User:Chris/dNetHack/dNethack Races

Vampire

Source: UnNetHack and SLASH'EM

Vampires may be Archeologists, Barbarians, Binders, Convicts, Nobles, Rogues, or Wizards, and may be neutral or chaotic.

In dnethack, potions of blood function closer to tins, ie, you will find potions of winter wolf blood etc. To a vampire, a potion of blood provides the same nutrition as the bloody corpse of the monster it was drawn from. Any race can drink a potion of blood for a chance to acquire any intrinsics that could be gained by eating the corpse of the monster the blood was drawn from.

The Oxford English Dictionary is quite unequivocal:

_vampire_ - "a preternatural being of a malignant nature (in the original and usual form of the belief, a reanimated corpse), supposed to seek nourishment, or do harm, by sucking the blood of sleeping persons. ..."

Drow

Source: SLASH'EM, although the dnethack version is somewhat different.

Drow may be any role that elves can be (Priests, Pirates, Rangers, or Wizards). They are aligned with chaos.

Drow can create a patch of darkness with the #monster command.

Drow casting the summon insects monster spell will instead summon spiders.

Drow receive either a cave spider or a baby crocodile as a starting pet. They may also saddle and mount giant spiders, crocodiles, giant turtles, and salamanders.

Droven racial equipment includes:

• Droven Plate Mail
• Droven Chain Mail

Both armors are low weight and offer high AC, but evaporate when exposed to light. Fixed droven armor will still evaporate in light, but if it doesn't completely evaporate it will repair itself in dark areas. Droven Chain Mail also boosts spellcasting. Most drow begin play with one of these types of armor.

• Droven Cloak

Droven cloaks offer no AC but give Level 3 Magic Cancellation. Droven cloaks can be applied to create a spiderweb in an indicated square. Each use of the cloak lowers its Magic Cancellation by 1. If it reaches MC0, the cloak is used up. The cloak may also be applied at an existing web to remove the web and restore MC to the cloak. All drow begin play with a droven cloak.

• Droven Dagger
• Droven Short Sword
• Droven Crossbow
• Droven Bolt

Droven weapons are high damage, but are constructed out of obsidian, meaning they will shatter if thrown. All droven weapons are generated coated in sleeping poison.

• Droven Signet Ring

Droven signet rings are actually poison-injection rings. When dipped into an eligible potion, the ring absorbs 30 doses of poison, which can be used by making unarmed attacks while wearing the ring. If two signet rings are worn, both apply their poison. Each ring also bears a specific crest. Rings engraved with the holy symbol of Lolth (a silver spider-like star) count as silver rings for attacking silver-hating monsters. All drow begin play with a signet ring loaded with sleeping poison. Signet rings are guaranteed to be of a valid type for starting players.

Myths exist for a purpose - To explain the unexplainable. Because man fears the unknown.

Murdering our kin. Our children. Butchering our towns. Devouring our flesh. Enslaving our people. Whispering of incest. Desecrating our lands. These mythical black demons with red eyes, embodying all the sins of men.

But what if those demons truly exist? What are they, who are they? Do they dream? Do they hate and love? Do they have their own demons that represent everything they despise and fear?

[ Drowtales, by Kern, Kite, and Bandit, Drowtales.com ]

Also known as dark elves, drow are a depraved and evil subterranean offshoot of the elvish species.

White is the most common hair color among drow, but almost any pale shade is possible. Drow tend to be smaller and thinner than other sorts of elves, and their eyes are often a vivid red.

[ DnD 3.5 SRD ]

Incantifier

Source: DnD Planescape, Shemeska's Planescape Storyhour

Incantifiers may be of any role and alignment.

Incantifiers live on magic. They begin the game with over 900 energy, and use their energy total in place of their nutrition total.

Incantifiers cannot eat regular food, including corpses and rations. Instead, they must drain items, including magic weapons and armor, wands, spellbooks, and scrolls to regain energy. Incantifiers may die of overeating, the same as any other race, though they explode rather than choke.

Incantifiers can #untrap magic, polymorph, teleport, and level teleport traps (but not magic portals). Untrapping one of these traps grants 250 energy and may cause the Incantifier to explode.

Rings of Slow Digestion have no effect on Incantifiers; however, Incantifiers burn nutrition at 1/10th the normal rate.

Incantifiers cannot gain nutrition by praying to their god. They must subsist on what they can find in the dungeon.

Incantifiers do not regain energy or HP normally. They regain energy by draining magic items, and must regain HP through spellcasting, potions, or other magical means.

All incantifiers, regardless of role, begin the game knowing Force bolt and Healing.

All incantifiers, regardless of role, gain +1 to their skill cap in all forms of magic.

Several centuries ago, there existed a faction, now almost entirely extinct, called nowadays 'The Incantifers', then simply as The Magicians or The Wanters. They believed that magic, specifically arcane magic, was the key to power, indeed the only power that mattered in the multiverse. Gain enough knowledge of magic and skill in it and you could do anything. Even challenge The Lady....

According to legend, at least two members of the Wanters tried just that. They died, horribly and spectacularly. Legend also says that one of them almost succeeded.

Then one day, they vanished. Cutters looked up one morning and the Tower Sorcerous, the faction headquarters of the Wanters was simply gone. Nearly all of their members vanished with it, though a scant few remain to wander the planes.

[ Shemeska's Story Hour, by Todd Stewart ]

"They all ate magic. They ate other people's magic. Spells, items, anything they could buy, steal, or otherwise get a hold of. This place is sealed off from everything. There's no way out and you've got an entire faction of magic eating wizard suddenly bottled up with each other and no food source... except each other."

[ Shemeska's Story Hour, by Todd Stewart ]

Clockwork Automaton

Source: biodiversity mod (modified)

Clockwork Automata may be Archeologists, Knights, Monks, Priests, or Samurai. They are lawfully aligned.

Clockwork automata do not recover HP normally, instead they must stand still ('.') and repair themselves. They will recover HP faster as they gain levels. They may also use potions or other magic to recover hp.

Clockwork automata do not eat food. Rather, they must be wound up using any skeleton key. They are not able to do this themselves, instead they must either have one of their allies do it or pay another humanoid to have it done. Each turn is worth 10 nutrition.

Clockwork automata can drink potions. Potions of oil provide some healing and nutrition.

Rings of Slow Digestion have no effect on clockwork automata.

Clockwork automata can adjust their clockspeed with the #monster command. High speed doubles the automaton's moves per turn, but increases nutrition loss by 4x. Low speed haves the automaton's moves per turn, but reduces normal nutrition use to 1/10 turns. Switching to high speed burns 10 nutrition. Switching to other speeds does not carry a nutrition penalty. Over-wound automata can't maintain low clockspeed, and under-wound automata can't maintain high speed.

Clockwork upgrades

• Phase engine: Walk through walls, at the cost of 10x nutrition consumption
  • Activate and deactivate via the #monster menu.
• Stove upgrades:
  • Oil Stove: Gain nutrition from drinking potions of oil in combination with potions of water
  • Wood Stove: Gain nutrition from eating woody corpses or dried tins in combination with potions of water.
  • Hellfire Furnace: Gain nutrition from eating almost anything in combination with water, but only 1/10 the normal amount
  • If you do not drink water while using these upgrades, you will heat up instead of gaining nutrition, adding extra damage to your attacks, but potentially damaging your inventory and melting yourself.
• Switch Upgrades
  • Efficient Switch: Switching to high speed mode no longer consumes 10 nutrition
  • Fast Switch: Switching speeds no longer costs a turn.
• Armor Plating: Your natural AC bonus goes from 3 to 10.
• Magic Furnace: Consume magic items to gain magic energy. Destroys the consumed item
• Scrap Maw: Eat rustable items to regain HP.
• High Tension Spring: Increase your maximum nutrition by 2000. This upgrade can be take multiple times.

I am not an unimaginable thing

My thoughts are tangible

though they're full of springs

I don't have the heart to send you untruthful words

My skin is cold to the touch and made from the earth

[ Automatonic Electronic Harmonics, Music & Lyrics By David Michael Bennett ]

Worm that Walks (in development)

Source: HP Lovecraft, by way of Dungeons and Dragons

Worms that walk are sapient colonies of saprovorous vermin. They inhabit and reanimate dead bodies, inheriting many of the skills, attributes, and aptitudes of the deceased.

"The nethermost caverns," wrote the mad Arab, "are not for the fathoming of eyes that see; for their marvels are strange and terrific. Cursed the ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil the mind that is held by no head. Wisely did Ibn Schacabao say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes. For it is of old rumour that the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws; till out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl."

[ The Festival, by HP Lovecraft ]