Centipede

s centipede
Difficulty	4
Attacks	Bite 1d3 poisonous

s centipede
Difficulty	4
Attacks	Bite 1d3 poisonous
Base level	2
Base experience	19
Speed	4
Base AC	3
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	50
Nutritional value	50
Size	Tiny
Resistances	Poison
Resistances conveyed	Poison (13%)
A centipede: can hide under items. has no hands. is an animal. can lay eggs. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile.
Reference	monst.c#line778

A centipede, s, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a tiny, carnivorous and oviparous animal that is a namesake member of the arachnid or centipede monster class, and can hide under objects like the other small monsters of its group.

A centipede has single poisonous bite attack, and possesses poison resistance.

Eating a centipede corpse or tin has a ²⁄₁₅ chance of conveying poison resistance.

Generation

Randomly generated centipedes are always created hostile.

Centipedes appear among the random s that are part of the first quest monster class for Tourists and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Tourist quest. They also appear among the random s that are part of the second quest monster class for Rangers and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Ranger quest.

Centipedes generated at level creation are given a random item to hide under.

Strategy

Unlike slightly weaker cave spiders, centipedes can actually pose a threat to a character without poison resistance. Fortunately, and also unlike cave spiders, a centipede is extremely slow at 4 speed, and can be kept at bay with the same techniques as cave spiders - projectiles are even more effective to exploit the centipede's tendency to hide under items. Centipede corpses can also be eaten as a safe source of poison resistance.

History

The centipede first appears in SLASH 6, and makes its vanilla debut in NetHack 3.3.0.

Origin

Centipedes (from Neo-Latin centi-, "hundred", and Latin pes, pedis, "foot") are predatory arthropods that belong to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda, which consists of millipedes and other similar, multi-legged arthropods. Centipedes are elongated, multi-segmented creatures that have one pair of legs per body segment; they are venomous and can inflict painful stings, injecting their venom through pincer-like appendages known as forcipules or toxicognaths, which are actually modified legs rather than fangs.

Despite the name, no centipede has exactly 100 pairs of legs: the number of legs ranges from 15 pairs to 191 pairs, and is always an odd number. Centipedes are predominantly carnivorous, hunting for a variety of prey items that can be overpowered. They have a wide geographical range, and can be found in terrestrial habitats from tropical rainforests to deserts - within these habitats, centipedes require a moist micro-habitat due to lacking the waxy cuticle of insects and arachnids, and avoid direct sunlight by staying under cover or by being active at night.

Encyclopedia entry

I observed here, what I had often seen before, that certain districts abound in centipedes. Here they have light reddish bodies and blue legs; great myriapedes are seen crawling every where. Although they do no harm, they excite in man a feeling of loathing. Perhaps our appearance produces a similar feeling in the elephant and other large animals. Where they have been much disturbed, they certainly look upon us with great distrust, as the horrid biped that ruins their peace.

[ Travels and Researches in South Africa,
by Dr. David Livingstone ]