Necromancer (quest nemesis)

For the role with the rank title of Necromancer from experience levels 22-25, see Wizard.

For the player monster representing a Wizard of that rank, see Wizard (player monster).

For the role in SLASH'EM and its variants, see Necromancer.

For the player monster representing the Necromancer role, see Necromancer (player monster).

W Necromancer (No tile)
Difficulty	34
Attacks	weapon 2d6, weapon 2d6, 2d25 sleep breath, 2d6 life-drain gaze, 2d6 magic spell(s), 1d6 steal Quest Artifact or Amulet

W Necromancer (No tile)
Difficulty	34
Attacks	weapon 2d6, weapon 2d6, 2d25 sleep breath, 2d6 life-drain gaze, 2d6 magic spell(s), 1d6 steal Quest Artifact or Amulet
Base level	26
Base experience	474
Speed	12
Base AC	0
Base MR	45
Alignment	-17 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	Unique
Genocidable	No
Weight	750
Nutritional value	350
Size	Medium
Resistances	cold, sleep, poison, stoning
Resistances conveyed	none
Necromancer: does not breathe. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. is undead. is a lord to its kind. is male. is normally generated hostile. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. wants your quest artifact. waits for you to come. has infravision. never leaves a corpse.
Reference	monst.c#line3277

The Necromancer, W, is the Elf quest nemesis in dNetHack. He is a wraith-like monster that guards the Palantir of Westernesse at the end of the dNethack Elvish Racial Quest for elven Nobles, Priests, Rangers, and Wizards.

The Necromancer has two weapon attacks, a sleep-inducing breath attack similar to the Nazgul, a life draining gaze, the ability to cast mage spells, and a claw attack that can steal the Palantir or the Amulet of Yendor from you. The Necromancer hates silver and possesses cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, and stoning resistance.

Strategy

The Necromancer is a fairly simple quest nemesis: most roles should not have too much trouble with him, and silver arrows work well for elven Rangers in particular. Drain resistance or a means of blinding yourself (e.g. a blindfold) will protect you from his life-draining gaze, and the former property can also prevent him from draining your levels with his magic.

Origin

The "Necromancer" is an alias used to refer to Sauron as he appears in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien; Sauron also serves the titular chief antagonist of The Lord of the Rings, which confirms him to be the "Necromancer" of The Hobbit. The Silmarillion describes him as the chief lieutenant of the first Dark Lord, Morgoth.

Sauron rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Middle-earth; he appears most often as a disembodied, flaming "Eye", though he is briefly seen in a humanoid form in Peter Jackson's film trilogy. Though Tolkien denied that absolute evil could exist, he stated that Sauron came as near to a wholly evil will as was possible.