Unique monster

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In NetHack, there are various unique monsters that are usually only generated once, which is governed by the G_UNIQ flag in the code.

Description

A unique monster that is generated and then killed usually will not be generated again, although it is usually possible to reanimate most unique monsters from their corpses or using stone to flesh on their statue, provided they leave a corpse (and are not corpseless) and are not immune to stoning in the first place (e.g. as with most quest nemeses). The Riders in particular are capable of resurrecting from their own corpses.

Unique monsters cannot have figurines generated of them, and wishing for one will result in a random figurine being given instead.[1] If the corpse of a unique monster would be left in a bones file, it is replaced with the corpse of a doppelganger, and a statue of a unique monster found in bones will turn into a doppelganger in the guise of that monster if revived via stone to flesh.[2][3] Trying to wish for a statue of a unique monster and reanimating it will also produce a doppelganger disguised as that monster.[4]

The primary exception to the rule of not being generated again after death is the Wizard of Yendor, who can resurrect himself one level stronger after each death.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Per commit dc9fe0d8, the scroll of scare monster on the ground and Elbereth (which is handled in the same function) no longer scare unique monsters.

List of unique monsters

The following is a list of unique monsters:

The long worm tail, ~, is an unusual case: it is a dummy monster that exists purely to represent the worm's body on the visual interface, and is marked unique primarily in order to prevent figurines of it generating.[5]

Variants

More unique monsters are often added in variants of NetHack - as a general rule, this includes quest leaders and nemeses, who are not specified in the lists below unless they are deferred or otherwise unused monsters.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM adds many new unique monsters:

SlashTHEM

In addition to SLASH'EM changes above, SlashTHEM adds the following unique monsters:

The artifact weapon Diplomat is a neutral-aligned ornate mace that gains +10 to-hit and +25 damage versus all monsters with the M2_PNAME flag - this includes most unique monsters in practice, but not all of them.

References