Role

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When starting NetHack, the game asks for the role you want to play, with the option of letting the game randomly pick one. You can also set the role in your nethackrc file, or specify it on the command line with the -p option.

Each role begins with different starting equipment and different levels of mastery in weapons. Intrinsics that are gained when leveling up (such as a Ranger's intrinsic stealth) and conducts (such as the Monk's vegetarian conducts) also vary with each role. Experienced players often attempt to ascend all thirteen roles. Some roles are considered more difficult to ascend than others. See role difficulty for more details.

Role table by starting attributes and intrinsics

The following table describes the mean and standard deviation of the starting attributes for each role, along with the initial intrinsics and the intrinsics obtained at specific experience levels. The means and standard deviations were calculated via simulation, whose source code can be found on the talk page, and assumes that all given roles are played as humans - non-human races will have different attribute means as a result of different attribute maximums.

	Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha	Initial intrinsics	Gained intrinsics
Archeologist	12.79±2.15	9.78±1.63	12.50±2.10	15.34±1.86	15.34±1.86	9.51±1.57	speed, stealth	XL 10: searching
Barbarian	18/00.89±1.34	16.72±1.01	17.69±0.59	7.60±0.87	7.69±0.91	6.60±0.87	poison resistance	XL 7: speed, XL 15: stealth
Cave(wo)man	18/01.61±2.48	13.19±2.16	16.43±1.76	8.90±1.40	9.21±1.49	7.90±1.40		XL 7: speed, XL 15: warning
Healer	9.31±1.46	9.17±1.42	14.55±1.63	9.87±1.57	15.77±1.40	16.56±0.73	poison resistance	XL 15: warning
Knight	14.95±1.24	8.66±0.89	11.27±1.10	7.97±1.01	14.96±0.97	17.43±0.53		XL 7: speed
Monk	17.34±2.37	13.63±2.10	11.26±1.95	9.86±1.66	13.63±2.10	9.57±1.59	see invisible sleep resistance speed	XL 3: poison resistance XL 5: stealth XL 7: warning XL 9: searching XL 11: fire resistance XL 13: cold resistance XL 15: shock resistance XL 17: teleport control
Priest(ess)	12.21±2.07	11.89±2.01	13.47±2.16	10.28±1.74	17.44±1.08	9.95±1.67		XL 15: warning, XL 20: fire resistance
Ranger	15.22±1.32	10.45±1.17	14.44±1.14	13.75±0.93	13.75±0.93	7.68±0.91	searching	XL 7: stealth, XL 15: see invisible
Rogue	14.10±2.29	17.52±1.00	13.72±2.18	10.41±1.77	10.41±1.77	9.07±1.70	stealth	XL 10: searching
Samurai	15.90±1.94	15.54±1.75	17.91±0.32	9.94±1.37	8.56±1.27	7.37±1.20	speed	XL 15: stealth
Tourist	11.60±1.99	11.31±1.94	15.28±2.10	12.89±1.65	8.89±1.66	15.29±1.86		XL 10: searching, XL 20: poison resistance
Valkyrie	18/00.86±2.34	12.72±2.08	17.11±1.32	8.75±1.35	9.04±1.43	8.76±1.35	cold resistance, stealth	XL 7: speed
Wizard	10.60±1.80	13.48±2.15	13.47±2.15	17.44±1.07	10.28±1.74	9.96±1.67		XL 8: teleport at will if wizard has teleportitis XL 15: warning XL 17: teleport control

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.

Per commit 7d140c6a, an off-by-one error is fixed that slightly biases strength over charisma.

Per commit 075c2832, intrinsics for certain roles are gained at different levels:

• Archeologists now start with searching, get stealth at XL 5, and speed at XL 10.
• Valkyries get stealth at XL 3.

Role table by alignment and race

The following role, race, and alignment combinations are permitted upon character creation.

	Human	Elf	Dwarf	Gnome	Orc
Archeologist	Law Neu		Law	Neu
Barbarian	Neu Cha				Cha
Caveman	Law Neu		Law	Neu
Healer	Neu			Neu
Knight	Law
Monk	Law Neu Cha
Priest	Law Neu Cha	Cha
Ranger	Neu Cha	Cha		Neu	Cha
Rogue	Cha				Cha
Samurai	Law
Tourist	Neu
Valkyrie	Law Neu		Law
Wizard	Neu Cha	Cha		Neu	Cha

Variants

SLASH'EM Role table by alignment and race

The following role, race, and alignment combinations are permitted upon character creation.

	Doppelganger	Drow	Dwarf	Elf	Gnome	Hobbit	Human	Lycanthrope	Orc	Vampire
Archeologist	Neu		Law	Law Neu	Neu	Law Neu	Law Neu
Barbarian	Neu Cha	Cha		Neu			Neu Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha
Caveman	Neu		Law		Neu		Law Neu
Flame mage	Neu Cha	Cha		Law Neu	Neu	Law Neu	Law Neu Cha		Cha
Healer	Neu			Neu	Neu	Neu	Neu
Ice mage	Neu Cha	Cha		Law Neu	Neu	Law Neu	Law Neu Cha		Cha	Cha
Knight							Law
Monk	Neu Cha					Law Neu	Law Neu Cha
Necromancer	Cha	Cha					Cha		Cha	Cha
Priest	Neu Cha	Cha		Law Neu		Law Neu	Law Neu Cha
Rogue	Cha						Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha
Ranger	Neu Cha	Cha		Neu	Neu	Neu	Neu Cha	Cha	Cha
Samurai							Law
Tourist	Neu					Neu	Neu
Undead slayer	Neu Cha	Cha		Law Neu	Neu	Law Neu	Law Neu Cha	Cha	Cha
Valkyrie	Neu		Law				Law Neu
Wizard	Neu Cha	Cha		Neu	Neu	Neu	Neu Cha		Cha	Cha
Yeoman				Law		Law	Law

dNethack Role table by alignment and race

The following role, race, and alignment combinations are permitted upon character creation in dNethack.

Some race/role combinations result in special quests, this is shown as (Q: Quest Code)

	Dwarf	Elf	Gnome	Human	Incantifier	Orc
Archeologist	Law		Neu	Law Neu	Law Neu
Anachrononaut	Cha	Cha		Neu Cha	Neu Cha
Barbarian				Cha	Cha	Cha
Binder	Void	Void	Void	Void	Void	Void
Caveman	Law		Neu	Law Neu	Law Neu
Convict	Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha
Healer		Random	Neu	Neu	Neu
Knight	Law (Q: Dna)			Law	Law
Madman	Law	Cha	Neu	Law Neu Cha	Law Neu Cha	Cha
Monk				Law	Law
Noble	Law (Q: Dnb)	Cha (Q: Elf)		Law Neu Cha	Law Neu Cha
Priest		Cha (Q: Elf)		Law Neu Cha	Law Neu Cha
Pirate		Cha		Neu Cha	Neu Cha
Rogue		Cha		Cha	Cha	Cha
Ranger		Cha (Q: Elf)	Neu (Q: Gnr)	Neu Cha	Neu Cha	Cha
Samurai				Law	Law
Tourist				Neu	Neu
Troubadour		Cha	Neu	Neu Cha	Neu Cha	Cha
Valkyrie	Law			Law Neu	Law Neu
Wizard		Cha (Q: Elf)	Neu	Neu Cha	Neu Cha	Cha

	Clockwork	Chiropteran	Drow (female)	Drow (male)	Half-Dragon	Vampire	Yuki-onna
Archeologist	Law				Law Neu	Neu
Anachrononaut	Neu (Q: And)		Cha	Neu	Neu Cha	Neu Cha
Barbarian					Cha	Cha
Binder	Void	Void	Void	Void	Void	Void	Void
Caveman		Law Neu			Law Neu
Convict		Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha	Cha
Healer			Neu (Q: Dhl)	Neu (Q: Dhl)			Neu
Knight	Law				Law
Madman			Cha	Neu	Law Neu Cha	Neu Cha	Law Neu Cha
Monk	Law				Law		Law
Noble			Cha (Q: Ndr)	Neu (Q: Nhd)	Law Neu Cha (Q: Hdf if female)	Neu Cha
Priest	Law	Law Neu Cha	Cha (Q: Dro)	Neu (Q: Hdr)	Law Neu Cha
Pirate			Cha	Neu
Rogue		Cha	Cha (Q: Dro)	Neu (Q: Hdr)	Cha	Cha
Ranger		Neu Cha	Cha (Q: Dro)	Neu (Q: Hdr)	Neu Cha
Samurai	Law				Law		Law
Tourist
Troubadour	Neu				Neu Cha		Neu Cha
Valkyrie							Law Neu
Wizard			Cha (Q: Dro)	Neu (Q: Hdr)	Neu Cha	Neu Cha

See also

• Role difficulty

Other games

Some other games, such as Dungeons & Dragons use the word "class", and MapleStory and Final Fantasy, for example, use "job", while NetHack always calls them roles.