Skeleton warrior
z skeleton warrior (No tile) | |
---|---|
Difficulty | 14 |
Attacks |
Weapon 2d6 physical, Touch 1d6 slowing |
Base level | 12 |
Base experience | ? |
Speed | 8 |
Base AC | 2 |
Base MR | 75 |
Alignment | -8 (chaotic) |
Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
Genocidable | No |
Weight | 400 |
Nutritional value | 5 |
Size | Medium |
Resistances | cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, stoning resistance, drain resistance, psychic resistance |
Resistances conveyed | None |
A skeleton:
| |
Reference | EvilHack - monst.c, line 1572 |
A skeleton warrior, z, is a type of monster that appears in EvilHack. The skeleton warrior is a humanoid undead monster that is the strongest of the skeleton monster class, and shares most of its traits with the skeletons of NetHack. Skeleton warriors are strong, have infravision, and count as thick-skinned due to lacking any organic parts—they are the only type of skeleton to not be mindless.
A skeleton warrior has a weapon attack and a slowing touch that can remove intrinsic speed. Skeleton warriors possess cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, death resistance, drain resistance, stoning resistance, and psychic resistance, and have a vulnerability to fire.
Chatting to a skeleton warrior will freeze the hero in place for a few turns regardless of hostility, and free action will not prevent this.
Generation
Randomly-generated skeleton warriors are always created hostile—a hero that is at experience level 10 or higher may also encounter a skeleton warrior as the leader of a group of skeletons. They are not a valid target for genocide.
Skeleton warriors may appear among the skeleton monsters generated in graveyards.
A skeleton warrior is generated on the upper filler level of the Convict quest at level creation.
The skeleton warrior 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 on the Druid quest. Several skeleton warriors are generated on each floor at level creation: four each are generated on the home, locate and filler levels, and eight are generated on the goal level.
A skeleton warrior is generated in the Hidden Dungeon at level creation.
Two skeleton warriors are generated on the lowest floor of Vecna's Domain at level creation.
Five skeleton warriors are generated in Orcus-town at level creation.
Four skeleton warriors are generated in the halls on the lowest floor of Vlad's Tower at level creation, and four more are generated in the central room of the topmost floor at level creation.
The two monsters generated on each filler level of Gehennom have a 1⁄2 chance of being skeleton warriors, including the floor with the magic portal that leads to the Wizard's Tower.
A skeleton warrior has a 1⁄2 chance of generating with a helmet, an independent 4⁄5 chance of generating with either a suit of chain mail (1⁄2 chance), splint mail (1⁄4 chance) or banded mail (1⁄4 chance) as their body armor, and a weapon that will either be a two-handed sword (2⁄3 chance) or a battle-axe (1⁄3 chance).
Skeleton warriors 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.