Vorpal jabberwock (monster)
J vorpal jabberwock 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 25 |
| Attacks |
Bite 3d10 physical, bite 3d10 physical, claw 3d10 physical, claw 3d10 physical |
| Base level | 20 |
| Base experience | ? |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | -2 |
| Base MR | 50 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 1300 |
| Nutritional value | 600 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
A vorpal jabberwock:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line1472 |
- For other implementations of the monster, see vorpal jabberwock.
A vorpal jabberwock, J, is a deferred monster in the source code of NetHack. The vorpal jabberwock is a monster that is part of the jabberwock monster class, and has many of the same traits as a normal jabberwock.[1]
Vorpal jabberwocks have two strong bite attacks and two strong claw attacks. As a deferred monster, they lack the jabberwock's special vulnerability to beheading by Vorpal Blade.[2]
Contents
Generation
As a deferred monster, vorpal jabberwocks are not generated at all, but have rules governing their generation like any other monster.
Randomly generated vorpal jabberwocks will always be created hostile, and they are not a valid polymorph form due to being deferred.
History
The vorpal jabberwock first appears in SLASH 6, and its vanilla data first appears in NetHack 3.3.0.
Origin
The vorpal jabberwock is based on the titular creature of Jabberwocky, a famous nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll, and its encyclopedia entry is an excerpt from the poem. Jabberwocky is first printed in Carroll's 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to the 1865 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Alice finds herself in a looking-glass world and encounters the poem as part of a book written in a seemingly unintelligible language; she shortly discovers the text and the world at large is in fact inverted (or mirrored), and holds a mirror to the poem to read it, finding it as puzzling as the odd land she is now in. The poem is also the inspiration for the artifact weapon Vorpal Blade, based on the unnamed adventurer's weapon that is used to behead the jabberwock - this is also the basis for the jabberwock's weakness to Vorpal Blade.
The original illustrations by John Tenniel accompanying the poem (and the rest of the two novels) depict the titular jabberwock as a bipedal creature that vaguely resembles a dragon: It has bat-like wings, a long serpentine neck, a long tail, a weird head with rabbit-like teeth, hands with three long spidery talons, and a waistcoat. Some of the jabberwock's more particular traits may reflect the contemporary Victorian obsession with natural history and the then-fast-evolving sciences of paleontology and geology.
Variants
Several variants of NetHack fully implement the vorpal jabberwock, and some may also grant the monster additional traits and abilities, such as a vulnerability to Vorpal Blade shared with normal jabberwocks.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM, the vorpal jabberwock is simply a stronger jabberwock with no special vulnerability to Vorpal Blade.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, the vorpal jabberwock can behead targets with their claw attacks under the same conditions as Vorpal Blade, and are always beheaded if hit by Vorpal Blade or any weapon with the vorpal object property.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, the vorpal jabberwock can behead targets with their claw attacks under the same conditions as Vorpal Blade, though with a much lower 1⁄40 chance (2.5%), and the beheading will also not occur if they are cancelled or the target is wielding Vorpal Blade. Vorpal jabberwocks are always beheaded if hit by Vorpal Blade.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, the vorpal jabberwock can behead targets with their claw attacks under the same conditions as Vorpal Blade, though with a much lower 1⁄50 chance (2%), and are always beheaded if hit by Vorpal Blade.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the vorpal jabberwock can behead targets with their claw attacks under the same conditions as Vorpal Blade, and are always beheaded if hit by Vorpal Blade. Wielding Vorpal Blade protects the wielder from beheading of any type, and vorpal jabberwocks that see the hero wielding Vorpal Blade will become hostile.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, the vorpal jabberwock behaves as in EvilHack, though with a slightly lower MR score of 50 (compared to 70 in EvilHack).
Encyclopedia entry
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
References
- ↑ src/monst.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1472
- ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1295: case for Vorpal Blade only lists the jabberwock monster
