Shadow wolf (SLASH'EM)
d shadow wolf 
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 13 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 11 |
| Base experience | 263 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 4 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | −8 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 850 |
| Nutritional value | 350 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
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A shadow wolf:
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| Reference | src/monst.c, line 510 |
- For the monster in Hack'EM, see shadow wolf (Hack'EM).
A shadow wolf, d, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. The shadow wolf is a medium-sized and carnivorous canine animal that may turn traitor while tame.
A shadow wolf has a strong bite attack that can deal cold damage and destroy potions in the target's open inventory, and a second bite attack that does normal physical damage. Shadow wolves hit monsters as +2 weapons and need a +1 or better weapon to be hit.
Shadow wolves are considered "children of the night" for the purpose of chatting to vampires in their humanoid form.[1]
Generation
Randomly-generated shadow wolves are always created hostile. They can be generated in small groups of 2-4.
Tame shadow wolf minions are an eligible sacrifice gift for chaotic heroes from experience levels 7 to 12.
Shadow wolves appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Samurai and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Samurai quest. They also appear among the random d that are part of the second quest monster class for Yeomen and make up 6⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest.
In SlashTHEM, shadow wolves appear in the same capacity for Samurai and Yeomen. They also appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Ninjas and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Ninja quest.
Strategy
Shadow wolves can be an annoyance (if not an outright threat) for heroes that lack cold resistance, and their requirement of +1 or better to hit can catch heroes off-guard if they are not using weapons with any positive enchantment. However, a hero should ideally have both a source of cold resistance and enchanted weapons well before they meet shadow wolves, and their 15 speed can be matched with the hero's own speed and smart movement (e.g. luring shadow wolf packs down halls).
The shadow wolf's ability to hit as +2 makes them somewhat decent pets for the mid-game should a hero obtain one—chaotic heroes approaching the mid-game will especially appreciate a giftable minion that can hit over enchantment resistance of +2 or lower, though they are not as strong in this regard as bearded devils and chasmes.
History
The shadow wolf first appears in SLASH 6.
Origin
Shadowy variations of normal animals and other beings are a common form of creature in most fictional media. The encyclopedia entry comes from the Shannara series of high fantasy novels by Terry Brooks, where it is part of an in-universe bestiary written by the character Wizard Endlebrook and is the basis for its cold bite attack in NetHack variants.
In Dungeons & Dragons, most of these creatures are a product of the Plane of Shadow, also known as Shadowfell: animals, humans and other beings that are slain by the shadows dwelling within this realm and elsewhere are reduced to shadows of themselves. The shadow wolf is also one of the three new creatures added in "Up the Garden Path", a special adventure module for Dungeons & Dragons that was originally sold at the Stoke-on-Trent National Garden Festival in the UK (held from May 1 to October 26, 1986) and the 1986 Games Day RPG convention hosted by Games Workshop at the Royal Horticultural Society Hall in London on September 27, 1986.
In "Up the Garden Path", shadow wolves are beings of pure shadow that appear to be much like normal gray wolves, but become slightly translucent in brightly-lit areas‐their bites cause victims to fade into shadow from gradual damage unless a save versus paralysis is made, turning anyone that dies this way into another shadow wolf. The fading process is not accelerated by further bites and does not impede hit point restoration from normal rest, but the hit point loss requires stronger healing to cure (i.e. two HP of standard healing restores only 1 HP lost to fading).
Messages
Messages associated with wolves can be found on other articles:
- For messages specific to communicating with vampires as a wolf, see the article on the vampire monster class.
- For messages printed when chatting to wolves, see the article on canines.
Encyclopedia entry
This evil creature (_canis tenebrous_) lurks in the darker, more sinister corners of the world. Its bite is known for its chilling effect upon humanoid flesh, and it is not a tameable animal.
