Planetar and Solar

Planetars and Solars are angelic beings in SLASH'EM which are both essentially stronger versions of Archons. They possess the same speed, alignment, armor class, magic resistance and spellcasting abilities of an Archon. They merely have a higher base level, and their attacks do more damage: a Planetar does twice as much, and a Solar does approximately 2.5 times as much.

Planetar

A Planetar
Difficulty	38
Attacks	Weapon 4d4, Weapon 4d4, Gaze blind 3d6, Claw 2d8, Spellcasting (arcane) 4d6

A Planetar
Difficulty	38
Attacks	Weapon 4d4, Weapon 4d4, Gaze blind 3d6, Claw 2d8, Spellcasting (arcane) 4d6
Base level	29
Base experience	1358
Speed	16
Base AC	−10
Base MR	80
Alignment	15 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	Very rare, appears outside of Gehennom
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Large
Resistances	death magic, fire, cold, shock, sleep, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
A Planetar: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. regenerates HP quickly. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. is a lord to its kind. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can pick up magical items. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse. requires a +4 weapon to hit.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line2000

A Planetar is truly an awesome fighting force, dealing large amounts of physical damage through its weapon attacks, and possibly even larger amounts through its psi bolt monster spell. It has a higher base level for casting that than an arch-lich.

Solar

A Solar
Difficulty	49
Attacks	Weapon 5d4, Weapon 5d4, Gaze blind 5d6, Claw 5d8, Spellcasting (arcane) 5d6

A Solar
Difficulty	49
Attacks	Weapon 5d4, Weapon 5d4, Gaze blind 5d6, Claw 5d8, Spellcasting (arcane) 5d6
Base level	39
Base experience	2256
Speed	16
Base AC	−10
Base MR	80
Alignment	15 (lawful)
Frequency (by normal means)	Very rare, appears outside of Gehennom
Genocidable	No
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	Large
Resistances	death magic, fire, cold, shock, sleep, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
A Solar: can fly. has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. regenerates HP quickly. can see invisible creatures. does not eat. (*) is not a valid polymorphable form. is a lord to its kind. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can pick up magical items. has infravision. can be seen through infravision. never leaves a corpse. requires a +4 weapon to hit.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line2010

A Solar has the highest base level of any randomly generated SLASH'EM monster, a distinction it lives up to with its immensely damaging physical and spell attacks.

Generation

Before getting the Amulet of Yendor, the only ways that these monsters can be found are either as minions for lawful characters, obtained through prayer or sacrifice, or possibly in Vlad's Tower or Frankenstein's lab. Their difficulty level is simply too high to be seen earlier; a level 30 character, reaching the castle at level 45, is still not going to see a Planetar even there.

Strategy

As with the devas, Planetars and Solars constitute a major reason that lawful is an easier alignment in SLASH'EM; not only are they peaceful to them, but can be (and often are) given to them as minions. As they cannot be met until one has obtained the Amulet or is reasonably near to doing so, there is no reason to fight either monster, even if one encounters them. By this time your goal is to reach the Elemental Planes anyway. A player in speed boots will be slightly faster than them, and wands of teleportation can work wonders to make them go away. Thus, just as one should keep a wand of digging handy for a chance encounter with a giant shoggoth, one should keep a wand of teleportation handy for these monsters. They are not covetous and will not teleport to meet you.

If you insist on fighting these, either hope that your character is truly maxed out in fighting capabilities (+7 artifact weapon, expert weapon skill, AC around −45), or have a footrice corpse or egg handy. Note that they are guaranteed a shield of reflection, and resist just about every type of damage. Using the disarm technique or a bullwhip to rob them of their weapon is a good way to reduce the damage they do, as well as bag yourself their guaranteed artifact weapon (Demonbane or Sunsword). They are also not immune to drain life, so the un-reflectable wand of draining can also be useful against them. Even with this, though, they remain truly formidable opponents.

Conversely, they also make truly formidable pets, and the "blessed figurine of an Archon" that is a standard pet wish in vanilla NetHack is supplanted here by a figurine of a Solar. Pet Solars will quickly raise their levels to 49, will not go feral, and (even when generated from a figurine) are guaranteed Sunsword or Demonbane if these have not already been generated. (This is in effect a shortcut to a guaranteed artifact wish, without breaking artifact-wishless conduct.) They will not wear body armor, but will wear other armor, although they are so powerful it is rarely necessary to give them the boost.

Origin

The Planetar and Solar in this form originate from Dungeons & Dragons. They are derived from new age devas, spirits that contribute in the functioning of nature. The Solars and Planetars refer to devas of the sun and planets respectively.

The other devas are also derived from new age devas.

Encyclopedia entry

These Aasimar seldom associate with mortals. Planetars are
hairless and tall, with green-tinted skin and a wild psionic talent.
[ adapted from Aasimar, by David Roberts and Brynn ]

Solars are near to powers in status, and their children like
demipowers. Their hair and skin is metallic. Solars stay aloof
from mortals, but may command them with an irresistable voice.
[ adapted from Aasimar, by David Roberts and Brynn ]