Baby purple worm

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A baby purple worm, w, is a type of monster in that appears in NetHack. It is a slithy, carnivorous worm that is a juvenile form of the purple worm.

Baby purple worms possess a single bite attack.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Baby purple worms can sense shriekers like their adult selves, and a hero polymorphed into a baby purple worm is warned of shriekers on the level.

Generation

Randomly generated baby purple worms are always created hostile. A baby purple worm can grow up into a purple worm, and purple worm eggs can hatch into baby purple worms.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

A shrieker that would summon a purple worm with its shriek will instead generate a baby purple worm if a purple worm would be out-of-depth.

Strategy

Baby purple worms are not particularly remarkable monsters to encounter, and can be dispatched with ease by most heroes - those willing to invest the time and energy into taming and raising one will be rewarded with a powerful pet in the purple worm, which can engulf monsters up to large size and instantly kill them via digestion.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

A shrieker summoning a baby purple worms may provide an opportunity for an early hero to gain a significant amount of experience from killing it - especially-fortunate heroes can potentially take advantage of this to even tame one and raise it to adulthood for a powerful early pet.

History

The baby purple worm first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Origin

The purple worm originates from Dungeons & Dragons, where they debut in the 1st Edition Monster Manual. Purple worms are monstrous, subterranean egg-laying creatures that resemble enormous and bizarre earthworms, with a chitinous plated hide that is dark purple in hue, a toothy maw, and a stinger at the rear end that contains a potent venom. Freshly-hatched purple worms are known as purple wormlings while less than 6 weeks old, and are up to about 9 feet (2.7 m) in length and weigh 1,500 lb (680 kg) - they also lack the tail stinger of the mature purple worm.

Variants

GruntHack

In GruntHack, the baby purple worm's difficulty is lowered to 7.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, baby purple worms can slither between iron bars.

Encyclopedia entry

A gargantuan version of the harmless rain-worm, the purple worm poses a huge threat to the ordinary adventurer. It is known to swallow whole and digest its victims within only a few minutes. These worms are always on guard, sensitive to the most minute vibrations in the earth, but may also be awakened by a remote shriek.