Grand Master
@ Grand Master 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 30 |
| Attacks |
Claw 4d10 physical, kick 2d8 physical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical |
| Base level | 25 |
| Base experience | 1053 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 90 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | fire resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
The Grand Master:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 3533 |
- For the peak skill level that monks can attain in martial arts, see skill and martial arts.
The Grand Master, @, is the Monk quest leader. He is a strong herbivorous human that can see invisible similar to his abbots and Monk heroes, and is otherwise nearly identical to the high cleric and Arch Priest in terms of attacks, attributes and resistances.
The Grand Master has a strong 'claw' attack and a kick attack, and will attempt to cast two clerical spells during each of his turns—his strong melee attacks reflect the Monk role's focus on martial arts. He possesses fire resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance and poison resistance: incidentally, a highly-experienced Monk at the same level will also possess these resistances along with cold resistance.
Generation
The Grand Master is always generated as peaceful, and is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
The Grand Master is generated on The Monastery of Chan-Sune, the Monk quest home level, and is placed on the adjacent square to the east of the unaligned altar during level creation.[1]
The Grand Master is always generated with a +6 robe.[2]
Strategy
The Grand Master is one of the strongest quest leaders in NetHack in terms of difficulty rating and sheer damage output, though this will not normally be witnessed in action unless you choose to fight him for alternative entry to the Quest.
History
| @ Grand Master
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 30 |
| Attacks |
Claw 4d10 physical, kick 2d8 physical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical, spellcasting 2d8 clerical |
| Base level | 25 |
| Base experience | 1053 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 0 |
| Base MR | 70 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Unique |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | fire resistance, shock resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
The Grand Master:
| |
| Reference | NetHack 3.6.7 - src/monst.c, line 2895 |
The Grand Master first appears in NetHack Plus, and makes his vanilla debut in NetHack 3.3.0 with his stats and abilities largely copied from the Arch Priest. From this vanilla version to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the Grand Master lacks a starting inventory and has 12 speed along with a lower MR score of 70. 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.
Notably, the Grand Master in these versions is much stronger than most other quest leaders, though this has little bearing outside of situations where a game is all but lost (if not completely lost). His MR score means that he is one of the hardest quest leaders to pacify through means such as the charm monster spell—doing so in the first place requires that the hero be a neutral Monk capable of wishing for or otherwise obtaining The Eye of the Aethiopica in order to branchport back into the quest level.
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 the Grand Master and other quest leaders are given increased stats and additional equipment to compensate. The Grand Master is one of two quest leaders to retain their unaltered attack routine, with the other being the Arch Priest.
Origin
Grand masters of martial arts schools are known as "iemoto". The iemoto system is characterized by a hierarchical structure and the supreme authority of the iemoto, who has inherited the secret traditions of the school from the previous iemoto. The word is also used to describe a system of familial generations in traditional Japanese arts such as tea ceremony (including sencha), calligraphy, traditional Japanese dance, and other arts.
The iemoto's main roles are to lead the school and protect its traditions, to be the final authority on matters concerning the school, to issue or approve licenses and certificates, and in some cases to instruct the most advanced practitioners. The title is hereditary in most cases, and is commonly transmitted by direct line, or by adoption. Once the "successor-to-be" is officially recognized, that successor-to-be may appropriate the title of wakasōshō (若宗匠, "Young Master"). By tradition, the title of iemoto is also passed down along with a hereditary name. There can only be one iemoto at the head of one school at a time, which sometimes leads to the creation of new "houses" or "lines" by those wishing to be iemoto themselves.
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. As the Grand Master originates in a variant made prior to the latest version of NetHack, his stats and properties may also vary between variants.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the Grand Master's difficulty is 33. This also applies to SlashTHEM.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, the Grand Master is buffed significantly from NetHack 3.4.3: his speed is increased to 15, his MR score is increased to 90, and he also gains flight and stoning resistance.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, the Grand Master retains his statistics from NetHack 3.4.3, and always generates with a +6 robe.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the Grand Master can be male or female. Of the Grand Master's effective 0 base AC, 2 of those 10 points are from natural AC, 4 are from dodging, and 4 are from protection. Their speed is decreased to 8 to signify their old age, and their difficulty is slightly lowered to 29—they will also only cast one clerical monster spell instead of two, but have a wider spell repertoire compared to NetHack. When casting clerical spells, they have a 1⁄2 chance of casting either aura bolt, drain strength or earthquake, with an equal probability of each spell, and will otherwise use a random clerical-eligible spell.
The Grand Master does not have natural sleep resistance compared to NetHack, but is instead granted the property by virtue of being a monk monster along with several other properties: intrinsic speed, stealth (level 5+), automatic searching (level 9), teleport control (level 17+), swimming (level 21+), and immunity to sickness (level 23+). The Grand Master will gain stoning resistance at a minimum of level 27, magic resistance at a minimum of level 29, and drain resistance at level 30, and they possess innate fire resistance, cold resistance, shock resistance, poison resistance, acid resistance, and disintegration resistance in addition to their level-based versions of the properties.
The Grand Master always generates with a +5 robe, which is one of the few robes seen in the Monk quest to never have its color changed.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, the Grand Master is renamed to Chan-Sune Lama, and his stats and abilities are identical to NetHack 5.0.0.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, the Grand Master's
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the Grand Master is renamed to Master Po, the name of a main character from the 1972 television series Kung Fu who was a Shaolin temple priest. Master Po is always male, and his stats are identical to NetHack 5.0.0 with the addition of stoning resistance.
If The Eyes of the Overworld is successfully wished for by a non-Monk, there is a x⁄x+1 chance (where x is the amount of previous artifact wishes) of a hostile Master Po generating adjacent to the character with the artifact in his possession.
All of the above information also applies to Hack'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for monk.
