now be deadly.
  • All demon lords and princes have their own special level in Gehennom – you will encounter all of them.
  • Player monsters can be encountered throughout the game. They covet the Amulet of Yendor much the same as the Wizard of Yendor, and will try to steal it.
  • Any monster, should it get a hold of the Amulet of Yendor, can and will sacrifice it on an endgame altar.
  • The end of game dumplog can be output in HTML format along with the native default text output (created by User:Tangles).

There are many more changes as well, but the above list will give you a good idea as to what to expect. More in-depth descriptions of various facets of EvilHack can be found below (and will probably be a work-in-progress for quite some time).

Game mechanics

Several aspects of how the game functions have been altered for EvilHack, some minor, and some having a significant impact on how the game plays. Some of these changes will require players to re-think certain strategies that have worked for them in the past for vanilla NetHack.

Elbereth

The player cannot successfully engrave Elbereth until they have learned it in-game first. There is ample feedback given should the player attempt to engrave Elbereth and not be successful because of not having learned it yet. There are several ways the player can 'learn' how to engrave Elbereth – reading it (from an already existing engraving, or from a rumor in a fortune cookie) or hearing it (consultation from the Oracle, whispered to from various artifacts that give rumors). Because of this change, some of the Mines' End levels have a guaranteed engraving that the player can find and read. This plus the closets in Sokoban will most likely be the easiest/fastest way for the player to learn Elbereth.

Reflection

Reflection in EvilHack is partial, meaning that having reflection can minimize the effects of whatever it is that's being reflected, but will not negate it altogether. This currently only affects players, not monsters. Some examples: being hit by a wand of magic missile, some of the ray will reflect, but not all of it, and the player will take reduced damage. Or if hit by a wand of death, the ray is reflected, but the player will take some damage and will 'feel drained', losing a small amount of maximum hit points. Dragon breath behaves the same way, with only some of it being reflected and the damage dealt is reduced, with resistances factored in. Being hit by a black dragon's disintegration breath while not having disintegration resistance – its breath will be reflected, but the player will take some physical damage.

Take note - the magic missile attack employed by Angels, Yeenoghu and the Oracle is no longer negated via magic resistance (half-spell damage reduces its damage output), which means the player will still take damage from this attack type, even with reflection. This alone makes the Astral Plane a very dangerous level. The player should take steps to ensure they do not get surrounded by a group of angels while making their way to the correct high altar.

Partial resistances

Gaining intrinsic resistances from eating corpses is no longer binary (all or none), but is instead incremental, and how much resistance a player gets is based off of the corpses weight. The spread is 5% to 50% resistance gained per corpse – eating a killer bee corpse would confer 5% poison resistance, but eating a green dragon corpse would give 50% of the same. Also, if a corpse can offer multiple resistance, the player will receive all of them, so eating a flesh golem corpse would give an incremental resistance boost to fire/cold/shock/sleep/poison all at once. Tinning corpses 'remembers' its weight, so tinning a couple black dragon corpses is the safest way to get 100% disintegration resistance.

Damage reduction from various attacks is determined by how much partial resistance the player has to it. For instance, having 50% cold resistance means the player will only take half-damage from any cold-based attack. Having 5% disintegration resistance will protect the player from being disintegrated completely, but they will take a substantial amount of physical damage. A note about poison instadeath – it can still occur if the player has less than 35% poison resistance, otherwise instead of an instadeath, they take a significant amount of physical damage based on how much poison resistance the player has.

Intrinsics such as telepathy, teleport control and teleportitis are still binary in nature and are not gained incrementally.

Pets can also gain intrinsics from eating corpses – their method is still all or none and not incremental as it is for the player.

Altar sacrificing

Sacrificing for artifacts has been significantly changed in EvilHack – there is a chance that the your deity will gift you a regular item instead of an artifact. The odds of being gifted an artifact go up as you increase in experience level. At experience level 4, there's a 10% chance for an artifact gift, and the chances increment exponentially from there. By the time you reach experience level 26, if a gift were to be generated, and non-quest artifacts are still available, the chance is 100% to receive an artifact.

Should you receive a regular object instead of an artifact, it will either be a weapon or a piece of armor, and for primary spellcasting types (healer/priest/wizard), there's a chance to receive a spellbook also. The armor or weapon received will always be blessed, enchanted, fixed, and there is a 1 in 8 chance that a desirable object property will be added to that object. Care is taken to ensure that the object gifted is made of a material that will not harm you (elves won't receive anything made of iron, orcs won't receive anything made of mithril). There are also rules in place to make sure your deity doesn't give you something that you can't or wouldn't want to use (read: a wizard getting plate mail).

Prayer timeout and the chances of receiving another gift are affected in the same way as if you had received an actual artifact.

Wishing for artifacts

The same rules apply in regards to wishing for an artifact in EvilHack just as they do in vanilla NetHack - the more artifacts that exist, the lower the chances of successfully wishing for one. One significant difference however, is that the odds are high that when an artifact is wished for, it comes with its owner, and the owner is none too happy about it.

The odds of getting the owner with your very first artifact wish if no other artifacts yet exist, is about 50/50. Any subsequent artifact wishes greatly increase the odds of getting the owner with the artifact. What type of artifact owner should one expect? That depends on what kind of artifact you wish for - if it's a quest artifact, you'll always get the quest leader associated with the quest that artifact is a part of (an exception is made if a Tourist wishes for the Master Key of Thievery, as the Master of Thieves is their quest nemesis). If you wish for a regular artifact, a player monster appears as its owner. Regardless of what type of owner shows up, they are of a high enough level to be taken seriously and will not be easy to defeat, plus the artifact you just wished for will be used by its owner against you. Make sure to be prepared to fight should you decide to make a wish for an artifact.

Take note - various artifacts (Lifestealer, the Magic 8-ball, Butcher, and the Wand of Orcus) can never be wished for, but neither do they count as artifacts that exist when wishing for artifacts, as all are guaranteed to appear in the game.

Sokoban

The only significant change to Sokoban in EvilHack is at the final level. All three closets in the sokoban zoo have a prize behind each door, but you will not be able to tell exactly what that prize is until you pick it up. Once one door is opened, the other two doors disappear and are replaced with a section of wall, cutting off access to those closets. On the off chance more than one door is opened or destroyed and/or a monster has picked up and moved a sokoban prize, once a prize is picked up or touched by you, the other two magically disappear. You can use a potion of object detection, a crystal ball, or the spell detect treasure to see what types of prizes are behind each door, but that will only show you what the object type is, not what it is specifically.

There are two different items that can spawn behind each door, with a 50/50 chance of it being one item or the other. Those items are:

  • Sokoban prize armor – gauntlets of protection or a helm of speed.
  • Sokoban prize amulet – an amulet of reflection or an amulet of magic resistance.
  • Sokoban prize tool – a bag of holding or a magic marker.

Since magic markers will never spawn randomly in-game, sokoban is potentially one of only two sources where a marker is guaranteed to be (the high priest in the Sanctum has the only other guaranteed magic marker).

Gnomish mines

The gnomish mines now have rivers that run through each level, including certain versions of Mine town. The rivers that are created are comprised mostly of pools, but about a quarter of the water tiles created are shallow water instead, which you can walk over without fear of falling in or drowning. These rivers are infested with jellyfish and piranha, which can be a significant hazard to a lower-level player with few hit points. The way that the rivers spawn is somewhat random, just as the mine layout is random. Depending on how the river is generated, you may have an easy time going from the upstairs to the downstairs, or you may find the river blocking easy passage to the next staircase. This will test ones ingenuity and resourcefulness, but there are several means available to navigate around or over these rivers.

There is a 1% chance that instead of a regular river being created, a river of raw sewage is made instead. Sewage is much like shallow water, in that you can easily walk over it without falling in or drowning. However, sewage has its own dangers, and giant cockroaches and giant leeches tend to thrive in raw sewage.

The Quest

If you've made your quest leader angry for whatever reason, this no longer makes the game unwinnable. You can engage them in battle, and if you kill your quest leader, this unlocks the quest. You can then complete your quest as you normally would. Take heed, quest leaders are not weak and can prove formidable to a mid-level player. Also note that your deity isn't exactly thrilled with you killing off your quest leader. Your alignment record can still be in the positive, but if you try any helm of opposite alignment shenanigans when it comes time to sacrifice the amulet of yendor at the endgame... interesting (read: bad) things can happen.

Monster spawn rates

Monster spawn rates will start to increase as you reach various milestones within the game. Normally a new monster will spawn once every 70 turns or so. Here's how that changes:

  • Spawn rates increase to 2× of normal once you pass the castle or if you become crowned.
  • Spawn rates increase to 3× of normal once you pass Juiblex's swamp.
  • Spawn rates increase to 4× of normal once you pass the first wizard's tower level.
  • Spawn rates increase to 6× of normal once the Wizard of Yendor is killed.

And finally, once you've performed the invocation, all denizens of the dungeon are aware of what has happened, and the spawn rate increases to 8× of normal. Nasties will also start to spawn on each levels upstairs as you start to make your way back out of the dungeon with the Amulet of Yendor.

Twoweaponing

Twoweaponing has been changed so that the weight of your offhand weapon combined with your skill in twoweaponing has a significant bearing on how successful you'll be in landing a hit. As you increase your skill in twoweaponing, heavier weapons become a viable option to use in your offhand without penalty. That penalty is −30 to-hit, and you'll receive feedback stating that your offhand weapon is too heavy to wield successfully as you try to use it. Below is a listing of what weights and weapons are acceptable per your skill in twoweaponing:

  • Unskilled – maximum weight of offhand weapon is 20 aum (can use tridents, javelins, crysknives, daggers, unicorn horns, or anything lighter)
  • Basic – maximum weight of offhand weapon is 30 aum (can use short swords, spears, or a mace)
  • Skilled – maximum weight of offhand weapon is 40 aum (can use sabers or long swords)
  • Expert – maximum weight of offhand weapon is 70 aum (can offhand any one-handed weapon)

If playing as a giant, or if wearing gauntlets of power, the maximum weight of your offhand weapon can be 200 aum, meaning you can basically offhand any normal object. Bear in mind that object materials can alter an items base weight – at basic twoweaponing skill you could offhand a normal short sword without penalty, but not a silver short sword, as silver adds extra weight compared to iron (33 aum vs 30 aum). But at the same time, a mithril katana (15 aum) would be perfectly acceptable at the same skill level as mithril is much lighter than any other metal in the game.

Racial shopkeepers

Shopkeepers are no longer limited to just one race (human) – they now have a wide range of races they can spawn as, and what they charge the player for goods sold (and what they agree to pay for items bought) can be affected by their race as well as the players' race. This makes price ID'ing much more dynamic, but also more difficult to predict. The different races that shopkeepers can be are human, elf, dwarf, hobbit, gnome, orc, giant, centaur, nymph, and mind flayer. Below is a detailed matrix explaining the price adjustments the player can expect to see when dealing with various shopkeeper races.

Price adjustment matrix

Shopkeeper's race
Human Elf Dwarf Orc Gnome Mind flayer Centaur Hobbit Nymph Giant
Your race Human ×43 ×10 ×32 ×43
Elf ×12 ×43 ×3 ×10
Dwarf ×43 ×12 ×53 ×10 ×32 ×32
Orc ×43 ×2 ×2 ×13 ×10 ×32 ×3
Gnome ×43 ×12 ×10 ×32 ×43
Illithid ×2 ×2 ×12 ×32 ×43
Centaur ×32 ×10 ×12
Hobbit ×3 ×10 ×12 ×43
Giant ×32 ×10 ×12

Special notes:

  • If the shopkeeper is of some other monster species not listed here, they behave as the Human column indicates.
  • Gnomish shopkeepers additionally increase price ×32 if your Intelligence is less than or equal to 14, or ×43 if it is greater than 14 but less than 18.
  • Master mind flayer shopkeepers sell at a ×20 rate to non-illithids, not ×10.
  • Nymph shopkeepers base their prices on your Charisma with no regard for your race:
    • A wood nymph will increase prices ×43 if your charisma is 15 or higher and ×53 otherwise.
    • A mountain nymph will increase prices ×32 if your charisma is 15 or higher and ×2 otherwise.
    • A water nymph will increase prices ×53 if your charisma is 15 or higher and ×73 otherwise.

Other Changes

  • You can #give objects to your pet or to peaceful monsters.
  • Unicorn horns can no longer cure attribute loss, and they are also now considered a one-handed weapon.
  • Wearing any kind of body armor will adversely affect your chances of successfully casting a spell – the higher the spell level, the greater the chance of failure. Primary spellcasting type (healers/priests/wizards) are only penalized on 4th level spells and higher, all other roles the penalties affect all spell levels. The exception to this is crystal plate mail, which does not adversely affect spellcasting in any way.
  • It is possible to dual-wield artifact weapons, however there are stipulations - a lawful and chaotic artifact cannot be dual-wielded together. Similarly aligned artifacts are acceptable, as are any neutral or non-aligned artifact weapons with any other aligned artifact.
  • When causing conflict (ring of conflict is most common), it now takes the player's charisma score into account. The formula is 'charisma - monster level + player level' and if that value is greater than 19, clamps it to be 19. There's then a percentage chance (rnd(20)) against the value generated on whether conflict kicks in or not. So even with charisma and your xp level maxed out, there's still a 5% chance of conflict not working. Also, the monsters affected have to see you for conflict to work.

Player race–role combinations

Combinations are marked with either an L, N or C denoting a playable alignment. Any blank field means that race–role combination is not allowed.

Human Elf Dwarf Giant Gnome Hobbit Centaur Orc Illithid
Archeologist L N L N N L N
Barbarian N C N N C N C C
Caveman L N L N L N N
Convict C C C C C
Healer N N N N N
Infidel U U U
Knight L C C
Monk L N C N C L N L N C N C
Priest L N C N C L N L N C L N N C C C
Rogue N C N C N C
Ranger N C N C N C N N C C
Samurai L L L
Tourist N N
Valkyrie L N L N L N N
Wizard N C N C N N C N C N C C

Many alignment combinations have been unlocked as well vs vanilla NetHack, allowing for some race–role combinations you normally wouldn't expect to see (a neutral Dwarvish Healer for instance, or a chaotic Elven Knight, etc). Infidels always start as unaligned (U) regardless of their race.

New player roles

EvilHack adds two new playable roles: the Convict and the Infidel. More roles may be added at a later date.

Convict

  • Convicts can be played as a human, dwarf, gnome, orc or hobbit.
  • Their alignment is always chaotic, regardless of racial background.
  • Convicts start the game with a negative alignment, a heavy iron ball chained to their leg, and a cursed striped shirt (worn). The shirt prevents entry into any shop while worn and visible (not covered by a cloak or robe).
  • Convicts start as almost hungry, but can be in a state of hunger for a longer period of time.
  • Convicts start with intrinsic sickness resistance, and gain intrinsic poison resistance and searching at experience levels 7 and 20 respectively.
  • Their first artifact gift is Luck Blade, a chaotic broadsword (short sword in other variants) that acts as a luckstone.
  • The Iron Ball of Liberation is the convict's quest artifact – a heavy iron ball that grants magic resistance, searching, warning and stealth when carried. When invoked, it allows phasing temporarily just like a xorn, but it attaches itself to you upon every use.
  • Their starting pet is a sewer rat, and convict's can tame other rats by #chatting them.

Infidel

  • The Infidel role was created by User:Tomsod (see this link for the original patch and author notes). It has been modified to fit in with EvilHack.
  • Infidels can be played as a human, orc or illithid.
  • Their alignment will always be unaligned (worshiper of Moloch) regardless of their racial background.
  • Infidels start the game with the Amulet of Yendor - their primary mission is to travel down to the Sanctum and sacrifice the Amulet to Moloch on the unaligned altar present there. When doing this, they must have their quest artifact in open inventory (the Idol of Moloch) so that Moloch may imbue the Idol with the power of the Amulet. The player then must travel back up through the dungeon and make their way to the Astral Plane, where they attempt to sacrifice the Idol on the correct altar to Moloch, thereby giving Moloch dominion over 'heaven' and the other three aligned gods, winning the game.
  • Infidels starting armor is cursed - they actually benefit from wearing cursed armor and wielding cursed weapons, and are able to remove/unwield these items without penalty. Wearing blessed armor slightly hurts spellcasting success rates.
  • Infidels are considered primary spellcasters, and start the game with a spellbook of drain life plus one other random spellbook.
  • Other notable starting gear for Infidels: a cloak of protection (cursed), two scrolls of charging, a fire horn, 3 potions of unholy water, and an oilskin sack.
  • Infidels start with intrinsic fire resistance, and gain intrinsic warning and shock resistance at levels 15 and 20 respectively.
  • Their first artifact gift is Secespita, a copper ritual knife that greatly aids with altar sacrificing, and can drain energy from the monsters it was used to kill, helping to replenish spell power for the Infidel.
  • The Idol of Moloch is the Infidel's quest artifact, a figurine of a horned devil that can be used to easily convert altars to Moloch, and provides magic resistance when carried. It can also be used to summon demons to aid the Infidel. An Infidel cannot win the game without having the Idol in their possession.
  • Their starting pet is a homonculus.
  • Crowning - if an Infidel is crowned by Moloch, they transform into a demon, replete with a stinger-tipped tail and large wings, both of which can be used. In demon form, the Infidel can enjoy all of the strengths (and weaknesses) associated with being a demon. Trident skill is unlocked and can be trained all the way up to expert skill. Their crowning gift is a spellbook of fireball.
  • All aligned priests are hostile towards Infidels and will attack them should they enter their temple.
  • Infidels are either not penalized or will gain alignment for doing things that would normally be detrimental for other roles, such as murdering peacefuls or sacrificing their pets.
  • Infidels praying to Moloch outside of Gehennom can expect an 80% failure rate. The only reliable means of praying are standing on an unaligned altar or being in Gehennom. Converting an aligned altar to Moloch is also much more difficult without aid - Moloch's power and influence are weakened outside of hell.
  • Moloch expects an Infidel to perform a sacrifice to him at least once every 6000 turns. Not doing so adversely affects your alignment record, and it will begin to drain at an increasing rate; reaching negative values has a chance to increment Moloch's anger as well. Successfully performing a sacrifice delays this effect for 500 turns per point of sacrifice value; this delay is not cumulative, and if the previous remaining delay was higher, it isn't affected. Any sacrifice to Moloch counts, including same-race sacrifice and a sacrifice on a cross-aligned altar (as long as you're actually trying to convert the altar and not yourself). You will be warned when you're due for a sacrifice, both through a message and in the base attributes window.
  • Infidels create unholy water the same way other roles would create holy water, by placing potions of water on a co-aligned altar and praying (Moloch's 'blessings' are actually curses). This can present a unique challenge for the Infidel role, as having certain blessed items is still desirable. They will need to find already blessed potions of water much the same way other roles typically have to find an already cursed potion of water to use.
  • The Amulet suppresses teleportation and drains spell power when casting spells as it always has - this can prove quite challenging, especially in the early game. Once the Idol is imbued with the power of the Amulet, Moloch gains control over its power and suppresses the spell power draining effect (teleportation is still suppressed while holding the Idol). Take heed - an Infidel cannot cast spells if they drop the Amulet, therefore dropping it does little to aid the Infidel, plus be aware that monsters will take the Amulet if they can and will try to escape with it.

New player races

EvilHack adds four new playable races to the game: centaur, giant, hobbit, and illithid. Each have their own strengths and weaknesses:

Centaur

  • Centaurs can play as either a Barbarian, Monk, Priest, Ranger, or Valkyrie.
  • They can play both genders, alignment choices are neutral or chaotic (role restrictions enforced).
  • Centaurs have the same increased carrying capacity as the giant player race does. (Centaurs aren't as strong, but they're half horse, and are built for hauling gear).
  • Strength and dexterity can be maxed to 20, but intelligence maximum is 12, wisdom is 14, charisma is 16.
  • Centaurs generate slightly more hit points per level vs a human player.
  • Centaurs know all bow and crossbow weapons automatically, and get a multishot bonus with either.
  • Centaurs start with intrinsic speed, and can jump once reaching level five (not like a Knight, but like wearing a pair of jumping boots). They also gain warning at level 10.
  • Centaurs cannot wear boots, for hopefully obvious reasons. They can wear all other forms of armor (as can now their monster counterparts).
  • Centaurs cannot ride anything as a steed due to them being a quadruped

Giant

  • Giants can play as either a Barbarian, Caveman, Monk, Priest, Samurai, Valkyrie, or Wizard.
  • Giants can be any of the three alignments (role restrictions enforced) and either gender.
  • Giants have increased initial and maximum cap carrying capacity, with strength and constitution able to reach 25.
  • Intelligence and dexterity are capped at 14, charisma at 16.
  • Hit point generation is significantly greater for giants per level vs a human player.
  • Giants movement speed is slightly slower than other races due to their size.
  • Giants can pickup and throw boulders (the boulders stack and can be quivered). In Sokoban, the player is asked before picking up or moving aside a boulder.
  • Giants have innate knowledge of certain gems, can ID touchstones and can dig as well as a dwarf.
  • Giants automatically aggravate other monsters from the beginning and are never stealthy. They do gain hungerless regeneration at level 12.
  • Giants excel in bare-handed combat or with a club, and have a greater chance of stunning an opponent or shattering their wielded weapon.
  • Giants can wield two-handed weapons in one hand.
  • Giants take extra damage from slings (think 'David and Goliath').
  • Giants cannot wear body armor, cloaks, or shirts.
  • Boulders have a little bit of weight (8 aum instead of 6000 aum) when carried by giants. This prevents player giants from carrying hundreds of stacked boulders without penalty.
  • They have an innate lower armor class (AC 6 vs AC 10 when naked).
  • Other things in-game that require strength to accomplish are easier for Giants.
  • Giants can ride one creature and one creature only – the woolly mammoth, a new monster found only in EvilHack.

Hobbit

  • Hobbits can play as either an Archeologist, Healer, Priest, Rogue, Ranger, Tourist, or Wizard.
  • They can be either gender, alignment choices are lawful or neutral (role restrictions enforced).
  • Hobbits can max dexterity, wisdom and constitution to 20, but strength, intelligence and charisma are capped at 16.
  • Hobbits receive a multishot bonus with slings, knives, and daggers.
  • Everyone knows hobbits are all about food and when they can eat next. They start with the new 'food sense' intrinsic but are also innately hungry. Because of this, they always start with extra food and a tinning kit. They can also eat more than twice the amount of food other races can eat before becoming satiated.
  • Hobbits gain speed and searching intrinsics at levels 4 and 7 respectively.
  • Hobbits prefer elven gear over anything else, and will start with said gear if it's available.

Illithid

  • Illithid is the formal name for a mind flayer. This ancient race has psychic abilities and are natural spellcasters, but are physically weak compared to other races.
  • Illithids can only be of chaotic alignment (unless playing as an Infidel), and can be both male or female.
  • Illithids can play as either an Infidel, Priest or a Wizard.
  • Intelligence and wisdom can go as high as 22, and dexterity as high as 20, but their strength, constitution and charisma are capped at 10/12/16 respectively.
  • Power generation per level gained is slightly higher than that of the elven player race.
  • Illithids have a natural psionic attack that can confuse and kill, and is tied to spell power use.
  • Illithids start out with psychic resistance (new resistance), infravison and telepathy. At experience level 12 they can fly like their more wild brethren.
  • Illithids have a single extra tentacle attack that behaves exactly like the tentacle attack from a mind flayer. This attack is set up in such a way that it will automatically not be used if attacking something the player should not touch unprotected (read: cockatrice). This attack does not work on a mind flayer. Conversely, illithids are immune to the mind flayer tentacle attack.

Changes to existing races

Elf

  • Elves have an aversion to iron – wearing or wielding anything made of iron that touches the players skin will prevent hit point regeneration, and will cause 1d8 physical damage on initial contact. Being hit with any weapon made of iron will do the same amount of extra damage. Elf-based monsters are affected the same way when being attacked with weapons made of iron and will avoid using items made of iron.

Orc

  • Orcs have an aversion to mithril – the same conditions above for elves and iron exists for orcs and mithril. They are also the only player race that can tame and ride a warg.

Changes to existing roles

  • All roles can reach at least basic skill in riding.
  • Archeologist, Barbarian, and Valkyrie roles now have completely new quest artifacts.
  • Twoweaponing – Barbarians go from basic to skilled, Tourists from skilled to basic. Ranger obtains twoweaponing, up to skilled.
  • Barbarian – riding skill from basic to skilled. Attack spell school removed. Special spell changed to cause fear.
  • Caveman – all spell schools removed.
  • Healer – added clerical spell school, can train to skilled. Trades warning intrinsic for sick resistance at experience level 15. Can sense how wounded a monster is when attacking it, can also sense the wounded status of its pets.
  • Knight – numerous weapon skills adjusted (broadsword, two-handed sword, polearms and spears from skilled to expert. Mace moved from skilled to basic). Attack spell school removed. Knights can never tame dragons (they are natural enemies).
  • Monk – crossbow skill removed, added trident and broadsword; tweaked skill advancement for weapons. Gains an extra fist attack per round using martial arts skill at grand master level, and also gains an extra kick attack (random) using martial arts skill at master level and higher. Can break boulders and statues using martial arts skill at skilled level or higher (press shift + f and then a movement key in the desired direction). Because of the extra random kick attack at master/grand master level, players will need to be mindful of wearing boots of some sort, as kicking a footrice/basilisk barefoot equals instant petrification.
  • Priest – all slash and pierce weapons removed; can only train with blunt-type weapons. Incurs a substantial to-hit penalty, abuses wisdom and can negatively impact alignment when trying to use an edged weapon.
  • Ranger – if playing as a gnome, their quest artifact becomes the Crossbow of Carl. Its properties mirror that of the Longbow of Diana, except that it is a crossbow instead of a bow.
  • Rogue – new trainable skill known as 'thievery', which allows the rogue to pickpocket a target and steal items from their inventory (must be bare-handed to use, press shift + f and then a movement key in the direction of the target). If the target is peaceful, there is a chance the target will not notice depending on the players' skill in thievery. Critical strike from behind works while twoweaponing.
  • Samurai – removed attack and clerical spell schools.
  • Valkyrie – removed escape spell school. Special spell changed to repair armor.
  • Wizard – removed numerous weapons from being trained (axe, short sword, club, mace, polearms, spear, trident, shuriken). New starting pet, the pseudodragon. Can sense if objects are magical in nature, much the same way a priest knows the beautitude of all objects.
  • Archeologist – scimitar and club moved from skilled to basic. Spear skill added, can be trained to expert.

Items

EvilHack adds a variety of new artifacts, weapons, armor and other usable objects, as well as some edits to a few existing objects. The vast majority of these objects take advantage of the object materials code incorporated from xNetHack, and have the potential to be generated made of a material other than its standard base material. The exception to this rule are artifacts – their material type is hard-coded and cannot be altered, even via a wish.

Object materials

The object materials patch exists in several variants – the code used for EvilHack was taken from xNetHack and then modified. An objects material affects its weight, its cost in a shop, how much protection it can grant as armor or damage it delivers as a weapon, and what types of damage and decay it's subject to (if any). Certain monsters are adverse to various material types, and spellcasting failure percentage can also be affected. Some materials can affect your magic cancellation rating too. When items are wished for, their material type can also be chosen if its allowed for that type. Artifacts are the exception, as are a few other items.

In the below table, iron is the baseline on which every other material is based off of. Density is an arbitrary value (an item made of iron weights X amount, the same item made of cloth would be one-eighth its weight) as is its cost (an item made of iron costs X amount, same item made from gemstone will cost 50 times that amount). For armor class, a poor material can never make the wearers AC worse if it's in an undamaged state.

Material Density AC (as armor) Damage (as weapon) Relative cost Erosion type Notes
Liquid 10 0 1
Wax 15 1 1
Veggy 10 1 1
Flesh 10 3 3
Paper 5 1 −2 damage penalty (all) 2 burn, rot can be made fireproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object)
Cloth 10 2 3 burn, rot can be made fireproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object)
Leather 15 3 5 burn, rot can be made fireproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object)
Wood 30 4 −1 damage penalty (slash) 8 burn, rot can be made fireproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object)
Bone 25 5 20 burn can be made fireproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object), grants magic cancellation level 3 (MC3) for orcs when worn as body armor
Dragonhide 20 8 200 deteriorate inherently fixed, but is subject to decay via the monster spell 'destroy armor'
Iron 80 5 10 corrode, rust can be made rustproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object), bonus damage against elves, player as an elf cannot heal if iron armor or weapon touches their skin
Metal 75 5 +1 damage bonus 15 deteriorate referred to as 'steel', inherently fixed, but is subject to decay via the monster spell 'destroy armor'
Copper 85 4 10 corrode can be made corrodeproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object)
Silver 90 5 30 deteriorate inherently fixed, but is subject to decay via the monster spell 'destroy armor', bonus damage against demons, werefoo, vampires and shades
Gold 120 3 +1 damage bonus (whack) 60 deteriorate inherently fixed, but is subject to decay via the monster spell 'destroy armor'
Platinum 120 4 +1 damage bonus (whack) 80 deteriorate inherently fixed, but is subject to decay via the monster spell 'destroy armor'
Mithril 30 6 +2 damage bonus (slash, pierce) 50 deteriorate inherently fixed, but is subject to decay via the monster spell 'destroy armor', grants magic cancellation level 3 (MC3) for elves when worn as body armor (MC2 for all other races), bonus damage against orcs, player as an orc cannot heal if mithril armor or weapon touches their skin
Plastic 20 3 −2 damage penalty (all) 10 burn can be made fireproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object)
Glass 60 5 +3 damage bonus (slash, pierce) 20 fracture can be made shatterproof via wielding object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon when confused (if object is armor, read a scroll of enchant armor while confused and wearing said object)
Gemstone 55 7 +3 damage bonus (slash, pierce) 500 referred to as 'crystal', immune to erosion
Mineral 70 6 +2 damage bonus (slash, whack) 10 deteriorate referred to as 'stone', inherently fixed, but is subject to decay via the monster spell 'destroy armor', grants magic cancellation level 3 (MC3) for orcs when worn as body armor

Material percentages

Not all objects can randomly generate as any material. There are rules in place that determine the probability of what type of material an object will generate with. You can also use the tables below to determine what material you can wish for based on the object (e.g. wishing for dragonhide plate mail won't work, since plate mail base material is iron or metal).

Default base type iron or steel:

  • 65% its base material
  • 10% steel
  • 5% bone
  • 5% wood
  • 4% each silver or copper
  • 3% mithril
  • 1% each gold, glass, platinum or stone

Default base type wood:

  • 80% wood
  • 8% stone
  • 4% iron
  • 2% each bone, steel or mithril
  • 1% each silver or copper

Default base type cloth:

  • 80% cloth
  • 19% leather
  • 1% dragonhide

Default base type leather:

  • 86% leather
  • 13% cloth
  • 1% dragonhide

Armor of dwarvish make (minus cloth items):

  • 60% iron
  • 20% steel
  • 15% mithril
  • 3% silver
  • 1% each gold or platinum

Weapons of dwarvish make:

  • 50% iron
  • 25% steel
  • 20% mithril
  • 5% gemstone

Armor and weapons of elven make (except cloth items):

  • 60% its base material
  • 20% wood
  • 10% copper
  • 5% mithril
  • 3% silver
  • 2% gold

Armor and weapons of orcish make (minus cloth items):

  • 65% iron
  • 25% bone
  • 10% stone

Reflectable objects (shields of reflection and amulets):

  • 50% its base material
  • 20% silver
  • 15% gold
  • 5% mithril
  • 4% each copper or steel
  • 2% platinum

Most bows:

  • 70% wood
  • 7% iron
  • 7% bone
  • 6% mithril
  • 2% each silver or copper
  • 1% gold

Horns:

  • 70% bone
  • 10% copper
  • 8% mithril
  • 5% each wood or silver
  • 2% gold

Object properties

The object properties patch exists in a handful variants – the code used for EvilHack was taken from GruntHack and then modified significantly. An object property is a magical attribute associated with an item – in other variants that have object properties, the number of magical properties and the number and types of items they can be applied to is rather broad, and the likelihood of finding such properties on these items are not that uncommon. In EvilHack, the number of magical properties is less, the types of objects they can be applied to is also less, and the chances of finding such items in the wild is greatly diminished. Some details concerning Evilhack's object properties:

  • Eligible items for object properties are weapons and armor (with some restrictions).
  • Restricted items – non-weapons/armor, artifacts, dragon scales/scale mail, and unique items.
  • A players' starting inventory will never spawn with an object property.
  • Object properties can be wished for on an eligible item.
  • Object properties cannot be wished for on an already magical item (e.g. no wishing for a cloak of magic resistance and drain resistance), but these properties can appear randomly on eligible magical items.
  • Object properties cannot stack via wishing, meaning you can't wish for a 'long sword of fire and venom'. However, there is a 1 in 100,000 chance of an eligible item randomly spawning with two properties.
  • Changing a regular item with object properties into an artifact (read: dipping for Excalibur) will strip that item of its object properties.
  • Extrinsic properties that are applied to weapons or armor are active only when those objects are wielded/worn. With weapons, extrinsic properties work in the offhand whilst twoweaponing.
  • Wizards have an innate ability to 'sense' if an item is magical (much like a Priest being able to know the beautitude of all items).
  • Generation odds - for random item generation, the odds of an eligible item having a magical property are 1 in 150, and those odds get slightly better the deeper into the dungeon the player goes. For player monsters, the odds of their weapon having a magical property is 1 in 20 if they are of a high enough level or if encountered on the Astral Plane. Angel-class monsters flagged as M2_LORD have a 1 in 16 chance of their long sword being generated with a magical property. Regular armor and weapons obtained via altar sacrifice have a 1 in 8 chance of being generated with a magical property if the players luck is five or greater.

The table below lists all available magical properties, what items they can be applied to, and what their function is.

Object property Armor Weapon Armor attributes Weapon attributes
Fire X X provides fire resistance does 1d5 + 3 of extra fire damage
Frost X X provides cold resistance does 1d5 + 3 of extra cold damage
Shock X X provides shock resistance does 1d5 + 3 of extra shock damage
Venom X X provides poison resistance does 1d2 + 10% chance of an additional 6-15 of extra poison damage, has a 10% chance to poison instakill
Decay X provides drain resistance
Oilskin X acts as being permanently greased, can only be applied to cloth armor pieces
ESP X X extrinsic telepathy when worn extrinsic telepathy when wielded
Searching X X extrinsic searching when worn extrinsic searching when wielded
Warning X X extrinsic warning when worn extrinsic warning when wielded
Fumbling X extrinsic fumbling when worn
Hunger X X extrinsic hunger when worn extrinsic hunger when wielded

Artifacts

Artifact Symbol Base type Alignment To-hit bonus Damage bonus Notes
Lifestealer ) Two-handed sword Chaotic 1d5 1d2 Wielded by Vlad the Impaler, drains levels and also grants drain resistance when wielded. This artifact does not count against the player for wishing purposes in regards to the number of existing artifacts currently in the game, as it's guaranteed to show up when the player encounters Vlad. This artifact cannot be wished for, any attempt will always fail.
Keolewa ) Club Neutral 1d5 1d6 Keolewa is a Hawaiian war club, and is the first sacrifice artifact gift for Cavemen. Grants shock resistance when wielded.
Dirge ) Long sword Chaotic 1d5 1d10 The 'Dark Knights' sword, can only be obtained by chaotic Knights by sacrificing a same race monster on a co-aligned altar while wielding a long sword. Does additional acidic damage as well as conferring acid resistance when wielded. Is made of mithril.
The Sword of Bheleu ) Two-handed sword Chaotic 1d10 x2 vs cross-aligned The Sword of Bheleu delivers a significant amount of damage, especially against creatures not of its alignment, and is made of gemstone. It is also permanently coated in poison, and does extra poison damage against monsters that are not resistant. Wielding this sword confers stoning resistance.
Magic 8-Ball ( Orb Non-aligned N/A N/A The ultimate rumor generator. Applying the Magic 8-Ball delivers a rumor; whether that rumor is true or not depends on its BUC status. Reading the Magic 8-Ball randomly generates one of twenty responses one would find from the real-life commercial product. This artifact does not count against the player for wishing purposes in regards to the number of existing artifacts currently in the game, as it's guaranteed to show up early in the game. The Magic 8-Ball confers warning when carried, and if conditions are just right, there's a very small percentage chance it could grant the user a wish when applied. This artifact cannot be wished for, any attempt will always fail.
Xiuhcoatl ) Atlatl Lawful 1d5 1d24 Xiuhcoatl replaces The Orb of Detection as the Archeologist quest artifact. The atlatl is part of the spear family, and this artifact has its roots in ancient Aztec lore. Can be thrown, and it will return to the thowers hand just like Mjollnir, but a dexterity of 18 or greater is required for this to happen. Xiuhcoatl does a massive amount of fire damage to monsters that are susceptible to fire, and confers fire resistance when wielded, ESP when carried, and can be invoked for levitation.
The Ring of P'hul = Ring Chaotic N/A N/A The Ring of P'hul replaces The Heart of Ahriman as the Barbarian quest artifact. The Ring of P'hul is a ring of free action, confers magic resistance when worn and disease resistance when carried.
Luck Blade ) Broadsword Chaotic 1d5 1d6 Luck Blade is the first sacrifice artifact gift for the convict role. It acts as a luckstone when in open inventory, and is made of steel. In other variants, Luck Blade is traditionally a short sword – for EvilHack it's a broadsword.
The Iron Ball of Liberation 0 Heavy iron ball Chaotic N/A N/A The Iron Ball of Liberation is the convict role quest artifact. When carried, it provides magic resistance, stealth, searching, and warning. Invoking this artifact allows the player to temporarily phase through matter much like a xorn. If not shackled by the Iron Ball of Liberation, the player will be re-shackled to it every time it is invoked.
Gjallar ( tooled horn Neutral N/A N/A Gjallar replaces The Orb of Fate as the Valkyrie quest artifact. It shares all of the same abilities and properties of the former, except it is now a tooled horn instead of a crystal ball (half-spell damage was previously removed, and that is still the case). Blowing the horn will wake up any sleeping monsters on that level, and as such its scare radius is increased in comparison to a regular tooled horn. Any monsters directly adjacent to the player when they use Gjallar have a small chance of being stunned for a brief period of time, and any non-Valkyrie players using it can make themselves temporarily deaf.
Crossbow of Carl ) crossbow Chaotic 1d5 1d6 If playing as a gnomish Ranger, the Crossbow of Carl replaces The Longbow of Diana as the Ranger quest artifact. It shares all of the same abilities and properties of the former, except it is now a crossbow instead of a bow. Invoking the crossbow produces crossbow bolts instead of arrows. In the hands of a gnomish ranger, its weight is the same as a bow (24 aum), for all others it has the same weight as a regular crossbow.

Changes to existing artifacts:

  • Only lawful Knights can dip for Excalibur, and there's a danger that the sword will rust away completely when you do (if not fixed). Once it is "thoroughly rusty", subsequent dips can cause it to rust away unless you are successful in getting Excalibur.
  • Mjollnir and Ogresmasher have had their base types changed from a war hammer to a heavy war hammer, which deals significantly more damage.
  • Demonbane is made of silver and has been switched from a long sword to a mace, and is the first sacrifice artifact gift for Priests.
  • Sunsword is made of gemstone (crystal), much like its same-named counterpart in AD&D (5th edition).
  • Fire Brand and Frost Brand are now short swords, and are each made of steel.
  • Dragonbane has been switched to a pair of dragonhide gloves that provides reflection, warns against dragons, and provides acid resistance.
  • Magicbane is no longer an athame, and is now a quarterstaff. None of its special abilities or functions have otherwise been changed.
  • The Knight quest artifact The Magic Mirror of Merlin has had magic resistance removed. In its place is reflection and half spell damage when carried.
  • Various artifacts that have a nemesis monster warn against those monsters.
  • Almost all of the stock weapon artifacts have had their to-hit and damage modifiers adjusted in the players favor.
  • Certain artifacts can either deliver extra damage to their nemesis monsters, or have a small percentage chance of delivering a fatal blow – this applies to the player as well, so beware of that hill orc wielding Grimtooth if you're playing an elven character.
  • Artifact weapons can be dual-wielded for those that can twoweapon, but there's a catch – lawful and chaotic artifacts cannot be dual-wielded together, and will resist the attempt if tried. Like-alignment artifact weapons can be dual-wielded together, and any aligned artifact weapon can be dual-wielded with a second neutral or non-aligned artifact weapon.
  • Putting Magicbane into a bag of holding runs a risk of exploding the bag and destroying the artifact due to Magicbane's cancellation magic.
  • Grimtooth now has a sickness-inducing attack and can make its target terminally ill (player or other monsters). Just like using a poisoned weapon, lawfully-aligned players incur a small alignment penalty when using Grimtooth.
  • The Eyes of the Overworld now protect the wearer against many forms of gaze attacks, greatly reducing the need for the player to have to remove them to blind themselves with a blindfold or towel.

Dragon scale mail

This bit was taken from SporkHack and then heavily modified – all DSM has a secondary extrinsic effect when worn.

DSM Primary extrinsic Secondary extrinsic
Blue dragon scale mail shock resistance confers speed
Black dragon scale mail disintegration resistance passive disintegration attack
Gray dragon scale mail magic resistance passive cancellation attack
Green dragon scale mail poison resistance passive poison attack
Orange dragon scale mail sleep resistance passive slow attack
Red dragon scale mail fire resistance +1d6 to all melee damage, passive fire attack
Silver dragon scale mail reflection confers cold resistance
White dragon scale mail cold resistance freezes water and lava under foot, passive cold attack
Yellow dragon scale mail acid resistance confers stoning resistance
Shimmering dragon scale mail displacement confers stealth
Gold dragon scale mail fire resistance radius 2 light, sickness resistance
Sea dragon scale mail magical breathing confers the ability to swim

What's new for EvilHack that you won't find elsewhere, is that the dragons these scales come from enjoy many of the same secondary extrinsics. Blue dragons are faster, red dragons hit harder, hitting a black dragon has a small chance of disintegrating the weapon you hit it with, etc.

Crystal plate mail

Probably one of the most under-utilized pieces of body armor around – decent AC and no material spellcasting penalties, but its so heavy, wizard-types will steer clear of it even if DSM isn't available. I've attempted to address these shortcoming in EvilHack, giving it much more utility and hopefully making it into a viable choice for spellcasters other than the standard DSM.

Back story: crystal plate mail is forged from dilithium crystal, and can only be made by the most skilled of blacksmiths in conjunction with a powerful wizard. Dilithium is virtually transparent to magic; it almost acts like it doesn't exist. To some, this may seem like a bad thing, but for others it's a blessing.

  • Crystal Plate Mail weight reduced (from 450 aum to 150 aum).
  • Base material changed from glass to gemstone – no longer runs the risk of being shattered.
  • The base material change makes it much more expensive, and much more rare to find.
  • Crystal Plate Mail is immune to disintegration and the monster spell 'destroy armor'.
  • Crystal Plate Mail is the only body armor that does not incur a spell casting penalty when worn.

Weapons

A few new weapons were added to either flesh out a monster type, or to serve as a base for an artifact weapon.

Weapon Symbol Base type Base material Weight Damage vs small Damage vs large Notes
Atlatl ) Spear wood 30 aum 1d8 1d12 Made specifically for the Archeologist quest artifact Xiuhcoatl. Does not appear randomly.
Elven long sword ) Long sword wood 35 aum 1d10 1d12 Racial soldiers are a thing in EvilHack, and the elven types needed a long sword they could wield since elves have an aversion to iron. Lighter than its iron counterpart, but susceptible to fire damage. Damage output is on par with a katana.
Orcish scimitar ) Scimitar iron 40 aum 1d6 1d8 Slightly less damage against small monsters versus a regular scimitar.
Orcish morning star ) Morning star iron 120 aum 1d4 1d6 Made specifically for two new monsters, the Goblin Outrider and the Goblin-captain, but can appear randomly.
Heavy war hammer ) Hammer iron 60 aum 1d8 1d10 Base object for the artifacts Mjollnir and Ogresmasher, can appear randomly. Damage output is significantly more than its weaker cousin the war hammer.
Staff of Divination ) Quarterstaff wood 40 aum 1d6 1d6 The Staff of Divination confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any divination-based spells when wielded. This staff and others like it can help non-casters attempt to cast certain spells that normally would have been either extremely difficult or impossible to cast otherwise.
Staff of Healing ) Quarterstaff wood 40 aum 1d6 1d6 The Staff of Healing confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any healing-based spells when wielded.
Staff of Holiness ) Quarterstaff bone 40 aum 1d6 1d6 The Staff of Holiness confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any clerical-based spells when wielded.
Staff of Matter ) Quarterstaff mithril 30 aum 1d6 1d6 The Staff of Matter confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any matter-based spells when wielded. It is also slightly lighter than its counterparts.
Staff of Escape ) Quarterstaff wood 40 aum 1d6 1d6 The Staff of Escape confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any escape-based spells when wielded.
Staff of War ) Quarterstaff iron 50 aum 1d6 1d6 The Staff of War confers a 50% boost to spellcasting any attack-based spells when wielded. It is heavier than its counterparts, but also has an extra d2 to-hit bonus.

Containers and tools

Item Symbol Base type Base material Weight Notes
Iron safe ( N/A iron 900 aum A secure container that can only be 'cracked' using a stethoscope. Cannot be physically locked again once it's been unlocked. Can appear randomly.
Eight ball ( Orb plastic 20 aum The base item for the artifact Magic 8-Ball. Does not appear randomly.
Crystal chest ( N/A gemstone 500 aum A rare and magical type of container that cannot be locked, unlocked or forced open by any physical means (this includes the Master Key of Thievery). The only way to open or lock this container is by magical means – a wand of opening or the spell 'knock' to unlock, or a wand of locking or the spell 'wizard lock' to secure. Otherwise, a crystal chest is immune to all other forms of magic, meaning it cannot be probed, cancelled, or polymorphed. This makes it the ideal container for the player to use to stash useful gear, as intelligent monsters will unlock and loot regular containers if given the chance, nor do monsters currently know how to use locking/unlocking magic. Crystal chests do not generate as trapped, and they can appear randomly.

Spellbooks

An assortment of new spells have been added to EvilHack, both from GruntHack and SporkHack.

Spell Class Level Notes
Lightning Attack 4 This spell shoots a powerful lightning bolt as a ray from the caster. Effects are basically the same as a wand of lightning, damage output uses the same scale as the spells fireball and cone of cold.
Poison Blast Attack 5 Produces a cloud of noxious gas in a ray pattern, same effects much like a green dragons breath attack.
Acid Blast Attack 6 A serious damage-causing spell, will transition from a ray to an area of effect spell much like the spells fireball and cone of cold, damage output is on the same scale to creatures that do not resist acid. Can corrode objects in a monsters (and your) inventory.
Repair Armor Matter 3 When cast, repairs one level of damage to any worn piece of armor. Will not make armor items fixed, but will bring them back to a new undamaged state. This spell is significant, as the monster spell 'destroy armor' can un-fix and damage your armor to the point that it's destroyed completely, even armor that is inherently erodeproof.
Reflection Matter 5 Creates a temporary reflective bubble around the caster, acts exactly the same as an amulet of reflection or silver dragon scale mail.

Several stock player spells have also had their levels altered to something that (to the variant author) makes sense:

  • Dig – level 5 → 3
  • Sleep – level 1 → 2
  • Detect monsters – level 1 → 3
  • Detect food – level 2 → 1
  • Charm monster – level 3 → 5
  • Detect unseen – level 3 → 2
  • Restore ability – level 4 → 2
  • Invisibility – level 4 → 2
  • Jumping – level 1 → 2

Spellbook weights are now based on their level, the logic being the higher level the spell, the more pages needed to hold the formula. Level 4 spellbooks weigh the same as vanilla spellbooks; lower level weight less, higher level books weigh more.

Additional item changes

  • Wands of wishing are more rare to find randomly, and are always charged once already (1:x). The Castle wand is still created as having never been charged (0:x).
  • Wands of death can be recharged only once.
  • Amulet of flying – new amulet that allows the player to fly when worn.
  • Amulet of magic resistance – new amulet that provides magic resistance when worn.
  • Amulets of life saving do not work if cursed or worn by a non-living creature. This applies to monsters as well as the player.
  • Unicorn horns do not cure attribute loss anymore. Otherwise they act as expected. They are now a one-handed weapon, with its damage output changed accordingly (1d8/1d10).
  • Magic markers now never generate randomly nor will they appear in a players' starting inventory. Also, because they do not generate randomly, you cannot polypile for one. The only way to obtain a marker is to either wish for it, be lucky enough to find one in a bones pile, kill the High priest of Moloch in the Sanctum (he has one in inventory), or choose it at Sokoban End (50–50 chance between it spawning or a bag of holding).
  • Iron shoes were renamed to be 'dwarvish boots'.
  • Many body armor types have had their weight reduced.
  • Many types of potions will have their effects diminished if diluted.
  • Luckstones will slow down your luck timeout based on its beatitude; it no longer halts the timeout.
  • Exploding bags of holding scatter its contents in a roughly 10 by 10 area. Breakable items (things made of glass, potions, etc) are subject to being destroyed from the force of the magical explosion.
  • Any item or object that is susceptible to being rusted, corroded, rotted, burned, or fractured can be completely destroyed via those methods unless fixed.
  • Any item or object can be fixed (wielding the object and reading a scroll of enchant weapon while confused) if its material allows for it.
  • Magic lamps can be wished for.
  • Orcish boots – much like dwarvish boots, but of lesser quality.
  • Gauntlets – just regular iron-based gloves (known as 'tekko' if playing as a Samurai).
  • Gauntlets of Protection – base item cloth, provides MC3 just as a cloak of protection does. The rarest of all gloves in the game.
  • Helm of speed – this helm allows the wearer to become very fast when worn.
  • Spellbook of cure sickness – is now directional and can be cast at other monsters as well as yourself.
  • Scroll of magic detection – detects magical objects on the current level and in the players inventory. An uncursed scroll will label such items as 'magical', a blessed scroll will identify fully those same items (but not their beautitude).

Monsters

EvilHack introduces several new monsters – some pulled in from other variants, others are custom creations not found in any other variant. Several stock monsters have also been changed to varying degrees.

New monsters

This section lists all of the new monsters introduced in EvilHack, and is just a brief overview of each monster and any outstanding abilities or features each has. The order listed here is the same order as these monsters appear in src/monst.c.

Monster Symbol Difficulty Notes
Locust a 11 Small but dangerous flying insect, spawns in small groups. Can bite and sting, the latter of which can make the player terminally ill.
Giant mosquito a 4 Tiny, fast flying insect that spawns in large groups. Their bite is weak but has a small chance of poisoning the player much like a rabid rat, but affecting their constitution instead of dexterity. Being surrounded by a large group of these can be a serious problem for a lower level player.
Queen ant a 16 Much like a queen bee, a queen ant is only found in antholes guarded by either giant ants, soldier ants, or fire ants. Queen ants have a tough exoskeleton, bite hard and deliver a venomous sting.
Giant cockroach a 6 Small and fast, giant cockroaches are only found in areas with raw sewage – they do not spawn randomly. Giant cockroaches have a poisonous bite similar to a rabid rat, and can hide under objects.
Basilisk c 16 Basically this – a larger, faster and all-around more deadly version of the cockatrice.
Giant centipede c 20 A truly nasty monster, giant centipedes are larger than humanoids and are very fast. They have a serious venomous bite, and can wrap themselves around the player to prevent escape.
Rabid dog d 4 Small mangy dog that is slightly stronger but a bit slower than a little dog. Its bite attack is the same poisonous bite that a rabid rat employs.
Weredemon d / & 16 / 19 The most powerful of the lycanthropes, weredemons are lesser demons that have been infected by a werewolf. They can change form into a hell hound and back again into demonic form, and can summon hell hounds or other demons to defend it. Like all other lycanthropes, they can infect others with lycanthropy. Weredemons are the only demon-class monster that can spawn outside of Gehennom.
Koa d 22 One of a pair of German Shepherd dogs that guards Kathryn the Ice Queen. Koa is smaller but faster than her counterpart Ozzy. Cannot be killed, but can be defeated and forced to submit (becomes peaceful). Cannot be tamed or genocided.
Ozzy d 24 One of a pair of German Shepherd dogs that guards Kathryn the Ice Queen. Ozzy is slower but bigger than his counterpart Koa. Cannot be killed, but can be defeated and forced to submit (becomes peaceful). Cannot be tamed or genocided.
Cerberus d 30 Cerberus is a unique monster that guards the gates to Gehennom. It has three powerful bite attacks, and can breathe fire. Cerberus is immune to Vorpal Blade as it has three heads - if one head is cut off, it grows back before the hero has a chance to remove the other two. Cannot be tamed or genocided.
Beholder e 16 If woken up, one of the most dangerous creatures in the game. Beholders spawn asleep 80% of the time. They are slow, and cannot be detected by any means other than direct viewing or via warning (Beholders will always show as a 5 via warning, regardless of the player's experience level). It has a strong bite attack along with several different gaze attacks (slow, sleep, disintegration, stoning, cancellation), all of which can be negated by simply blinding oneself. Cannot be tamed nor genocided.
Magical eye e 14 A serious nuisance, especially when encountered with other monsters. Harasses the player with six different gaze attacks at its disposal (slow, sleep, stun, fire, cold, luck) and is skittish, meaning it will evade and kite its target, making the magical eye somewhat difficult to kill. Eating its corpse will randomly increase or decrease the player's Luck by 2 points. Cannot be tamed nor genocided.
Saber-toothed tiger f 14 The most dangerous of the feline family, saber-toothed tigers will only spawn in the Ice Queen's Realm.
Hobbit rogue h 3 Slightly more powerful than a regular hobbit, has a single item stealing attack.
Alhoon h 30 A truly terrifying creature, alhoon's are rogue master mind flayers that sought our ultimate magical power, sacrificing their souls and becoming something akin to an arch-lich. Alhoon's do not have as many tentacle attacks as their mind flayer brethren, but they can cast powerful spells. They enjoy all of the strengths and weaknesses associated with being undead.
Ice nymph n 5 Ice nymph's are basically the same as any other nymph, except that they are immune to cold-based attacks and only spawn in the Ice Queen's Realm or on Geryons level.
Goblin shaman o 5 Weak monster spellcasting goblin, much the same as a kobold shaman. Eating its corpse (or any monster spellcasters corpse) can confer intrinsic telepathy.
Goblin outrider o 5 One of the few monsters in EvilHack that can ride a steed. Slightly stronger than a regular goblin, always spawns riding a wolf and are created in small packs. Goblin outriders are usually equipped with some form of ranged attack. Not a serious threat by itself, but along with its steed and forming in small packs, can be a concerning threat.
Goblin-captain o 7 The strongest of the goblin race, and also spawns riding a warg. Does not spawn in groups.
Woolly Mammoth q 26 A gigantic creature, and is the strongest of the S_QUADRUPED class. It can deal significant damage with twin tusk attacks, and it can use its trunk to grab onto and crush its target. Woolly mammoths are resistant to cold, and it is the only creature that can be ridden by player giants. Will only spawn in the Ice Queen's Realm.
Enormous rat r 7 Larger, stronger, and faster than a giant rat, which can grow up into these if given the chance. Spawns in small groups.
Rodent of unusual size r 9 Stronger than an enormous rat, does not spawn in groups.
Honey badger r 12 A fearless, nasty rodent that loves to eat the lumps of royal jelly found in a beehive. Can tunnel through rock, and has a significant bite and claw attack. Killer bees are its natural enemy. Can spawn randomly, but any level generated with a beehive has a good chance of spawning 1d4 honey badgers. Incentive to get to that beehive before they do.
Jumping spider s 5 Slightly stronger than a cave spider and has a poisonous bite. Spawns in small groups. Can jump at the player from a small distance.
Lesser nightmare u 5 An evil type of horse that is the starting default steed for the 'Dark Knight' player role, and is roughly equivalent to a pony that a regular Knight starts with, other than its poisonous bite. Can grow up into a Nightmare.
Nightmare u 8 A slightly stronger version of the Lesser nightmare, and is roughly on par with a horse in terms of hit points and speed. Can grow up into a Cauchemar.
Cauchemar u 10 The strongest of the Nightmares, and is roughly the same in hit points and speed as a warhorse.
Pegasus u 20 Not flagged as a unique monster, but there is only one in existence, and can only be found in the Ice Queen's Realm. Pegasi are strong horse-like creatures that have huge wings and can fly. Has two strong kick attacks and a nasty bite. Can be tamed and ridden.
Pale horse u 21 Unique monster, and is the steed ridden by Death. Powerful in its own right, as are all of the Riders' steeds. Has a level-draining bite attack along with multiple kicking attacks. Is the only undead steed, as no living creature could endure such proximity to Death for any period of time and live.
White horse u 21 Unique monster, and is the steed ridden by Pestilence. Has an armor disenchanting bite attack, along with multiple kicking attacks.
Black horse u 21 Unique monster, and is the steed ridden by Famine. Has a slow-inducing bite attack, along with multiple kicking attacks.
Red horse u 32 Unique monster, and is the steed granted to the player once they enter the Astral Plane (in lieu of an Angel minion) if their alignment record is of sufficient level (fervently aligned or greater). The player is War, one of the four Riders, hence the red horse. The red horse is stronger than the steeds that the Riders employ, and has a decent chance of surviving along with the player if it's taken care of. Has a fire-based bite attack, along with multiple kicking attacks. Spawns with a blessed saddle.
Giant leech w 8 Giant leeches are only found in raw sewage, and prefer to hide in pools of sewage if available. They can hide in raw sewage and sneak-attack unsuspecting players that get too close. Their bite causes them to stick to you, but because of their size, a player with a giant leech latched onto them may find it difficult to get away.
Archangel A 25 About as strong as an Archon, and are only found on the Astral Plane. Can cast clerical-based spells and can grab the player, not allowing them to escape. Cannot be tamed nor genocided.
Shimmering dragon D 20 A shimmering dragon has a natural displacement intrinsic (which its scales can confer if worn), and has a breath attack the same as a gray dragon. The baby form of this dragon also exists.
Gold dragon D 20 A gold dragon is much like a red dragon with a fire-based breath attack and is fire resistant. But it is also resistant to sickness-inducing attacks, and its scales confer sickness resistance to the player when worn. Its scales also light up when worn. The baby form of this dragon also exists.
Sea dragon D 20 A sea dragon is made primarily of water – its breath attack is a torrent of water that slams into its target, inflicting physical damage. Sea dragons are drawn to water and prefer to be in it rather than be on land. They are the only dragon that cannot fly, but they are also the only dragon that can swim and breathe underwater. Their engulfing attack can drown the player if they do not have a means of not requiring to breathe. Hitting it with unprotected iron weapons can cause those weapons to rust. Its scales confer magical breathing and the ability to swim. The baby form of this dragon also exists.
Fell beast D 16 Like a dragon, but isn't one. The fell beast is the steed of the Nazgul. Has a fairly strong claw and bite attack. Cannot be tamed nor genocided.
Pseudodragon D 4 The new starting pet for the wizard player role. Is fast, can fly, and has a poison stinger at the end of its tail. Can grow up into an elder pseudodragon. Does not spawn randomly – the only way to obtain one is to either start with one as a wizard, cast create familiar spell, or to find one on a bones level that was the pet of a deceased player.
Elder pseudodragon D 6 Slightly stronger version of the pseudodragon. Can grow up into an ancient pseudodragon.
Ancient pseudodragon D 8 The strongest of the pseudodragons, and is grown up sufficiently that it can be ridden as a steed.
Gray Fungus F 5 Nasty addition to the fungus-class of creatures. Only has a passive attack, but this attack can make the player terminally ill.
Hill giant shaman H 10 The hill giant shaman is considered a mid-level spellcaster, and can cast from the pool of clerical-based monster spells.
Elder minotaur H 29 A much stronger and harder hitting version of the minotaur, only found in Gehennom. Along with the typical claw and headbutting attacks which can do serious amounts of damage, it can also grab the player and crush them, preventing escape. Cannot be tamed.
Snark J 15 Weaker than a jabberwock and skittish. Is disintegration resistant, and its corpse can confer disintegration resistance when eaten. Cannot be genocided. One percent of snarks will turn into a boojum when attacked.
Boojum J 21 Stronger and faster than a jabberwock and can do more damage per attack. Very rare, only appears when a snark is attacked, and it has the same intrinsic properties. One of its attacks can teleport the player across the map much like a quantum mechanic.
Vorpal jabberwock J 26 Strongest and most deadly of the jabberwock class of creatures, each of its claw attacks has a small chance of beheading its target if said target has a head. Can be killed in one hit with Vorpal Blade. Cannot be genocided.
Hobbit mummy M 6 The hobbit player race exists, so hobbit mummies do also. Same characteristics as any other mummy.
Giant anaconda S 13 The largest and strongest of the snake family of creatures, it can grab onto the player and also engulf them with a digesting attack.
Shambling horror U 15 This bizarre monster will always be something different from game to game. Its monster abilities, hit points, speed and other characteristics change every game and it's never the same monster twice. You may get lucky and encounter a very weak shambling horror, or have a game where they are incredibly powerful and would give any demon lord or prince a run for its money... or anything in between. Cannot be genocided.
Vampire mage V 26 One of the most powerful undead monsters in the game, the vampire mage enjoys all of the same attacks and abilities as a regular vampire, but also has powerful magic at its disposal. These can make for powerful pets if you can overcome its natural magic resistance and keep it tame.
Baby owlbear Y 4 Since adult Owlbears can lay eggs, baby owlbears naturally hatch from them. Baby owlbears do not have the crushing attack that their full grown counterparts have, but can be cause for concern if encountered in groups.
The Abominable Snowman Y 27 A unique, powerful monster that guards the ice bridge in the Ice Queen's Realm. Has a devastating bite and dual-claw attack, and can pickup and throw boulders. It can also walk over water and freeze it underfoot, turning any pool into ice. Cannot be tamed or genocided.
Hobbit zombie Z 3 Just like hobbit mummies, hobbit zombies exist because the hobbit is a playable race. Has the same characteristics as any other zombie found in EvilHack.
Revenant Z 15 The strongest of the S_ZOMBIE class of monsters, and will only spawn in the Ice Queen's Realm. Revenant's are not true zombies - instead of infecting their target and making them ill, they can paralyze their prey with fear with a single touch. If a player is killed by any type of lich, they will arise as a revenant.
Snow golem ' 25 Only found in the Ice Queen's Realm. Slow but strong and extremely hard-hitting. Can walk over open water and freeze it underfoot, turning it into ice.
Elven wizard @ 11 Elven wizards are considered a mid-level spellcaster and can cast from the pool of wizard-based monster spells. They also have a ranged magic missile attack.
Charon @ 38 Unique humanoid - Charon stands right outside the entrance to Cerberus's lair. Spawns peaceful, and can be chatted to for hints. Cannot be tamed or genocided.
The Rat King @ 14 The Rat King is a unique monster that is only found in a specific Mines' End level known as 'The Sewers of Waterdeep'. The Rat King is much like a wererat except that it never changes form and keeps its human appearance. It will attack with weapons, its bite can cause lycanthropy, and it can also summon various rats if needed. Not an opponent to take lightly.
Kathryn the Ice Queen @ 36 Kathryn the Ice Queen is the boss monster found at the end of the Ice Queen's Realm. She is guarded by Koa and Ozzy, who will become hostile and protect her if she is attacked. Kathryn the Ice Queen cannot actually be killed, but can be defeated. Upon defeat, she transforms into Kathryn the Enchantress, who is peaceful and much more powerful. The Ice Queen has ascension-level gear, and has the full range of monster spells to cast at her disposal (some of these being geared towards cold-based attacks). Cannot be tamed or genocided.
Kathryn the Enchantress @ 104 If Kathryn the Ice Queen is defeated, the evil curse on her is lifted and she transforms into Kathryn the Enchantress. In this new form she is peaceful and makes her companions Koa and Ozzy peaceful as well. However, she is an order of magnitude more powerful than her ice queen form, and cannot be killed or even defeated.
Spectre   13 A more powerful form of ghost, the spectre can always be found in Gehennom. They can use weapons and other gear that the player can use. If the player is killed by a spectre, or if the player dies and is of a high enough level (experience level greater than 21) and leaves bones, if they would have normally arisen as a ghost, they will instead arise as a spectre.
Lava demon & 15 A new type of demon introduced with the addition of the Convict patch. Lava demons can be encountered during the convict quest, in Gehennom, and can also be summoned via dipping objects into a forge.
Mind flayer larva ; 8 Mind flayer larva are only ever found in mind flayer nurseries, on or after dungeon level 20. Relatively weak, they exist in shallow pools of water and will not venture from them. They have one attack, which is to attempt to attach itself to the player's face. If successful, the player has only one turn to kill or remove the mind flayer larva from its face. If not removed in time, the mind flayer larva burrows itself into the player's brain, killing them instantly. Players that die in this way will arise as a mind flayer (this is how mind flayer's enter into their adult form).
Giant turtle : 8 Very tough and hard to hit due to its protective shell, but also very slow. Has a moderately powerful bite attack.
Frost salamander : 13 Slightly stronger than their salamander counterparts, frost salamander's are only found in the Ice Queen's Realm. They prefer ice over any other terrain, can use weapons and have a cold-based touch and hug attack.

Changes to existing monsters

  • The zombie – probably the most significant monster change in EvilHack and one of the key changes that makes this variant so difficult. Zombies now have two different attack types, one being a poisonous claw attack (effects and frequency are the same as a bite from a rabid rat), the other being a disease-inducing bite attack to the head. The latter is a very serious threat, as the ability to cure oneself from being terminally ill are almost non-existent in the early game. If the player becomes ill from a zombie bite, they only have a few turns to cure themselves, or they will die and turn into a zombie. This zombie can be encountered by other players if a bones file is generated. There is a very small chance that the player will be able to continue playing if they are turned into a zombie, however they will be stuck in that form for the remainder of the game. A zombie's bite attack also has a chance of causing amnesia. Eating a zombie corpse or a tin of zombie meat will make the player ill and cause them to start turning into a zombie. Attacking zombies at range and wearing a piece of armor that protects your head are highly recommended. Zombies can make other monsters terminally ill as well - the same methods used by the player to cure themselves of a terminal illness can be used/applied on monsters or pets also - intelligent monsters will seek out these items and use them if necessary.
  • Various overall changes – monster hit point generation is now determined by their size as well as what level they are. They also have the same armor class damage reduction that players enjoy. Intelligent monsters can use many more items against the player or for their own benefit, including stashing objects into bags and taking them back out, making a wish (either from the wand, or from a djinni appearing from a used smoky potion), activating any figurines it may have, unlocking and looting locked containers, wearing most rings, scrolls of remove curse to uncurse items in its inventory, scrolls of charging to recharge wands in its possession, and utilizing powerful wands against the player (polymorph and cancellation).
  • The Wizard of Yendor can use any artifact weapons or armor it steals from the player and will use them against the player.
  • Player monsters are now technically their own class of monster and are separate from how the actual player is defined in src/monst.c, and were purposely left out of the new monsters table as it would unnecessarily inflate that list. Player monsters differ here from vanilla NetHack in that they can spawn outside of the Astral Plane, are yellow in color, and are kitted out in player-like gear starting at level 10, and then can be kitted out with ascension-level gear starting at level 20 – their hit dice and difficulty level roughly matches that of the actual player (this is based off of what experience level the actual player is when the player monster spawns). Their abilities closely match their role as well (wizards and priests can cast spells, rogues can steal items from inventory, etc). Player monster Knights spawn riding either a horse or a warhorse. Player monsters in EvilHack covet the Amulet of Yendor and will attempt to steal it, and if they steal it while on the Astral Plane, will attempt to sacrifice it themselves. As you can imagine, if that happens, it is a game-ending event.
  • All unique demons (demon lords and princes) have their own special level in Gehennom and will be encountered by the player at some point in the game. Many have all also been given the ability to cast clerical-type spells in addition to their regular attacks.
  • Unique demons now ask for a significantly greater amount of gold when attempting to bribe the player for safe passage.
  • Along with the group of vanilla NetHack creatures that are immune to magical scaring, all quest leaders and nemesis, all demon lords and princes, player monsters, archangels and honey badgers are also immune to magical scaring.
  • The Riders have had their hit points increased significantly, and each Rider has its own steed which it rides, each with unique attacks and abilities.
  • Players can do battle with their quest leader if they turn hostile, and if they defeat their quest leader, it unlocks their quest and they can still finish it. Subsequently, angering your quest leader or being banished from the quest is no longer a game-ending event.
  • Vlad the Impaler can cast wizard-based monster spells, and wields the artifact weapon Lifestealer.
  • Medusa has been enhanced significantly, and is no longer an easy kill. Medusa's hit points and level have been increased, and she spawns wielding an enchanted orcish bow with a quiver full of enchanted and poisoned orcish arrows. The snakes on her head can attack (poisonous bite) and her own bite causes slow-stoning. Her gaze is still of the instant petrification type. Having reflection is no longer a guaranteed kill, as Medusa will shield her eyes from her own reflection 92% of the time. If the player is too far away (three or more spaces) from Medusa, her reflected gaze is too far away for her to notice and will not have any effect on her.
  • Juiblex has been enhanced, and has many more acid-based attacks at its disposal.
  • Stoning – monsters being stoned is a slow-stoning process, just as it is for the player.
  • The Yendorian army is now significantly changed, as there are now various races among the soldier, sergeant, lieutenant and captain ranks. It is not uncommon to see either human, elven, dwarvish, gnomish, orcish, hobbit, giant or centaurian races across all ranks, outfitted with appropriate gear given their race and size. The hit dice and difficulty rating for each rank is basically the same, regardless of race. As with player monsters, listing every single new rank and race of the Yendorian army would unnecessarily inflate the new monster list and was purposely left out.
  • All of the 'lord' and 'king' monsters that exist (dwarves, kobolds, gnomes, ogres, vampires, and elves) now have 'lady' and 'queen' counterparts. Their stats are the same, just that their title and gender have changed. To include all of these on the new monsters list would have been counter-productive and was left out on purpose. Vampire kings and queens have also been created – each are slightly stronger versions of their Vampire lord/lady counterparts, but are not as powerful as Vampire mages.
  • Dragons have been significantly enhanced – they spawn with much more hit points (especially in the end game), can engulf creatures smaller than it and digest them, and their scales have some form of a secondary passive attack (which is passed on to the scales they drop upon death). Overall, they are now a much more worthy opponent befitting their status and are not to be taken for granted.
  • All elemental monsters can engulf creatures smaller than it – the fire elemental engulfing attack is fire-based, the earth elemental engulfing attack is much the same as an air elemental, and the water elemental engulfing attack can choke the player if they do not have a means of breathing underwater.
  • The gelatinous cube and green slime now have engulfing attacks – the green slime engulfing attack is the same as its touch attack (sliming), whereas the gelatinous cube engulfing attack is a modified version of the giant eel wrap attack. It will strangle the player unless they have a means of magical breathing, and not much time is afforded the player to escape before they die of suffocation. Since the gelatinous cube also has a paralyzing attack, this makes them a very fearsome monster and they should be avoided if at all possible.
  • Lichens now have a weak attack that does little damage but can slow its target down.
  • Leprechauns will steal not just gold pieces, but anything made of gold from the players inventory.
  • Tame vampire types will not revert back into their animal form.
  • All orcs are immune to poison, just like the orc player race.
  • Shape-changing monsters (except for vampires and were-creatures) will revert back to their original form when their polymorphed form dies. They cannot change form again once this happens.
  • Wargs can now be ridden by player orcs, and subsequently can only be tamed by the same.
  • The Elvenking has been renamed to 'Elven King'.
  • Color changes – the Wizard of Yendor, mind flayers, and master mind flayers have had their color changed to bright magenta so as to make it possible to differentiate them from other monsters that they used to share the same color (magenta) with. Tigers are now orange, as they should have been from the get-go.
  • Mumakil and mastodons, along with the woolly mammoth, can attack with their trunks, grabbing onto and crushing their target. Mumakil have also had their difficultly level increased to make it more in-line with the damage it delivers.
  • Salamanders can grab onto the player and pull them into lava if it is currently in a pool of lava.
  • Ghosts are more of a threat, as all incorporeal monsters can only be hit with blessed/enchanted/silver/bone objects. They can also turn invisible and back again, scaring the player and making them immobile for a brief period of time.

Monster spells

A few new monster spells have been added to EvilHack, and some existing spells have been tweaked or changed. The order listed here is the same as they are listed in src/mcastu.c, typically strongest to weakest.

Spell Type Status Notes
Touch of death Mage existing Vanilla NetHack behavior – no magic resistance, you're dead. With MR, nothing happens. In EvilHack, if you have MR you'll take damage (8d6) and your maximum hit point level can be reduced slightly. Having MR and half spell damage together can reduce those effects even more.
Cancellation Mage new Acts just like having a wand of cancellation zapped at the player. The spellcasting monster must be lined up with the player before it can cast this spell.
Acid blast Mage new A powerful area of effect spell, does acid damage to its target. The damage output is dependent on the level of the monster casting it. The acid from this spell also has a chance of eroding any unprotected weapons or armor in open inventory.
Destroy armor Mage existing Vanilla NetHack behavior – if the player didn't have magic resistance, one piece of armor would be completely destroyed. In EvilHack, this spell isn't as direct, but is more insidious, and having magic resistance is no longer full protection against this spell. Any piece of armor being worn can have its fixed status removed, and then can be deteriorated to the point that it's completely destroyed. Even armor that is normally erodeproof (dragonhide and dragon scales, mithril, etc) is affected. Having MR keeps the erosion level at one per cast, otherwise the erosion level is of one to three levels per cast. The counterbalance to this spell is the player spell Repair Armor. Blessed pieces of armor have a small chance of resisting. Armor-based quest artifacts are immune to this spell, as is crystal plate mail.
Fire bolt Mage new A small area of effect spell, this spell explodes a small fireball upon its target. Any flammable objects in open inventory are subject to being burned. This is a low-level spell, so access to this spell is given to every monster spellcaster that has access to mage-based spells.
Ice bolt Mage new A small area of effect spell, this spell explodes a small ice storm upon its target. Any non-protected objects in open inventory are subject to being frozen. This is a low-level spell, so access to this spell is given to every monster spellcaster that has access to mage-based spells.
Summon minion Clerical new Allows the monster spellcaster to summon a type of minion based on its alignment. Demons that can cast clerical-based spells are not given access to this spell as they already have the ability to gate in other demons.
Geyser Clerical existing A powerful spell that causes a large geyser of water to slam into its target, causing physical damage (8d6). What's new to this spell vs vanilla NetHack is that it can now rust any unprotected worn armor.
Vulnerability Clerical new The target of this spell temporarily becomes vulnerable to either fire, cold, shock or acid-based attacks, dropping its resistance (if any exists) by 50%.

The monster spell cure self has not been altered, but some logic was introduced that makes this spell a priority if the spellcasting monsters hit points drop to a life-threatening level.