Fire vampire
V fire vampire 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 22 |
| Attacks |
Claw 2d4 fire, Claw 2d4 fire, Bite 2d4 drain life, Touch 2d4 drain energy, Spell-casting 2d12 fire |
| Base level | 12 |
| Base experience | 462 |
| Speed | 24 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | sleep, poison, cold, fire |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
A fire vampire:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line3223 |
A fire vampire, V, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. The fire vampire is a powerful type of vampire that is unbreathing, capable of flight and can follow a character to other levels if they are adjacent like other vampires. The fire vampire is not undead like other members of the monster class, however, and is instead a fiery extraterrestrial being: they are still humanoid and share the vampire's regeneration abilities and resistances, as well as their weakness to silver, and can be seen via infravision.
A fire vampire has five attacks: two claw attacks that deal fire damage, a life draining bite, an energy draining touch, and a fire ray monster spell similar to the magic missile attack of Angels and Yeenoghu and the cold attack of Asmodeus - this spell is a deferred feature in vanilla NetHack, and is similar to the fireball spell when used at a distance. Fire vampires possess poison resistance, fire resistance and cold resistance.
Generation
Randomly generated fire vampires are always created hostile.
Fire vampires can very rarely appear in graveyards.
Fire vampires appear among the random V that make up the second quest monster class for Undead Slayers, and makes up 6⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Undead Slayer quest.
Fire vampires also appear among the random V generated in the Chaotic Quest at level creation.
A fire vampire will never leave a corpse upon death.
Strategy
The fire vampire can be very dangerous to the unprepared, as its 24 speed and melee-range fire spell can quickly burn through much of your HP; the fire spell bypasses reflection at a distance, and can also burn applicable items in your inventory. Additionally, they have a natural AC of 0 and are capable of wearing all armor. The Chaotic Quest in particular is a disaster waiting to happen for those without fire resistance, as fire vampires can generate among the random V placed during level creation.
Fire resistance will blunt most of the damage from fire vampire attacks, though it will not protect your inventory in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM; once you obtain fire resistance, you may want to turn off the 'sparkle' option in order to shorten the time used on animations and reduce distractions during combat with them. As they are not undead, fire vampires lack drain resistance and can be weakened with the wand of draining among other similar items and effects, though they still have a solid MR score of 50, making most forms of magic unreliable.
As a polyform
A fire vampire is one of the strongest polyforms for any character with a means of polymorph and a source of polymorph control due to their high speed, regeneration, flight, base 0 AC, and ability to wear all armor. For a doppleganger in particular that gains polymorph control through experience levels or an external source, fire vampires represent a power boost that can buoy even weaker characters against high-level threats.
Be careful not to rely too much on it in either case, however: in addition to the perils of excessive shapechanging for dopplegangers in particular, fire vampires cannot utilize silver weapons and items, and monsters such as footrices can result in an undignified instadeath by stoning if you are careless. Fire vampires can also only feed by draining the blood of other monsters like the rest of their vampire kin, and as such may be a difficult form to utilize in certain stages of the game unless you have a ring of slow digestion. Finally, their fire attacks can destroy scrolls and potions in monsters' inventories, which is a variable concern depending on how much loot you are seeking out at a given point.
Origin
In "The Fire Vampires", a short story by Donald Wandrei which is considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos, the titular alien beings appear in two distinct types: the flame Creatures of Cthugha that appear as many points of fiery light, and the fire Vampires of Fthaggua that appear as crimson bursts of lightning. Their tile and description in SLASH'EM could easily apply to either type, though they are somewhat strangely still humanoid. Cthugha is a Great Old One, an elemental spirit of fire opposed to the Elder Gods, while Fthaggua is the regent of the fire vampires and may be Cthugha's progeny.
Encyclopedia entry
A swirling cloud of bright, burning motes, the fire vampire
descends upon its victim and easily burns them to death once
they are in its deadly embrace.
