Convict/UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, the Convict is a role available to the hero that is incorporated from the original Convict Role patch against NetHack 3.4.3 by Karl Garrison. The UnNetHack implementation of the Convict has perhaps the least amount of changes applied directly to the role from the original patch.
Convicts are always chaotic, which overrides normal alignment restrictions, and can be played as humans, dwarves, gnomes, orcs, or vampires.
Starting inventory
Each Convict starts with the following "equipment":
- a cursed striped shirt
- some rocks
Convicts start with knowledge of the skeleton key, the grappling hook and any applicable racial equipment.
Orcish Convicts are exempt from the extra food given to orcs of most other roles, since there is no equipment replaced (as they barely have any at all).
The Convict's default starting pet is a sewer rat named Nicodemus.
Intrinsics
Convicts gain the following intrinsic properties upon reaching the given experience levels:
- XL 1: Sickness resistance
- XL 7: Poison resistance
- XL 20: Automatic searching
Attributes
The Convict's starting attributes are distributed as follows:
| Attributes | Strength | Dexterity | Constitution | Intelligence | Wisdom | Charisma | Remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum attributes | 10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 30 |
| Distribution percentages | 30% | 20% | 30% | 6% | 7% | 7% |
Skills
Convicts in UnNetHack have the following skills available to them:
| Convict skills | |
|---|---|
| Max | Skills |
| Basic |
|
| Skilled |
|
| Expert | |
Convicts start with no skills trained to Basic. They use the intelligence stat to cast spells, and their special spell is teleport away.
Special rules
Convicts start the game punished, with an alignment record of -10.
Convicts start each game with 200 nutrition, and they burn nutrition at half the normal rate while they are at least hungry.
A Convict cannot tame domestic animals with food, which renders them peaceful at most, but has a chance of pacifying or taming rats by chatting to them.
Convicts can train the flail skill while using a heavy iron ball as a weapon.
Watchmen, watch captains and guards that see an unpolymorphed Convict will become hostile.
Monsters of races that would normally be friendly to the hero will be generated hostile for Convicts.
Rank titles
The status line displays one of the following ranks for the corresponding experience levels:
- XL 1-2: Detainee
- XL 3-5: Inmate
- XL 6-9: Jail-bird
- XL 10-13: Prisoner
- XL 14-17: Outlaw
- XL 18-21: Crook
- XL 22-25: Desperado
- XL 26-29: Felon
- XL 30: Fugitive
Gods
The Convict pantheon is based on deities worshiped by the human inhabitants of Faerûn in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons. Their first gift is Luck Blade.
Quest
The Convict's quest sees them fight Warden Arianna for The Iron Ball of Liberation, an artifact heavy iron ball that grants magic resistance, stealth, automatic searching, and warning while carried. Invoking The Iron Ball of Liberation chains the artifact to the Convict, unchaining any existing mundane iron ball if necessary, and grants phasing for 51-150 turns.
Strategy
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As in the original patch, Convicts start the game on the verge of becoming hungry, with no food in their inventory and no ability to pray for food until they raise their alignment record. Their ability to descend through the dungeon looking for food is also limited by the iron ball chained to them, as they face death from falling down the stairs. It is advisable to always wield the ball before attempting to descend, as that will reduce the damage to 1-9 (average 5) instead of the 1-26 (average 11) you will take if the ball falls on you. You should wield the iron ball most of the time anyway, as it makes a superb weapon, doing d25 damage (average 13), which is higher than any non-artifact, even a dwarvish mattock – if you can hit with it. For a convict (and a convict only), fighting with the iron ball advances flail skill, which can eventually reach expert. However, weapons in UnNetHack require 100 hits to level any weapon to Basic skill, so you will have to balance whether to get rid of the iron ball or to keep it as a weapon and advance the Flail skill.
The early game is dominated by a desperate search for food. It is therefore critical to get the most out of any food they do find. Convicts burn nutrition at half the normal rate while hungry or worse, meaning that you should wait to eat food rations and the like until you are at least weak with hunger. Convicts are also immune to sickness from level one, enabling them to eat tainted corpses. In particular this allows them to eat corpses left by zombies and mummies, and to finish every last bite of their kills without worrying about how long the corpse has been lying there.
Races that are normally friendly to them (e.g. gnomes and dwarves to themselves and each other) are hostile to the Convict. This may influence the decision whether to do the Gnomish Mines or Sokoban first. The Minetown watch will also be hostile to Convicts, making the mines an even less appealing early destination. However, a short foray into the mines can yield good armor and numerous edible corpses.
Convicts' difficulty in obtaining food and equipment is compounded by the fact that shopkeepers who see their striped shirts will not allow entry to their shops (even if later the shirt is removed or covered). An exception to this is the Black market, where convicts will receive a reduction in prices instead.
Once free of the iron ball, a Convict will want a weapon that is less heavy, such as their initial sacrifice gift in Luck Blade.
