Hell hound pup
d hell hound pup 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 9 |
| Attacks |
Bite 2d6, fire breath 2d6 |
| Base level | 7 |
| Base experience | 102 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 4 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 200 |
| Nutritional value | 200 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | Fire |
| Resistances conveyed | Fire (47%) |
|
A hell hound pup:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line288 |
A hell hound pup, d, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a small carnivorous canine that can be seen via infravision.
Hell hound pups have a bite attack and a fire breath attack that can burn armor and destroy flammable items in the inventory of any monster it hits, unless they have reflection. Hell hound pups possess fire resistance.
Eating a hell hound pup corpse or tin has a 7⁄15 chance of conveying fire resistance.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated hell hound pups are always created hostile. They can randomly generate in small groups, and will only be randomly generated in Gehennom. A hell hound pup can grow up into a hell hound.
Two of the niches on the middle floor of Vlad's Tower contain a hell hound pup.
Strategy
By the time you ordinarily encounter hell hound pups, you will have long found a source of fire resistance that prevents their breath from directly harming you and/or a source of reflection that can deflect it completely. Even without a way to reflect it, their breath attack and bite will not deal much damage to a character that is strong enough to reach Gehennom, with the primary concern being protecting their inventory - it is also worth being mindful of the pups if you are crossing water in Gehennom by freezing it, since their breath can melt the ice away and may plunge you into a watery grave if you are not careful.
Hell hound pups can appear much earlier and pose an actual threat depending on the circumstances: polymorph traps and shapeshifters such as chameleons can force you to deal with hell hound pups much earlier than expected, though they are somewhat less concerning if you can close in while successfully avoiding their breath attacks.
History
The hell hound pup first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions, including some variants based on those versions, the encyclopedia entry for hell hounds and their pups reads as follows:
Hell hounds are fire-breathing canines from another plane of existence brought here in the service of evil beings. A hell hound resembles a large hound with rust-red or red-brown fur, and red, glowing eyes. The markings, teeth, and tongue are soot black. It stands two to three feet high at the shoulder and has a distinct odour of smoke and sulphur. The baying sounds it makes have an eerie, hollow tone that sends a shiver through any who hear them.
Origin
A hellhound is a mythological hound that embodies a guardian or a servant of hell, the devil, or the underworld. Hellhounds occur in mythologies around the world, with the best-known examples being Cerberus from Greek mythology, Garmr from Norse mythology, the black dogs of English folklore, and the fairy hounds of Celtic mythology. Physical characteristics vary, but they are commonly black, anomalously overgrown, supernaturally strong, and often have red eyes or are accompanied by flames.
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, the hell hound is introduced to the game in its first supplement, the 1975 Greyhawk. These hell hounds are hyena-like creatures that are mangy, skinny, and somewhat demonic, with red eyes and draconic ears; they are classified as outsiders from the Nine Hells. The Fourth Edition depicts them as nearly skeletal canines wreathed in flame. Hell hounds have the ability to breathe fire, and enjoy causing pain and suffering - they hunt in packs accordingly, with a favorite pack tactic being to surround prey silently before two hellhounds close in and make the victim back into another hellhound's fiery breath. Hell hounds will also attack with their claws and teeth, and are quick and agile - they will pursue escaping relentlessly. Hell hounds cannot speak, but understand Infernal.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the Flame Mage's starting pet is a hell hound pup. This also applies to SlashTHEM and Hack'EM.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, both hell hounds and their pups have drain resistance, and can be warded by pentagrams.
Two hell hound pups are placed near Cerberus on the first floor of the Windowless Tower - the second floor retains the hell hound pups placed in random niches from vanilla NetHack.
Hell hounds and their pups can be warded by pentagrams.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, a peaceful hell hound pup is generated in the City of Brass.
Encyclopedia entry
But suddenly they started forward in a rigid, fixed stare,
and his lips parted in amazement. At the same instant Lestrade
gave a yell of terror and threw himself face downward upon the
ground. I sprang to my feet, my inert hand grasping my pistol,
my mind paralyzed by the dreadful shape which had sprung out
upon us from the shadows of the fog. A hound it was, an
enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes
have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes
glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and
dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the
delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more
savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that
dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall
of fog.
[ The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ]
