# Red dragon

D red dragon 

Difficulty

20

Attacks

Breath 6d6 fire, bite 3d8, claw 1d4, claw 1d4

D red dragon 

Difficulty

20

Attacks

Breath 6d6 fire, bite 3d8, claw 1d4, claw 1d4

Base level

15

Base experience

460

Speed

9

Base AC

-1

Base MR

20

Alignment

-4 (chaotic)

Frequency (by normal means)

1 (Very rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

4500

Nutritional value

1500

Size

Gigantic

Resistances

Fire

Resistances conveyed

Fire resistance (100%)

A red dragon:

 can fly.

 has no hands.

 has a thick hide.
 can lay eggs.

 can see invisible creatures.

 is carnivorous.

 is normally generated hostile.

 is nasty.
 is strong.

 likes gold.
 likes gems.

 can pick up magical items.

 can be seen through infravision.

Reference

monst.c#line1161

D baby red dragon 

Difficulty

13

Attacks

Bite 2d6

D baby red dragon 

Difficulty

13

Attacks

Bite 2d6

Base level

12

Base experience

200

Speed

9

Base AC

2

Base MR

10

Alignment

0 (neutral)

Frequency (by normal means)

0 (Not randomly generated)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

1500

Nutritional value

500

Size

Huge

Resistances

Fire

Resistances conveyed

None

A baby red dragon:

 can fly.

 has no hands.

 has a thick hide.

 is carnivorous.

 is normally generated hostile.

 is strong.

 likes gold.
 likes gems.

 can be seen through infravision.

Reference

monst.c#line1085

The red dragon, D, is a monster that appears in NetHack. It has a younger form in the baby red dragon, D. The red dragon has fire resistance both intrinsically and from its scales, and its breath weapon is a ray of fire that does 6d6 damage rather than the standard 4d6.
Ixoth is a unique red dragon that serves as the Knight quest nemesis.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Strategy
3 History
4 Variants

4.1 Biodiversity patch
4.2 SLASH'EM
4.3 UnNetHack

5 Encyclopedia entry
6 References

Generation
Main article: Dragon#Generation
Players will not see baby red dragons through normal random monster creation outside of aligned branches and levels such as the Oracle and Sokoban, and they can also be hatched from dragon eggs. Adult red dragons start appearing around the midway depths of the dungeon; red dragons can be generated in throne rooms as early as dungeon level 15, and may appear when a throne at this depth or lower is looted.[1] Red dragons can be generated if a chaotic spellcaster casts the summon nasties monster spell.
In addition, a red dragon is guaranteed to appear on the Plane of Fire; like all dragons in the End Game, this one has much more HP than most.
Red dragons have a 1⁄3 of dropping a set of +0 uncursed red dragon scales along with their corpse (1⁄20 if the dragon was revived).

Strategy
See also Dragon#Strategy
Red dragons have the strongest breath weapon of all dragons, but fire resistance is not too difficult to obtain, and the red dragon can be dealt with like most of its kin. If you still lack fire resistance by the time you encounter one, eating its corpse is a good idea.

History
NetHack 2.3e introduces the red dragon along with all of the other modern dragon types and their breath weapons, except for silver. In versions before this, there was only one dragon with a fiery breath attack, and its corpse always provided fire resistance, making it an "ancestor" to the modern red dragon; in this version, the different-colored dragons would still leave behind a "standard" dragon corpse.
NetHack 3.0.0 introduces baby red dragons alongside the other baby dragons. This version also distinguishes all color dragons, their younger stages and their corpses, and introduces dragon scale mail.
NetHack 3.1.0 introduces red dragon scales along with the other colors, as well as the current method of obtaining dragon scale mail.

Variants
Variants of NetHack often subject dragons to extensive changes, including the red dragon.

Biodiversity patch
In the biodiversity patch, the red dragon is renamed to the firedrake. Ixoth is no longer a red dragon, but instead the white-colored Hwitwyrm, though his attacks and attributes remain the same.

SLASH'EM
Main article: Dragon (SLASH'EM)
As with all other dragons in SLASH'EM, baby red dragons have a base level of 4 instead of 12, and can be encountered via random generation in ordinary levels with a frequency of 2; they are also eligible for creation on many levels that generate random D on level creation. Adult red dragons have a base level of 18 instead of 15.
Baby red dragons hit as a +1 weapon, and adult red dragons hit as a +3 weapon. Adult red dragons have a chance to turn traitor while tame.

UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, all dragons have their breaths, resistances, and colors randomized, allowing any non-chromatic dragon to appear as red.

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.

[ Mythical Beasts by Deirdre Headon (The Leprechaun Library) ]

"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."

[ The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula K. Le Guin ]

 

References

↑ courtmon in mkroom.c