Orc (monster class)

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For other uses, see Orc.

The orc is a monster class that appears in NetHack, and is represented by a lowercase o glyph (o). Orcs are designated internally by the macro S_ORC.[1]

The class contains the following monsters:[2]

Common traits

All orcs are, unsurprisingly, orcish monsters. Unlike player orcs, monsters in the orc monster class lack poison resistance.

Orcs attacking you while you are riding have a 1⁄2 chance of hitting your steed versus the standard 1⁄4 chance for other monsters - a comment in the source code explains this as orcs liking to "steal and eat horses".[3]

Wielding Sting or Orcrist will warn you of any orcs on the current level.

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.

As part of resolving issue #679 regarding congruence between non-player monsters and their player counterparts, commit b6a3d4b9 makes it so that polyself into a strong orcish monster caps strength at 18/50 to match that of player orcs, with the exception of Uruk-hai; as of commit 651a5b21, the orc-captain polyform also retains 18/** strength. Commit b6a3d4b9 additionally gives poison resistance to all orcs except the goblin and hobgoblin - this is done in order to distinguish them from the other orcs.

Generation

Orcs may generate peaceful towards chaotic characters, but will always be hostile to elven characters.[4] All orcs except for "plain" orcs can be encountered via random generation.

Orcs have a default 1⁄2 chance of generating with an orcish helm[5] - most orcs also have a separate 1⁄2 chance of being given an orcish dagger or a scimitar, with an equal chance for each weapon.[6] Goblins will always receive an orcish dagger if they generate with a weapon, and there are specific cases governing the starting inventory of Mordor orcs, Uruk-Hai and orc-captains (who can use either of the former cases).[7][8][9]

Various orcs 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).[10]

"Orcish Town" is a variant of Minetown overrun by orcs, with the usual inhabitants all dead[11] - the level contains numerous named orcs within and outside the walls, including "plain" orcs but excluding hobgoblins, and all of them will be generated as hostile.[12] In a game with Orcish Town, more named orcs (save for goblins and hobgoblins) can be encountered throughout the Gnomish Mines and the Dungeons of Doom, carrying loot normally found on the level such as candles, shiny rings, gloves, watchman armor and the long sword or silver saber used by the watch captain[13][14][15][16][17] - the remainder of the items can be found within Orcish Town itself.[18][19]

Strategy

Individually, goblins and orcs are generally easy targets unless you happen across one with a very powerful weapon or a wand. Orcs often appear in groups, however - even then their strength is not too great if they are handled properly, but stronger orcs may have poisoned weapons that can lead to an untimely death. Poison resistance and crowd-control tactics such as the following can make battles against them much easier:

  • Lure the orcs into a corridor to avoid being surrounded and fighting more than one or two at a time.
  • If weakened, climb the staircase and wait until you heal, then return to the level to kill the remaining orcs.
  • Engrave Elbereth and scatter the orcs while you pick them off.

History

Orcs have been present in the game since the standard orc and goblin first appeared in hack121, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack; hobgoblins were introduced in Hack for PDP-11. Both the orc and hobgoblin appear in the initial bestiary for Hack 1.0, and have appeared in every version since - in NetHack 3.0.0, hobgoblins were made a part of the orc monster class, goblins were properly introduced, and the other types of orcs made their debut.

From NetHack 3.1.0 to NetHack 3.2.3, the orc was the first quest monster class for the Elf quest, composing 14% of randomly generated monsters.

Origin

Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an article about:

The orcs of NetHack are derived from Dungeons & Dragons, which in turn are based on their portrayal in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Based on Tolkien's own description of them in his letters, orcs are depicted as wholly evil and to be slaughtered without regret - despite this, orcs are clearly human-like in various aspects: they are able to speak and many demonstrate some level of a moral sense of fairness, even if they are not able to apply their morals to themselves. Tolkien is also on record as considering orcs to be just as human as men "though horribly corrupted, if no more so than many Men to be met today." The resulting moral dilemma reoccurs in both Tolkien's later writings, particularly those which propose several semi-contradictory theories for the origins of orcs, and in scholarly studies of Tolkien's writings.

In a letter to his son Christopher, who was serving in the RAF in the Second World War, Tolkien wrote of orcs as appearing on both sides of the conflict: "Yes, I think the orcs as real a creation as anything in 'realistic' fiction ... only in real life they are on both sides, of course. For 'romance' has grown out of 'allegory', and its wars are still derived from the 'inner war' of allegory in which good is on one side and various modes of badness on the other. In real (exterior) life men are on both sides: which means a motley alliance of orcs, beasts, demons, plain naturally honest men, and angels."

Variants

In many variants, orcs can gain AC bonuses for wearing the proper racial equipment, including player orcs; in variants that incorporate the grudge patch, they have a mutual grudge with elves.

SLASH'EM

Main article: Orc (SLASH'EM)

SLASH'EM introduces several new orcs to the monster class:

In SLASH'EM, all orcs are guaranteed to at least get an orcish dagger as a weapon.

Orcs were the first quest monster class for the defunct Dwarf quest, composing 14% of the randomly-generated monsters in the branch - the branch also generates several random orc monsters at level creation: one on the home level, nine on the upper filler level, and two on the lower filler level(s).

GruntHack

In GruntHack, orcs are an eligible race for the various racial monsters that appear in the dungeon. Orcs also grudge elves and will attack them (and vice versa) if they meet.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, orcs grudge elves and will attack them (and vice versa) if they meet.

The deep orc is introduced as a new type of orc, and features heavily in the Ruins of Moria branch: several of them are created on level generation for each floor, and random generation is heavily biased towards the orc monster class and in particular towards deep orcs.

dNetHack

dNetHack introduces several new orcs to the monster class:

The Mordor Ruins variant of the Chaos Quest is full of various orcs, and generates several random orcs on level creation for the main dungeon level containing the branch's magic portal, as well as the Elven Forest's river ford and forest edge.

Encyclopedia entry

Orcs, bipeds with a humanoid appearance, are related to the
goblins, but much bigger and more dangerous. The average orc
is only moderately intelligent, has broad, muscled shoulders,
a short neck, a sloping forehead and a thick, dark fur.
Their lower eye-teeth are pointing forward, like a boar's.
Female orcs are more lightly built and bare-chested. Not
needing any clothing, they do like to dress in variegated
apparels. Suspicious by nature, orcs live in tribes or
hordes. They tend to live underground as well as above
ground (but they dislike sunlight). Orcs can use all weapons,
tools and armors that are used by men. Since they don't have
the talent to fashion these themselves, they are constantly
hunting for them. There is nothing a horde of orcs cannot
use.

[ het Boek van de Regels; Het Oog des Meesters ]

References

  1. ↑ include/monsym.h in NetHack 3.6.7, line 29
  2. ↑ src/monst.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 611
  3. ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 403
  4. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1267
  5. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 399: default orcish armor
  6. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 426: default orcish weapons
  7. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 402: armor and weapons for Mordor orcs
  8. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 412: armor and weapons for Uruk-Hai
  9. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 400: switch for orc-captains
  10. ↑ src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 749: orcs and throne rooms
  11. ↑ dat/mines.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 49
  12. ↑ dat/mines.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 153
  13. ↑ src/mkmaze.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 667
  14. ↑ src/mkmaze.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 690
  15. ↑ src/mkmaze.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 720
  16. ↑ src/mkmaze.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 740
  17. ↑ src/mkmaze.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 797
  18. ↑ dat/mines.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 136
  19. ↑ dat/mines.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 144
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