Horned devil
& horned devil 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 9 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 1d4, claw 1d4, bite 2d3, sting 1d3 |
| Base level | 6 |
| Base experience | 147 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -5 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | 11 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | Fire, poison |
| Resistances conveyed |
None |
|
A horned devil:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line2545 |
A horned devil, &, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The horned devil is a form of demon that is thick-skinned, has infravision, can be seen via infravision, and can follow the player character to other levels if they are adjacent.
A horned devil has a weapon attack, a claw attack, a bite attack, and a sting attack. Like all major demons, they possess fire resistance and poison resistance.
Horned devils are poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if they are digested by another monster.
Contents
Generation
Horned devils are not randomly generated, and normally-created ones are always hostile. The horned devil technically only appears in Gehennom, but cannot be randomly generated there since it is lawful. This also occurs with barbed devils and the erinys.
Horned devils may be generated in graveyards, and the lairs of Asmodeus and Baalzebub will each contain a horned devil upon normal level creation.[1][2] A horned devil appears within Moloch's Sanctum, placed just outside the temple near its southeast corner.[3]
Horned devils can be summoned via the summon nasties monster spell.[4] Horned devils may also appear as minions of chaotic gods and Moloch.
A horned devil is generated with either a trident (3⁄4 chance) or a bullwhip (1⁄4 chance).[5]
Strategy
The horned devil is among the weakest of the major demons, with lower monster difficulty and hit die but better AC than the barbed devil. They also have a lower difficulty than the water demon, who has an AC closer to the horned devil's but also possesses weaker hit die; this is likely because the water demon is faster and can swim.
Horned devils are slower than an unhasted player, and a fast well-armored character with a well-enchanted blessed and/or silver weapon will have relatively little trouble dispatching one - a wand or cone of cold can usually eliminate them in one or two shots. However, they can still pose a significant threat if they disarm you with their bullwhip, which speedrunners in particular will find a major nuisance - having Excalibur yanked out of your hand, e.g. in the middle of a pitched fight against Asmodeus or Baalzebub, can be fatal. Like other demons, they can also be an unwelcome surprise from polymorph, such as monsters stepping on polymorph traps.
Horned devils are a decent source of tridents and bullwhips for those looking to utilize either.
History
The horned devil is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.
Variants
In the restructured Gehennom featured within the Lethe patch, Baalzebub's lair contains 5 horned devils.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, chaotic characters have a chance of receiving a horned devil as a tame minion from sacrificing while at any experience level from 10 to 16.
Four horned devils appear in the newly-added lair of Dispater. There is also a 1⁄10 chance that a lemure pit special room may contain a horned devil among the lemures at level creation.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, there is a 1⁄10 chance of the lemure pit special room containing a horned devil, as in SLASH'EM.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, horned devils are given a passive quill attack.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, The Idol of Moloch is an artifact figurine of a horned devil and the Infidel quest artifact: It can be applied like a normal figurine to summon a random major demon, including a horned devil, without using up the artifact. This also applies to Hack'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
These devils lack any real special abilities, though they are quite difficult to kill.
