Zruty

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A zruty, z, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is the only member of the zruty monster class. A zruty is a strong, humanoid carnivorous animal that has two claw attacks and a bite attack.

Generation

In addition to random generation, zruties can be created via the summon nasties monster spell.

Strategy

Though zruties are very slow at 8 speed, they can hit unwary or poorly-armored characters quite hard and should be handled with care. Like most animals, the zruty lacks any MR score, so wands and spells are generally effective, especially for characters that are less melee-proficient or else lacking in AC or HP.

History

The zruty first appears in Hack 1.0.

Origin

The zruty is a creature that likely originates from Polish or Slovakian folklore, according to an RGRN discussion[1] - its name is derived from the Slovak word žrút (plural žrúti or žrúty), which means "glutton". The encyclopedia entry originates from a direct quote of The Mythology of All Races Vol. 3, which describes the zruty, or "Ozruti", as a type of wild and gigantic being that inhabits the wildernesses of the Tatra Mountains, located on the border between Poland and Slovakia. The word "ozruti" shares a similar root to "zruty" and may mean "ogre" or "giant"; it may also be used informally to refer to an excessively large object.

Variants

Some variants that include zouthern animals - primarily SLASH'EM and its variants - move the zruty to the ​Y apelike creature monster class to accommodate the repurposed z glyph.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the zruty is moved to the apelike creature monster class as Y to make room for zouthern animals. Its stats are identical to its appearance in vanilla NetHack, but it can generate as peaceful for a neutral character, it can be tamed with a banana like other apelike creatures, and it does not generate in Gehennom or via the summon nasties monster spell. This also applies to SlashTHEM.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, a zruty is one of the monster eligible to generate as a minion of Offler.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, zruties are moved to the apelike creature monster class as Y to make room for zouthern animals.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the zruty's base speed is increased to 12, its MR score is increased to 30, and its monster difficulty is increased to 12; it also has a bite attack and two claw attacks, all of which are 3d6, and the claw attack can inflict knockback.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, the zruty has its traits from SLASH'EM and the same stats as in EvilHack.

Encyclopedia entry

The zruty are wild and gigantic beings, living in the wildernesses of the Tatra mountains.

References