Draugr (starting race)

For the monster in SpliceHack and Hack'EM, see Draugr (SpliceHack).

The draugr is a playable race of monster that appears in EvilHack and Hack'EM.

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Description

First introduced in version 0.8.4, draugr are a playable form of zombie: they are undead beings with superhuman strength and the ability to reanimate, and while they are not completely mindless, the nature of their undead state limits their mental capabilities and deprives them of the ability to wield magic.

Draugr are a chaotic race, and can be played as a Barbarian, Convict, Infidel, Knight, Monk, or Rogue.

Racial benefits and restrictions

Draugr heroes are breathless and start with infravision and aggravate monster, as well as innate poison resistance, sleep resistance, cold resistance, death resistance, drain resistance, and immunity to sickness. Zombies are considered to be of the same race for purposes of cannibalism and same-race sacrifice.

Draugr heroes have an extra bite attack that occurs ¹⁄₄ of the time when attacking in melee, and is the same brain-eating attack used by zombie monsters: a monster that is bitten and does not have immunity to sickness will die several turns afterward, with compatible monsters reanimating as the corresponding zombies; draugr also gain a small amount of nutrition from eating brains this way, and will not use the attack against hazardous targets such as cockatrices and black dragons.

As undead, draugr regenerate hit points as normal while in the Valley of the Dead, and also possess a form of reanimation that revives them at least once when they are killed - the amount of times this will occur per game is random, with a maximum of three revivals, and this value is not displayed to the player. However, the undead nature of the draugr also has several disadvantages. The amulet of life saving does not work for draugr since they are undead, and their reanimating ability also includes its own limits: they cannot reanimate if they are vaporized by Sunsword or the Hammer of the Gods, which are more likely to land critical hits on draugr; beheading, disintegration or stoning will prevent them from reviving as well; and finally, draugr heroes will not leave behind a ghost or a corpse in bones if they die and fail to revive.

Draugr also have other notable drawbacks: A draugr's base movement speed is 10, and they cannot obtain intrinsic telepathy, nor can they learn or cast spells; reading spellbooks will only result in the draugr becoming confused even if it would be successful, though they can still read scrolls. Draugr heroes that are not Infidels always start with -10 alignment record, and they cannot tame domestic animals with treats, though they are pacified as normal. Shopkeepers will ban draugr from entering their shops, and will ramp up prices for a hero that manages to gain entry—the watch and any aligned priests that is not co-aligned will become hostile the moment they see a draugr, although draugr heroes actually gain alignment record for killing angered peacefuls.

The undead nature of draugr additionally prevents them from eating anything other than meaty or fleshy corpses, eggs and the brains of living monsters—thankfully, they can remain in a state of hunger much longer than other races, and they also enjoy tainted or rotten meat. Draugr heroes also do not take cannibalism penalties, and draugr Monks will not incur penalties to alignment record for eating meat.

Draugr have a luck-based chance of taming hostile zombies if they #chat to them, and undead monsters that are not unique have a chance of generating as peaceful; they also cannot be scared by ghosts, and are immune to brain-eating attacks. Non-player draugr are racial monsters that can appear as player monsters in the same roles as draugr heroes, but cannot generate as shopkeepers or aligned priests, and draugr in player monster roles that have spellcasting attacks will instead have the poisonous claw attack and brain-eating bite attack used by zombies. Draugr Infidels that are crowned will not have the fire object property applied to their wielded weapon, and are instead gifted Angelslayer if it has not yet been generated.

Attribute caps

Character Race	Strength	Dexterity	Constitution	Intelligence	Wisdom	Charisma
Draugr	20	18	20	6	8	6

Draugr have the second-best strength and constitution caps in EvilHack after giants, with a bonus to carrying capacity, and their dexterity is comparable to that of the vanilla NetHack races, except for dwarves. As undead, draugr also have mental stat caps well below that of any playable race.

Price adjustments

The following price adjustments are used for draugr interactions with racial shopkeepers:

	Shopkeeper's race
	Human/Other	Elf	Dwarf	Orc	Gnome	Illithid	Centaur	Nymph	Giant
Illithid	×20	×20	×20	×20	×3⁄2 if INT is ≤14 ×4⁄3 if INT is 15-17	×20	×20	×4⁄3 if CHA is ≥15 ×5⁄3 if CHA is <15	×20

As mentioned previously, shopkeepers refuse to do business with draugr heroes and will ban them from entering their shops, but a draugr that can gain entrance will be allowed to buy and sell items at the above rates.

Starting equipment

As draugr can only eat fleshy or meaty comestibles and cannot learn or cast spells, many of their starting food items are replaced with eggs: this only applies to food rations and fortune cookies in practice, and draugr Knights will still start with apples and carrots since they are intended for their starting steed. Draugr heroes do not have any form of spellcasting skill, and draugr in roles that normally start with spellbooks will not receive them—this also applies to player monster draugr in casting roles.

Strategy

To be written.

Origin

The draugr (Old Norse, plural draugar), or draug in modern spellings, is an undead creature from the Scandinavian saga literature and folktales: the term has also been extended by commentators to refer to the undead in medieval literature (even those never explicitly referred to as such in the text), which are designated as haugbúi ("barrow-dweller") or an aptrganga (Icelandic afturganga, literally "again-walker"). Draugar are said to live in their graves or royal palaces, often guarding treasures in their burial mound. They are a form of revenant, or animated corpse, and are referred to as "barrow-wights" in the 1869 translation of Grettis saga, long before J. R. R. Tolkien employed this term in his novels; "barrow-wight" is actually a rendering of haugbúinn (literally 'howe-dweller'), otherwise translated as "barrow-dweller".

Draugar usually possessed superhuman strength and were hideous to look at, with a necrotic black or blue color and a "reek of decay" that originated either from them or from the haunts that they inhabited. They were greedy and possessed an immense and nearly insatiable appetite, and would attack shepherds and livestock; draugar were also innately envious of the living due to a longing for the possessions of their former life, which led them to viciously attack would-be grave-robbers. Unlike the draugr of EvilHack, folkloric draugar are also noted to have numerous magical abilities, such as shape-shifting, controlling the weather, and seeing into the future; some could enter the dreams of others, lay curses upon victims or sink into the ground, while others were even immune to weaponry unless it was made of iron.

Traditions assert that any mean, nasty or greedy person can become a draugr, as well as any person killed by one: a corpse found standing upright or in a sitting position was likely to return as a draugr, and breaking this posture was a necessary step in permanently getting rid of a draugr (though this carried the risk of being afflicted with the evil eye), while decapitation was a recurring method of preventing further hauntings. The draug of more recent Scandinavian folklore is portrayed as a supernatural being that occurs in legends along the fishing-heavy coasts of Norway, and was often the ghost of a dead fisherman who had drifted at sea and had not been buried in Christian soil. This draug wears a leather jacket or oilskin clothes, but has a seaweed vase for a head, and sailed in a half-boat with blocked sails that acted as a death omen for those who saw him.