Purple worm
w purple worm 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 17 |
| Attacks |
Bite 2d8, Engulf 1d10 digest |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 474 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | 6 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 2700 |
| Nutritional value | 700 |
| Size | Gigantic |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A purple worm:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line928 |
A purple worm, w, is a type of monster in that appears in NetHack. It is a slithy, carnivorous and oviparous animal that is the strongest monster of the worm monster class.
Purple worms have a bite attack, and an engulfing attack that can potentially digest its target: this is a delayed instadeath for the hero, and instantly kills monsters that are large in size or smaller.
Purple worms enjoy eating shriekers and will attack any that they come across, and a hero polymorphed into a purple worm is warned of shriekers.[1]
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Purple worms will now devour corpses that they come across, and a worm that engulfs and digests monsters or eats monster corpses can gain intrinsics.Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated purple worms are always created hostile. A baby purple worm can grow up into a purple worm.
In addition to random generation, a shrieker has an effective 1⁄130 chance of summoning a purple worm with its shriek, regardless of the current difficulty level. Purple worms can also be generated by the summon nasties monster spell.
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.
Per commit cf1c7251, baby purple worms appear in place of adult purple worms when the latter would be generated by a shrieker on an out-of-depth level.Strategy
Purple worms are both fearsome enemies and popular pets due to their digestion attack. Though they are slow at 9 speed, hostile purple worms are usually the strongest and fastest monsters with digestion attacks that you will encounter, requiring you to dispatch them quickly. If you see a purple worm approaching, you can use your best ranged attacks to kill or weaken it before it can engulf you. A purple worm's MR score of 20 is not too impressive, but can be enough to make some spell-based approaches less than completely reliable.
One of the most common means of escaping the stomach of a purple worm is to zap a wand of digging: this reduces its health to 1 and forces you out, allowing you to kill it easily. A footrice corpse or egg can also turn the purple worm to stone, and will free you if done while being digested. Wearing a ring of slow digestion will prevent a purple worm from engulfing you in the first place. Conflict can be used to turn the worm against other hostile monsters and get rid of them instantly, including higher-level monsters that can generate purple worms by casting summon nasties.
Purple worms and pets
As the purple worm's digestion attack can instakill monsters, avoid leaving pets around purple worms if at all possible unless they are too large in size to be digested. Even Archons and other common powerful pet choices can be killed easily if a purple worm lands a digestion attack on them. While this does not apply to a steed you are currently riding, a purple worm that engulfs you while riding will force you to dismount, leaving your pet vulnerable if you are spit out quickly (usually due to slow digestion).
Purple worms as pets
Purple worms' digestion attacks also make them powerful pets in their own right, for the same reasons that make them threats to your other pets. A purple worm can be raised to a monster level beyond its normal maximum by engulfing wraiths or eating wraith corpses, allowing them to target and engulf monsters they would ordinarily not attack; a similar effect can be produced using a source of conflict, though this comes with the risk of being eaten by the worm yourself.
Unfortunately, purple worms are extremely vulnerable to shapeshifters such as chameleons and doppelgangers: engulfing them alive or eating their corpse will polymorph the worm, unless you are wearing a ring of protection from shape changers. Purple worms are also susceptible to green slimes, who can turn them into more green slimes by touching them, or else by being engulfed and digested. In addition, they will often have some trouble dealing with monsters too big to engulf, such as giants, ettins and their undead forms. These and other scenarios require a purple worm owner to be diligent in monitoring their pet's welfare and eliminating problem monsters.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
Per commit 1a2d844, digestion will not affect incorporeal monsters such as wraiths.
Pets will no longer eat shapeshifter corpses unless they are starving or on the verge of untaming.Purple rain
Upon reaching the Astral Plane, some players reverse genocide purple worms, then tame them or activate a source of conflict, and finally break a wand of teleportation to warp them around the Plane in order to thin the hordes of player monsters and aligned priests standing between them and the high altars - this is known informally as "purple rain".
Polymorph
Polymorphing yourself into a purple worm allows you to dispatch elusive and powerful enemies such as the dreaded arch-lich in a single turn, so long as you are not wearing a ring of slow digestion. However, a lack of limbs can impede prolonged progress in this state, and you must take special care not to swallow deadly prey such as cockatrices. Engulfing a wraith while polymorphed does not increase your experience level as with pets.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
A hero using a polyself with a digestion attack to swallow a monster whole may get the normal secondary effects of eating that monster's corpse, such as intrinsics, attribute gains or level gain (i.e. from wraith corpses).History
The purple worm first appears in Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0.
From Hack for PDP-11 to NetHack 2.3e, the purple worm uses the P glyph. NetHack 3.0.0 introduces the baby purple worm and moves both monsters to the w glyph.
Origin
The purple worm originates from Dungeons & Dragons, where they debut in the 1st Edition Monster Manual. Purple worms are monstrous subterranean creatures that resemble enormous and bizarre earthworms, with a chitinous plated hide that is dark purple in hue, a toothy maw, and a stinger at the rear end that contains a potent venom.
Purple worms are about 5 feet in diameter and 80 feet long, and move by alternately compressing and expanding their bodies, granting them the potential for bursts of speed. They are capable of sensing loud noises and vibrations from contact with the ground above them, and are also highly skilled swimmers. One variety of purple worm inhabits desert plains and salt flats and typically travels in groups, while a second, aquatic sub-species of 'mottled' purple worms lives in the shallow bottom muck of lakes and surfaces occasionally to hunt for prey; purple worms can also surface in mountains and other rocky areas. Purple worms were naturally a menace to denizens living anywhere above or near their habitats, such as the Underdark and desert trade roads, and magical wards are often maintained to keep them out.
A purple worm attacks by coiling into a 20-foot wide mass, from where it lunges to bite, grab and sting anything within 15 feet of them. Purple worms are capable of swallowing prey the size of humans or horses whole with ease, and the victims are subjected to being crushed by the worm's digestive system and dissolved in its stomach acids, unless they escape via magic or cutting their way out. Purple worms are predators and scavengers that devour whatever organic matter they come across, along with dirt, solid rock and rock materials - metal, mineral crystals and other indigestible waste is typically expelled upon returning to their lair. This is somewhat reflected in the behavior of NetHack purple worms, which will always belch out the inventory of monsters that they fully digest, whether the items are organic or otherwise.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, purple worms hit as a +1 weapon.
Shriekers can no longer summon purple worms by shrieking, likely because their summoning shriek is shared with other monsters.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, a purple worm may be generated inside a magic item vault.
1⁄10 of the monsters randomly generated on the Nightmare Temple levels of the Chaos Temple Quest will be purple worms.
The Stranger can summon a purple worm with the finger template as part of his "yellow nasties" harassment.
FIQHack
In FIQHack, purple worms grudge shriekers and attack them on sight.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, player monsters on the Astral Plane are generated wearing a ring of slow digestion in order to weaken "purple rain" and other similar strategies for trivializing the level.
GnollHack
In GnollHack, purple worms are lithivores.
Encyclopedia entry
A gargantuan version of the harmless rain-worm, the purple worm poses a huge threat to the ordinary adventurer. It is known to swallow whole and digest its victims within only a few minutes. These worms are always on guard, sensitive to the most minute vibrations in the earth, but may also be awakened by a remote shriek.
