Centaur (monster class)
The centaur is a monster class that appears in NetHack, and is represented by the uppercase C glyph (C). Centaurs are designated internally by the macro S_CENTAUR.[1]
The class contains the following monsters:[2]
Contents
Common traits
Centaurs are strong and intelligent humanoid monsters that are omnivorous and can be seen via infravision. A centaur is a cross between a human and a horse: they possess the body and legs of the latter, with the upper body of the former situated where a horse's head would be. Centaurs can wield weapons and use magical items, and will seek out weapons, armor, food, and gold to pick up—they are too large to wear any sort of torso-fitted armor, though they can still wear amulets and equip helms, gloves and shields.
Centaurs generally have high speed, moving fast enough enough to outpace an unburdened hero with intrinsic speed, and attack using weapons and kicks.
A peaceful or tame centaur will discuss hunting if the hero chats to one.[3]
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 84fabf76 and commit 11aaa702, large humanoids and other similar monsters can wear mummy wrappings.Generation
Randomly generated centaurs may be peaceful towards heroes of the same alignment as them.
Various centaurs may appear among the hostile monsters that generate in throne rooms, as well the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).[4]
The centaur is the first quest monster class for Rangers, and makes up 24⁄175 of the monsters that are randomly generated on the Ranger quest. Random centaurs are also generated on the quest branch below the home floor at level creation: one each is generated on the upper and lower filler levels, and two are generated on the goal level. The centaur is also the second quest monster class for Tourists, and makes up 6⁄175 of the monsters that are randomly generated on the Tourist quest. Random centaurs are also generated on some levels of the quest branch, with one each generated on the home level and the upper and lower filler levels.
Centaurs have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a launcher and missiles: the forest centaur will generate with a bow and 3–14 arrows, while other centaurs will generate with a crossbow and 3–14 bolts.[5] As gold lovers, they also generate with some gold pieces.
Strategy
Centaurs can be quite fearsome and highly-damaging enemies in the early and mid-game: they often use their speed to maintain distance and shoot at you repeatedly, forcing you to close in and contend with their repeated melee attacks instead. Centaurs can also generate with wands, and their speed often allows them to get multiple zaps off between each of your turns. This also makes centaurs among the more difficult monsters to deal with in throne rooms as well.
Characters with viable ranged attacks should make use of them in return - magical options such as wands or spells are especially effective, since centaurs have generally low MR score, and a pet can also help weaken the centaur enough for you to finish them off. Centaur corpses are quite filling for meat-eating pets and players alike, with forest centaurs being the most nutritious at 600.
As pets
Tame centaurs make superb steeds: while not quite as fast as a unicorn or a warhorse, their ability to equip weapons and wear limited armor can make them more durable, even in Gehennom; they can use unicorn horns to stave off status problems; and they can also be given wraith corpses and potions of gain level to compensate for their normally-low HP caps. A potion of speed or wand of speed monster will boost their speed to a stellar 24 (or 27 for mountain centaurs), while amulets and shields allow them to obtain reflection, and a "spare" artifact weapon that is co-aligned or unaligned is ideal to hand off to a centaur steed and drive up their damage output. Their diet also makes them much easier to keep fed, allowing non-Knights to offset the tameness decrease from each attempt to climb onto their steed.
Unfortunately, centaurs are quite vulnerable to polymorph traps and the like: they can only obtain magic resistance from Magicbane, and otherwise can only be protected by your own magic resistance should you ride them over the trap. Their armor limitations also prevent them from obtaining MC through any means other than a cornuthaum. Since centaurs can eat meat, they must be kept away from shapeshifter corpses if at all possible. Finally, as with all other non-flying steeds, move carefully around water and ice lest you or your steed drown.
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 8d2407f8, pets can gain intrinsics from eating corpses. Per commit f54485b9 and commit f679a537, they will not eat corpses that make them polymorph, unless they are starving or on the verge of becoming untame—this is further refined via commit 64f6ae6d and commit b363b702 to include the corpses of genetic engineers.
As mentioned previously, centaurs can can wear mummy wrappings, which also grant MC1; the amulet of guarding added via commit 4d52332d also boosts MC by 2, though you may prefer a different amulet for a centaur steed.
Riding while wearing an amulet of flying (added in the same commit as the amulet of guarding) will cause the steed to fly as well—riding a mountain centaur that has an amulet or shield of reflection paired with an artifact weapon can make them a somewhat viable competitor to the ki-rin. However, be sure to keep a wand of undead turning handy in case they die.History
The centaur first appears as an individual monster in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0. In Hack 1.21, the centaur uses the c glyph, and it first uses its modern glyph in Hack for PDP-11 and Hack 1.0, which continues to NetHack 2.3e. NetHack 3.0.0 introduces the centaur monster class and phases out the centaur monster in favor of the three modern subtypes.
Origin
A centaur (Ancient Greek κένταυρος romanized "kéntauros", Latin centaurus), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version of the myth, the centaurs were named after Centaurus, and were relatives of the legendary tribe of the Lapiths through his brother Lapithes. They are also occasionally referred to as "hippocentaurs" or as "Ixionidae" (Ancient Greek Ἰξιονίδαι romanized Ixionídai, lit. "sons of Ixion"). Female centaurs are called "centaurides", and occur more often in later antiquity. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being as wild as untamed horses, and were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, the Foloi oak forest in Elis, and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia.
The most common theory holds that the idea came from the first reaction of a non-riding culture (such as the Minoans and Aegeans) to nomads mounted on horses who would appear as half-man, half-animal to the uninitiated; the Aztecs were believed to have held a similar misapprehension about Spanish cavalrymen. The Lapith tribe of Thessaly, who were the kinsmen of the Centaurs in myth, were described as the inventors of horse-riding by Greek writers, and the Thessalian tribes also claimed their horse breeds were descended from the centaurs. The most well known Greek centaurs are Pholus and Chiron, who are notably much more civilized than most centaurs.
Centaurs feature in Roman mythology and are familiar figures in medieval art, bestiaries and heraldry: the work of Georges Dumézil argues for tracing centaurs back to the Indian gandharva, and centaur-like beings also appear in Indian and Russian folklore. The centaur eventually became a staple of modern fantasy literature and other similar media, naturally including Dungeons & Dragons. The centaur of Dungeons & Dragons is part of the original 1974 set, and also appears in the 1st Edition Monster Manual. The "sylvan" centaur is the most common, and lives in temperate forests either alone or in small tribes, while the "nomadic" centaur is more likely to be encountered in plains and steppes, where they roam in clans.
The centaurs of Dungeons & Dragons settings are generally strong and proud, with nomadic centaurs being more aloof and introverted - they typically strive to find peace and balance with nature, but can act with violence when the need arises. Centaurs must eat a lot to fuel their large bodies and are known to overindulge, especially with wine and ale: a drunken centaur is much more prone to aggressive and violent behavior. Centaurs that feel a sense of wanderlust make excellent companions and occasionally even offer a ride to allies, but treat the suggestion of being used as a pack animal with derision. Sylvan centaurs are more likely to be friendly towards outsiders, and as fellow forest-dwewllers they have good relations with elves, tolerate gnomes and halflings, and generally despise humans and dwarves, though they are not actively hostile to the latter two; nomadic centaurs much prefer the company of their own kind. Sylvan centaurs typically fight using weapons and their front hooves, while nomadic centaurs favor distance attacks and very rarely use their hooves (if ever).
Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, several centaurs appear in the third drawbridge-populated map of Fort Ludios.
Five centaurs guard the trapped hallway in the second island-based map of the Castle.
dNetHack
dNetHack adds several new monsters to the monster class:
- C sprow
- C centaur chieftain
- C drider
- C priestess of Ghaunadaur
- C formian crusher
- C formian taskmaster
- C Synaisthesia
- C parasitized embraced alider
- C Blibdoolpoolp's mindgraven champion
- C alider
- C mendicant sprow
- C mendicant drider
notdNetHack
notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack retain the monsters added in dNetHack and adds two more to the monster class:
EvilHack
EvilHack adds centaurs as a playable race with a corresponding centaur monster, and all centaurs are capable of wearing any armor except boots.
Several centaurs appear in the third drawbridge-populated map of Fort Ludios, and five centaurs guard the trapped hallway in the second island-based map of the Castle, both of which are adapted from UnNetHack.
Centaurs have a 1⁄4 chance of generating with an elven helm.
SlashTHEM
SlashTHEM adds two monsters to the monster class:
Encyclopedia entry
Of all the monsters put together by the Greek imagination the Centaurs (Kentauroi) constituted a class in themselves. Despite a strong streak of sensuality, in their make-up, their normal behaviour was moral, and they took a kindly thought of man's welfare. The attempted outrage of Nessos on Deianeira, and that of the whole tribe of Centaurs on the Lapith women, are more than offset by the hospitality of Pholos and by the wisdom of Cheiron, physician, prophet, lyrist, and the instructor of Achilles. Further, the Centaurs were peculiar in that their nature, which united the body of a horse with the trunk and head of a man, involved an unthinkable duplication of vital organs and important members. So grotesque a combination seems almost un-Greek. These strange creatures were said to live in the caves and clefts of the mountains, myths associating them especially with the hills of Thessaly and the range of Erymanthos.
