Star vampire (dNetHack)
V star vampire 
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 22 |
| Attacks |
Claw 6d6 physical, Tentacle 6d6 vampiric |
| Base level | 18 |
| Base experience | 747 |
| Speed | 18 |
| Base AC | -5 |
| Base MR | 60 |
| Alignment | -5 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | large |
| Resistances | cold, sleep, poison
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A star vampire:
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- For the monster in other variants, see star vampire.
A star vampire, V, is a type of monster that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. The star vampire is a form of vampire that is extra-terrestrial rather than undead like the vampires of NetHack, though it still feeds on blood like typical vampires: it is also imperceptible to a hero unless they have at least 10 insight, and is normally invisible at all times, only becoming visible for a temporary period after feeding on a victim.
A star vampire lacks a head or eyes, and possesses many tentacled limbs in lieu of hands; it is strong, amphibious, unbreathing, capable of flight and enhanced regeneration, can be seen via infravision, and can follow a hero to other levels if it is adjacent. Tame star vampires may turn traitor.
A star vampire has a strong 'claw' attack and a vampiric tentacle attack that can drain up to three levels at a time. Star vampires possess sleep resistance, poison resistance and cold resistance.
A star vampire is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if they are digested by another monster or subjected to Ahazu.
Generation
Randomly-generated star vampires are always created hostile, and are always generated as permanently invisible. They are not a valid form for polymorph.
Star vampires do not leave a corpse upon death.
Origin
The star vampire is based on a monster that originates from the horror short story "The Shambler from the Stars" by American writer Robert Bloch, which is first published in the September 1935 issue of Weird Tales. Though not a creation of H. P. Lovecraft, the tale is written as part of the Cthulhu Mythos, and Lovecraft would later write "The Haunter of the Dark" as a sequel later that year and dedicate it to Bloch. The original short story was later included in 1945 as part of Bloch's first published book, The Opener of the Way, and he eventually wrote his own sequel "The Shadow from the Steeple" in 1950.
In the story, a nameless narrator seeking forbidden knowledge comes across an occult volume known as De Vermis Mysteriis, said to have been written by a Belgian sorcerer named Ludvig Prinn, who was burned at the stake during the witchcraft trials. Finding it to be written entirely in Latin, and not being able to speak the language, the narrator writes a New England mystic whom he established contact with during his search, and the mystic agrees to aid him in translating the book. While perusing the tome at the mystic's home in Providence, RI, the mystic inadvertently stumbles across a spell or invocation on a chapter dealing with familiars: he believes to be a summoning towards one of the invisible "star-sent servants" spoken of in the frightful stories surrounding Ludvig Prinn, and the narrator makes no attempt to stop the mystic from reading the inscription out loud.
This act is what summons the story's titular monster: the room immediately turns dreadfully cold, and an unearthly wind rushes in through the window, followed by a hideous laughter that heralds the arrival of an invisible vampiric monstrosity—the star vampire suddenly lifts the mystic into the air and begins feeding off of his blood until he is nothing more than a wrinkled, flabby corpse. As the creature continues to feed, it slowly becomes more and more visible until its monstrous form is fully revealed, causing the narrator to go mad; after the creature retreats back into the nameless cosmic gulfs it had come from, the book mysteriously vanishes, and the narrator sets the mystic's house on fire and wanders out into the streets. The story ends with the narrator struggling to move on from his ordeal, subconsciously fearing that the "shambler from the stars" will one day return for him.
