Paimon
Paimon, the Fell Archivist is a spirit that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack.
Ritual, seal and taboo
Paimon's seal must be drawn around a non-artifact spellbook that is not a spellbook of secrets—the book will be "consumed" and made into a spellbook of blank paper as part of a successful summoning ritual, losing any tactile property it may have (e.g. from the starting spellbooks of a Drow Healer). The hero must chat from the square southeast of the seal, i.e. in the northwest direction towards it, during the ritual. If the ritual is successful but the hero lacks a free slot to bind Paimon with, they will lose an experience level.
To remain bound to Paimon, the hero must not read scrolls while confused.
Mark
A hero that has Paimon bound will have a crown floating above their head, which can be seen from a distance. The crown can be "disguised" by wearing a helm, which will cause the crown to seem supported.
Benefits
While Paimon is bound, she grants the hero skill in wand damage, along with MC3 and a form of hungerless casting that is applied at a -6 "penalty" to intelligence compared to a Wizard: a hero with Paimon bound needs 21 intelligence for half-hunger casting compared to 15 for Wizards, and 22 intelligence or more will only reduce the normal nutrition cost to 1⁄4.
Paimon's active powers are as follows:
- Read Spell: The hero can cast a spell by reading from a wielded spellbook without any energy cost or chance of failure.
- Book Telepathy: The hero can detect all spellbooks on the current level.
Her passive powers are as follows:
- Lives to Pages: A hero attacking with a wielded spellbook has a 1⁄10 chance of draining levels from monsters on each hit, which also decrements the spellbook's "read" counter by 1.
- Power of Learning: Attacks with a wielded spellbook deal damage equal to the level of that book's spell plus a roll of the hero's spirit die. For example, a Binder at experience level 14 wielding a spellbook of fireball deals 1d5+4 damage when attacking with it in melee, while the same Binder at XL 30 deals 1d9+4 damage.
- Warning against magic: The hero gains warning of spellcasting monsters.
- Master Magician: The hero gains a bonus reduction to spell failure chance that is equivalent to wearing a robe without metallic body armor, and stacks with the bonus from an actual worn robe.
As a monster
| & Paimon (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 46 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 4d4 physical, weapon 4d4 physical, spellcast 4d4 mage, spellcast 6d6 clerical, spellcast 5d4 magic missile |
| Base level | 37 |
| Base experience | 2193 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -8 |
| Base MR | 100 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | fire resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, stoning resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | none |
|
Paimon:
| |
In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Paimon, &, also appears as a monster that can be summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder. She is a strong humanoid major demon that has infravision, can be seen via infravision, will collect items such as weapons, armor and spellbooks, and can follow the hero to other levels if she is adjacent. Like many summoned spirits, Paimon cannot be tamed, and she will turn traitor if somehow made tame.
Paimon has two weapon attacks, along with the ability to case one mage spell, one clerical spell and one magic missile spell per round of attacks. She possesses fire resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, stoning resistance, drain resistance, and death resistance.
Paimon is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if she is digested by another monster.
Generation
Paimon is first generated when summoned from her seal by an Illithanachronounbinder. She is always created hostile, and is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
Paimon is always generated with a +3 gemstone helm of brilliance and the uncursed +3 Archivist. The Archivist is an artifact quarterstaff made of gemstone that grants magic resistance while carried, has +1d5 to-hit and double damage bonuses while wielded: invoking The Archivist can replicate the effects of reading a randomly-selected scroll that has the same beatitude as the artifact—this will never produce the effects from any of the scrolls of punishment, amnesia, consecration, blank paper, or antimagic; if the selected scroll is one of enchant armor, enchant weapon, or destroy armor, the hero will become confused and apply the effects of reading that scroll while confused.
Paimon does not leave a corpse upon death.
Strategy
Below this point, there are major spoilers for the Illithanachronounbinder role. They can be accessed by selecting the "Role spoiler" tab.
If Paimon is killed after being summoned, she can be encountered again in the Void, a branch accessed by opening the high altar of Ilsensine the Fallen as an Illithanachronounbinder using the invoke effect of The Elder Cerebral Fluid. Paimon is placed randomly along with many other spirits of the near void on the second floor of the branch, and is generated with the "whispers" template, which makes her nonliving.
Messages
- The pages of the <spellbook> begin to turn.
- You attempted to bind Paimon.
- A beautiful woman rides into the seal on a camel.
- She scoops up the book and begins pouring through it.
- As she reads, she absentmindedly hands you her crown.
- "Your contribution is appreciated. Now don't bother me."
- You successfully bound Paimon to yourself. This last line is the only one printed if you are blind.
- A beautiful woman walks into the seal.
- "Sometimes, a subtle approach is better."
- She dips her fingers into the ink of the <spellbook> and writes on your weapon.
- You successfully bound Paimon to The Pen of the Void. Only the second line is printed if you are blind.
- A beautiful woman rides into the seal on a camel.
- Her face darkens.
- Woman and camel both vanish, replaced by a demon of black smoke.
- A very masculine voice booms out:
- "How dare you waste the time of I, the fell archivist!"
- You lost one experience level and failed to bind Paimon due to a lack of open slots for spirits of the Near Void. Only the last two lines are printed if you are blind.
- You dream briefly of a library in the northwest kingdom.
- You performed the binding ritual incorrectly.
Encyclopedia entry
Paymon is a king of hell who governs 200 legions, half of them from the Angelic Order, and half from the Order of Powers. He appears as a man with a woman’s face riding a dromedary, and crowned with a headdress made with precious stones.
