Orc shaman
o orc shaman 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 38 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | 5 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1000 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
An orc shaman:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line705 |
The orc shaman, o, is a low level spell-casting monster that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
The orc shaman has a 50% chance to be created with an orcish helm, but will not receive a weapon like other orcs.[1][2] Orc shamans may generate as peaceful towards orcish player characters.
In addition to normal generation, orcish shamans may also appear in throne rooms, and two to six shamans will be generated near the desecrated temple in the Orcish Town variant of Minetown.
Strategy
Similar to other low-level casters such as kobold shamans and gnomish wizards, orc shamans cast psi bolt and healing, and their spells frequently fail due to their low speed and low level - as such, they are usually not a significant threat. Be careful not to get stunned while dealing with groups of monsters, however. As with other orcs, the corpse of an orc shaman is a good source of nutrition.
Orc shaman corpses make for worthwhile sacrifices in Orcish Town, especially for player orcs.
History
The orc shaman is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0, where the various orcish monsters were first differentiated from each other.
Origin
Like other orcs, the orc shaman is derived from Dungeons & Dragons, in turn based on their portrayal in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The tribal aspects of orcs, including shamanistic practices, were more established and built on in the Warcraft franchise created by Blizzard Entertainment.
Variants
SLASH'EM
Five orc shamans generate in Grund's Stronghold - three appear in the halls, and the other two start within the throne room.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, orc shamans have identical stats to their appearance in vanilla NetHack,[3] but the inclusion of more clerical spells makes them more of a potential threat. They now possess telepathy, and can be seen (and see you) if you have intrinsic telepathy - eating an orc shaman corpse or tin may also give intrinsic telepathy.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, mages (and by extension shamans) are racial monsters, and orcs are eligible to generate as shamans.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, orc shamans also have telepathy, and can be seen (and see you) if you have intrinsic telepathy.
Encyclopedia entry
Orcs, bipeds with a humanoid appearance, are related to the
goblins, but much bigger and more dangerous. The average orc
is only moderately intelligent, has broad, muscled shoulders,
a short neck, a sloping forehead and a thick, dark fur.
Their lower eye-teeth are pointing forward, like a boar's.
Female orcs are more lightly built and bare-chested. Not
needing any clothing, they do like to dress in variegated
apparels. Suspicious by nature, orcs live in tribes or
hordes. They tend to live underground as well as above
ground (but they dislike sunlight). Orcs can use all weapons,
tools and armors that are used by men. Since they don't have
the talent to fashion these themselves, they are constantly
hunting for them. There is nothing a horde of orcs cannot
use.
