Displacer beast (SLASH'EM)
f displacer beast 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 14 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 12 |
| Base experience | 301 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -10 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | -3 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 750 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A displacer beast:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line662 |
- For the monster in other variants, see Displacer beast (disambiguation).
A displacer beast, f, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. The displacer beast is a large and quadrupedal feline animal that is carnivorous and can be seen via infravision like other felines. A displacer beast naturally has the displacement property: A hero that attacks a displacer beast (including by force-fighting) has a 1⁄2 chance of "displacing" them instead, moving the hero into that square and relocating the displacer beast to a nearby square.[1] This will not occur if the displacer beast cannot be relocated to a valid position, or else if it is currently helpless, eating or trapped. Tame displacer beasts may turn traitor.
Displacer beasts have two claw attacks and a bite attack.
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated displacer beasts are always created hostile.
In SlashTHEM, displacer beasts appear among the random f that are part of the second quest monster class for Cavepeople and make up 6⁄175 (3%) of the monsters randomly generated on the Caveman quest. Displacer beasts also appear among the random f that are part of the first quest monster class for Zookeepers and make up 24⁄175 (14%) of the monsters randomly generated on the Zookeeper quest.
Strategy
Displacer beasts can pose a real problem in combat: in addition to their intrinsic displacement rendering around half your melee attacks harmless, they also have a very low -10 AC and high HP, and can do quite a bit of damage. Luckily, they are not fast, and a player with speed should be able to outrun them. This is particularly advisable if there are other hostile monsters around, since missed attacks leave you open to retaliation from them and the displacer beast itself. Amusingly, you can displace a displacer beast into water or lava, killing it instantly.
History
The displacer beast first appears in Jay Fenlason's Hack, where it uses the d glyph&mdah;SLASH 6 gives the monster the current glyph that it uses in SLASH'EM and other appearances.
Origin
The displacer beast is an evil creature that originates from Dungeons & Dragons where it is introduced in the 1975 Greyhawk, the game's first supplement—the concept of the creature was borrowed from A. E. van Vogt's 1939 science fiction short story "Black Destroyer", which features a similar feline-like creature called a coeurl as the titular antagonist. The displacer beast is a large and strong feline with a blue-black pelt that vaguely resembles a puma or black panther, though they possess three pairs of limbs rather than two, and also have tentacles up to 5-feet long that extend from its shoulders and end in sharp and brownish-yellow horned edges.
Displacer beasts are usually about 9 feet (2.7 meters) long and weigh as much as 500 pounds (230 kilograms), with females being smaller; "pack lord" varieties of displacer beast and other mutants of the species can grow to twice the usual size. A displacer beast is more intelligent than most animals and can even speak some Common, while pack lords have slightly higher human-level intelligence. They have striking green eyes that glow malevolently and continue to shine even after they die, and can see up to 60 feet in the dark. Their hide is a valuable commodity, used to create highly sought-after enchanted items such as cloaks of displacement.
The displacer beast's name comes from its innate "displacement" ability, which is caused by molecular vibrations generated from specialized nerves located in the outer layers of the displacer beast's skin—this bends light and creates the illusion that it is a short distance away (anywhere from 1 to 3 feet) from its actual location. Displacer beasts are excellent at hiding and resistant to all ranged attacks as a result, as well as many magical effects (such as "dispel magic") and poisons; their displacement ability is seemingly unconscious, though they can direct the illusory image at will using the thorns on the end of its tentacles, which faintly glow blue while this power is in use. A displacer beast can see the true locations of other displacer beasts even through their illusions; the "phase trap" spell can nullify the beast's displacement, and true seeing reveals their real position.
Displacer beasts often kill for sport as much as for necessity, though they do not fight amongst themselves for food or dominance, and like other great cats they will often toy with their prey until they were ready to eat—once their prey is slain, the displacer beast drags the carcass to a safe and remote spot to consume it. Displacer beasts are known to hunt in packs (called "prides") and lure prey into ambushes, and while they prefer to hunt smaller creatures, they are not picky eaters and consume anything they can kill. Displacer beasts fight using deadly claws and wicked teeth: prides will target weaker members of a group first, which extends to attacking spellcasters of traveling parties from a distance with their tentacles while facing armed opponents head-on; if faced with overwhelming odds, however, they tend to flee rather than fighting to the death.
