Crocodile
: crocodile 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 7 |
| Attacks |
Bite 4d2, Claw 1d12 |
| Base level | 6 |
| Base experience | 73 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | 5 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A crocodile:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2887 |
A crocodile, :, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The crocodile is a strong, oviparous and carnivorous animal that is part of the lizard monster class. Crocodiles are amphibious and capable of swimming.
A crocodile has a bite attack and a claw attack.
Polymorphing a crocodile corpse will always produce a non-cursed fireproof +0 pair of low boots.[1]
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated crocodiles are always created hostile. A baby crocodile can grow up into a crocodile, and eggs laid by crocodiles will hatch into baby crocodiles.
Strategy
Crocodiles are slow monsters at 9 speed, but can deal significant damage to the unwary, especially in the early game. Characters that are not vegetarian or vegan and are combat-capable enough to bring down crocodiles can eat their highly-nutritious corpses or feed them to meat-eating pets. A character that has a potion of polymorph or (much more feasibly) a wand of polymorph can use a crocodile's corpse to produce a spare set of boots, though extra boots are plentiful enough that this is usually not employed outside of emergencies or as a form of novelty.
History
The crocodile first appears in NetHack 3.0.6.
Origin
Crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term “crocodile” is primarily applied to species of the family Crocodylidae, or true crocodiles, though it is sometimes used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: this includes the alligators and caimans (family Alligatoridae) as well as the gharial and false gharial (family Gavialidae).
Although crocodiles, alligators, and the gharial are similar in appearance, they belong to separate biological families—the gharial has a narrow snout and is easier to distinguish, while the differences are more difficult to spot in crocodiles and alligators: crocodiles have narrower and longer heads, with a more V-shaped than a U-shaped snout compared to alligators and caimans; the upper and lower jaws of crocodiles are also the same width, and are all visible when the mouth is closed, while alligators possesses small depressions in the upper jaw which the lower teeth fit into; and yet another trait that separates crocodiles from other crocodilians is their much higher levels of aggression.
All crocodiles are semiaquatic and tend to congregate in freshwater habitats such as rivers, lakes, wetlands and sometimes in brackish water and saltwater. They are carnivorous animals, feeding mostly on vertebrates such as fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, and sometimes on invertebrates such as molluscs and crustaceans. Crocodiles are tropical species that, unlike alligators, are very sensitive to cold. Many species are at the risk of extinction, some being classified as critically endangered.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, crocodiles may be generated as minions of Offler and Ptah. Three crocodiles appear on the Paradise Island map of The Sea at level creation.
Drow characters can tame crocodiles and ride them as steeds.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, crocodiles have a 1⁄24 of being generated on maps where rivers of sewage are present at level creation - the Gnomish Mines are the only area where such levels occur. A crocodile is generated in the Sewers of Waterdeep map of Mines' End at level creation, and a crocodile is generated within the sewage of the Hidden Dungeon at level creation.
EvilHack also adds the giant crocodile, which crocodiles can grow up into. All growth stages of crocodile move much faster when underwater than they do on land.
All the above information applies to Hack'EM, minus the Hidden Dungeon (which is not present).
Encyclopedia entry
A big animal with the appearance of a lizard, constituting
an order of the reptiles (_Loricata_ or _Crocodylia_), the
crocodile is a large, dangerous predator native to tropical
and subtropical climes. It spends most of its time in large
bodies of water.
[]
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!
[ How Doth The Little Crocodile, by Lewis Carroll ]
