Knight (player monster)

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A knight, @, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The knight is a lawful player monster corresponding to a Knight hero, and will have the role's appropriate rank title for their monster level.

A knight has two weapon attacks.

Generation

Knights are not generated randomly, and are normally created as peaceful towards lawful heroes before specific adjustments are made. They are only a valid form for doppelgangers to normally polymorph into, and can only be targeted for genocide if a Knight hero reads a scroll of genocide while confused.[1]

A peaceful knight is generated in each of the four "watchtower" areas on the Knight quest home level at level creation.[2] A page can grow up into a knight.[3]

Knight corpses can generate in graveyards and within the Valley of the Dead.[4][5][6] Knight statues can generate in cockatrice nests and on Medusa's Island.[4][7][8] A Knight hero killed by HP damage from a cockatrice or chickatrice, or else killed by any form of stoning, will leave a named player monster statue behind instead of a named ghost and named corpse if a bones file is created.

A statue of a knight named Perseus is always generated in specific locations on each map of Medusa's Island, with a chance of his statue containing special contents—see his article for more information.

Inventory

A knight is always generated with 1-3 random offensive items, 1-3 random defensive items, and 1-3 random miscellaneous items, and is eligible for the normal chance of an item of each type.[9][10][11] If generated on the Astral Plane, they are also given a cheap plastic imitation of the Amulet of Yendor, 0-999 gold pieces, 0-9 random items, a 115 chance of a luckstone, a 130 chance of a loadstone if they are not given a luckstone, and some valuable gems.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

Knights always generate with a weapon, which has a 78 chance of being a long sword and will otherwise be a randomly chosen melee weapon:[19][20] the enchantment ranges from a random value between +4 and +8 if the monster is generated on the Astral Plane, and otherwise ranges from a random value between +0 and +3;[21] if generated on the Astral Plane, the weapon has a 12 chance of being made into any applicable artifact;[22] and finally, there is a 13 chance of the weapon(s) being erosion-proofed, and a 12 chance (effectively 13 total) of the weapon(s) being greased if they are not erosion-proofed.[23][24]

Knights generated on the Astral Plane will have the following armor:

Armor generated this way has a 13 chance of being erosion-proofed, a separate 13 chance of being blessed, and a separate 13 chance of being cursed.[42] The armor's enchantment has a 35 chance of ranging from +0 to +4, a 310 chance of ranging +4 to +7, and will otherwise range from -1 to -3.[43]

Strategy

Like other player monsters on the Astral Plane, knights have a chance of generating with a long sword that is turned into Vorpal Blade if it has not yet generated, which can result in an unexpected and unceremonious end to your run—the knight is notable for having the highest effective chance of generating with a long sword (including receiving one as the random melee weapon).

History

The knight player monster is introduced in NetHack 3.0.0.

Messages

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, The Guild of Disgruntled Adventurers generates two hostile knights in the main room at level creation.

References

  1. Jump up src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3493: select_newcham_form function governs random polymorph for shapechangers
  2. Jump up dat/Knight.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 66-L70
  3. Jump up src/mondata.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1011
  4. Jump up to: 4.0 4.1 src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1667: mk_tt_objectfunction
  5. Jump up src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 366
  6. Jump up dat/gehennom.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 75
  7. Jump up src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 385
  8. Jump up src/sp_lev.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1985: The code is very cryptic but fortunately has comments
  9. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 309
  10. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 312
  11. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 315
  12. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 149: per a comment above this line: "that's why they are "stuck" in the endgame :-)"
  13. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 282: special boolean is true for Astral Plane generation
  14. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 283
  15. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 299: 13 chance of 0-15 gems or 0-2 gems otherwise
  16. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 304
  17. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 305
  18. Jump up src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 138-L292
  19. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 155: Default weapons are chosen from range of spear to bullwhip, using standard random generation probabilities[18]
  20. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 199
  21. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 265
  22. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 270
  23. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 266
  24. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 268
  25. Jump up src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 378-L389
  26. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 156: DSM is chosen from all available colors with equal probability of each[25]
  27. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 285
  28. Jump up src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 407-L422
  29. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 201: chosen from range of plate mail to chain mail, using standard random generation probabilities[28]
  30. Jump up src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 454-L474
  31. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 157: chosen from range of oilskin cloak to cloak of displacement, using standard random generation probabilities[30]
  32. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 286
  33. Jump up src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 339-L363
  34. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 159: chosen from range of elven leather helm to helm of telepathy, using the standard random generation probabilities[33]
  35. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 287
  36. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 161: chosen from range of elven shield to shield of reflection, using the standard random generation probabilities
  37. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 288
  38. Jump up src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 497-L504
  39. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 289: chosen from range of leather gloves to gauntlets of dexterity, using the standard random generation probabilities[38]
  40. Jump up src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 507-L528
  41. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 294: chosen from range of low boots to levitation boots, using the standard random generation probabilities[40]
  42. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 105
  43. Jump up src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 115: enchantment is independent of beatitude; as the comment above in the code clarifies, cursed positively enchanted armor can occur from run ins with other monsters