Talk:Hezrou

Polymorph Trap

I have been trying for a few thousand turns to displace my pet herzou onto a Polymorph trap, hopefully to change it into something faster and not inediate, using a magic whistle to position it. Every time I get it to step onto the trap, there is no effect; every time I step onto the trap, my magic resistance blocks it, which proves there's nothing wrong with the trap itself. According to the formula on the Magic resistance (monster) page, the herzou should only have about a 50% chance of resisting but mine has had perfect evasion. It's not wearing (or wielding) anything that would protect it. Am I missing something? --FJH 03:31, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Level factors in as well, so at max level the pet should have 56% chance of resisting. I'm not 100% sure that displacing a pet into a trap always activates the trap though. My preferred method is to build a boulder fort around the trap and whistle him in; that way he can't move and will be affected by the trap every turn he gets. He shouldn't be resisting perfectly so that should be able to get him -- Qazmlpok 14:10, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Using the boulder fort trick to trap my pet on the polymorph trap, I left it to change (and hopefully not get system shock) as I went off to blank some scrolls. When I got back a hundred turns later due to indecision, it was still a herzou. Then it finally became an arch lich. Stronger magic resistance against further polymorphing, still inediate, but uses haste on itself (and teleports to me on top of that). I suppose I should be happy considering it's ridiculously top tier now but I'm surprisingly unsatisfied beyond that of knowing the trick does work eventually. Now that I had a magic whistle, the immediate problem I felt I had was tameness ... --FJH 05:15, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

Not to rain on your parade too much, but arch-liches are actually not great pets. They are incredibly strong, but their attacks are useless against cold resistant monsters, since they cannot cast any offensive spells as a pet. The tendency to teleport actually makes them difficult to control - you can't just lock them in a room to stop them getting at shopkeepers or priests, and they will get in your way more than most pets. On top of that, they become every bit as nasty as always if by chance they do become hostile, or even possibly if they become confused/hallucinating. Sadly, they cannot be polymorphed further (their level and MR are too high), and you might want to keep yours around, but ultimately it's probably best ditched somewhere. It'll never go hostile, but once it turns from tame to peaceful it cannot be retamed. -Ion frigate 06:30, 23 February 2011 (UTC)