Dispater (dNetHack)
& Dispater 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 43 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 9d1 physical, Touch 9d2 rust, Cast 1d9 mage spell, Passive 0d0 rust |
| Base level | 78 |
| Base experience | 7540 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | -22 |
| Base MR | 80 |
| Alignment | 15 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1500 |
| Nutritional value | 500 |
| Size | medium |
| Resistances | fire, poison, petrification
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Dispater:
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In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Dispater, & is significantly stronger compared to his appearance in NetHack.
Dispater is a devil lord with a strong, humanoid form, and can see invisible, can be seen via infravision, will pick up weapons and other items he comes across, and can follow the hero to other levels if he is adjacent. He is covetous and capable of warping, and desires the Amulet of Yendor, the invocation items, and the quest artifact of the hero's role. Dispater has 32 points of AC: 19 points are from natural AC, 2 are from dodge AC, and 11 are from protection AC. Dispater cannot be tamed.
Dispater's attacks consist of a 9-base damage weapon attack, a touch attack that can induce rust in vulnerable armor, and the ability to cast one monster spell arcanely during each of his turns, with a 1⁄8 chance each (12.5%) of favoring flesh to stone and curse items—he also has a passive rusting attack. Dispater possesses fire resistance, poison resistance, stoning resistance, death resistance, and drain resistance.
Dispater is poisonous to consume, which primarily comes up if he is digested by another monster or subjected to Ahazu.
Generation
Dispater is always generated hostile, and is not a valid form for polymorph.
Dispater is one of the devil rulers whose dwelling can generate as the upper Hell level. He will normally generate meditating within the center of his fortress, which is composed of a singular long winding "hallway".
Dispater is always generated with a ruffled shirt, a gentleman's suit, a pair of high boots, a pair of gloves, a spellbook of charm monster, two scrolls of taming, and the cursed +2 Rod of Dis: The Rod of Dispater is a lawful intelligent artifact whose base item is a mace with an object material of green-steel, and has +1d10 to-hit and +1d8 damage bonuses against all monsters, with the ability to knock back targets that are hit and stun them while subtracting 10 movement points. Invoking the Rod of Dis can tame nearby monsters.
Dispater never leaves a corpse upon death.
Strategy
Dispater should not be confronted without several lizard corpses in open inventory, since he will frequently attempt to turn the hero into a lifeless statue: a hero that begins to stiffen has only a few turns to eat one—free action can buy players an additional 3 turns to act.
Origin
The NetHack incarnation of Dispater is derived from his portrayal in Dungeons & Dragons source books, where he is a unique archdevil—this is in turn based on Dīs Pater, a Roman god of the underworld later subsumed by Pluto or the Greek Hades. Originally a chthonic god of riches, fertile agricultural land, and underground mineral wealth, he was later commonly equated with the Roman underworld deities Pluto and Orcus.
In Dungeons & Dragons, Dispater's appearance is that of a handsome human about 2 meters (ca. 7 feet) tall, with two small horns, a tail and a cloven left hoof—this is partially reflected in NetHack, where he is human-sized and the default tileset portrays him with his horns and tail.He is also known to carry a powerful rod that symbolizes his authority and also acts as a staff of striking, which is the basis for his artifact weapon.
The "City of Dis" mentioned in the encyclopedia entry is derived from Dispater's appearance in the Inferno, where the infernal city under his rule made up the entire sixth circle of Hell. dNetHack and some other variants give him a lair inspired by the City.
Encyclopedia entry
The Roman ruler of the underworld and fortune, similar to the Greek Hades. Every hundred years, the Ludi Tarentini were celebrated in his honor. The Gauls regarded Dis Pater as their ancestor. The name is a contraction of the Latin Dives, "the wealthy", Dives Pater, "the wealthy father", or "Fater Wealth". It refers to the wealth of precious stone below the earth.
