Convict
| Convict Role | |
|---|---|
| Author | Karl Garrison |
| Download | link |
| NetHack PatchDB | 421 |
The Convict, abbreviated as Con, is a role that is the primary focus of the Convict Role patch. The patch is written by Karl Garrison against NetHack 3.4.3, and was first uploaded to his personal website in 2012 (with an archived copy available via Wayback Machine). The patch is also available at the NetHack Patch Database.
Patch contents
The contents of the original patch are described below, with the role that is available to the hero described in a separate section.
New monsters
The following monsters are added by the patch:
- r enormous rat
- Giant rats can grow up into enormous rats. The enormous rat from DynaHack, SpliceHack and SlashTHEM is the one closest to the original implementation, if not exactly the same as it.
- r rodent of unusual size
- Enormous rats can grow up into rodents of unusual size. The rodent of unusual size from DynaHack, SpliceHack and SlashTHEM is the one closest to the original implementation, if not exactly the same as it.
- @ miner
- @ prison guard
- Prison guards are mercenaries, and will demand a bribe upon first seeing a Convict, becoming hostile if their demand is not met.
- & lava demon
- @ inmate
- Inmates are the role's quest guardians.
- @ Robert the Lifer
- Robert the Lifer is the role's quest leader.
- @ Warden Arianna
- Warden Arianna is the role's quest nemesis.
- @ Convict (player monster)
- Player monster convicts behave as most other player monsters do—they are not to be confused with the quest guardian inmates, since "Inmate" is one of their rank titles.
New items
New levels
The Convict quest is the only new set of levels added in the patch.
Other changes
- Horned devils have their glyph changed to &.
- The rat monster grouping is added.
- Heavy iron balls are tied to the flail skill: while only Convicts can actually advance the skill by attacking with a wielded iron ball, any role that can train flails benefits from the to-hit and damage bonuses of higher skill levels while wielding the object. This is based on the tendency of some players to utilize scrolls of punishment in order to obtain an improvised weapon.
Role information
This section focuses specifically on the Convict role as it exists in the patch. The Convict is designed to be more difficult than Tourist, which is statistically the most difficult class in vanilla NetHack.
Convicts are escaped criminals that always start as chaotic, overriding normal alignment restrictions, and can be played as humans, dwarves, gnomes, or orcs.
Starting inventory
Each Convict starts with the following "equipment":
- a cursed striped shirt
- some rocks
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).
Convicts start with knowledge of the skeleton key, the grappling hook and any applicable racial equipment.
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 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 25 |
| Distribution percentages | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 10% | 10% |
Skills
Convicts have the following skills available to them:
| Convict skills | |
|---|---|
| Max | Skills |
| Basic |
|
| Skilled |
|
| Expert | |
Convicts start with Basic skill level in flails. 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 hungry or worse.
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—of note is that the artifact in DynaHack is unaltered from its original implementation.
The Convict also has a slightly different introduction when starting a game:
It is written in the Book of Tymora:
After the Creation, the cruel god Moloch rebelled
against the authority of Marduk the Creator.
Moloch stole from Marduk the most powerful of all
the artifacts of the gods, the Amulet of Yendor,
and he hid it in the dark cavities of Gehennom, the
Under World, where he now lurks, and bides his time.
Your goddess Tymora seeks to possess the Amulet, and with it
to gain deserved ascendance over the other gods.
You, a newly escaped Detainee, have chosen to redeem
yourself by recovering the Amulet for Tymora. You are
determined to recover the Amulet for your deity, or die
in the attempt. Your hour of destiny has come. For
the sake of us all: Go bravely with Tymora!
Quest
The Convict's quest sees them fight Warden Arianna for The Iron Ball of Liberation, an artifact heavy iron ball. The Iron Ball of Liberation 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 that is chained to them if necessary–and grants phasing for 51-150 turns.
Origin
A convict is a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced (usually to prison) by a court. Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con"; a common label for former convicts, especially those recently released from prison, is "ex-con" ("ex-convict"). Convicts are stereotypically draped in striped prison uniforms, and various forms of media also depict them with a ball and chain on their leg, based on a real-life practice which continued for some time into the 21st century.
The role's pet sewer rat and their default name, Nicodemus, are both references to Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH.
Variants
The Convict role has since been implemented into many NetHack variants, and most of them (if not all of them) iterate further on the patch and its contents:
