User:Chris/dNethack/Undead hunter role page draft

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Roles in dNetHack
Roles in notdNetHack

The Undead Hunter is a role specific to dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack.

Undead Hunters may be humans, vampires, orcs, or yuki-onna. In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, they can also be ents.

Starting inventory

Vampire starting weapons

Non-vampire starting weapons

Intrinsics

Undead hunters gain intrinsics at these experience levels:

Undead Hunter skills
Max Skills
Basic
Skilled

saber, broadsword, short sword, club, mace, scimitar, quarterstaff, flail, pick-axe, firearm

Expert


Special Rules

Undead hunters do bonus damage when shooting undead with launchers (+1dXL damage) Undead hunters can make sneak attacks, but these only do 2/3 as much damage as normal sneak attack die would.

Quest

The undead hunter quest sees you fighting the index wolf for the Stake of Withering, a wooden stake that protects against cold, magic, sanity, and scares off animals when carried. After formally completing the quest, the stake also grants +1d10 fire damage to all melee attacks when carried.

Gods

Main article: Philosophies (dNetHack)

Undead Hunters do not worship traditional gods. Instead, they pursue one of three “philosophies”, each providing its own research method and upgrade tree. Research replaces altar gifts and crowning, and is a required step for a full-scoring ascension.

Altars to a philosophy can't be used to determine the beatitude of items.

Rank titles

The status line shows you to be one of the following ranks when you reach the specified experience level:

  • XL 1-2: Assistant
  • XL 3-5: Berner
  • XL 6-9: Beater
  • XL 10-13: Inhumer
  • XL 14-17: Hunter
  • XL 18-21: Eliminator
  • XL 22-25: Exterminator
  • XL 26-29: Vindicator
  • XL 30: Old Hunter

Strategy

Undead Hunters do not worship normal gods and follow a non-standard progression through the game. Broadly speaking, the early game focuses on smithing and weapon skill to build power, while the mid- and late-game revolve around special research paths that replace normal god interactions.


I recommend adding the following auto-pickup exceptions: 

AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION="<*parasite"
AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION="<*parasites"
AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION="<*chrysal*"
AUTOPICKUP_EXCEPTION="<*columnar*"

Early game

You will want access to a forge early. There is a guaranteed forge in Minetown and another on the quest home level. You can safely forge any fireproof item.

To forge metallic items, dip them into a forge while wielding a smithing hammer. This opens a menu. Metal weapons and armor can be improved up to a limit determined by your smithing skill (initially capped at +0). Unwanted metal items can be melted down through this interface to produce ingots, which must be in open inventory to smith other items.

To create new items, apply a smithing hammer while standing on a forge. You will need a stack of ingots in open inventory with total weight equal to the item you wish to forge. Increasing your smithing skill unlocks access to better armor.

Blood smithing

Your smithing skill starts capped at Basic. Higher skill caps are unlocked by upgrading items with columnar crystals, which are found by allowing corpses to rot. Metal items can be improved up to limits based on your current smithing skill, while non-metal items can only be improved using columnar crystals. Any item can be improved past your current skill limit by using crystals.

Crystal strength determines the maximum enchantment:

  • Basic columnar crystals allow improvement up to +3
  • Twin columnar crystals up to +6
  • Columnar chunks up to +9
  • Columnar masses up to +10

More powerful monsters leave behind stronger crystals when their corpses rot. Larger crystals can be broken down into smaller ones using the forge menu if needed.

Magic smithing

Basic weapons can be upgraded into 2× energy weapons by forging them while knowing the appropriate spell. This ability—combined with the option to apply multiple cult object properties to a single item—makes almost any reasonably decent base weapon usable in the endgame. These weapons may not be optimal, but they are far from crippling.

Quest

The quest is designed to be completed as early as possible, typically around experience level 14. The quest branch contains many werewolves, so you will need some way to cure lycanthropy.

The quest home level makes a good base of operations due to the guaranteed forge, once you have permission to enter the quest you can also access shops. There is a guaranteed general store on the first filler level.

Late game

To ascend, you must advance your research path. Research can only progress after you have pierced the veil. Once the veil is pierced, you can #offer or #research corpses on a philosophy altar to gain research points. The mechanics of research paths are explained in reasonable detail through the research progress self-exam option (Ctrl-X, then h).

In very broad terms:

  • Lawful philosophy grants weapon improvements
  • Neutral philosophy grants spellcasting improvements
  • Chaotic philosophy grants weak defensive upgrades to everyone and strong offensive upgrades to vampires only

You may advance multiple research paths using wishes, but without wishes you are restricted to your starting path, even if you later change alignment.

Full-scoring ascension requires piercing the veil, completing a quest-related step, and purchasing six upgrades from a single research path. The self-exam menu refers to this milestone as “a breakthrough in the philosophy of X.”

Origin

Undead Hunter is heavily inspired by the games of FromSoftware, particularly the 2015 game Bloodborne.

Within the lineage of NetHack variants, dNetHack's Undead Hunter role is descended from Slash'em's Undead Slayer and Lycanthrope (role), as well as SpliceHack's Drauglir and Dark Forest level.

This page is a stub. Should you wish to do so, you can contribute by expanding this page.
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