Silverknight
| Roles in dNetHack |
|---|
| Roles in notdNetHack |
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the Silverknight, abbreviated as Sil, is a special role only accessible to a character that is the combination of the silverman race and Knight role. Silverknights start out in a "mired" dungeon and are unable to access any branches other than their quest at first. The Silverknight quest has very few deviations from the standard Knight quest. However, Silverknight games are substantially different from standard knights due to the mire and their starting equipment, especially during the early game.
Silverknights will always start as Lafwul.
Starting equipment
Silverknights start the game with only one of three weapons, each with equal probabilities of being chosen at the start of the game:
- a blessed +1 Silverknight scythe (wielded)
- a blessed +1 Silverknight spear (wielded)
- a blessed +1 Silverknight sword (wielded)
Silverknights are granted the 'rot kin' rot research upgrade at the start of the game.
Silverknights start with knowledge of all non-magical weapons and armor.
Silverknights have no pet at the start of the game, which is instead found in the quest.
Intrinsics
Silverknights gain the following intrinsic properties upon reaching the given experience levels:
- Level 7: Speed
- Level 14: Unlocks the sacred style and eldritch style combat skills up to expert, and allows the use of the runic style.
Attributes
Skills
Silverknights have the following skills available to them:
| Silverknight skills | |
|---|---|
| Max | Skills |
| Basic | |
| Skilled |
|
| Expert |
|
Silverknights start with Basic skill with their starting weapon and riding.
Special rules
Silverknights gain 50% more total skill slots, gaining 2 skill slots on even experience levels, like human and android characters.
For a Silverknight, armor made of silver doesn't impede spellcasting.
Silverknights gain 1 morale when hitting a monster in melee for up to 10 morale.
Mire
Silverknights do not have a conventional early game. For them, the dungeon is submerged under a "mire" and lasts until the hero has attempted to gain access to their quest by chatting to their quest leader, independently of whether or not they are allowed access. While mired, all randomly generated monsters gain the swollen template. All items not made of erosion-proof material are generated with three levels of erosion. Fewer items randomly generate, and all items made of a non-organic material will become burried on the square they generated on. The dungeon' walls and corridors will be colored red if colors is enabled, indicating that it is mired.
Once the hero has attempted to become allowed into their quest, the mire will lift from the dungeon until they complete the quest. Any items in the main dungeon that are not on the hero's person or in the quest then have their erosion removed and become un-burried, including a full set of Silverknight gear on the upstairs of the the 1st dungeon level: silverknight helm, silverknight armor, silverknight gauntlets, silverknight boots and both of the two silverknight weapons that the hero didn't start the game with.
Rank titles
A silverknights' rank progression is exactly the same as a standard knight's:
- XL 1–2: Knight
- XL 3-5: Gallant
- XL 6-9: Esquire
- XL 10-13: Bachelor
- XL 14-17: Knight
- XL 18-21: Banneret
- XL 22-25: Chevalier/Chevaliere
- XL 26-29: Seignieur/Dame
- XL 30: Paladin
Gods
The Silverknight pantheon is the same as the knight pantheon:
- Lawful: Lugh
- Neutral: Brigit
- Chaotic: Manannan Mac Lir
Quest
Like the standard Knight's quest, the Silverknight's quest sees them fighting Ixoth for The Magic Mirror of Merlin, an artifact mirror. It grants magic resistance and telepathy while carried, and a Silverknight carrying it also deals doubled damage to their enemies with offensive magic (i.e. some wands and most spells). Applying or wielding the Mirror causes it to speak a random rumor that is true if the Mirror is blessed, false if it is cursed and either if it is uncursed.
History
Silverknights were introduced in the 3.26.0 version of dNetHack, released on May 16th of 2026.
Strategy
Silverknights will have a harder than normal early game. Because the all dungeon branches are locked until they reach their quest, finding food and better armor for lower AC might be a challenge. Their primary objective will be reaching the quest to unlock access the rest of the dungeon's branches, where they'll want to have some training with their weapon skill for their weapon's expert traits. Both the Silverknight's scythe and spear have some form of ranged attack that can be used to take out foes from a distance, vital against the larger swollen monsters with high damage attacks. The scythe's rings will fade quickly, but can be used in conjunction with the dash extended command to avoid direct confrontation. The spear will add an additional sacred phalanx attack at Skilled and Expert, and can be used at will by force-attacking an empty square in the direction of a non-adjacent monster. Since all swollen monsters beome slowed relative to their normal counterparts more monsters can be consistently kited. While Silverknights tend to have average Constitution, their low natural regeneration rate at the start of the game makes gaining experience levels, at least until they acquire their intrinsic speed ideal.
Origins
The Silverknights, their weaponry and the "mire" are inspired by the Cleanrot Knights from the 2022 videogame Elden Ring. Cleanrot Knights are the footsoldiers in the army of Malenia, demigod of rot, who clashed with Starscourge Radahn's army during The Shattering that have since languished and can be found rising from the mire of the scarlet rot infested Swamp of Aeonia. All Cleanrot Knights, due to their allegiance to Malenia, are afflicted by this scarlet rot, which is a type of all-consuming poison and the essence of the Outer God of Rot for which there is no cure. Their armor set is in imitation of Malenia's, and is likely made of the same unalloyed gold used to stall the gradual putrefaction of the body from exposure to the scarlet rot. Cleanrot Knights wield the cleanrot spear, while their commanders wield the halo scythe, both holy weapons with unique skills: spears gain the sacred phalanx skill and halo scythes gain the Miquella's Ring of Light skill. Both the knights and their commanders also wield the Cleanrot Knight's Sword in the offhand, a fast weapons that makes full use of the Winged Sword Insignia, gaining bonus damage on consecutive hits. While their true appearance is hidden by their armor the Cleanrot knights have been severely degraded by the rot, walking with a distinct hunched gait and their more afflicted commanders even vomit scarlet rot. Their design features hyphae growing out of the links between armor pieces and white leathery "insect wings" sprout from their legs. These features bear some resemblance to the pale appearance of the kindred of rot, which are a species vaguely resembling a silverfish endemic to the same Swamp of Aeonia the Cleanrot knights are most heavily present in, relating the two — dNetHack's Silverknights embrace this connection, though they are still functionally separate races.
The Battle of Aeonia between Malenia and Radahn's forces resulted in the blooming of the first scarlet aeonia in the heart of Caelid, what would later become the Swamp of Aeonia. The wildlife affected by the fallout of this scarlet rot explosion swelled to enormous size, with giant dogs, giant crows, giant ants, large flower buds and fungus having become the dominant species; one of the only species not afflicted by this gigantism are the aeonian butterflies originating from Malenia's scarlet rot form. Within the Swamp of Aeonia, Cleanrot Knights can be found lying submerged in the stagnant scarlet rot until disturbed, the likely survivors of the aeonian battle. The Cleanrot Knight Finlay, who carried the unconscious Malenia from Caelid to her current location in Elphael, is the only named Cleanrot Knight.
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