Master Kaen
@ Master Kaen 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 31 |
| Attacks |
Claw 16d2, claw 16d2, spell-casting (clerical), claw 1d4 quest-artifact-stealing |
| Base level | 25 |
| Base experience | 1095 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | −10 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | −20 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | Poison, stoning |
| Resistances conveyed | Poison (100%) |
|
Master Kaen:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line3256 |
Master Kaen, @, is the Monk quest nemesis. He is a strong human monk that guards the Bell of Opening and the Monk's quest artifact, The Eyes of the Overworld. Like other monk monsters, Master Kaen is strong, herbivorous and can see invisible—he is covetous and capable of warping, and can follow the hero to other levels if he is adjacent.
Master Kaen has two very strong 'claw' attacks, the ability to cast a clerical monster spell during each of his turns, and a third 'claw' attack that can steal the quest artifact back if it was obtained without killing him. He possesses poison resistance.
Eating Master Kaen's corpse or tin is guaranteed to convey poison resistance, though this will count as cannibalism since only humans can be Monks.
Contents
Generation
Master Kaen is generated on one of two squares of the Monk quest goal level, standing atop an unaligned altar with The Eyes of the Overworld underneath him.
In addition to the Bell of Opening, Master Kaen has a 1⁄11 chance of being generated with a cloak of magic resistance, and will otherwise be generated with a robe.[1]
Strategy
Master Kaen is extremely difficult: he hits hard and often, casts clerical spells, and ignores Elbereth. This makes him incredibly ferocious in a straight-up fight, especially if he can warp in and land an attack on a character immediately. Among Kaen's few weaknesses are his predictable behavior, his low MR score of 10 and his lack of resistances - of particular note are the lack of sleep resistance, drain resistance, and disintegration resistance. Characters without the means to take advantage of these can postpone the Quest until after they have finished the Castle; high luck paired with a luckstone (or similar luck item) is ideal, and Monks using melee weapons and/or body armor will want this regardless.
Thankfully, Master Kaen respects the scroll of scare monster, and placing one on the upstairs immediately after arriving can leave him unable to do anything except possibly cast healing spells on himself. From there, characters can finish him off as they please using one of the other strategies listed further below - death rays from a wand of death or finger of death should make short work of him, and the stronger attack wands (e.g. lightning, fire, or cold) will work nicely as well.
If Kaen generates with a cloak of magic resistance, characters should combine ranged attacks and their best melee options to bring him down; use F to avoid moving off the scroll of scare monster while attacking, and watch out for rays from a wand of fire that can burn up the scroll. Grand Master skill martial arts is one the better means to finish him quickly, and those not committed to weaponless conduct may consider artifacts like Mjollnir.
If a scroll of scare monster is not readily available, the additional strategies discussed in the following sections can still help ensure a relatively safe fight against Master Kaen.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
The scroll of scare monster no longer works on any @ or unique monster.Immobilizing Kaen
The sleep spell (which Monks can start with) or a wand of sleep is enough to render Master Kaen helpless, especially if he has magic resistance, and a potion of sleeping will also suffice if neither is available lack the other measures, though be prepared with multiple potions in case. Throwing a potion of paralysis with high dexterity or attacking with a wielded potion while wearing a ring of free action is also viable. In general, a character should also be prepared to put Kaen under again if he wakes up in the midst of the fight.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Monks can no longer start with the spellbook of sleep, and the spell has its level raised to 3.Boulder fort
Reading a noncursed scroll of earth—preferably blessed and on the upstair—will create a barrier that Master Kaen cannot cross, leaving him open to any projectiles, spells or wands on hand - be careful not to push one out by accident! The boulders will not stop the xorns and earth elementals on the level from phasing through, though the scroll of scare monster and/or Elbereth will; xorns can also use attack wands and projectiles that they do not eat to fire past the boulders, and a wand of striking can destroy the boulders and leave an opening for Kaen.
Lava crossing
A Monk can use the lava nearby as a barrier by crossing it with fireproof water walking boots or any long-term source of levitation; this approach works best with fire resistance (e.g. from reaching experience level 11) and a fireproof inventory. From this position, Monks can freely use ranged attacks and attack wands against Master Kaen while restricting him to casting cure self and summon insects at that distance. Beware of any items or attacks that can compromise this position, such as a wand of lightning that can destroy a ring of levitation!
Drain life
It is also possible to bombard Master Kaen with the drain life spell repeatedly until he croaks, though this is best done on the level above - when Kaen teleports away to heal the modest HP damage from the spell, a character can escape downstairs to restore their own HP, preferably on a burned Elbereth. Eidolos uses this method for his instructional ttyrec posted on RGRN; the ttyrec itself can be found here.
Polyself
Even if Master Kaen generates with a cloak of magic resistance, he is not immune to disintegration. Using polymorph control to become a black dragon grants access to a disintegration breath attack via the #monster extended command - this can kill Master Kaen very quickly and easily, though Kaen's strong AC gives him a decent chance of dodging the first few breath attacks.
A character using polyself should prioritize taking advantage of the best position available (e.g. using the black dragon's flight to hover over the lava) for their ranged attack options, and can also establish a boulder fort prior to changing forms, which trades preparation time and resources for much less risk. Characters not using an amulet of unchanging should have a backup plan of escape or attack ready if they revert to normal form or else are killed while in monster form—having a backup source of levitation that is not affected by the chosen form is recommended if using the lava as a defense measure.
Polymorphing Master Kaen
Master Kaen has no resistance against polymorph other than his low 10 MR, so a couple of zaps from a wand of polymorph should suffice. Bashing him with a potion of polymorph may also work, though extras or a backup plan are recommended in case he resists. Whatever he transforms into will most likely be less dangerous than his original form, but as with other monsters there is a chance of turning him into an equivalent or worse threat, especially ones such as a titan or arch-lich that can resist being polymorphed again.
Be careful when using the wand of polymorph: the quest artifact has a 19⁄20 chance of resisting polymorph, but can still fail to resist and may also be destroyed if Master Kaen dies of system shock.
Melee
If all else somehow fails, a gutsy Monk can fight Kaen mano-a-mano: despite his stellar AC and powerful base damage, sufficiently advanced players have managed to defeat him this way. A Monk going this route should have very high HP, very low AC, and half physical damage if at all possible.
History
Master Kaen first appears in NetHack Plus, which introduces the Monk role and their quest branch - all of these are introduced to vanilla NetHack in NetHack 3.3.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, Master Kaen is not affected by the scroll of scare monster, and additionally gains magic resistance from carrying The Eyes of the Overworld, rendering several type of spells and wands ineffective regardless of what cloak he generates with.
The changes to The Eyes of the Overworld's magic resistance and Master Kaen's vulnerability to the scroll of scare monster are introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, Monks have a much better chance against Master Kaen through liberal use of techniques: combinations such as chi strike plus elemental fist plus pummel can even kill him in a single round of melee. A quaffed potion of invulnerability in particular can turn the fight into a cakewalk.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Master Kaen does not respect the scroll of scare monster, and his second 16d2 'claw' attack can knock the target back one or two squares, much like the melee attacks of player and non-player Monks (including the quest leader and guardians). A majority of the goal level is composed of lava as in NetHack, introducing the possibility of a character in the wrong place at the wrong time being sent flying into certain doom. Additionally, the list of clerical monster spells is expanded to include many more dangerous spells, including vulnerability, and some existing monster spells are buffed indirectly or otherwise (e.g., summon insects can generate flying, sickness-inducing locusts).
Encyclopedia entry
Master Kaen shares his encyclopedia entry with the monk.
One day, an army general invited the Buddhist monk I-Hsiu
(literally, "One Rest") to his military head office for a
dinner. I-Hsiu was not accustomed to wearing luxurious
clothings and so he just put on an old ordinary casual
robe to go to the military base. To him, "form is void".
As he approached the base, two soldiers appeared before him
and shouted, "Where does this beggar came from? Identify
yourself! You do not have permission to be around here!"
"My name is I-Hsiu Dharma Master. I am invited by your
general for a supper."
The two soldiers examined the monk closely and said, "You
liar. How come my general invites such a shabby monk to
dinner? He invites the very solemn venerable I-Hsiu to our
base for a great ceremony today, not you. Now, get out!"
I-Hsiu was unable to convince the soldiers that he was
indeed the invited guest, so he returned to the temple
and changed to a very formal solemn ceremonial robe for
the dinner. And as he returned to the military base, the
soldiers observed that he was such a great Buddhist monk,
let him in with honour.
At the dinner, I-Hsiu sat in front of the table full of
food but, instead of putting the food into his mouth, he
picked up the food with his chopsticks and put it into
his sleeves. The general was curious, and whispered to
him, "This is very embarrassing. Do you want to take
some food back to the temple? I will order the cook to
prepare some take out orders for you." "No" replied the
monk. "When I came here, I was not allowed into the
base by your soldiers until I wear this ceremonial robe.
You do not invite me for a dinner. You invite my robe.
Therefore, my robe is eating the food, not me."
