Vlad's Tower
| Vlad's Tower | |
|---|---|
| Location | Level 9–13 of Gehennom |
| Bones | middle level only |
| Mappable | Yes |
| Teleportable | No |
| Diggable floor | No |
| Diggable walls | No |
Vlad's Tower is a dungeon branch that appears in NetHack. It is accessed through an up stair in Gehennom, and is the home of Vlad the Impaler—because it is not part of Gehennom, prayer is permitted in the Tower. Vlad's Tower consists of three levels connected by ladders, and all of the floors are no-teleport and completely undiggable.
Contents
Generation
The entrance appears as a a second up stair, located on any floor between the 9th and 13th levels of Gehennom, counting the Valley of the Dead as 1; this places it roughly between dungeon levels 34 and 42 (inclusive). Only the middle level is eligible to leave bones files.
Monster generation is biased toward chaotic monsters in this branch.
Description
Each level contains many secret doors, traps, and several guaranteed items, and Vlad the Impaler is located at the top level. You can directly level teleport from the tower to each of its three levels, to the Gehennom levels above it, and to the Dungeons of Doom, but not to levels below the tower. However, quaffing a cursed potion of gain level on the uppermost floor will only result in an "uneasy feeling".
Bottom level
|x| |x| |x|
---S---S---S---
|xS.........Sx|
----|.........|----
|.>.|.........+...|
|.--|.........|--.|
|.|xS<........Sx|.|
|.---S---S---S---.|
|...|x|.|x|.|x|...|
---.---.---.---.---
|.............|
---------------
There is a random dragon immediately inside the main door of the courtyard, and eight other random monsters are placed on the level. Four of the ten niches marked 'x' will contain the following:
These niches may also contain random traps.
Middle level
|x| |x| |x|
---S---S---S---
|xS.........Sx|
--|.------+----
|......|.<|
--------.|-----
|xS>.....+..Sx|
---S---S---S---
|x| |x| |x|
--- --- ---
The ten niches marked 'x' each contain the following, with one monster or item per niche:
- two hell hound pups
- a winter wolf
- two random demons
- amulet of life saving inside a chest
- amulet of strangulation inside a chest
- water walking boots
- crystal plate mail
- spellbook of invisibility
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit d42efcdd, the spellbook of invisibility may be replaced with a spellbook chosen randomly from the following pool: cone of cold, create familiar, clairvoyance, charm monster, stone to flesh, or polymorph.Top level
|V| |V| |V|
---S---S---S---
|.......+.+...|
---+----|.|----
|...\(|.+>|
---+----|.|----
|.......+.+...|
---S---S---S---
|V| |V| |V|
--- --- ---
Vlad the Impaler occupies the throne in the center of the top floor, carrying the Candelabrum of Invocation; a chest sits behind the throne. Each of the six marked niches contains a random vampire and a chest; if vampires are extinct or genocided, they will be replaced with random monsters. Two of the six chests in the closets are guaranteed to contain stacks of 4–8 candles: one chest contains wax candles and the other contains tallow candles.[1][2]
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Three of the V monsters are guaranteed to be vampire ladies, in reference to the Brides of Dracula from the original Dracula novel. They will be named "Madame", "Marquise", and "Countess" (using titles rather than names because they are unnamed in Dracula and there is no popular consensus on their names), and will wait for the hero's approach, meaning that they will not shapeshift and flow under the door.
The other three are still random V.Vlad's throne
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
The throne of Vlad the Impaler is made distinct from other thrones in commit 3fd30c4e: It will only disappear upon granting a wish, but sitting on it can also cause a variety of powerful effects, some of which are unresistable and many of which are negative—below is a list of the effects possible from sitting on Vlad's throne as of commit ceaffcbd.
- An experience level is drained from the hero, and their peak experience level is also reduced by one. Drain resistance prevents both effects.
- The hero's inventory is covered in grease, and they become glib for 100–200 turns.
- This is added via commit 6de59927 replaces an effect in the initial commit where a dozen items in the hero's inventory are targeted for a curse items effect, with a preference towards containers.
- Intrinsic theft occurs, as with normal thrones.
- The hero is level teleported to the level with the vibrating square.
- Major demons are summoned near the throne as though the Wizard of Yendor had cast summon nasties.
- All uncursed items in the hero's inventory have their beatitude hidden, and each targeted item has a 1⁄4 chance of being blessed and a 1⁄4 chance of being cursed. This is the same effect as reading a blessed scroll of remove curse while confused.
- The hero is polymorphed, which cannot be blocked by magic resistance but can be subjected to polymorph control and blocked by unchanging.
- The hero takes d80 acid damage, which is reduced to d16 if they have acid resistance.
- The hero's ability scores are shuffled significantly—this is somewhat similar to the effects of polymorph into the hero's own race, although any ability loss from this effect can be reversed by restore ability effects.
Strategy
Most of the items present in the branch will not be necessary for a hero that reaches it, though the set of water walking boots may prove welcome to heroes who have trouble obtaining levitation or choose to forego it—this is especially pertinent for conduct play, such as wishless. Vlad is easily the biggest threat in the Tower, and most heroes will want to consider options such as a source of drain resistance
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
While the effects of Vlad's throne may seem intimidating and can be quite detrimental, it is very possible to plan and play around each of them:
- As mentioned above, a source of polymorph control or unchanging can prevent the throne from polymorphing the hero and destroying armor—additionally, per commit ceaffcbd, cloaks are forced off the body rather than destroyed.
- Drain resistance and sources of restore ability are already commonly employed for the eventual fight with Vlad, and can similarly be used to stave off level-draining effects and restore lowered attributes—in the absence of drain resistance, spare potions of gain level can be used to push the hero's level back towards its maximum.
History
Vlad's Tower first appears in NetHack 3.1.0.
As early as NetHack 3.0.0, a different form of special levels for Vlad the Impaler appeared embedded in Hell: Each of the three levels appeared embedded in a maze, much as the modern Wizard's Tower is, except that the lower level was directly accessible from the maze. The Candelabrum of Invocation did not yet exist, and the Wizard of Yendor still carried the Amulet of Yendor, meaning that Vlad was strictly optional until Gehennom replaced Hell in 3.1.0.
The guaranteed candles of the top level are added in NetHack 3.6.0 to ensure that a player will have more than enough candles to perform the invocation without resorting to wishing or polypiling.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the up staircase to Vlad's Tower can be found anywhere from the 3rd to 12th levels, and the top level of the branch is changed:
|V| |V| |V|
---S---S---S---
|.......+.+...|
---+-+--|.|----
|....V|.+>|
---+-+--|.|----
|.......+.+...|
---S---S---S---
|V| |V| |V|
--- --- ---
Vlad's room is blocked off behind six indestructible locked doors, which are marked orange on the map above—these must normally be opened using at least two of the three alignment keys, though there are some methods available to circumvent them. Vlad, his throne and the chest also occupy the same square.
As a variant of NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions, there are no guaranteed candles in any of the chests, though SLASH'EM solves the issue of candle generation through other means, such as wax golems.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, there is a magic portal from the Valley of the Dead that leads directly into the courtyard of Vlad's Tower; the down stair leading out into Gehennom is still present.
The chests on the top floor are exchanged for large boxes that double as coffins, with each containing a vampire monster that will awaken upon the box being opened.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Vlad's Tower is redesigned: it is now known as the Windowless Tower, and is located above the Gnomish Mines, which extend upward for another level. The base floor to the tower itself is set in a desolate field, with a moat and drawbridge surrounding the actual tower entrance.
While a low-level character can attempt to get the Candelabrum early and use the candles provided in and around Minetown, actually facing Vlad and his cronies may prove a bad idea for the unprepared. Even so, players capable of defeating the formidable Cerberus can access the tower, including a hidden section in the third floor (corresponding to the middle level in NetHack) that contains an extremely useful stash of holy water, especially for atheists or Anachrononauts. Cerberus can be repelled with the Circle of Acheron ward, and fire resistance provides a defense against its breath attack.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, Vlad's Tower is heavily redesigned.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, the bottom floor of Vlad's Tower has been replaced with a castle surrounded by a large courtyard.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Vlad's Tower is heavily redesigned, and its entrance is now located on one of the floors from the 8th to 12th dungeon levels of Gehennom.
