Apprentice
@ apprentice 
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 8 |
| Attacks |
Weapon 1d6 physical, Spellcasting 0d0 mage |
| Base level | 5 |
| Base experience | 71 |
| Speed | 12 |
| Base AC | 10 |
| Base MR | 30 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 0 (Not randomly generated) |
| Genocidable | No |
| Weight | 1450 |
| Nutritional value | 400 |
| Size | Medium |
| Resistances | None |
| Resistances conveyed | None |
|
An apprentice:
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| Reference | monst.c#line3213 |
A apprentice, @, is a Wizard quest guardian. The apprentice is a strong and omnivorous neutral human that can be seen via infravision, and can pick up magical items that they come across—witnessing this typically requires luring one of them into the main dungeon through the magic portal to the Quest.
Apprentices have a single weapon attack and the ability to cast one mage monster spell during each of their turns.
Contents
Generation
Apprentices are not randomly generated, and are always created peaceful. They are not a valid genocide target, and are not a valid polymorph form except for doppelgangers encountered by roles other than Wizards.[1][2] An apprentice can grow up into a player monster Wizard.[3]
Eight apprentices are generated within the halls and main room of the Lonely Tower where Neferet the Green resides on the Wizard quest home level.
Apprentices may be generated with the following:[4] a 1⁄2 chance of either a dagger (2⁄3 chance) or a knife (1⁄3 chance), a 4⁄5 chance of either a leather jacket (2⁄3 chance) or a leather cloak (1⁄3 chance), a 2⁄3 chance of either low boots (2⁄3 chance) or high boots (1⁄3 chance), and a 2⁄3 chance of a potion of healing.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit 9b74ea0b, apprentice corpses may be generated in "massacre" themed rooms.Strategy
Apprentices have a noticeably higher MR score than other quest guardians at 30, versus 20 for quest guardians of spellcasting-inclined roles and 10 for the remainder.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit 20cbadcf, the game is no longer unwinnable if the hero is banished from the quest branch, but killing quest leaders and guardians incur steeper penalties: killing a peaceful quest guardian will cause a -4 luck penalty and anger the hero's god, on top of the standard MAX8 alignment record penalty and murder penalties for a non-chaotic hero.
Per commit ee08c05e, quest guardians will become angry if they see you attack a peaceful monster, but will not turn to flee like other monsters do. Quest leaders will not become angry if they see you attack a peaceful monster other than one of the quest guardians.
Per commit 3d5b7f1f, killing a quest leader will anger the quest guardians.History
The apprentice first appears alongside the Wizard's quest branch and its other related monsters in NetHack 3.1.0.
Messages
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, if a Binder starts the game with any Archeologist gods in their pantheon, hostile apprentices may generate among the quest guardians that make up 72⁄175 of the randomly generated monsters on the Binder quest.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, apprentices may appear among the adventurers generated within the Bar.
Encyclopedia entry
Ebenezum walked before me along the closest thing we could find to a path in these overgrown woods. Every few paces he would pause, so that I, burdened with a pack stuffed with arcane and heavy paraphernalia, could catch up with his wizardly strides. He, as usual, carried nothing, preferring, as he often said, to keep his hands free for quick conjuring and his mind free for the thoughts of a mage.
