Jumbo the Elephant
q Jumbo the Elephant 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 34 |
| Attacks |
Butt 6d8, Butt 6d8 |
| Base level | 30 |
| Base experience | 1401 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 5 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 3800 |
| Nutritional value | 800 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | petrification |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
Jumbo the Elephant:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1373 |
Jumbo the Elephant, q, is a unique monster that appears in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. He has two obscenely powerful headbutt attacks, whose damage output is on par with that of the mumak. Jumbo the Elephant has stoning resistance, and moves at the same base speed as an unhasted player character.
Generation
Jumbo the Elephant is the only unique monster without his own level, and instead appears in real zoos. For Jumbo to appear in a real zoo, it must be generated at a depth of dungeon level 39 or lower - specifically, each monster in a real zoo may be made into Jumbo if rn2(60) + rn2(3*level difficulty) > 175.[1] This probability will never be greater than around 1⁄50 per zoo occupant for the deepest possible zoo, with much smaller probabilities for higher zoos. Note that the game does not check for uniqueness when generating Jumbo, and he can be generated more than once even if he has already been killed (though this is quite improbable).
In theory, it is possible to massively increase the chances of seeing him by levelporting past some or all dungeon levels that are eligible for real zoos, grabbing the Amulet of Yendor, and entering the skipped levels for the first time with the Amulet. This forces the level difficulty to always be that of the Sanctum (between 59 and 64), increasing the probability of seeing him to around 1⁄5 to 1⁄4 per zoo occupant. Should you encounter a real zoo, this will very likely result in seeing multiple copies of Jumbo.
Strategy
Jumbo the Elephant is essentially a stronger mastodon, with similar AC and hard-hitting attacks that solidify the comparison: carelessly approaching him in melee can result in you being battered to a pulp, especially if you are not unencumbered and/or lack a source of speed. Fortunately, he has zero MR, leaving him just as vulnerable to spells and wands as any mastodon or mumak; high AC of your own, combined with a means of raising your speed and/or lowering Jumbo's (e.g. with a wand of slow monster) can make him easy to kite. Even so, care must still be taken to stop him from getting too close and ruining your day.
As a pet
Given his high base level and damage, Jumbo could make for a decent mid-game pet if you can spare a scroll of taming or a charm monster spell. Unfortunately, he has zero MR and no resistances other than stoning resistance, and has no to-hit bonus, making his powerful headbutts nigh useless against monsters that have enchantment resistantance such as statue gargoyles, vampires and shadow wolves.
As a steed, Jumbo's base speed of 12 is generally inferior compared to the ki-rin and Pegasus. His herbivorous diet may also necessitate gathering several fruits and vegetables for him beforehand - the high-damage Jumbo is dangerous to be around when confused from hunger, and hunger-induced HP cuts leave him even more vulnerable. One of the few edges that Jumbo has over other steeds is his innate stoning resistance, which among other things prevents accidents with cockatrices and other stoning monsters that can befall an unfortunate steed.
Origin
Jumbo the Elephant (c. December 25, 1860–September 15, 1885) was a 19th-century male African bush elephant born in Sudan and exported to the Jardin des Plantes zoo in Paris. From there, Jumbo was transferred in 1865 to the London Zoo, which sold the elephant to the American showman P. T. Barnum in spite of significant public protest. Barnum took him to the United States for exhibition in March 1882, where he attained fame as a star of the Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The giant elephant left a long-lasting legacy, with the word "jumbo" coming to mean "large in size" and see common usage (e.g., "jumbo jet", "jumbo shrimp," "jumbo marshmallows," and "jumbotron"). Jumbo's shoulder height was estimated to have been 3.23 metres (10 ft 7 in) at the time of his death, and was claimed to be about 4 m (13 ft 1 in) by Barnum. Another facet of Jumbo's legacy is the 1941 animated film Dumbo, released by Walt Disney Animation Studios and inspired by the story of Jumbo - many people have also speculated that Jumbo is the title character's father in the film.
