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

Undead Hunters do not have a fixed starting weapon, and may receive any of the following kits at game start:

Non-vampire starting weapons

Vampire starting weapons

Intrinsics

Undead hunters gain intrinsics at these experience levels:

Attributes

Undead Hunters have 75 points to distribute among their starting attributes like most other roles unless they are descendants, who have 65 points to distribute.

An Undead Hunter's starting attributes are distributed as follows:

Attributes Strength Dexterity Constitution Intelligence Wisdom Charisma Remaining
Minimum attributes 7 7 7 10 10 7 27
Distribution percentages 18% 24% 18% 10% 10% 10%
Mean w/ standard deviation (human) 12.70±2.16 14.11±2.20 12.40±2.10 15.75±1.28 13.02±1.68 10.03±1.70

The means and standard deviations were calculated for NetHack via simulation, whose source code can be found on the role article's talk page, and assumes that all given roles are played as humans—non-human races will have different attribute means as a result of different attribute maximums. Due to the distribution of attributes having a wider variance among roles and races, these calculations may not be wholly accurate to this set of variants.

Skills

Undead Hunter skills
Max Skills
Basic
Skilled

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

Expert

The Undead Hunter's special spell is fireball. Spell success is determined by intelligence.

Special Rules

Undead hunters gain a +1d(XL) damage bonus when attacking undead with ranged weapons.

Undead hunters can perform sneak attacks. However, these sneak attacks deal only 2⁄3 as much damage as a normal sneak attack.

An Undead Hunter's smithing skill starts capped at Basic. By upgrading items with columnar crystals, which are sometimes left behind by corpses that rot away, smithing can be unlocked to Expert. More powerful monsters leave behind stronger crystals when their corpses rot, and larger crystals can be broken down into smaller ones with a smithing hammer. 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, if they are fireproof. As your smithing skill increases, you will become able to enchant items at a forge and any item can be improved past your current skill limit by using columnar crystals.

Crystal strength determines the maximum enchantment:

  • Basic columnar crystals allow you to improve an item up to an enchantment of +3.
  • Twin columnar crystals allow improving up to +6 and unlock Skilled smithing when used.
  • Columnar chunks allow improving up to +9 and unlock Expert smithing when used to upgrade an item.
  • Columnar masses allow improving up to +10.

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 Undead Hunter quest sees you fighting index wolf for the Stake of Withering, a wooden stake that provides cold resistance and magic resistance, and which scares all animals while carried. After formally completing the quest for the first time, the stake also grants +1d10 fire damage to both melee and ranged attacks.

Gods

Main article: Philosophies

Undead Hunters do not have the same relationship with their deities that is usual for other roles, as they do not worship gods. Instead, they pursue one of three “philosophies”, each providing its own research method and upgrade tree: the college is the philosophy concerning reanimation, the choir concerns parasitology, and defilement concerns the similarly named defilement research. The defilement research path is then further subdivided into three separate strands of research: preservation, vampiric and rot defilement.

By performing research, Undead Hunters gain special benefits and abilities in preparation of their ascension. Only by claiming at least 6 upgrades from any of the 5 research paths are they able to achieve a score ascension — an Undead Hunter that has not performed this step will escape in celestial disgrace when offering the amulet.

Undead Hunters are unable to pray, and as such, unable to get crowned, which makes permanent intrinsics all the harder to obtain.

Altars to one of the three philosophies are renamed to workbenches. These workbenches can't be used to determine the beatitude of items, or to interact with the deity in any other way. Many of the functionalities of a normal altar are completely absent from workbenches as well, as they cannot be used to test an item's beautitude, offer corpses, or create holy water or even to receive gifts from their god. A workbench must instead be used to perform research, which is either done with the #offer or with the #research commands.

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.

Quest

Main article: Undead Hunter 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.

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