Alhoon (EvilHack)
h alhoon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 30 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 1d10 physical, Touch 5d6 cold, Tentacles 2d1 intelligence drain, Tentacles 2d1 intelligence drain, Spellcasting 0d0 mage |
| Base level | 26 |
| Base experience | 1115 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -6 |
| Base MR | 90 |
| Alignment | -15 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1200 |
| Nutritional value | 250 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | psychic, fire, cold, sleep, electricity, poison, level drain |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
An alhoon:
| |
| Reference | EvilHack 0.8.4 - monst.c, line 668 |
An alhoon, h, is a type of monster that appears in EvilHack and Hack'EM. The alhoon is a master mind flayer that became undead as a result of attaining lichdom and shares traits of both monsters: the alhoon has the cold touch, spellcasting and regeneration of the lich, and the flight and intelligence-draining tentacle attacks of the mind flayer. Alhoons have infravision, can be seen via infravision, can see invisible, and will seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up—they are also covetous and desire the Book of the Dead like other liches, and can warp short distances across the current level.
An alhoon has a weapon attack, a cold touch attack, two brain-eating tentacle attack, and will attempt to cast one mage monster spell during each of its rounds. Alhoons possess fire resistance, cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, shock resistance, drain resistance, death resistance, and psychic resistance.
An alhoon is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if it is digested by another monster.
Generation
Alhoons are only randomly generated in Gehennom, and are always generated hostile. They are not a valid form for normal polymorph.
An alhoon is generated on the lowest level of Vecna's Domain at level creation, with a 7⁄20 chance (35%) of a second alhoon being generated.
Orcus-town generates an alhoon within the room containing the altar to Moloch at level creation. The filler levels of Gehennom generate a hostile monster at level creation that has a 1⁄5 chance of being an alhoon.
An alhoon is generated in Lucifer's chamber within Moloch's Sanctum at level creation.
An alhoon has a 1⁄3 chance of generating with a weapon, which has a 2⁄3 chance of being an athame and a 1⁄3 chance of being a quarterstaff—the weapon has a 1⁄4 chance of being made erosion-proof, and if it generates with an enchantment of +1 or lower, it will be given an enchantment ranging from +1 to +3 with an equal probability of each. A quarterstaff generated this way has a 1⁄13 chance of either being given an object property or even being made into an artifact, which has independent odds of occurring, and the artifact will always be Magicbane.
Alhoons never leave a corpse upon death - if killed by any method that ordinarily leaves a corpse, a message is printed about their body crumbling to dust.
Strategy
Alhoons are very dangerous monsters and powerful spellcasters that should be approached with caution: in addition to the standard high-level repertoire of spells such as summon nasties, destroy armor and touch of death, their tentacle attacks can cause amnesia that may drain vital skill and/or spell training. This makes them a popular target for genocide, but doing so requires the hero to destroy Vecna, ensuring they will have to deal with at least one alhoon within his domain.
For heroes that plan to fight an alhoon in melee, magic resistance or another form of resistance to death magic is a must to prevent the worst effects of their spells, and The Sword of Annihilation or Dirge can exploit their lack of resistances to acid and disintegration. A greased or oilskin helm is also necessary to block the amnesia and intelligence drain from their tentacle attacks; psychic resistance from a (master) mind flayer polyself can do the same. Illithid heroes possess a natural immunity to tentacle attacks from other flayers, while Infidels that have crowned are death-resistant. For the other nasty spells in the alhoon arsenal, acid resistance and cancellation resistance can protect against acid blast and cancellation respectively.
Engaging an alhoon from range is somewhat safer: A simple boulder fort will protect against the brunt of an alhoon's offense, and requires relatively little preparation. For your own offense, highly enchanted projectiles such as daggers or shuriken are viable; the alhoon's spell list includes reflection, which can render rays ineffective, and their suite of resistances means that acid blast is the only viable area-of-effect spell. The Hammer of the Gods will return when thrown if you are Skilled or higher in hammer and deals double damage to undead monsters, making it an excellent choice at range.
Origin
Alhoons, also called illithiliches, are a form of illithid that originate from Dungeons & Dragons, where they first appear in Advanced 2nd Edition booklet "Book One: The City", released as part of the Menzoberranzan boxed set for the Forgotten Realms setting in 1992. They are further detailed in 1998 supplement "The Illithiad".
Alhoons are outcasts from illithid society for delving too deep into the study of wizardry, as illithids consider psionic potential integral to their identity: they typically communicate through psychic means by projecting thoughts and feelings to each other, and upon death have their brain extracted upon death and taken to the pool of an "Elder Brain", which also hosts illithid larvae. This brain acts as a vast library of knowledge that other illithids can call upon, and becoming a part of its collective of brains represents a form of immortality to them.
The study of arcane magic and other forms of magic is frowned upon, since magical energy cannot be absorbed by the Elder Brain, but is otherwise tolerated insofar as it allows illithid society to better understand their enemies—illithids that are outcast for going too far with these studies will often seek immortality through undeath instead, turning to lichdom. When discovered near illithid communities, alhoons are mercilessly hunted down.
Encyclopedia entry
A truly terrifying creature, alhoons are rogue master mind flayers
that sought out ultimate magical power, sacrificing their souls
and becoming something akin to an arch-lich. Alhoons 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.
