Skeleton (EvilHack)
z skeleton 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 1d6 physical |
| Base level | 4 |
| Base experience | ? |
| Speed | 8 |
| Base AC | 4 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 300 |
| Nutritional value | 5 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, stoning resistance, drain resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A skeleton:
| |
| Reference | EvilHack - monst.c, line 1533 |
- For the monster in NetHack and other variants, see skeleton.
A skeleton, z, is a type of monster that appears in EvilHack. The skeleton is an undead humanoid monster that is the namesake monster of the skeleton monster class, and shares some traits with the skeletons of NetHack. Skeletons are strong and mindless, have infravision, and count as thick-skinned due to lacking any organic parts.
A skeleton has a single weapon attack. Skeletons possess cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, death resistance, drain resistance, and stoning resistance, and have a vulnerability to fire.
Chatting to a skeleton will freeze the hero in place for a few turns regardless of hostility, and free action will not prevent this.
Generation
Randomly-generated skeletons are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups—a hero that is at experience level 10 or higher may also encounter a skeleton warrior as the leader of a group of skeletons.
Skeletons may appear among the skeleton monsters generated in graveyards.
The skeleton is the first quest monster for the Druid and makes up 96⁄175 (~54%) of the monsters randomly generated on the Druid quest. Several skeletons are generated on each floor above the goal level at level creation: eight each are generated on the home and filler levels, and ten are generated on the locate level. The skeleton also appears among the random z that are part of the first quest monster class for the Druid and make up 24⁄175 (~13%) of the monsters randomly generated there.
A skeleton has a 1⁄2 chance of generating with a helmet, an independent 1⁄2 chance of generating with either a suit of plain armor (1⁄2 chance), studded armor (1⁄4 chance) or ring mail (1⁄4 chance) as their body armor, and a separate 2⁄3 chance of generating with either a short sword (1⁄2 chance), a broadsword (1⁄4 chance), or any of the polearms (1⁄4 chance) as their weapon.
Skeletons do not leave a corpse upon death.
Origin
A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, such as the exoskeleton (the stable outer shell of an organism); vertebrates have an endoskeleton with a vertical column, which forms a support structure inside the body and is typically composed of bone and cartilage (a rigid connective tissue). Animated skeletons often appear as a type of physically manifested undead in fantasy, gothic and horror fiction, and mythical art: most such undead are human skeletons, but they can be from any creature or race found on Earth or in the fantasy world.
Animated human skeletons have been used as a personification of death in Western culture since the Middle Ages, perhaps influenced by the valley of the dry bones in the Book of Ezekiel. Paintings of Death as both the Grim Reaper and one of the Riders of the Apocalypse have depicted them as skeletons.
Undead skeletons are used extensively in many fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. The basic skeleton is of the humanoid type, and is commonly employed as a low-level undead enemy—they occasionally appear in groups, and are commonly armed with medieval weapons and sometimes armor. Skeletons debut in the 1st Edition Monster Manual of Dungeons & Dragons, where they appear in burial grounds, dungeons and other forsaken areas, and are enchanted with necromantic energy by a powerful evil magic-user or cleric. Skeletons could be given simple commands of 24 words or less by whoever animated them, and would attack until they were destroyed; they are immune to mind-affecting spells and cold, and can only be damaged reliably by blunt weapons and fire. Holy water can also damage skeletons, and non-evil priests like paladins or clerics can repel or destroy them outright.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for skeleton.
