Red dragon
D red dragon 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 20 |
| Attacks |
Breath 6d6 fire, bite 3d8 physical, claw 1d4 physical, claw 1d4 physical |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 460 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -4 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 4500 |
| Nutritional value | 1500 |
| Size | Gigantic |
| Resistances | Fire |
| Resistances conveyed | Fire resistance (100%) |
|
A red dragon:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1161 |
A red dragon, D, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is an adult dragon associated with the element of fire. Red dragons can be seen via infravision, and like all dragons they are strong, carnivorous, oviparous, thick-skinned, can see invisible, and are capable of flight - they will also seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up.
Red dragons have a fire breath weapon, a strong bite attack, and two claw attacks, and can passively burn vulnerable weapons. Red dragons possess fire resistance.
Eating a red dragon corpse or tin always grants fire resistance.
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.
Red dragons and other dragons gain the additional extrinsic effects conferred by their scales.Contents
Generation
Randomly generated red dragons are always created hostile. A baby red dragon can grow up into a red dragon.
Hostile red dragons can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell. Characters and monsters that polymorph while wearing red dragon scales or red dragon scale mail will turn into red dragons.
Red dragons may appear among the hostile D generated in throne rooms at dungeon levels 15 and below, and can also appear among the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).[1]
A red dragon is always generated on the Plane of Fire at level creation.
Red dragons have a 1⁄3 chance of dropping a set of uncursed +0 red dragon scales upon death unless disintegrated, and the chance is reduced to 1⁄20 if the dragon was revived.
Strategy
The red dragon's fire breath is the strong damage-dealing breath weapon among dragons, and it can burn (and in some cases, destroy) worn armor, scrolls, potions, and spellbooks in a target's open inventory. A hero can usually obtain fire resistance or reflection before encountering a red dragon, though the resistance will only block HP daamge - for characters that lack a source of either property, it may be prudent to drop or ideally stash as much of their vulnerable inventory as possible, then try to close into melee range if they are capable of handling the dragon's attacks. Eating a red dragon after killing it is worthwhile for characters that lack the resistance, though the corpse will take a while to fully consume and usually leave them oversatiated unless it is tinned.
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.
Red dragons gain extrinsic infravision from their scales, making it easier for them to track targets in dark areas. Red dragons and other large enough monsters can also inflict knockback with their melee attacks, making them exceedingly dangerous to fight near pools or lava and capable of forcing characters back into breath weapon range - this is especially dangerous with red dragons in icy areas, where a character flung onto ice can potentially be drowned by the dragon's fire breath.
Extrinsic fire resistance will protect inventory from fire damage 99⁄100 of the time, making extrinsic sources of the property more viable as a defense against their fire breath - red dragon scale mail may be worth consideration for some human characters, as it allows them to gain infravision that other starting races have intrinsically.History
The red dragon first appears in NetHack 2.3e - previous versions have a single dragon monster that breathes fire and grants fire resistance when its corpse is eaten, making it an "ancestor" of the red dragon.
From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.0.10, including variants based on those versions, polymorphing a red dragon corpse produces regular dragon scale mail. NetHack 3.1.0 introduces the current method of obtaining red dragon scale mail.
Variants
Many variants alter the red dragon and other dragons to make them more varied and/or threatening.
SLASH'EM
As with most other dragons in SLASH'EM, the red dragon's stats are improved: their base level is raised to 18, their difficulty is raised to 25, their AC is boosted to -4, their bite and claw attacks are stronger, and they hit as a +3 weapon. Tame red dragons also have a chance of turning traitor.
Flame Mages that are at experience level 14 or higher can polymorph into a red dragon via the #youpoly extended command.
Red dragons can appear in dragon lairs and the Wyrm Caves.
All of the above information also applies to SlashTHEM.
NetHack brass
In NetHack brass, the red dragon's speed is raised to 12, and its breath weapon deals 12d12 damage.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, the red dragon's difficulty is slightly lowered to 19, their bite and claw attacks are stronger, and they are given an additional 2d10 engulfing attack that can digest targets.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack and DynaHack, all dragons have their breath weapons, resistances, and names randomized each game, allowing any non-chromatic dragon to appear as red - the default fire dragon is the draken.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack, red dragons have their difficulty raised to 22, and their effective AC is boosted to -4. The red dragon's attacks are made stronger, with an additional 5d12 tailslap attack that they will use once every global turn, and their breath attacks also ignore reflection, unless the source is from dragon armor or an artifact that grants dragonbreath reflection.
Red dragons may appear among the court of a throne room ruled by an orc of the ages of stars.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, red dragons are buffed similarly to GruntHack: their attacks are made stronger as in GruntHack and reordered, including the addition of the digestion attack; they are also given a passive fire attack and their other attacks deal slightly more damage than other dragons, similar to the fire passive and damage increase from red dragon-scaled armor.
Encyclopedia entry
In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous undertaking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire breathing nostrils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly part of its serpent-like body.
"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."
