Aphrodite (UnNetHack)
n Aphrodite 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 13 |
| Attacks |
Claw 0d0 steal item, Claw 0d0 seduction |
| Base level | 10 |
| Base experience | ? |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | -5 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 600 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | causes teleportitis (100%) |
|
Aphrodite:
| |
- For the monster as she appears in other variants, see Aphrodite.
Aphrodite, n, is a unique monster that appears in UnNetHack, DynaHack, EvilHack, and Hack'EM. She is a nymph that is faster and stronger than other nymphs, and is nearly identical to her appearance in SLASH'EM, with the only difference being a slightly lower monster difficulty. 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. In EvilHack and Hack'EM, Aphrodite also 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 always generated on the nymph level.
Strategy
Aphrodite can be surprisingly difficult to defeat: though she lacks any outstanding abilities outside of her -5 base AC and 15 speed, her special level can generate early enough that a hero may lack the AC, speed and/or solid offensive options necessary to combat her effectively.
Regardless, 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 other nymphs, so be careful if you lack a means to spot them beforehand.
Encyclopedia entry
This entry is not included in DynaHack:
I will sing of stately Aphrodite, gold-crowned and beautiful,
whose dominion is the walled cities of all sea-set Cyprus.
There the moist breath of the western wind wafted her over
the waves of the loud moaning sea in soft foam, and there
the gold-filleted Hours welcomed her joyously. They clothed
her with heavenly garments: on her head they put a fine,
well-wrought crown of gold, and in her pierced ears they
hung ornaments of orichalc and precious gold, and adorned
her with golden necklaces over her soft neck and snow-white
breasts, jewels which the gold-filleted Hours wear themselves
whenever they go to their father's house to join the lovely
dances of the gods. And when they had fully decked her, they
brought her to the gods, who welcomed her when they saw her,
giving her their hands. Each one of them prayed that he might
lead her home to be his wedded wife, so greatly were they
amazed at the beauty of violet-crowned Cytherea.
translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White ]
