Leocrotta
q leocrotta 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 8 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 6 |
| Base experience | 76 |
| Speed | 18 |
| Base AC | 4 |
| Base MR | 10 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1200 |
| Nutritional value | 500 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A leocrotta:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line697 |
A leocrotta, q, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The leocrotta is an omnivorous quadruped that is the fastest of its monster class, and is one of only two monsters in that group to possess any MR score.
Leocrottas possess a claw attack, a bite attack and a second claw attack.
Chatting to a leocrotta causes it to imitate the hero.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated leocrottas are always created hostile.
Hostile leocrottas can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell.[1]
Strategy
The leocrotta boasts a fearsome 18 speed and hits hard enough to easily maul even mid-level heroes—lower-level characters, especially those that do not specialize in melee, are well-advised to escape using any means possible, as leocrottas often appear before they are fully prepared for them. Strong ranged attacks can even the odds, but the leocrotta may be able to close the gap and deal severe damage before it can be put down.
Thankfully, leocrottas have no resistances and a minimal MR score of 10, making wands and spells effective at immobilizing or killing them. A wand of cold, fire or lightning can get a leocrotta off your back fairly reliably, and a wand of sleep or slow monster enables you to outrun a leocrotta or else bring it down with ranged attacks or wands as above. Engraving or burning Elbereth can also scare leocrottas away from you.
Fast speed or better, high-damage weapons and decent AC are ideal in the event you are forced into melee combat with a leocrotta. Improved AC and better speed can significantly reduce the amount of damage a leocrotta deals, as can slowing them down with the wand (or spell) of slow monster; as with many other difficult monsters, you can also fight them from the stairs and walk up or down them to escape and heal as needed. The summon nasties monster spell can often trap a hero with an adjacent leocrotta and other hard-hitters while leaving them few or no means to step away, so escape items are also quite welcome.
As a pet
A leocrotta is not especially remarkable as an "exotic" pet, though it is a decent steed due to its high movement speed and attacks, and its omnivorous diet makes it easy to keep fed. A warhorse still outperforms a leocrotta in most aspects, especially in terms of speed (24 base speed for a warhorse vs. 18 for a leocrotta) and the ease of taming one with vegan and vegetarian food.
History
The leocrotta first appears in Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0.
From Hack for PDP-11 to NetHack 2.3e, the leocrotta used the l glyph. In NetHack 3.0.0, the leocrotta and several other quadrupeds, most of them newly introduced, are moved to the q glyph.
Origin
The leucrocotta is a creature that originates in the writings of Pliny the Elder, and is based on the crocotta (also known as a corocotta or crocuta) of Indian and Ethiopian folklore: the crocotta is a mythical dog-wolf that is described by Strabo as a deadly enemy of men and dogs. Both creatures are likely based on the spotted hyena, an animal known for scavenging and digesting a wide range of foods that is capable of unnervingly human-like vocalizations, such as its famous 'laugh' - its scientific name (Crocuta crocuta) is derived from the crocotta, and local folklore attributes shape-shifting abilities and mimicry of human speech to hyenas.
Pliny's description of the leucrocrotta is used for the creature's appearance in Dungeons & Dragons, where it is known as the leucrotta and debuts in the 1st Edition Monster Manual. This appearance in turn is the basis for the NetHack leocrotta's stat line, its default tile and ability to imitate the player character when spoken to. The leucrotta of Dungeons & Dragons is an evil being created from Yeenoghu's first ancient incursion of the Material Plane, where they are a common result of hyenas consuming his kills and undergoing aberrant transformations—it became known as a hideous creature due to its noxious stench, awful breath, glowing red eyes, and constant drooling, and most beings, particularly druids, shun leucrottas and loathe their very existence. A leucrotta can move as fast as a normal-sized warhorse, and fights using jaw ridges that can tear through armor and flesh, as well as hooves that can batter and disable prey or else kick foes from the rear, with sudden retreats mixed in.
Leucrottas are frighteningly intelligent and it can imitate the voices of other animals and humanoids to lure prey into simple-but-effective traps, and can even speak languages such as Common. They are cruel and opportunistic hunters and proficient stalkers with a strong sense of smell and difficult-to-distinguish tracks: a leucrotta prefers to hunt isolated targets and avoid being overwhelmed by other humanoids seeking to find or avenge their missing kin; they hunt for sport as much as for food, and tend to draw out kills as long as possible. A leucrotta will stick to familiar territory when possible, leaving only when there is a clear danger or a lack of prey, and will also collect gemstones specifically for trap material or bargaining chips.
Leucrottas live alone or in small packs and hunt at night, lurking alongside roads and near human habitats, and exhibit a surprising amount of social structure. Though they very occasionally work and hunt with other evil beings, such arrangements are usually ones of mutual gain - leucrottas only ever make these deals out of fear, and will attack once there is no further gain and they can overpower their former partner(s). Gnolls are a notable exception: leucrottas willingly serve as bodyguards, advisers and even mounts for the gnoll currently in charge, and gnolls see leucrottas as a form of entertainment with a cruelty that surpasses their own.
Messages
- The leocrotta imitates you.
- You chatted to a leocrotta.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the leocrotta hits as a +2 weapon, and is not visible via infravision.
Leocrottas are a decent polyform for doppelganger heroes that reach experience level 6: they are strong, fast and quite powerful, but cannot use weapons or armor and lack hands to open doors or operate most tools with.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, leocrottas are fey monsters, and all six of their AC points are in the dodge category.
Encyclopedia entry
... the leucrocotta, a wild beast of extraordinary swiftness, the size of the wild ass, with the legs of a Stag, the neck, tail, and breast of a lion, the head of a badger, a cloven hoof, the mouth slit up as far as the ears, and one continuous bone instead of teeth; it is said, too, that this animal can imitate the human voice.
