Duergar (dNetHack)
h duergar 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 4 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 2 |
| Base experience | 30 |
| Speed | 6 |
| Base AC | 10 |
| Base MR | 75 |
| Alignment | 4 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 900 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | medium
|
|
A duergar:
| |
| H giant duergar (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 4 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 2d8 physical |
| Base level | 2 |
| Base experience | 37 |
| Speed | 6 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 75 |
| Alignment | 4 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 3000 |
| Nutritional value | 800 |
| Size | huge
|
|
A giant duergar:
| |
- For the monster in SLASH'EM and its derivatives, see duergar (SLASH'EM).
A duergar, h, is a type of monster that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack. The duergar is a type of medium-sized humanoid that is also a sub-type of dwarven monster: standard duergars are omnivorous, strong, possess both infravision and darksight, and can be seen via infravision. Duergars are capable of tunneling around a level if they have a digging tool, and will also pick up armor, gold, gems, and other items—the duergar encountered on the Drow Healer quest also have a mutual grudge with drow, kuo toa and kuo toa whips.
A duergar can shapeshift themselves into a giant duergar, H, which is huge in size and has 10 points of AC in the natural category: duergars that are hostile and can see the hero have a 1⁄2 chance of transforming during each round, and otherwise have a 1⁄4 chance of transforming each round if there are monsters within two squares of the duergar that they will attack; giant duergars that are hostile have a 1⁄20 of reverting to their medium-sized form during each turn that they cannot see the hero, and otherwise have a 1⁄20 of reverting to base form if there are no monsters to attack within two squares of them. When a duergar shifts between forms, their currently worn armor will be resized to fit their transformed size—any worn artifact armor will be dropped instead of re-sized. Protection from shape changers will prevent a duergar from transforming, and should one manage to transform while the property is active, they will be returned to base form on the next turn.
A duergar has a single weapon attack, and they possess basic prowess in martial combat with a full base attack bonus of +1 to-hit per monster level.
Generation
Duergars are not randomly generated in the main dungeon or most other branches, and are always created in their base humanoid form.
The duergar is designated to be the the first quest monster for the Drow Healer, and also appears among the random h found on the Drow Healer quest, though several other changes are made to quest monster generation code for Drow Healers that ignores standard designations for quest monsters and monster classes—in practice, there is an effective 8⁄105 chance that a monster randomly generated on the quest after level creation will be a duergar if the quest is not yet completed, and this chance is effectively doubled to 16⁄105 after a Drow Healer hero retrieves their quest artifact and chats to their quest leader.
Some duergars are also generated on specific floors of the Drow Healer quest branch at level creation: two are generated on the Ceiling District's lowest floor, two each have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated on the Floor District's upper floor, four are generated on the Floor District's lower floor, and one is generated on the lower filler level if that floor is created. Additionally, the 'shanty' rooms generated on the Floor District's lower floor and all floors below it during level creation have a 1⁄8 of placing a duergar in each such room that is not a single-square room.
Duergars are generated with the following equipment:
- a dwarvish cloak that has a 1⁄4 chance of being colored magenta if it has an object material of leather, and will otherwise be colored black
- a pair of shoes
- a weapon set that consists of either a single iron dwarvish mattock with a 1⁄5 chance, and will otherwise consist of an iron stiletto and a stack of up to 5 iron daggers
- an iron dwarvish helm whose lantern emits darkness in the same 3-square circular radius that others normally emit light;
- an iron set of chain mail
- a potion selected from a potion of confusion (2⁄3 chance), a potion of paralysis (1⁄6 chance) or a potion of healing (1⁄6 chance)
Additionally, duergars that are placed in the Drow Healer quest during level creation have a 1⁄4 chance of being given a sack that contains plague victims.
Origin
The duergar or "gray dwarves" are a subrace of dwarf that appear in Dungeons & Dragons, where they are "dark" counterparts of the surface-dwelling "shield dwarves" and live in the Underdark, often dwelling near volcanoes—the word "duergar" may originate from the Old Norse word for "dwarf" (dvergar).
The duergar of Dungeons & Dragons are descended from a clan of shield dwarves (also named "Duergar") that ruled over Barakuir thousands of years ago: ambitious and powerful, they sought to lead the kingdoms of Shanatar themselves, and when denied turned themselves away from the other dwarven clans. This proved a mistake when Barakuir was attacked by mind flayers, with most of the population enslaved or killed; the mind flayers performed cruel and unusual experiments on the enslaved survivors, from which the duergar arose as a distinct peoples and eventually rose up against their captors, gaining their freedom. Since then, they have carved out a new home for themselves in the Underdark and rapidly expanded their domain.
Duergar are the "opposite" of their shield dwarf kin in both personality and social structure, despite many surface-level similarities: their primary principles are endless greed, constant conflict and rejection of "emotion", and though duergar are capable of industry, determination and bravery, they actively lead bleak and unhappy lives while considering happiness and similar emotions to be signs of weakness. Where most dwarves have a love of craftsmanship and see working as an opportunity, duergar consider labor to be their unfulfilling duty in life, and their creations are well-made and utilitarian at the expense of any artfulness; there was no point in any artistry or striving towards mastery to them, and once a duergar's job is done there is always more wealth to be gained, products to be made and work to be done.
While duergar are stocky and thickset like other dwarves, they are also generally thinner with dull gray skin and hair and are frequently bald, with duergar women lacking the ability to grow facial hair—many duergar found on the surface are criminal exiles, with facial and arm tattoos that marked the duergar as a traitor. A duergar is well-accustomed to life in the Underdark, with darkvision and an aversion to sunlight akin to drow: as the product of the mind flayers' torture, they are immune to many forms of psionics and ancient mind flayer techniques such as paralysis and phantasms. Duergar are also sneaky and crafty, often excelling at ambushes or evading sight as well as detecting hidden objects, and some also possess natural abilities akin to the "enlarge" and "invisibility" spells. This is partly reflected in some of their abilities within dNetHack and its derivatives.
As a result of this, and due to their ancestral history, duergar regard surface dwarves and shield dwarves in particular the way that drow regard their surface elven kin, i.e. with a particular bitterness and deep-seated loathing—ironically, their relations with the drow in particular fluctuate between alliance and enmity, which may be due in part to their shared hatred of the mind flayers; dNetHack portrays the duergar and drow as enemies, and they only generate within the Drow Healer quest. Indeed, the closest a duergar usually comes to feeling true joy is in either sating their violent urges to make others toil and suffer, or else in procuring their desired treasure, especially when raiding dwarven strongholds to do it: might makes right in the duergar's eyes, and they are not above stealing what they desire, as the strong take what is meant for them while the weak are unworthy of pity. Though many duergar tend towards lawful evil, a fair amount of them lean towards heard-hearted neutrality, and a much rarer few have become good.
