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The gremlin, g, is a NetHack monster. Getting them wet will cause them to divide into two gremlins with half the maximum HP as the original; they will actively seek moats and fountains in order to promote this process. In addition, at night they have the ability to steal intrinsics. They are vulnerable to light, and their flesh is poisonous.

Steal intrinsic attack[]

Each successful hit at night with the intrinsic-stealing attack has a 1/10 chance[1] of picking a random intrinsic from the following list[2]:

If the player has that intrinsic from an external source, he loses it.

Additionally, players that are polymorphed into clay golems are turned back to their original form. This occurs even if they have the unchanging property.

The attack is not affected by magic cancellation, though it can still be prevented by canceling the monster.

Night is 22:00 - 05:59 server time.

Messages[]

"The gremlin chuckles."
It is night, and the gremlin is attempting to steal an intrinsic from you.
"Some writing vanishes from your head!"
You were polymorphed into a clay golem. This will return you to your original form, even with unchanging.
"You feel warmer."
You lost intrinsic fire resistance.
"You feel less jumpy."
You lost intrinsic teleportitis.
"You feel a little sick!"
You lost intrinsic poison resistance.
"Your senses fail!"
You lost intrinsic telepathy.
"You feel cooler."
You lost intrinsic cold resistance.
"You feel paranoid."
You lost intrinsic invisibility.
"You thought you saw something!"
You lost the see invisible intrinsic while not hallucinating.
"You tawt you taw a puttie tat!"
You lost the see invisible intrinsic while hallucinating.
"You feel slower."
You lost intrinsic speed.
"You feel clumsy."
You lost intrinsic stealth.
"You feel vulnerable."
You lost intrinsic protection.
"You feel less attractive."
You lost the aggravate monster intrinsic.

Gremlins and light[]

Gremlins, unique among NetHack monsters, are harmed by sources of light. In particular, breaking a wand of light will do (1 + charges)d4 additional damage to gremlins caught in the blast. Flashing an expensive camera will do up to 4 damage to gremlins caught in the flash. [3]

Mythology[]

The concept of gremlins that multiply in water and have a vulnerability to light comes from the 1984 movie, Gremlins.

Strategy[]

If you find a Gremlin in a level with water or a fountain with telepathy, kill it quickly, or chances are you will end up having about 50 of them running around. This is especially bad for chaotics: the herd of gremlins will sometimes be generated peaceful, thus killing them inflicts a large hit on your alignment record.

On the other hand, if you find yourself with a tame gremlin but don't particularly want one, and have a polymorph trap handy, consider allowing it to split a few times so you can get more useful pets by polymorphing them. However, the polymorphed pets will be low on HP, down to 1/1 HP in the case that the gremlin was completely split. So for this strategy, the gremlin should not be split too often (apply a magic missile at a dry spot if it is enough) and the new pets should be kept away from strong monsters until their max HP is high enough.

Encyclopedia entry[]

The gremlin is a highly intelligent and completely evil
creature. It lives to torment other creatures and will go
to great lengths to inflict pain or cause injury.
 
Suddenly, Wilson thought about war, about the newspaper
stories which recounted the alleged existence of creatures in
the sky who plagued the Allied pilots in their duties. They
called them gremlins, he remembered. Were there, actually,
such beings? Did they, truly, exist up here, never falling,
riding on the wind, apparently of bulk and weight, yet
impervious to gravity?
He was thinking that when the man appeared again.

[ Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, by Richard Matheson ]

References[]

  1. mhitu.c, line 1426 Intrinsic-stealing
  2. attrcurse in sit.c Possible stolen intrinsics
  3. uhitm.c, line 2481 Gremlins take damage from light
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