# Player monster
A player monster is a type of monster in NetHack that represents one of the player roles.

Contents

1 List of player monsters
2 Common characteristics
3 Generation

3.1 Equipment

3.1.1 Astral Plane

4 Strategy
5 Variants

5.1 SLASH'EM
5.2 GruntHack
5.3 EvilHack
5.4 FIQHack
5.5 SpliceHack

6 See also
7 References

List of player monsters
@&nbsp;archeologist
@&nbsp;barbarian
@&nbsp;caveman
@&nbsp;cavewoman
@&nbsp;healer
@&nbsp;knight
@&nbsp;monk
@&nbsp;priest(ess)
@&nbsp;ranger
@&nbsp;rogue
@&nbsp;samurai
@&nbsp;tourist
@&nbsp;valkyrie
@&nbsp;wizard
Common characteristics
Player monsters cannot be tamed, but can be made peaceful. All player monsters will be referred to by the role's appropriate rank title for their level. Each player monster will have certain characteristics based on their corresponding role as well; for example, player monster valkyries will have cold resistance similar to a starting valkyrie, while player monster rogues have an affinity for gold. They will also have one or two weapon attacks, partly based on their role's ability to twoweapon (or lack thereof).

Generation
Player monsters are not randomly generated, and are thus rarely seen - most live player monsters encountered in the main dungeon are shapeshifters, and doppelgangers in particular tend to favor player monster forms. There are several exceptions, however: a handful of player monsters can be seen in various quest branches, and some quest guardians may grow up into player monsters by quaffing potion of gain level. In every game, a number of tough and hostile player monsters await you on the Astral Plane, with an ascension kit-like inventory on hand - their names are randomly selected and based on various members of the DevTeam.[1]
Several player corpses appear in the Valley of the Dead with the exception of priest and monk corpses, and many player statues are generated on Medusa's Island, including a guaranteed statue of a player monster knight named Perseus.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Player statues and corpses can also be found in bones levels.
Using the spell or wand of undead turning on a player corpse or using stone to flesh on a player statue will revive them as a player monster. Player monsters matching the player's role may also be summoned by reading a cursed scroll of genocide while confused (which "reverse genocides" yourself).
Player monsters are generated with a monster level of 15–30 on the Astral Plane and d16 on other special levels. They are generated with (monster level)d10+30(+d30 more on Astral Plane) hit points.[8]

Equipment
Normally-generated player monsters will be given a weapon, 1d3 random offensive items, 1d3 random defensive items, and 1d3 random miscellaneous items.[9] The enchantment of a player monster's weapon will be random between +0 and +3, and will be either erodeproof, greased, or neither with equal probability.
By default, each player monster is given either a long sword or a random melee weapon with equal probability - if given a random weapon, the game then selects one from a specific set of weapon types, with the standard odds of generation used.[10] However, each type of player monster may have their weapon replaced with one more appropriate for their role, with varying odds and replacements depending on each role.[11]
The overall odds of weapon replacements for different player monsters are as follows:

Archeologist: bullwhip (50%), long sword (25%) or random melee weapon (25%)
Barbarian: two-handed sword (25%), battle axe (25%), long sword (25%) or random melee weapon (25%)
Caveman / cavewoman: mace (75%), club (12.5%), long sword (6.25%) or random melee weapon (6.25%)
Healer: quarterstaff (75%), unicorn horn (6.25%), scalpel (6.25%), long sword (6.25%) or random melee weapon (6.25%)
Knight: long sword (87.5%) or random melee weapon (12.5%)
Monk: no melee weapon; 1⁄3 chance of 1-8 shuriken, enchanted as above
Priest / priestess: mace (50%), long sword (25%) or random melee weapon (25%)
Ranger: elven dagger (50%), long sword (25%) or random melee weapon (25%)
Rogue: short sword (25%), orcish dagger (25%), long sword (25%) or random melee weapon (25%)
Samurai: katana (50%), long sword (25%) or random melee weapon (25%)
Tourist: long sword (50%) or random melee weapon (50%)
Valkyrie: war hammer (50%), long sword (25%) or random melee weapon (25%)
Wizard: quarterstaff (37.5%), athame (37.5%), long sword (12.5%) or random melee weapon (12.5%)
Astral Plane
Player monsters on the Astral Plane are equipped appropriately for the endgame. Their weapon is instead enchanted to between +4 and +8, and has a 50% chance of being upgraded to an artifact eligible for random generation. An athame also has a 50% chance of becoming Magicbane, in which case its enchantment is rerolled to 1-4 (since Magicbane is considered less effective if overenchanted). These player monsters also receive:

one or more pieces of armor
0-999 gold pieces
either 0-15 (1⁄3 chance) or 0-2 valuable gems
either a luckstone (2⁄30 chance), a loadstone (1⁄30 chance), or neither
0-9 random items
a cheap plastic imitation of the Amulet of Yendor (which is why they're stuck on the Astral Plane)
Player monsters receive the following types of armor, with varying odds for role-specific replacements:

87.5% chance of a random magical cloak, leather cloak, or oilskin cloak
Monks always receive a robe.
Priests have a 78% chance of getting a robe.
Wizards have a 50% chance of forcing a cloak of magic resistance.
a random dragon scale mail
Barbarians, Knights, Priest(esse)s, and Valkyries have a 50% chance of getting a plate mail, crystal plate mail, bronze plate mail, splint mail, banded mail, mithril-coat, or chain mail instead.
Wizards who get a forced cloak of magic resistance will also get either black or silver dragon scale mail instead of a random one.
Monks will never receive any type of body armor.
87.5% chance of a random helm
Barbarians and Cave(wo)men will never receive a helm of brilliance.
Healers and Priest(esse)s have a 75% chance of replacing their helm with a helm of brilliance or helm of telepathy (which amounts to a cumulative 79% chance of either one).
Wizards have a 75% chance of replacing their helm with a helm of brilliance (which equals a cumulative 77% chance of receiving one).
87.5% chance of a random non-small shield
Wizards will not receive shields, nor will Barbarians who get a two-handed weapon.
Healers, Priest(esse)s, and Monks have a 56% chance of not getting a shield.
gauntlets of power if wielding a war hammer, 87.5% chance of a random pair of gloves otherwise
87.5% chance of a random pair of boots
Each piece of armor has a 2⁄3 chance of being erodeproof, a 1⁄3 of being blessed, and a 2⁄11 chance of being cursed, and its enchantment has a 3⁄5 chance of being +0 to +4, a 3⁄10 chance of being +4 to +7, and a 1⁄10 chance of being -1 to -3, independent of beatitude.[12]

Strategy
On the Astral Plane, player monsters are a source of YASD, as they may be generated with Vorpal Blade if it has not appeared in a game, which can cause instadeath by beheading. Be very wary of engaging one in melee until you are certain what they are wielding.
Extinctionists will have a hard time finding a complete set. The best possibilities are as follows:

Perseus' statue is a knight.
The quest branch has plenty of player monsters in your own role, though obviously this is best saved for after the quest itself.
Various player monster corpses are found in the Valley of the Dead.
Stoning and unstoning a doppelganger will make its morph stick.
Wish for statues and then cast stone to flesh on them.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, there are additional types of player monsters corresponding to the new roles in SLASH'EM. They are:

@ ice mage (player monster)
@ flame mage (player monster)
@ necromancer (player monster)
@ undead slayer (player monster)
@ yeoman (player monster)
Notably, the new "magical" player monsters are capable of spellcasting: ice mages, flame mages, and necromancers can all cast mage spells.  As all monsters generated on the Astral Plane are quite high-level, player monsters of those three roles found there will easily be able to cast spells such as summon nasties and touch of death.  Surprisingly, none of the "magical" roles from vanilla (e.g. wizards and priests) are given spellcasting attacks in SLASH'EM.
Player monsters can be encountered in The Guild of Disgruntled Adventurers if that level is generated.

GruntHack
In GruntHack, player monsters can generate anywhere in the dungeon, although with a low probability. Player monsters generated in the dungeon have an inventory set based on where they generate, approximating the progress an equal player would have made at that point. For example, below Sokoban, they may get an amulet of reflection or a bag of holding.
Later on, player monsters can be quite dangerous as they can be kitted out with several ascension kit-class items such as a cloak of magic resistance or silver dragon scale mail. They will, however, not get any object properties on their armor (but will probably get it on their weapon) beyond random chance. Worse, they usually get these kind of items before players themselves has had a reasonable shot at getting them, so if you see a peaceful one early on, you probably don't want to bother it.
Player monsters will not get any special object materials beyond random chance -- you will have to look for your dragonhide cloaks or gauntlets elsewhere.

EvilHack
Much like GruntHack, player monsters in EvilHack can spawn anywhere in the dungeon, and are kitted out with gear befitting their role. The ascension-level kits are more varied than found in other variants, and player monster abilities more closely match their roles (e.g. wizards and priests can cast spells, rogues can steal items). All player monsters in EvilHack covet the Amulet of Yendor and will attempt to steal it with their attacks; a player monster on the Astral Plane that steals the Amulet will attempt to reach their altar and sacrifice it to their god, ending the game if they succeed.

FIQHack
In FIQHack, bones which would normally have created ghosts have a 66% probability of replacing the ghost with a player monster instead. These retain all the stats of the late player (HP, Pw, intrinsics, spells, etc.) and retain the inventory without an 80% chance of each item being cursed. These coupled with FIQHack's AI improvements may pose a much bigger threat than bones generally do.
In addition, FIQHack random player monster kits has been significantly improved. They retain all of their vanilla items, have a shot at getting intrinsics like fire resistance, cold resistance or protection (like the kind bought from priests). In addition, they will now generally have a unicorn horn, may get several amulets of life saving if lacking reflection, generally have better armor, more HP, a bag, more random items (1d6 offensive/defensive/misc items instead of 1d3 if lategame), rings, and are likely to get object properties on their equipment. They now get an inventory similar to the ones generated in Astral if they generate in Gehennom, making them a valid source of lategame equipment.

SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, player monsters can be encountered in the Bar.

See also
Race
References

↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 17

↑ dat/gehennom.des in NetHack 3.6.6, line 75: Priest and monk corpses are excluded, with the comment implying Moloch has a special fate in store for servants of the other gods

↑ src/sp_lev.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 1981: The code is very cryptic but fortunately has comments

↑ dat/medusa.des in NetHack 3.6.6, line 56: Statue of Perseus in first version

↑ dat/medusa.des in NetHack 3.6.6, line 155: Statue of Perseus in second version

↑ dat/medusa.des in NetHack 3.6.6, line 273: Statue of Perseus in third version

↑ dat/medusa.des in NetHack 3.6.6, line 373: Statue of Perseus in fourth version

↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 142

↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 120

↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 154: Default equipment; weapons are chosen from within the designated object classes inclusively in objects.c, while the color of dragon mail is selected randomly at line 156

↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 164: Role-based replacements start here

↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 96: mk_mplayer_armor

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