Stalker
E stalker 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 9 |
| Attacks |
Claw 4d4 |
| Base level | 8 |
| Base experience | 113 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 3 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 3 (Rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 900 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | Invisibility, see invisible (only if invisible when corpse is eaten); causes stunning |
|
A stalker:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1357 |
- This article is about the invisible monster. For monsters with the M2_STALK flag, see follower.
A stalker, E, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The stalker is an elemental that is different from the rest of their monster class in quite a few aspects: they are the only non-mindless monster of the group, the only one classified as an animal, the only one that lacks any MR score, and the only one that can leave a corpse upon death. Stalkers are capable of flight, have infravision, can see invisible, have a tendency to wander, and will follow a hero to other levels if they are adjacent.
A stalker has a single claw attack.
Eating a stalker corpse or tin will stun the hero and turn them invisible for 50-149 turns if they are not already invisible, while eating one when already invisible will turn the hero permanently invisible and grant the see invisible intrinsic;[1] wearing a mummy wrapping counts as being visible for this purpose.
A hero that polymorphs into a stalker is stunned while they are in that form.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated stalkers are always created hostile, and all stalkers are permanently invisible.[2]
Hostile stalkers may be generated by a spellcaster casting the summon nasties monster spell.
The stalker is the second quest monster for the Samurai, and makes up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated in the Samurai quest. Several stalkers are also generated on each floor of the quest at level creation: one each is generated on the home and upper filler levels, nine are generated on the locate level, three are generated on the lower filler level(s), and nine are generated on the goal level. Stalkers also appear among the random E that are part of the second quest monster class for the Samurai quest, and make up 6⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated there.
Stalkers appear among the random E that are part of the first quest monster class for the Monk and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Monk quest.
Strategy
Stalkers can hit fairly hard with their single attack and move at the same base speed as the hero - in addition to being invisible, their erratic wandering movements make them annoying to fight or avoid, unless you have a means of detecting them such as see invisible or telepathy.
Stalker meat is one of the more reliable sources of the see invisible intrinsic, either through eating two separate servings in quick succession or else eating one with another source of invisibility on hand. As eating stalkers stuns you, be sure to avoid doing so in the midst of a fight unless you can cure it quickly (e.g., with a unicorn horn); keeping a mummy wrapping around is also advisable if you plan on shopping at any point afterward.
History
The stalker first appears in Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack—in this version, it is known as the invisible stalker. The monster is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0, with its name shortened to "stalker" in order to avoid redundancy from automatically prefixing monster names with "invisible" when relaying messages describing the actions of an invisible monster. From Hack 1.0 to NetHack 3.2.3, the stalker uses the I glyph.
In NetHack 3.3.0, the stalker is moved to the elemental monster class, E, and I is repurposed to indicate the last known position of any invisible monster.
Origin
The invisible stalker is a monster that appears in Dungeons & Dragons, where it is a type of air elemental; this is likely the basis for making the stalker part of the elemental monster class in NetHack.
Messages
- You gained permanent invisibility and the see invisible intrinsic by eating a stalker while you had temporary invisibility.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, stalker corpses will always generate as invisible one.
A stalker is generated within the Cloud Bank of the Lawful Quest at level creation, with a 3⁄5 chance of a second one being placed nearby.
All of the above information also applies to SlashTHEM.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, stalkers leave invisible corpses as in SLASH'EM.
Stalkers are treated as permanently stunned, which may cause them to occasionally attack other monsters.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, the Undertaker quest has the same layout as the Lawful Quest, including the stalker within the Cloud Bank and the chance of a second one being placed at level creation.
Encyclopedia entry
"You don't understand," he said, "who I am or what I am. I'll show
you. By Heaven! I'll show you." Then he put his open palm over
his face and withdrew it. The centre of his face became a black
cavity. "Here," he said. He stepped forward and handed Mrs. Hall
something which she, staring at his metamorphosed face, accepted
automatically. Then, when she saw what it was, she screamed
loudly, dropped it, and staggered back. The nose--it was the
stranger's nose! pink and shining--rolled on the floor.
Then he removed his spectacles, and everyone in the bar gasped. He
took off his hat, and with a violent gesture tore at his whiskers
and bandages. For a moment they resisted him. A flash of horrible
anticipation passed through the bar. "Oh, my Gard!" said some one.
Then off they came.
It was worse than anything. Mrs. Hall, standing open-mouthed and
horror-struck, shrieked at what she saw, and made for the door of
the house. Everyone began to move. They were prepared for scars,
disfigurements, tangible horrors, but nothing! The bandages and
false hair flew across the passage into the bar, making a
hobbledehoy jump to avoid them. Everyone tumbled on everyone else
down the steps. For the man who stood there shouting some
incoherent explanation, was a solid gesticulating figure up to the
coat-collar of him, and then--nothingness, no visible thing at all!
