Aphrodite (SLASH'EM)

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For the monster as she appears in other variants, see Aphrodite.

Aphrodite, n, is a unique monster that appears in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. She is a nymph that is faster and stronger than other nymphs, and is both the most difficult of her monster class and an overlord to her kind. Like other nymphs, she will teleport at random while moving and can be seen via infravision—Aphrodite will also pick up any gold, gems, magical items and other items that she comes across, and can follow a hero to other levels if she is adjacent. Aphrodite cannot be made tame.

Aphrodite has a claw attack that can steal items and a second claw attack that can initiate seduction and allows her to steal even more items.

Eating Aphrodite's corpse or tin always grants teleportitis.

Generation

Aphrodite is always generated hostile, and is not a valid form for polymorph.

Aphrodite is generated on the nymph level, which has a 920 chance of generating on dungeon level 23 or 24.

Strategy

Aphrodite herself is not that difficult to defeat in spite of her -5 base AC and 15 speed, since she generates late enough in the dungeon that a hero will frequently have comparable (if not far better) AC, a source of speed, the ability to see invisible, and solid offensive options along with the to-hit and luck to keep them reliable. The same strategy used for most other nymphs is applicable here: shoot her down from a distance if possible, and if she steals any item(s), use telepathy, monster detection or a similar method to track her down and finish her quickly before she can use any escape items or else try to use the stolen item(s) against you. Aphrodite has the same MR score of 20 as other nymphs, leaving her somewhat (but not especially) resistant to magic.

Aphrodite will generally be surrounded by the more annoying nymph monsters, such as brownies, pixies and quicklings, so be careful if you lack see invisible and/or telepathy to spot other nymphs beforehand—running into a pixie while making your way to her will cause you no end of trouble.

History

Aphrodite first appears in NetHack-- 3.1.3.