Werespider
@ werespider (human) .png){kind=small}
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 10 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 3d4 |
| Base level | 9 |
| Base experience | 191 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 10 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | -7 (chaotic) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | poison |
| Resistances conveyed | conveys lycanthropy |
|
A human werespider:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line3678 |
s werespider (animal) .png){kind=small}
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 13 |
| Attacks |
Bite lycanthropy 4d4 |
| Base level | 11 |
| Base experience | 241 |
| Speed | 15 |
| Base AC | 3 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | Always starts in human form |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 100 |
| Nutritional value | 100 |
| Size | Large |
| Resistances | poison |
| Resistances conveyed | poison, conveys lycanthropy |
|
An animal werespider:
| |
| Reference | SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1575 |
A werespider, @ / s, is a type of monster that appears in SLASH'EM, SlashTHEM and Hack'EM. The werespider is an omnivorous human werecreature that can shift between human and arachnid form - in both forms, they possess enhanced regeneration. In human form, werespiders will seek out and pick up weapons and food; in spider form, they are oviparous.
A werespider in human form has a weapon attack—in spider form, they have a strong bite that can cause lycanthropy in the hero, along with the ability to summon other spiders on nearby squares when in melee range. Werespiders possess poison resistance and drain resistance, and are weak to silver.
A werespider corpse is poisonous to eat, and a hero eating a werespider corpse or tin will be given lycanthropy—a werespider that is digested while in animal form will also give a hero lycanthropy, but can grant poison resistance.
Generation
Werespiders are not randomly generated, and normally-created werespiders are always hostile and in human form. Neither form of werespider can be chosen for normal polymorph - only the animal form of werespider can be selected for genocide, unlike other were creatures
A werespider summoning help has a 4⁄5 chance of generating a hostile cave spider and a 1⁄5 chance of generating a hostile recluse spider on each applicable square[1]—heroes that get lycanthropy from a werespider can summon these monsters as pets using the #monster extended command, which costs 10 power. In Hack'EM, they have a 4⁄5 chance of generating a hostile cave spider, a 2⁄15 chance of summoning a hostile jumping spider, and a 1⁄15 chance of summoning a hostile giant spider. Heroes that get lycanthropy from a werespider and change to animal form can lay eggs that will hatch into tame werespiders.
Werespiders may appear among the @ generated within the Lawful Quest's Chamber of Junk, including ones that are generated as peaceful. They may also be generated in the Spider Caves at level creation.
A werespider that leaves a corpse upon death will always leave a corpse of its human form: their animal form is considered to be corpseless.
Strategy
Werecreatures in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM are already made more dangerous than in NetHack due to changes in polymorph mechanics, which allows them to revert to human form if killed while in animal form—if the hero cannot dispatch the werecreature fast enough, they may have to be "killed" several times before going down for good.
As always, silver items are good options for dealing with werespiders and other lycanthropes, and there is a better selection of silver weapons and items available compared to NetHack. The ring of protection from shape changers is considerably stronger against lycanthropes, since they only need to be killed once while locked into human form, and cannot give the hero lycanthropy or summon help. Ranged weapons with multishot bonuses can bring them down before they get close enough, and engraving Elbereth can scare off both a werespider in animal form and any help they summon in order to either create space for an escape or more efficiently kill them.
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"Hack'EM specifics"
Origin
The concept of humans shapeshifting into animals has been a common concept in folklore among various human eras and cultures, while "therianthropy" and related terms as a means of describing specific forms of human-animal shapeshifting have been in use since the early 20th century.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for werecreature.
