King Arthur
@ King Arthur 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 24 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 20 |
| Base experience | 588 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 90 |
| Alignment | 20 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
King Arthur:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 3524 |
King Arthur, @, is the Knight quest leader. He is a strong, omnivorous human that can be seen via infravision.
King Arthur has two strong weapon attacks.
Generation
King Arthur is always generated as peaceful, and is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
King Arthur resides within Camelot Castle, the Knight quest's home level, and is placed the throne in the central-west room of the castle itself during level creation.[1]
King Arthur is always generated with +4 plate mail and a blessed +4 long sword, which will always be made into the artifact Excalibur if it has not yet been generated.[2]
History
| @ King Arthur
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 23 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 20 |
| Base experience | 588 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 40 |
| Alignment | 20 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
King Arthur:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 3.6.7 - src/monst.c, line 2887 |
King Arthur is introduced with most other quest leaders in NetHack 3.1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, King Arthur lacks a starting inventory and has much lower stats: 12 speed, an MR score of 40, a monster difficulty of 23, and two 1d6 weapon attacks. Angering or killing the quest leader also causes the game to become unwinnable in these versions, since the hero will either lose access to the magic portal that leads into their quest branch or else lose access to the lower floors of the quest.
NetHack 5.0.0 makes a major change to Quest mechanics via commit 20cbadcf: angering and/or killing quest leaders no longer makes the game unwinnable, and King Arthur and other quest leaders are given increased stats and additional equipment to compensate.
Origin
King Arthur (Welsh: Brenin Arthur, Cornish: Arthur Gernow, Breton: Roue Arzhur, French: Roi Arthur), also known as Arthur Pendragon, is a legendary king of Britain and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a leader of the post-Roman Britons in battles against Anglo-Saxon invaders of Britain in the late 5th and early 6th centuries. He first appears in two early medieval historical sources, the Annales Cambriae and the Historia Brittonum, but these date to 300 years after he supposedly lived, and historians who study the period do not consider him a historical figure.
The character of King Arthur developed through Welsh mythology, appearing either as a great warrior defending Britain from human and supernatural enemies or as a magical figure of folklore, sometimes associated with the Welsh otherworld of Annwn. He further developed as a figure of international interest largely through the popularity of the pseudohistorical 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain). The author Geoffrey of Monmouth depicted Arthur as a king of Britain who defeated the Saxons and established a vast empire, and is the source for many elements and incidents that are now an integral part of the Arthurian story: Arthur's father Uther Pendragon, the magician Merlin (for whom the quest artifact is named), Arthur's wife Guinevere, the sword Excalibur, Arthur's conception at Tintagel, his final battle against Mordred at Camlann, and his final rest in Avalon.
12th-century French writer Chrétien de Troyes added Lancelot and the Holy Grail to the story, and began the genre of Arthurian romance that became a significant strand of medieval literature. The themes, events and characters of the Arthurian legend vary widely from text to text, and there is no singular canon. The legend and the literature rooted in it thrived during the Middle Ages, but waned in popularity in the centuries that followed; it experienced a major resurgence in the 19th century. In the 21st century, the legend continues to have prominence in literature and adaptations for theatre, film, television, comics and other media.
Variants
NetHack variants based on versions prior to NetHack 5.0.0 often make King Arthur and other quest leaders stronger than they are in those versions to accommodate the variant's changes to the Quest and its entry mechanics, and some of these changes are later incorporated into NetHack 5.0.0 itself—such changes may include giving King Arthur the artifact Excalibur.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, King Arthur is buffed significantly from NetHack 3.4.3: his difficulty is increased to 24, his speed is increased to 15, his MR score becomes 90, and he has two 4d10 weapon attacks. He also gains flight, sleep resistance, poison resistance, and stoning resistance.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, King Arthur retains his statistics from NetHack 3.4.3, and always generates with a long sword that has an enchantment ranging from +1 to +4, as well as a random piece of armor with an enchantment ranging from +1 to +3.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, 3 of King Arthur's 10 points of effective base AC are from dodge AC, and the remaining 7 are from protection. King Arthur will also have intrinsic speed like a Knight hero and other knight monsters such as the quest guardian pages.
King Arthur always generates with a blessed +7 silver axiomatic long sword, a blessed +3 kite shield, blessed +3 plate mail, a blessed +3 gold band (which will be converted to a helm of brilliance if the band is the appearance for a helm of opposite alignment), blessed +3 iron gauntlets, and blessed +3 iron armored boots.
King Arthur's long sword is a tempting Excalibur base, but cannot be obtained normally unless you are willing to attack and possibly kill him—if so, be sure to unlock access to the quest before attacking.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, King Arthur's stats are identical to NetHack 5.0.0, though his monster difficulty remains at 23.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, King Arthur's stats and resistances are improved from the NetHack 3.6 series, and are identical to those of SporkHack minus the difficulty increase and flight.
King Arthur is always generated with a large shield, as well as a blessed long sword with an enchantment ranging from +2 to +5 that will always be made into Excalibur if it has not yet generated. If The Magic Mirror of Merlin is successfully wished for by a lawful non-Knight, there is a x⁄x+1 chance (where x is the amount of previous artifact wishes) of a hostile King Arthur generating adjacent to the character with the artifact in his possession.
All of the above information also applies to Hack'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
Ector took both his sons to the church before which the anvil had been placed. There, standing before the anvil, he commanded Kay: "Put the sword back into the steel if you really think the throne is yours!" But the sword glanced off the steel. "Now it is your turn", Ector said facing Arthur.
The young man lifted the sword and thrust with both arms; the blade whizzed through the air with a flash and drilled the metal as if it were mere butter. Ector and Kay dropped to their knees before Arthur.
"Why, father and brother, do you bow before me?", Arthur asked with wonder in his voice.
"Because now I know for sure that you are the king, not only by birth but also by law", Ector said. "You are no son of mine nor are you Kay's brother. Immediately after your birth, Merlin the Wise brought you to me to be raised safely. And though it was me that named you Arthur when you were baptized, you are really the son of brave king Uther Pendragon and queen Igraine..."
And after these words, the lord rose and went to see the archbishop to impart to him what had passed.
