Pharaoh
| M pharaoh (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 30 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 8d4 physical, offhand weapon 8d4 physical, cast 0d0 clerical spell, passive 0d0 inflict curses |
| Base level | 25 |
| Base experience | 1016 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -4 |
| Base MR | 99 |
| Alignment | 20 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1200 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | cold resistance, sleep resistance, shock resistance, poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | none |
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A pharaoh:
| |
A pharaoh, M, is a type of monster that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. A pharaoh is a powerful human mummy that is considered a prince to their kind: they have enhanced regeneration, possess normal vision and infravision, and will seek out magical items to collect. Pharaohs are covetous and capable of warping, and desire the Book of the Dead.
A pharaoh has a strong weapon attack and offhand weapon attack, will attempt to cast one clerical monster spell during each of their turns, and on death inflicts powerful mummy curses: their dying curse will either inflict sickness, cause mummy rot (or drain constitution or charisma if the hero already has mummy rot), or else stop the hero's heart (killing them if they have less than 100 current HP, and otherwise dealing 10d8 damage). Pharaohs have skilled prowess in martial combat, and they possess shock resistance, cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, drain resistance, and death resistance, along with resistance to damage from blunt and piercing weapons.
A pharaoh is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if it is digested by the hero or another monster or else subjected to Ahazu (which circumvents hazardous effects from consuming a monster or their corpse).
Pharaohs can be warded by the Elder Elemental Eye at 4-fold or greater reinforcement.
Generation
Pharaohs are always created hostile, and are only randomly generated in Gehennom.
Pharaohs may be generated as minions of Ptah and Thoth.
The Hmnyw-Pharaoh has a 1⁄21 chance of creating a pharaoh whenever he summons monsters to his position while he is not visible to the hero (who must have 40 insight to see him)—if the Hmnyw-Pharaoh is visible, he instead has a 1⁄8 chance of creating a pharaoh whenever he summons monsters to his position. Pharaohs generated this way are not treated as summoned or temporary and ignore extinction.
A pharaoh is always generated with a prayer-warded wrapping, a golden mask of a pharaoh, a small +3 golden shepherd's crook, and a random golden amulet. All of the equipment a pharaoh generates with is cursed.
A pharaoh does not leave a corpse upon death.
Strategy
Pharaohs are strong clerical spellcasters, having access to problematic spells that can inflict sickness or curse items. Killing a pharaoh without curse resistance is a foolish endeavor at best, as they will bestow the player with a variety of the most troublesome mummy curses available, making them a very enticing target for genocide.
Origin
"Pharaoh" is the vernacular term often used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt, who ruled from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BCE) until the annexation of Egypt by the Roman Republic in 30 BCE. However, "king" was the most frequent term used regardless of gender by the ancient Egyptians for their monarchs through the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty during the New Kingdom. The earliest confirmed instances of "pharaoh" used contemporaneously for a ruler were a letter to Akhenaten (reigned c. 1353–1336 BCE) or an inscription possibly referring to Thutmose III (c. 1479–1425 BCE). In ancient Egyptian society, religion was central to everyday life: one of the roles of the king or pharaoh was as an intermediary between the deities and the people, and they were thus deputised as civil and religious administrator.
The king or pharaoh owned all of the land in Egypt, enacted laws, collected taxes, and served as commander-in-chief of the military; religiously, the king officiated over religious ceremonies and chose the sites of new temples. The king was responsible for maintaining Maat (mꜣꜥt), or cosmic order, balance and justice, and part of this included going to war when necessary to defend the country or attacking others when it was believed that this would contribute to Maat, such as to obtain resources. During the early days prior to the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Deshret or the "Red Crown", was a representation of the kingdom of Lower Egypt; the Hedjet, the "White Crown", was worn by the kings of Upper Egypt. After the unification of both kingdoms, the official crown became the Pschent, the combination of both the red and white crowns. With time, new headdresses were introduced during different dynasties such as the Khat, Nemes, Atef, Hemhem crown, and Khepresh, and a combination of these headdresses or crowns worn together was often depicted.
There are stories going back to the 19th century of a "curse of the pharaohs" or "mummy's curse" that is alleged to be cast upon anyone who disturbs the mummy of an ancient Egyptian, especially a pharaoh. This curse does not differentiate between thieves and archaeologists, and is claimed to cause bad luck, illness, or death. The modern origins and development of Egyptian mummy curse tales primarily in European cultures—including a shift from magic to science as an explanation, and their changing uses from condemning disturbance of the dead to entertaining horror film audiences—suggest that Egyptian curses are primarily a cultural phenomenon. Mummy curse stories multiplied after Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun: despite popular misconceptions, no curse was found inscribed in the Pharaoh's tomb.
There are occasional instances of genuine ancient curses appearing inside or on the façade of a tomb, as in the case of the mastaba tomb of Khentika Ikhekhi of the 6th Dynasty, found at Saqqara. These appear to be directed towards the ka priests to protect the tomb carefully and preserve its ritual purity, rather than as a warning for potential robbers.
