Yellow dragon
D yellow dragon 
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|---|---|
| Difficulty | 20 |
| Attacks |
Breath 4d6 acidic, bite 3d8, claw 1d4, claw 1d4 |
| Base level | 15 |
| Base experience | 460 |
| Speed | 9 |
| Base AC | -1 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | 7 (lawful) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 1 (Very rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 4500 |
| Nutritional value | 1500 |
| Size | Gigantic |
| Resistances | Acid, petrification |
| Resistances conveyed | Cures stoning |
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A yellow dragon:
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| Reference | monst.c#line1161 |
A yellow dragon, D, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is an adult dragon associated with the element of acid. Like all dragons, yellow dragons are strong, carnivorous, oviparous, thick-skinned, can see invisible, and are capable of flight - they will also seek out gold, gems and magical items to pick up.
Yellow dragons have an acid breath weapon, a strong bite attack, and two claw attacks. Yellow dragons possess acid resistance and stoning resistance.
Yellow dragon corpses are acidic to eat, but eating a yellow dragon corpse or tin cures stoning.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated yellow dragons are always created hostile. A baby yellow dragon can grow up into a yellow dragon.
Hostile yellow dragons can be generated by the summon nasties monster spell. Characters and monsters that polymorph while wearing yellow dragon scales or yellow dragon scale mail will turn into yellow dragons.
Yellow dragons may appear among the hostile D generated in throne rooms at dungeon levels 15 and below, and can also appear among the monsters randomly generated by looting a throne while confused and carrying gold (provided there is no chest on the level).[1]
The fourth variant of Medusa's Island has a yellow dragon generated asleep behind Medusa's dwelling, with a nest of 1-3 baby yellow dragon eggs and up to two sleeping baby yellow dragons.
Yellow dragons have a 1⁄3 chance of dropping a set of uncursed +0 yellow dragon scales upon death unless disintegrated, and the chance is reduced to 1⁄20 if the dragon was revived.
Strategy
The yellow dragon's acid blasts can ruin metal armor and weapons unless they are corrode-proofed, making it dangerous to be caught down line-of-sight from one (though not to the same extent as other dragons like the black dragon). Its breath weapon can be deflected with reflection, but for characters lacking reflection it has the fewest means of direct resistance available - even the black dragon's disintegration has a form of resistance that can be gained intrinsically, albeit only by eating either its meat or that of the poisonous Chromatic Dragon. Conversely, acid resistance cannot be gained intrinsically except by polyself into an acidic monster, and is only granted extrinsically via yellow dragon scales, yellow dragon scale mail, or an alchemy smock.
While not desired to nearly the same extent as gray dragon scales or silver dragon scales, yellow dragons are sometimes worth seeking out for their scales to give a humanoid pet resistance against dangerous acid passives, especially if they have multiple attacks (e.g. a mind flayer). Yellow dragons themselves are solid choices for stoning-resistant pets, as they are among the strongest acidic monsters in the game.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Yellow dragons and other large enough monsters can inflict knockback with their melee attacks, making them exceedingly dangerous to fight near pools or lava and capable of forcing characters back into breath weapon range.
Yellow dragon scales confer extrinsic stoning resistance, and extrinsic acid resistance will protect inventory from acid damage 99⁄100 of the time, making it more desirable to seek out yellow dragons for their scales; this makes no difference for yellow dragons themselves, since they already resist stoning due to being acidic.History
The yellow dragon first appears in NetHack 2.3e.
From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.0.10, including variants based on those versions, polymorphing a yellow dragon corpse produces regular dragon scale mail. NetHack 3.1.0 introduces the current method of obtaining yellow dragon scale mail.
The map of Medusa's island with the guaranteed yellow dragon and her offspring is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.
In NetHack 3.6.2 and previous versions, including some variants based on those versions, the yellow dragon's acid breath is rendered as green - its color is changed to yellow in NetHack 3.6.3.
Origin
The yellow dragon encountered on Medusa's Island may be based off the Amphisbaena, who is said to have been created along with various other serpents from the blood dripping out of Medusa's severed head.
Variants
Many variants alter the yellow dragon and other dragons to make them more varied and/or threatening.
SLASH'EM
As with most other dragons in SLASH'EM, the yellow dragon's stats are improved: their base level is raised to 18, their difficulty is raised to 25, their frequency is raised to 3, their AC is boosted to -4, their bite and claw attacks are stronger, and they hit as a +3 weapon.
Yellow dragons can appear in dragon lairs and the Wyrm Caves.
NetHack brass
In NetHack brass, the yellow dragon's speed is raised to 12, and its breath weapon deals 12d12 damage.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, the yellow dragon's difficulty is slightly lowered to 19, their bite and claw attacks are stronger, and they are given an additional 2d10 engulfing attack that can digest targets.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack and DynaHack, all dragons have their breath weapons, resistances, and names randomized each game, allowing any non-chromatic dragon to appear as yellow - the default acid dragon is the guivre.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack, yellow dragons have their difficulty slightly raised to 21, and their effective AC is boosted to -4. The yellow dragon's attacks are made stronger, with an additional 4d10 tailslap attack that they will use once every global turn, and their breath attacks also ignore reflection, unless the source is from dragon armor or an artifact that grants dragonbreath reflection.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, yellow dragons are buffed similarly to GruntHack: their attacks are made stronger as in GruntHack and reordered, including the addition of the digestion attack, and they also possess an 0d2 acidic passive attack.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, Acid Mages that are at experience level 14 or higher can polymorph into a yellow dragon via the #youpoly extended command.
Encyclopedia entry
In the West the dragon was the natural enemy of man. Although preferring to live in bleak and desolate regions, whenever it was seen among men it left in its wake a trail of destruction and disease. Yet any attempt to slay this beast was a perilous undertaking. For the dragon's assailant had to contend not only with clouds of sulphurous fumes pouring from its fire breathing nostrils, but also with the thrashings of its tail, the most deadly part of its serpent-like body.
"One whom the dragons will speak with," he said, "that is a dragonlord, or at least that is the center of the matter. It's not a trick of mastering the dragons, as most people think. Dragons have no masters. The question is always the same, with a dragon: will he talk to you or will he eat you? If you can count upon his doing the former, and not doing the latter, why then you're a dragonlord."
