Summon nasties

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Summon nasties is a monster spell that appears in NetHack.

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Description

Summon nasties is a non-directed spell that can be used by any monster of at least level 16 with the ability to cast mage spells.[1][2][3] The spell is only used by hostile monsters against the hero, and they will only use it if they at least think the character is nearby.[4][5]

When cast, a number of hostile monsters will be generated around the hero's position, which can be affected by displacement or invisibility depending on the caster.[6][7] These monsters are selected from a list of nasties, and are created until either d(XLvl3) nasties that are either neutral or co-aligned with the summoner have been created, or the maximum number of 10 nasties have been created - in practice, it is possible for groups of monsters to be generated among the summoned nasties and result in a total higher than 10, and spellcasting monsters of an alignment that has fewer co-aligned nasties will summon more nasties on average.[8][9][10]

If this spell is cast in Gehennom, it is treated as if the Wizard of Yendor is summoning regardless of the caster, and there is a 1⁄10 chance that a major demon is summoned - this can include a demon lord or demon prince.[11] Both this and the remote summoning performed by the Wizard of Yendor are considered neutral for this purpose.

Monsters summoned by the spell respect genocide, but not extinction: If a genocided monster would be summoned, it is replaced by an ordinary random monster (which is not guaranteed to be hostile). Summoned monsters will be unable to use special attacks such as monster spells or breath weapons for up to 4 turns.[12] To partially curtail "summon storms", summoned spellcasters will have a lower difficulty than the caster unless they replace a genocided monster, and titans, ki-rin and golden nagas are excluded.[13][14] Monsters of the demon monster class will never summon angelic beings, and vice versa.[15] If cast on the Rogue level, nasties not represented by an uppercase letter are less likely to be summoned.[16]

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Spellcasters casting summon nasties can no longer summon monsters of equal or higher difficulty than themselves. Thus, Archons cannot summon more Archons, arch-liches cannot summon more arch-liches, and so on.

If a genocided monster with a pre-grown form (that is not explicitly a baby form) is chosen, and this form is not also genocided, it will appear in place of the genocided monster. For example, mind flayers can appear in place of genocided master mind flayers. This also happens if the chosen nasty is inappropriate for the location, such as an arch-lich outside Gehennom.

Per commit 3eed5003, when the difficulty is high enough to summon arch-liches or Archons (e.g., the Wizard casting it or via random harassment), at most one arch-lich OR one Archon will be created by a single casting of summon nasties.

Nasties

For the monster flag, which is unrelated to this spell, see M2_NASTY.

The following monsters are considered "nasties" for the purposes of this spell, and are listed by alignment:[17]

Lawful nasties

Neutral nasties

Chaotic nasties

Demons (in Gehennom only)

Strategy

Dealing with the summon nasties spell can often require action both before and after it is cast.

Preventative genocide

One option is to genocide the worst nasties: arch-liches and master mind flayers are good candidates for this. However, if the spell attempts to generate a genocided monster, it will instead generate a random one. Once the player has the Amulet of Yendor and is out of Gehennom, Archons and ki-rin are not unlikely random monster choices and may be summoned in place of genocided monsters.

Another good option for a player with a scroll of genocide would be to blessed-genocide ​L. Liches are by far the most frequently encountered casters of summon nasties, and also the only ones that can be genocided anyway. Doing so will genocide only one nasty, arch-liches, and so will not greatly increase the probability of worse nasties such as Archons being generated by the spell.

Meeting a summoner

The worst place to meet monsters with this spell is on large open levels such as Juiblex's swamp, where they will often sit outside of the ring of monsters it has created around you and continue summoning, even as you attempt to fight off its minions. In this situation, covetous behavior can be helpful: an arch-lich that warps to the upstairs may no longer be able to see you, whereas a fleeing demilich will remain in range and continue to fill the level with nasties.

Characters that have trouble killing a spellcaster capable of summoning nasties may benefit if they summon specific monsters: a cockatrice can be used to stone other nasties and the summoner using its corpse or a source of conflict, while a dragon can be forced to use its breath attack by a character with reflection and a means of scaring monsters (e.g. a semi-permanent or better Elbereth), which can potentially be rebounded at the caster - even demon princes can be dispatched by a footrice corpse or a black dragon's reflected disintegration breath.

Conflict in general is another means of countering the summon nasties, since monsters that are affected will attack other hostiles rather than focusing on you; the scroll of taming and charm monster spell are also effective, although many nasties have a substantial chance of resisting either.

History

In NetHack 3.6.0 and previous versions, including variants based on those versions, the summon nasties spell simply summons d(XLvl3) nasties from the list below, with no restrictions based on alignment and no changes in selection if used on the Rogue level:

Messages

A monster appears from nowhere!
One monster was summoned.
Monsters appear from nowhere!
Multiple monsters were summoned.
<A monster appears/Monsters appear> around <a spot near you/your displaced image>!
The summoner was fooled by your invisibility/displacement. The summoned monsters may still be able to find you.
"Destroy the thief, my pet(s)!"
The Wizard of Yendor cast the spell while alive. (The summon nasties effect that the Wizard uses to harass you in his absence displays no message.)

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the monsters listed below are considered nasties for this spell:[18]

The arch-lich, vampire lord and zruty are no longer summonable with this spell.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, evil eyes are added to the list of summonable nasties, which is otherwise the same as in NetHack 3.4.3.

FIQHack

FIQHack merges the spell lists for player characters and monsters, allowing a character to cast the spell if they learn it from the spellbook of summon nasty. Monster summoned via the spell exist for 20 turns before disappearing.

References

  1. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 19
  2. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 105
  3. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 736
  4. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 782
  5. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 802
  6. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 417
  7. ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 420
  8. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 22
  9. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 29
  10. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 568
  11. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 556
  12. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 613
  13. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 45
  14. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 585
  15. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 596
  16. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 526
  17. ↑ src/wizard.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 29
  18. ↑ wizard.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 26
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