# Silver dragon

D silver dragon 

Difficulty

20

Attacks

Breath 4d6 cold, bite 3d8, claw 1d4, claw 1d4

D silver dragon 

Difficulty

20

Attacks

Breath 4d6 cold, bite 3d8, claw 1d4, claw 1d4

Base level

15

Base experience

460

Speed

9

Base AC

-1

Base MR

20

Alignment

4 (lawful)

Frequency (by normal means)

1 (Very rare)

Genocidable

Yes

Weight

4500

Nutritional value

1500

Size

Gigantic

Resistances

Cold

Resistances conveyed

None

A silver 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.

Reference

monst.c#line1161

D baby silver dragon 

Difficulty

13

Attacks

Bite 2d6

D baby silver 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

Cold

Resistances conveyed

None

A baby silver dragon:

 can fly.

 has no hands.

 has a thick hide.

 is carnivorous.

 is normally generated hostile.

 is strong.

 likes gold.
 likes gems.

Reference

monst.c#line1085

The silver dragon, D, is a monster that appears in NetHack.  It has intrinsic cold resistance and reflection, and its breath weapon fires rays of frost.  The silver dragon has a younger form in the baby silver dragon, D; unlike adults, babies lack reflection[1].  Neither monster conveys any intrinsics when eaten.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Strategy
3 History
4 Variants

4.1 Biodiversity patch
4.2 SLASH'EM
4.3 UnNetHack
4.4 dNetHack

5 Encyclopedia entry
6 References

Generation
Main article: Dragon#Generation
Players will not see baby silver 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 silver dragons start appearing around the middle depths of the dungeon. Silver 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.[2] Silver dragons can also be created if a lawful spellcaster casts the summon nasties monster spell.
Silver dragons have a 1⁄3 of dropping a set of +0 uncursed silver dragon scales along with their corpse (1⁄20 if the dragon was revived).

Strategy
See also: Dragon#Strategy
The silver dragon's reflective scales protect it from the rays of spells and wands, severely reducing the amount of options ranged and otherwise that a player has against it. However, it has no other resistances besides cold resistance, and its low monster magic resistance can still be used to bring it down. Wielded or thrown potions such as sleeping can immobilize them or else soften them up for melee or peppering with projectiles, but care should be taken not to have them destroyed by cold breath. The reflective power of their scales also makes them a common target for reverse genocide by players seeking silver dragon scale mail; this is usually to complement a cloak of magic resistance or any magic resistance source they own or plan to obtain, as well as protecting their inventory from item-destroying rays.
As pets and steeds, silver dragons sometimes compete with gray dragons - both possess flight, useful breath weapons and immunity to death rays. The silver dragon has the added perk of being completely immune to elemental rays by virtue of reflecting them, which can also kill the attacker if the ray came from a wand. Its breath can also bridge moats for later crossing, though the ice will not always persist. Unfortunately, on top of low speed and lack of other resistances that can work against them, they can also fall victim to poison or polymorph traps - the gray dragon's scales at least give it a means of protection against the latter. There are also many faster and/or stronger steed than dragons in general, though most such choices lack reflection of their own.

History
The silver dragon, its baby form and silver dragon scales were introduced to the vanilla series in NetHack 3.3.0. Before that, it first appeared in the 3.1.3 variant SLASH 6.

Variants
Main article: Dragon#Variants
Variants of NetHack often subject dragons to extensive changes, including the silver dragon.

Biodiversity patch
In the biodiversity patch, the silver dragon is renamed to the amphitere.

SLASH'EM
Main article: Dragon (SLASH'EM)
As with all other dragons in SLASH'EM, baby silver 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 silver dragons have a base level of 18 instead of 15.
Unlike most other dragons, baby and adult silver dragons do not hit as a +1 or +3 weapon respectively. Adult silver dragons will not turn traitor while tame.

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

dNetHack
In dNetHack, silver dragons are the only source of reflection that can withstand a dragon's breath attack.

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

↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2156

↑ courtmon in mkroom.c