Hell hound pup
d hell hound pup 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 9 |
| Attacks |
Bite 2d6 physical, breath weapon 2d6 fire |
| Base level | 7 |
| Base experience | 102 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 4 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 200 |
| Nutritional value | 200 |
| Size | Small |
| Resistances | fire resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | fire resistance (~46%) |
|
A hell hound pup:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 297 |
A hell hound pup, d, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The hell hound pup is a small, neutral and carnivorous canine animal that is a juvenile form of hell hound, and like the hell hound it can be seen via infravision and has an affinity to fire.
Hell hound pups have a normal bite attack and a fiery breath weapon that can burn worn armor and destroy flammable items in the open inventory of those hit by the blast, depending on the damage sustained—reflection will deflect the ray without any damage. Hell hound pups possess fire resistance.
Eating a hell hound pup corpse or tin has a 7⁄15 chance (~46%) of granting fire resistance to a hero or monster, as does digesting live hell hound pups.
Contents
Generation
Hell hound pups are only generated randomly in Gehennom, and normally-created hell hound pups are always hostile. They can appear in small groups. A hell hound pup can grow up into a hell hound.
A hell hound pup is generated in two of the niches on the middle floor of Vlad's Tower during level creation.[1][2]
Strategy
Most heroes will have fire resistance and/or reflection by the time they encounter hell hound pups in Gehennom, rendering them a general non-issue in normal circumstances—for a hero that can reach Gehennom, the primary concerns are usually protecting their inventory from fire if they lack reflection or a source of extrinsic fire resistance (which can protect items in open inventory from burning or boiling 99⁄100 of the time per item). Furthermore, they must be especially wary of hell hound pups that crop up in the ice-filled areas of Gehennom or near any ice created by the hero, as their fire breath can melt the ice and may plunge them into a watery grave).
For heroes approaching the mid-game, polymorph traps and shapeshifters such as chameleons can result in unexpected encounters with hell hound pups, and their fire breath is especially dangerous against non-resistant heroes due to racking up additional damage from the burning items. A hero aware of a hell hound pup's presence in these earlier scenarios will want to close the distance while avoiding their breath weapons if possible—in the case of shapeshifters they will want to do so quickly before the shifter can change into a monster that is much harder or even nigh-impossible to kill. In a pinch, dwarvish cloaks can protect items in open inventory from fire damage 9⁄10 of the time.
Exploiting the hell hound pup's vulnerability to cold is generally a good idea for both early and late-game heroes, and a well placed ray of cold can often make short work of them.
History
The hell hound pup first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. From this version to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on these versions, hell hound pups are chaotic with an alignment value of -5, while adult hell hounds are neutral. Both monsters are given their current alignment in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 837da486.
Origin
A hell hound or 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 across portrayals accordingly, but they are commonly black, anomalously overgrown, supernaturally strong, and often have red eyes or are accompanied by flames. The hell hound makes its debut in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game in the first supplement, the 1975 Greyhawk.
Initially, the hell hounds of Dungeons & Dragons 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 will also attack with their claws and teeth. They are quick and agile pack hunters that pursue escaping victims relentlessly, and enjoy causing pain and suffering: a common favorite pack tactic is to surround prey silently before two hell hounds close in and make the victim back into another hell hound's fiery breath. Hell hounds cannot speak, but understand Infernal.
Variants
NetHack variants created prior to NetHack 5.0.0 may retain the hell hound pup's initial alignment.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, hell hound pups are chaotic. The Flame Mage's starting pet is a hell hound pup.[3]
This information also applies to SlashTHEM.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, hell hound pups are chaotic.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, hell hound pups are chaotic.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, hell hound pups are chaotic.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, hell hound pups are chaotic and demonic animals, are vulnerable to holy damage, possess drain resistance and death resistance as a result of being demons, and are capable of tracking the hero and other targets via normal vision and scent. Tame hell hound pups may turn traitor.
Hell hound pups can be warded by pentagrams, hexagrams, heptagrams, the Gorgoneion, or a fully-reinforced Elder Elemental Eye. They can also be warded by a Toustefna stave that is carved into a wooden weapon and placed on the hero's square, and that weapon will also warn of hell hound pups and other canines while wielded.
Two hell hound pups are placed near Cerberus on the first floor of the Windowless Tower during level creation, while the second floor retains the two hell hound pups placed within random niches during level creation as in NetHack.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, hell hound pups are chaotic.
A peaceful hell hound pup is generated in the City of Brass during level creation.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, hell hound pups are chaotic.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, hell hound pups are chaotic. The Flame Mage's starting pet is a hell hound pup as in SLASH'EM.
Two hell hound pups are randomly placed on the home level of the Ice Mage quest during level creation, and two others are placed randomly on each of the upper filler levels during level creation.
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.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and prior versions, including some variants based on those versions, hell hounds and their pups have a different encyclopedia entry:
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.
