User:Chris/dNetHack/dNethack Devil Lords

Upper Hell

Bael

 &
Secret room in the center of Avernus fortress (optional)
Base level = 45. Difficulty = 53. AC = -13. DR = 21. MR = 54. Alignment 18. Fast (14).
Special generation, unique.
Resists fire, poison, petrification.
Weak to holy, silver. 
Leaves no corpse. Weight = 3000. Nutrition = 500.
Movement: flies.
Thinking: usually hostile, likes equipment, wants the amulet.
Body: poisonous to eat, always male, strong, infravisible, humanoid.
Vision: see invisible, extramission.
Mechanics: invalid polymorph form, untamable, nasty, lord, stalks you.
Attacks:
  9d1 weapon - physical;
  9d1 weapon - physical;
  7d9 head butt - elemental fire;
  9d1 bite - poison;
  1d9 targeted gaze - studies you, making you vulnerable;

Bael is a melee specialist, and can be threatening to even an ascension-ready character. His artifact two-handed sword, Genocide, deals a bonus d9 fire damage, and also deals 4d4 fire damage to all others of that creature on the floor. In addition to his listed attacks, he occasionally uses entirely different attack chains. The first includes a disintegration attack, which disenchants and evaporates your armor. The second is to hit you with every weapon he carries, which are enchanted to damage your worn armor.

Crimson scales cover this large fiend, from its bestile head
to its clawed toes. From its back spread great batlike wings.
Foul green venom drips from its teeth, sending up streams of
smoke wherever it falls. Cinched around its waist is a belt
of a dozen shrieking angel heads, their necks neatly severed
by the massive flaming sword the creature holds in his
clawed fist.
[ Tyrants of the Nine Hells,
by Robin Laws and Robert Schwalb ]

Why there must be consorts, I do not know. But I understand.
My love says that there must be balance in a layer between
anima and animus. Even the writhing Zariel has a consort,
her warrior Bel.

My daughters, he told us. And my son, my Bel. You shall be
my eyes, ears, and tongue among the nine. Where they plot
and scheme, you shall remain loyal to me.

I don’t know that I believe him, for he is the Father of Lies.
[ Rip Van Wormer ]

Dispater

 &
Throne in the center of the citadel in dis (forced)
Base level = 78. Difficulty = 43. AC = -22. DR = 18. MR = 80. Alignment 15. Fast (15).
Special generation, unique.
Resists fire, poison, petrification.
Weak to holy, silver.
Leaves no corpse. Weight = 1500. Nutrition = 500.
Movement: moves normally.
Thinking: usually hostile, likes equipment, wants the amulet.
Body: poisonous to eat, always male, strong, infravisible, humanoid.
Vision: see invisible, extramission.
Mechanics: invalid polymorph form, untamable, nasty, lord, stalks you.
Race: demon.
Attacks:
  9d1 weapon - physical;
  9d2 touch - corrodes armor;
  1d9 uses magic spell(s) - random magic spell;
  passive - rusts armour;

Dispater is a dangerous spellcaster, favoring the curse items and turn to stone monster spells. His fondness for turn to stone means that he should not be confronted without several lizard corpses in open inventory, as once the character begins to stiffen they have only a few turns to eat a lizard corpse before becoming a statue. Free action helps, as it gives you 3 more turns to counteract the stoning.

His artifact weapon, the Rod of Dis, adds 1d8 damage to his attacks and stuns player characters. Characters can use it to tame nearby enemies and to knock enemies back in melee.

The Roman ruler of the underworld and fortune, similar to the Greek
Hades. Every hundred years, the Ludi Tarentini were celebrated in his
honor. The Gauls regarded Dis Pater as their ancestor.
The name is a contraction of the Latin Dives, "the wealthy", Dives
Pater, "the wealthy father", or "Fater Wealth". It refers to the
wealth of precious stone below the earth.
[ Encyclopedia Mythica, ed. M.F. Lindemans ]

Dispater is an arch-devil who rules the city of Dis. He is
a powerful mage.

This dark-haired figure stands just over seven feet tall. He could
pass for human if it weren't for the small horns protruding from
his brow and his glowing red eyes. Dressed in regal finery, he carries
a long rod capped with a macelike head.
[ Tyrants of the Nine Hells,
by Robin Laws and Robert Schwalb ]

Mammon

 &
Throne room of the palace of Minauros (optional)
Base level = 60. Difficulty = 35. AC = -16. DR = 16. MR = 75. Alignment 15. Normal speed (12).
Special generation, unique.
Resists fire, poison, petrification.
Weak to holy, silver.
Leaves no corpse. Weight = 3000. Nutrition = 500.
Movement: swims.
Thinking: usually hostile, likes equipment, wants the amulet.
Body: slithy, poisonous to eat, always male, strong, infravisible, human-serpent.
Vision: see invisible, extramission.
Mechanics: invalid polymorph form, untamable, nasty, lord, stalks you.
Race: demon.
Attacks:
  4d9 weapon - physical;
  3d4 claw - steals gold;
  3d4 claw - steals gold;
  9d1 crushing bearhug - crushes and drowns;
  3d9 breath - turns victim to gold;

Mammon's wrap attack does present a drowning danger if he uses it while over the swamps of Minauros. Furthermore, he possesses a unique breath attack that can turn your inventory golden and petrify you, turning you into a golden statue (this can be cured by the normal means). His artifact short sword, Avarice, deals 2x damage and steals random items from the target.

The Viscount bowed low again as he accepted the
silver piece. He beamed another huge smile at the Lord
Minister and turned to leave. Almost as an afterthought,
he turned back. “Tell me truly, Lord Minister. Will this
gold you have gathered go to the one you serve?”

The old man glared at the impertinence of the question,
then seemed to think the better of it. “Yes, Viscount.
It will go to His work. The aspects of His work which I
see fit to place it towards.”

The Viscount beamed and bowed yet again. “One
more indulgence, Gracious Father of Salvation. Could
you read to me a page from your Holy Writ? I have
always had a passion for hearing it spoken aloud. Any
passage will do…”

Almost snarling, the Lord Minister yanked the book
from its chain and angrily opened it, tearing several
pages in the process.

“No man can serve two masters. Either he will hate
the one and love the other, or he will be enslaved to one
and betray the other. One cannot serve both God and
Mammon.”

As the Lord Minister concluded the passage, the
sound of a thousand golden coins falling to the ground
resounded throughout the temple. The Viscount's smile,
now framed by a red moustache and forked beard, became
ugly as his teeth lengthened into golden fangs.
[ Dicefreaks: The Gates of Hell ]

This massive fiend has the lower body of a brown-spotted serpent
and the upper body of a muscular humanoid with two large arms.
The creature's bestial head is terrifically monstrous, with a
black-lipped maw filled with pointed teeth and a pair of serpent's
fangs. His eyes are pale white, without irises or pupils, yet he
seems to see perfectly.
[ Tyrants of the Nine Hells,
by Robin Laws and Robert Schwalb ]

Fierna and Belial

Fierna
 &
Base level = 25. Difficulty = 34. AC = -14. DR = 4. MR = 94. Alignment 14. Very fast (20).
Special generation, unique.
Resists fire, poison.
Weak to holy, silver.
Leaves no corpse. Weight = 1450. Nutrition = 500.
Movement: moves normally.
Thinking: usually hostile, likes equipment, wants the amulet.
Body: poisonous to eat, always female, infravisible, humanoid.
Vision: see invisible, extramission.
Mechanics: invalid polymorph form, nasty, lord, stalks you.
Race: demon.
Attacks:
  4d2 claw - seduces & steals multiple items;
  4d9 spiritual blade - elemental fire;
  4d8 offhand weapon - physical + 3d7 elemental fire;
  10d3 breath - fire;
  0d4 passive - fire;

Belial
 &
Base level = 64. Difficulty = 36. AC = -20. DR = 14. MR = 44. Alignment 17. Fast (14).
Special generation, unique.
Resists fire, poison, petrification.
Weak to holy, silver.
Leaves no corpse. Weight = 1450. Nutrition = 500.
Movement: moves normally.
Thinking: usually hostile, likes equipment, wants the amulet.
Body: poisonous to eat, always male, strong, infravisible, humanoid.
Vision: see invisible, extramission.
Mechanics: invalid polymorph form, untamable, nasty, lord, stalks you.
Race: demon.
Attacks:
  7d2 touch - seduces;
  7d2 weapon - physical;
  7d2 weapon - physical;
  0d3 uses magic spell(s) - random clerical spell;

Fierna's damage output can be largely negated via fire resistance; however, her most dangerous ability is her high speed item theft rather than her raw damage.

Belial presents different threats depending on the character's gender. Against female targets, he opens with an incubus-style extended seduction attack. The check is intelligence and charisma based, however, even characters with maximum int and cha have only about a 1/4 - 1/3 chance to come out ahead in this check, and characters can end up taking heavy damage during the seduction attempt even when they succeed on the check.

Belial directs his considerable physical and magical combat abilities against male and genderless targets, as well as against females who resist his advances. His artifact weapon, the Fire of Heaven, is a 2x fire damage fire and lightning blasting silvered trident.

These two humanlike figures are tall, dark, and sensual.
They have a pair of small horns jutting from their brows. Their
red eyes smolder with the promise of physical pleasure, and the
fine clothing that clings to their bodies completes the
debaunched image.
[ Tyrants of the Nine Hells,
by Robin Laws and Robert Schwalb ]

Chromatic Dragon

In non-caveman games there's a chance for the Chromatic Dragon's lair to appear as the upper hell. Killing her drops the Chromatic Dragon Scales.

Lower Hell

Leviathan/Levistus

creature in the ice	&	On top of the downstairs, Tantlin harbor (forced)	*Icy explosion 81. Immobile
Leviathan	&	Creature in the ice, Tantlin harbor (optional)	*2x Claw 4d9. Lethe engulf 1d9, sleep breath 1d9. Slow (speed 9)
Levistus	File:Levistus.png &	Creature in the ice, Tantlin harbor (optional)	*2x weapon +9, mage spells, steal item. Fast (speed 18)

Destroying the creature in the ice frees either Leviathan or Levistus in an icy blast. While the creature is sitting on downstair, it isn't required to actually destroy it to move on (try teleportation magic).

Leviathan's physical attacks aren't threatening, however, his intelligence-draining, amnesia inducing engulf attack can be terrifying. Engulfed characters can free themselves by zapping a wand of digging. Leviathan's artifact, the Diadem of Amnesia, is one of the few that is of little use to its owner, being a dunce cap that can be invoked to toggle conflict.

Levistus is a dangerous melee fighter and spell caster that can steal your items. His weapon, the Shadowlock, is a powerful cold-damage dealing artifact rapier that ignores equipped armor and may pierce its target's heart (a vorpal strike), but also deals damage to the wielder every hit.

Phaeton felt a rushing then, as if he were being pulled
quickly through many waters. After a time he realized
that he did indeed feel wet – soaking wet – but the blackness
here was absolute, and the pressure on him immense.
Something swam by him, and the elf recognized
the creature again, grown somehow into immensity, and
glowing eerily. It peered at him and spoke in his mind;
the foundations of his sanity trembled. Somehow Phaeton
could perceive that this was just an image, a shadow
of something far greater; he saw in his mind's eye a
creature encased in ice, frozen and unable to touch the
world.

Here you will forget. The creature seemed to swim
lazily about him. But there is something you must yet do.

What? Phaeton thought back.

Don’t you remember?

A strange sensation burned in the elf’s lungs, and
recognition dawned.
Oh, yes, he thought. I must breathe.
[ Dicefreaks: The Gates of Hell ]

The Court of Lilith

Verier	&	Malbolge Throne Room (optional)	*Headbutt 9+stun, claw 9+paralysis, bite 9+disease, mage spells, hellblood. Very slow (speed 3)
Daughter Lilith	&	Malbolge Throne Room (optional)	*2x weapon +6, steal item. Speed 14.
Mother Lilith	&	Malbolge Throne Room (optional)	*Seduction, kick 8d2, touch sleep 1d3, weapon +9, poisonous spittle. Speed 13.
Crone Lilith	&	Malbolge Throne Room (optional)	*2x weapon +9, sleep breath 9, life draining touch 9, custom spell list. Normal speed (Speed 12).

Verier's melee attacks are low damage, but potentially dangerous due to the sheer variety of status ailments he can inflict. Fortunately, Verier lacks teleportation, which coupled with his slow speed makes him easy to avoid. However, hurting Verier will cause demons to spawn, and killing it will cause a horde of demons to spawn.

As to the triune devil herself, each of her aspects presents its own threat.

Daughter Lilith's artifact weapon, Thunder's Voice, is electrical in nature, which when combined with her theft attack can deprive the character of critical resources.

Mother Lilith is most dangerous against male characters, against whom she employs a succubus-style extended seduction attack. The check is intelligence and charisma based, however, even characters with maximum int and cha have only about a 1/4 - 1/3 chance to come out ahead in this check, and characters can end up taking heavy damage during the seduction attempt even when they succeed on the check.

Against female and genderless characters, as well as male characters that resist her advances, Mother Lilith employs a variety of physical attacks, including her artifact weapon, the permanently poisoned athame, Serpent's Tooth.

Finally, Crone Lilith specializes in the curse items, weaken stats, death touch, and heal self monster spells, backing this magical might up with her life draining touch and silvered unicorn horn, Unblemished Soul.

Even in the light, the girl was difficult to see. Her
long, glossy black hair concealed most of her pale face,
and her dark clothing seemed to draw on shadows. Her
amber eyes, somehow serpentine, reflected in the light.
Yet there was something familiar about her… Somehow, he
knew her to be cause of this madness.
[ Dicefreaks: The Gates of Hell ]

Lilith was crafted by the Lords of Baator to haunt Prime
Material deserts, stealing children, corrupting men, and
recruiting witches to their cause. Thought to be older
than humanity, Lilith fulfilled her role across the
ages until it was feared she might become a goddess.
To prevent this from happening, she was bound to Count
Moloch, who became the Horned King to her Great Goddess.
She viewed him with hatred, and thought fondly of the
kiss of the desert wind and her throngs of adoring
consorts and covens.

During the last Great Upheaval, while Beelzebub and his
camp were busy with the war, she made her move. She
whispered to her lover that his greatest opportunities
lay with supporting the Lord of the Flies. Asmodeus cast
him down, and made his consort ruler in his place.

Moloch was sent away in disgrace, but Lilith was still
unsatisfied. She knew Asmodeus was watching her progress
and feared that he had allowed her to retain the sixth
layer of Baator only because she was being groomed to be
his bride. Knowing well what had happened to Bensozia,
Asmodeus' previous choice, she maneuvered to prevent this
from happening.

Secretly, she corrupted certain officials in Malsheem and
managed to smuggle out a small quantity of the essence of
Asmodeus and Benzozia to the yugoloths, with Glasya the
result. She hoped that a daughter would satisfy whatever
schemes Asmodus had in mind, and as a result he considers
Lilith to be the princess' honorary mother.
[ Rip Van Wormer ]

It seems as if Euryale has always dwelt in the Hells.
Beelzebub named his present city (Malegard) after her in
ancient times, when she was the mistress of discipline there.
She customarily takes the form of an old arthritic-looking
hag with the strength of a titan and serpentine hair. In
various forms she visits the copper citidels of her plane;
if the inhabitants do not respond appropriately the burg is
destroyed in a vast inferno and servants are dispatched to
build another.
Euryale is the third ruler of Malebolge. Euryale replaced
Moloch, who in turn replaced Count Beherit, who was
destroyed by the Dark Lord for disobeying restrictions on
the elevation of devils. Lilith and Tartach convinced her
to stage a coup during the mad cycles of the last Reckoning,
and as a result she is no longer considered a subordinate
of Baalzebul.
[ Rip Van Wormer ]

Baalzebub

&

Maladomini palace (forced)

*weapon + 7d2, poisoned bite 7d2, stunning gaze 2d7. Speed 12.

Baalzebub uses his stunning gaze to disorient foes before hacking them up in melee. His artifact weapon is the Wrath of Heaven, 2x electrical damage electricity and fire blasting silvered long sword. He also holds the All-seeing Eye of the Fly, an artifact helm of telepathy.

Mephistopheles and Baalphegor

Mephistopheles	&	Mephistar Throne Room (optional)	*Weapon +9, headbutt 9+stun, fire magic +8d8, explodes on death for 88 fire damage. Slow (Speed 8).
Baalphegor	&	Mephistar Throne Room (optional)	*2x weapon +8, Cold magic +8d8, Cold explosion on death 108. Slow (Speed 8)

Baalphegor and Mephistopheles are a tag team of fire and ice, able to quickly kill characters who lack one or both of those resistances. Mephisto's artifact is Cold Soul, a fire, ice, and electricity blasting ranseur. Baalphegor wields the Sceptre of the Frozen Floor of Hell, a cold elemental 2x damage cold blasting iron bar.

They can be bribed.

mephistopheles
This diabolical fiend has crimson skin, massive red leathery
wings, curling horns, white eyes, and long, straight black
hair. Swathed in a flowing black cape, he is the vision of
evil.
[ Tyrants of the Nine Hells,
by Robin Laws and Robert Schwalb ]

Ancient Baalphegor, canny and inventive, here since the beginning.
[ Rip Van Wormer ]

Baalphegor is a dignified she-devil with cinnamon-colored skin,
red eyes and hair, as well as bat wings. She appears young and
carefree but when angered, her eyes glow with flames and her
usually musical voice becomes very harsh. She is only five and
a half feet in height.

Baalphegor is said to have been around since the creation of
Baator itself. She's a very skilled diplomat and tactician, and
an unmatched sorceress. She has created many artifacts and
techniques used throughout the Nine Hells. In addition to her
status, this fact granted her a deep respect from almost everyone
in Baator, even from Asmodeus, who appreciates her to the point
of letting her live with her ever-scheming consort.

Knowing all too well her master's position, Baalphegor keeps her
goals to herself, acting with a minimal degree of loyalty to the
Lord of the Eighth. Mephistopheles tolerates this due to the
protection given by his consort's presence.
[ GreyWiki ]

Ninth Hell

Glasya

i

Random perimeter room (forced in 1/5 of games)

*2x weap +1d4, intrinsic stealing claw 1d4, poisoned sting 2d4, electric gaze 2d4, acid blood 9d6. Fast (speed 18).

Glasya is fast, but she does not teleport to meet you, making her far easier to deal with. Unless the character has acid resistance, she should be killed with ranged attacks.

Glasya's artifact weapon is Caress, a bullwhip that adds an additional 1d20 electric damage to her attacks.

Adorned in priceless jewelry, silks, and other finery, this
humanlike creature is the vision of beauty -- though her
copper skin, batlike wings, forked tail, and pointed horns
betray her true nature.
[ Tyrants of the Nine Hells,
by Robin Laws and Robert Schwalb ]

Daemon

@

Random perimeter room (forced in 1/5 of games).

*2x weapon +1d8, life draining touch 4d6, cold touch 6d6, mage spells, fire aura 9d9. Slow (speed 9)

Combining the traits of a death knight and an arch lich, Daemon is far more dangerous than his sister.

Thankfully, he still does not teleport to meet the character. Like his sister, then, he is best killed at range.

He wields the Iconoclast, a silver saber that deals an additional 1d99 damage against human, dwarves and elves.

He'll wrap you in his arms,
tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all those dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole,
heal your shrinking soul
...
They're whispering his name
'cross this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat
is a red right hand
...
You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic plan,
designed and directed by
his red right hand
[ Red Right Hand, by Nick Cave
and the Bad Seeds ]

Asmodeus

&

Central room (forced in 1/5 of games)

*2x weapon +9, custom spell list, fire magic +9d9, cold magic +9d9, hellblood

Asmodeus is probably the second or third most powerful creature in dnethack, and is certainly the most powerful creature that the character may be forced to confront. As such, when exploring Nessus it is best to check all the perimeter rooms for the true downstairs before checking the center room.

Bribing Asmodeus

If the perimeter check reveals that the true downstairs must be in the center room, the safest course of action is to just bribe Asmodeus to leave you alone. Be warned that demon lords in dnethack will demand a bribe of at least 9000 gold, and may demand between 9000 and 9999 gold no matter how much gold you have in your main inventory.

Fighting Asmodeus

Surviving

The character must be immune to both fire and cold in order to survive even a few rounds while fighting Asmodeus (keep in mind that, because intrinsics gained from eating corpses now time out, this is considerably less of a given in dnethack than it is in vanilla). Assuming that the character can survive his fire and ice magic, the next challenge is surviving his other attacks long enough to do damage. The character should immediately burn a pentagram ward, which cuts his effective damage down to 1/9th of its full value.

Spell list:

• Cure Self: +10d8 HP
• Open Wounds
• Acid Rain: Boils potions, wets inventory, corrodes armor and weapons
• Lightning Strike: Blows up wands and rings
• Fire Pillar: Boils potions and burns scrolls. Also burns scrolls on the ground.
• Geyser: Physical damage, wets inventory
• Summon Monsters: Can be very troublesome if the character is standing on a pentagram ward (which is ineffective against the majority of summoned monsters. Fire Pillar counters attempts to drop a scroll of scare monster to reinforce the pentagram).
• Paralyze
• Death Touch

Dealing Damage

Asmodeus has a listed AC of -99. Each time he is attacked, a number between -9 and -99 is chosen as his current AC. Asmodeus is therefore quite difficult to hit, with between 2/3 and 1/2 of attacks missing him completely. The character will therefore need as high a to-hit modifier as possible in order to efficiently deal damage.

Note the presence of Cure Self on Asmodeus's spell list. In order to do lasting damage to the Lord of the Nine, the character must do more than 10d8 damage for every 9 turns, on average.

As Asmodeus takes more and more damage, stronger demon types begin to form from his shed blood, starting with manes and working up to Pit Fiends. If the character is standing on a burned pentagram ward, these are not an immediate threat, though the spell casting pit fiends can be troublesome.