Bard (dNetHack monster)

@ bard (No tile)
Difficulty	12
Attacks	Weapon 1d4 physical

@ bard (No tile)
Difficulty	12
Attacks	Weapon 1d4 physical
Base level	10
Base experience	256
Speed	12
Base AC	10
Base MR	2
Alignment	-3 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	0 (Not randomly generated)
Genocidable	Only if hero is a Troubadour
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	medium
Resistances	sleep resistance (Lv5+)
Resistances conveyed	none
A bard: has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. is omnivorous. is not a valid polymorphable form. is a human. is strong. can pick up weapons and food. can be seen through infravision.

For the player monster in the original Bard patch, see bard (player monster).

A bard, @, is a type of monster that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, and is adapted from the original Bard patch against NetHack 3.4.3. The bard is a chaotic player monster corresponding to the Troubadour hero: they will have the role's appropriate rank title for their monster level, and they can reach level 30 like heroes can.

A bard has a single weapon attack that is one of the weakest among player monsters (tied with the ranger), and like Troubadour heroes and other 'bard' monsters they will gain sleep resistance at a minimum of level 5 and stealth at a minimum of level 10. They boast basic prowess in martial combat and have a halved base attack bonus of +0.5 to-hit per monster level.

Generation

Bards are not generated randomly, and are normally created as peaceful towards chaotic heroes before specific adjustments are made. They are only a valid form for doppelgangers to polymorph into, and can only be targeted for genocide if a Troubadour hero reads a scroll of genocide—such a hero reading a cursed scroll while confused will instead create several bard monsters adjacent to themselves. A rhymer can grow up into a bard.

Bard corpses can generate in graveyards and within the Valley of the Dead. Bard statues can generate in cockatrice nests and on Medusa's Island. A Troubadour hero killed by HP damage from a cockatrice or chickatrice, or else killed by any form of stoning, will leave a named bard statue behind containing their inventory rather than a named ghost and named corpse if a bones file is created. Statues and figurines of bards cannot be wished for by any means.

Live locations

Bards can appear among the default pool of random prisoners (i.e. before ruler-specific rules are applied) that are kept in throne rooms, with twice the chance compared to other prisoners in that group—this is done to represent male and female player monsters with one entry each. They can also appear among the prisoners of the throne room on the Neutral Quest branch level, and may also appear among the prisoners of any throne room ruled by a deepest one, Aurumach Rilmani, vampire lady, or vampire lord—with the exception of the latter two, bards have twice the chance of appearing compared to other prisoners in those groups.

Bards can appear among the group of hostile player monsters that collectively constitute the second quest monster slot for Binders and make up ¹⁸⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Binder quest.

A fulvous bard is one of the "yellow nasties" that can be generated by the Stranger's harassment.

Hostile bards can appear among the various player monsters placed on the Astral Plane during level creation.

Names

Named bards that are placed outside of the Astral Plane are named for various classical muses, Pythagorean philosophers, and bards from the British isles:

• The masculine names that can be chosen from are "Pythagoras", "Hesiod", "Homer", "Philolaus", "Archytas", "Amergin", "Domhnall", "Aneirin" and "Taliesin".
• The feminine names that can be chosen from are "Calliope", "Euterpe", "Terpsichore", "Clio", "Thalia", "Melpomene", "Polyhymnia", "Erato", "Urania", "Aoide", "Melete" and "Mneme".

Inventory

A bard is always generated with a suit of armor that will either be an elven mithril-coat or an elven toga, a cloak that will either be a dwarvish cloak or a standard cloak, a pair of high boots, and one of six musical instrument tools (with an equal probability for each): a flute, a tooled horn, a harp, a bell, a bugle, or a drum.

Bards generated as prisoners in the Castle will have the above items and a long sword among their belongings that are placed in the chest near the throne.

Bards generated on the Astral Plane are subject to the same armor and weapon replacement odds as other player monsters.

Encyclopedia entry

See the encyclopedia entry for bard.

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