Draft:Doberman death-hound
A doberman death-hound is a fast guard dog, displayed as a brown d. Five occupy each normally populated mansion layout. Their chains can limit pursuit, but they are dangerous melee opponents and cannot be disabled with fear or sleep.[1]
| Level | HP | Attack strength | Armor class | Base damage | Kill XP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 40 | 20 | 10 | 15 | 120 |
Generation and behavior
Death-hounds guard mansion corridors. Ordinary houses and hovels do not have fixed dog positions. They can also appear in sufficiently strong random-monster pools, wilderness encounters and summons. The original mansion dogs start hostile; choosing nighttime for a burglary does not automatically put them to sleep.
A death-hound attacks with three lunges and has no ranged attack or special magical attack. Its base damage is 15 per attack before the attack and damage rules are applied, not a fixed loss of 45 HP each round. It is immune to fear and sleep, but has no innate ordinary-damage immunity.[2][3][4]
The chain
When the dog begins its chained pursuit, it establishes an anchor position. Moving more than five squares from that anchor pulls it back. A different creature occupying the anchor can release the chain, allowing subsequent unchained pursuit.
The chain is not a universal five-square safety boundary: wandering movement and other ways of relocating creatures do not all follow the same pursuit rule. A dog generated through a random wandering encounter need not behave exactly like a mansion guard at its starting post.[5][4]
Strategy
Keep a retreat route that does not pass through another guard or a portcullis. A chain can provide breathing room during a chase, but it is not a reason to stand adjacent to the dog or assume it can never reach a particular corridor.
Sleep and fear are poor answers to this opponent. Ranged physical or elemental attacks avoid its lunges while it remains at a distance, provided the room gives you a clear line and enough time. Mansion automatons add a separate poison-cloud threat; preparing for the dog alone does not make the building safe.
Death-hounds have no fixed starting treasure. Their corpse is not nutritious food and has no alchemical transformation, so the main reward for fighting one is removing an obstacle rather than obtaining a valuable ingredient.
References
- ↑ minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 147.
- ↑ house.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 9 (
load_house). - ↑ lev.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 317 (
make_creature). - ↑ 4.0 4.1 mon.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 12 (
m_pulse). - ↑ mmove.c in Omega 0.90.4, line 256 (
m_move_leash).