Sabre-toothed cat (SLASH'EM)
f sabre-toothed cat 
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 11 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 9 |
| Base experience | 186 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 6 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 800 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
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A sabre-toothed cat:
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| Reference | SLASH'EM_0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line691 |
- This article is about the monster in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. For the monster in Hack'EM, see saber-toothed cat (Hack'EM).
- For the other similarly-named monsters in variants of NetHack, see saber-toothed cat.
A sabre-toothed cat, f, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. The sabre-toothed cat is a large and quadrupedal feline animal that is carnivorous and can be seen via infravision.
Sabre-toothed cats have two claw attacks and a bite attack.
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated sabre-toothed cats are always created hostile, and are not normally generated in Gehennom.
In SlashTHEM, sabre-toothed cats appear among the random f that are part of the second quest monster class for Cavepeople and make up 6⁄175 (3%) of the monsters randomly generated on the Caveman quest. Sabre-toothed cats also appear among the random f that are part of the first quest monster class for Zookeepers and make up 24⁄175 (14%) of the monsters randomly generated on the Zookeeper quest.
Strategy
Sabre-toothed cats move at the same 12 speed as most heroes and are significantly tougher than other felines, doing twice the damage of a tiger with twice the maximum hit points on average—heroes not sufficiently prepared for the mid-game may meet their death quickly trying to best one in melee. Fortunately, their lack of monster MR leaves them very vulnerable to wands and spells, and a hero with speed can reliably outrun them at will while using ranged attacks to best them. Their AC of 6 is also mediocre enough that a well-armored character with a decently-enchanted weapon can fight them off even in melee.
History
The sabre-toothed cat first appears in NetHack-- 3.0.10, where its name is spelled "saber-toothed cat", and also appears in NetHack-- 3.1.3. In SLASH 6, the monster uses its name's current spelling.
Origin
Machairodontinae is an extinct subfamily of carnivorous mammals within the family Felidae (also known as "true cats"), and contains many of the extinct predators commonly known as "saber-toothed cats", including the famed genus Smilodon. These saber-toothed cats are the best-known genera of saber-toothed predators and were found across most of the world, living from about 16 million until about 11,000 years ago. The species is named for their massive canine teeth: Machairodontinae means "dagger-tooth" and is derived from the Greek μάχαιρα (machaira, "sword").
Previously, some species of saber-toothed cats were called "saber-toothed tigers", though machairodonts are not closely related to any living feline species; DNA analysis published in 2005 confirmed and clarified that the Machairodontinae diverged early from the ancestors of modern cats in their evolution.
