Water nymph
n water nymph 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 5 |
| Attacks |
Claw 0d0 steal item, Claw 0d0 seduce |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 28 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 9 |
| Base MR | 20 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 600 |
| Nutritional value | 300 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | Causes teleportitis (30%) |
|
A water nymph:
| |
| Reference | monst.c#line599 |
- This article is about the monster known as a naiad in SpliceHack. For the monster in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, see Naiad (dNetHack).
A water nymph, n, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. Like other nymphs, water nymphs are humanoid women that can teleport at random, will pick up various items that they come across, and can be seen via infravision—they are also capable of swimming and crossing moats.
A water nymph has a claw attack that can steal items and a second claw attack that can initiate seduction and allows her to steal even more items. A hero polymorphed into a water nymph that attacks in melee will use any wielded weapon they have first before stealing[1][2]—theft attacks against peaceful monsters that fail will anger them, and the seduction theft will be replaced with a regular attack if used against an invisible monster while the hero lacks see invisible.[3]
Eating a water nymph corpse or tin has a 3⁄10 chance (30%) of granting teleportitis.
A hero polymorphed into a water nymph will have their carrying capacity set to 1000, and can remove an iron chain attached to them with the #monster extended command.
Contents
Generation
Randomly-generated water nymphs are always generated hostile, and will be created asleep 4⁄5 of the time unless the hero has the Amulet of Yendor.[4]
Ringing a cursed bell (including a cursed and uncharged Bell of Opening) can summon a water nymph without any starting inventory, unless any type of nymph is genocided or extinct.[5] Dipping an item into a fountain or quaffing from one has a 1⁄30 chance of summoning a water nymph[6][7][8]—if the hero is quaffing from a normal fountain, or quaffing from a magic fountain with negative luck, and they have retrieved gold or gems from the fountain already, the chance is increased to 1⁄15.[9]
Water nymphs appear among the random n that are part of quest monster class for Rogues and make up 96⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Rogue quest. Water nymphs also appear on a few floors of the branch at level creation: the home level has nine water nymphs, with one each stationed near the level's stair and the mimics disguised as stairs, and each of the filler levels has two water nymphs.
A water nymph has a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a mirror, and an independent 1⁄2 chance of generating with a potion of object detection.[10]
Strategy
Though water nymphs have poor AC like other nymphs, their theft ability makes them highly dangerous, since they can easily disarm a hero and leave them defenseless as well, on top of taking offensive wands and other damaging items to use for themselves. If you decide to engage a nymph or have a sleeping one woken up while you are nearby, scaring tools, Elbereth and ranged attacks can be useful aids, and mirrors can be used to deter adjacent ones from attempting theft. Pets can be useful for handling nymphs, particularly domestic animals that do not often carry items to begin with, though they will just as often wake up nymphs that you may want to sneak past. Occasionally, water nymphs can also be useful to remove cursed items that are stuck to the hero.
Water nymphs pose more a unique threat to the hero if they encounter one while crossing large bodies of water: they can potentially steal any sources of levitation, water walking, or flying being used, up to and including the saddle of a flying steed, and leave the hero to an ignoble death by drowning. Additionally, killing them to retrieve stolen items can prove troublesome if those items end up in the water and become difficult to reach.
Force bolts and wands of striking can be dangerous to use against a water nymph, since she may be carrying a mirror: the attack will break the mirror if it kills her and incur a -2 luck penalty. Wands of sleep and elemental attack wands can make short work of nymphs, though they can turn the tables if they manage to steal them from you. A wand of slow monster can prevent a nymph from escaping as easily and give you additional turns to deal damage, while a wand of cancellation can nullify her theft (but not her teleportation).
History
The water nymph is introduced with the other two nymphs in NetHack 3.0.0.
Origin
A nymph is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore, and belief in nymphs survived in many parts of Greece up to as recently as the early 20th century. Usually depicted as beautiful maidens, they were not necessarily immortal, but lived much longer than humans. Nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, and are typically tied to a specific place or landform. They are often divided into various broad subgroups, such as the Meliae (ash tree nymphs), the Naiads (freshwater nymphs), the Nereids (sea nymphs), and the Oreads (mountain nymphs)—the three types of nymph in NetHack (wood, water and mountain) may be rough analogues to these.
In Dungeons & Dragons, nymphs are all-female fey beings that serve as guardians of wild places: they are said to be nature's embodiment of physical beauty, as well as the most wild and capricious type of fey. A nymph is a blindingly beautiful being that appears as an elven woman with roughly the same average height and weight, and nymphs inhabit various climates from valleys, forests and glades to islands and mountains—among the more uncommon nymph types are grain and unseelie nymphs, and some even dwelt in tundra and other cold climates, where they often hunt upon the backs of wolves. Despite lacking offensive capabilities of their own, they have the ability to charm and immobilize onlookers to much more severe degrees than displayed in NetHack: looking at one can cause permanent blindness, and the sight of a disrobing nymph could kill an onlooker outright. Nymphs were able to teleport short distances via a dimension door spell, which is the basis for their teleporting abilities in NetHack.
Messages
- For the messages shared with other nymphs, see Nymph (monster class)#Messages.
- You attract a water nymph!
- You dipped into or quaffed from a fountain, and generated a water nymph.
- You hear a seductive voice.
- As above, while blind.
- A large bubble rises to the surface and pops.
- You would have generated a water nymph from a fountain, but they are genocided or extinct.
- You hear a loud pop.
- As above, while blind.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, water nymphs hit as +1 weapons.
Water nymphs may appear on the nymph level.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, water nymphs may appear on the nymph level as in SLASH'EM.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the water nymph is changed into the naiad.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, water nymphs and other nymphs introduce themselves with classical Greek-style names before charming a hero. Nymphs hate the touch of iron and take an additional d6 damage when struck with an iron item, and a hero in the form of a nymph takes d3 damage when handling iron items.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, male water nymphs are known as nereids and female water nymphs are known as naiads.
water nymphs may be generated in Malcanthet's Lair at level creation.
Like other nymphs, nereids, naiads and other water nymphs hate iron and take bonus damage from iron weapons, and they introduce themselves with classical Greek-style names while charming the hero.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, a hero polymorphed into a water nymph has their carrying capacity set to 4000 and their charisma set to 18.
Two water nymphs are generated in the shallow water of the Town branch's village floor at level creation.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, two water nymphs are generated in the shallow water of the Town branch's village floor at level creation, and the ruined map that can serve as the town floor's layout has two water nymphs that are randomly placed at level creation.
Encyclopedia entry
A female creature from Roman and Greek mythology, the nymph occupied rivers, forests, ponds, etc. A nymph's beauty is beyond words: an ever-young woman with sleek figure and long, thick hair, radiant skin and perfect teeth, full lipsand gentle eyes. A nymph's scent is delightful, and her long robe glows, hemmed with golden threads and embroidered with rainbow hues of unearthly magnificence. A nymph's demeanour is graceful and charming, her mind quick and witty.
"Theseus felt her voice pulling him down into fathoms of sleep. The song was the skeleton of his dream, and the dream was full of terror. Demon girls were after him, and a bull-man was goring him. Everywhere there was blood. There was pain. There was fear. But his head was in the nymph's lap and her musk was about him, her voice weaving the dream. He knew then that she had been sent to tell him of something dreadful that was to happen to him later. Her song was a warning. But she had brought him a new kind of joy, one that made him see everything differently. The boy, who was to become a hero, suddenly knew then what most heroes learn later -- and some too late -- that joy blots suffering and that the road to nymphs is beset by monsters."
References
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1525
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1775
- ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2415
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1263: chance of nymphs being generated asleep
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1039
- ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 84
- ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 333
- ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 436
- ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 327: fall-through is set to occur if either condition is fulfilled
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 700
