NetHack/Setting

'''Important Note: Spoilers are easily accessible via the wiki and IRC, but there is always the difference between knowing of something and experiencing it for the first time - even so, in the spirit of being as new-player friendly as possible, spoiler tags are used on this page. The NetHack community defines "spoilers" as not just including plotline spoilers, but gameplay-related ones as well. The plot itself usually has far less direct impact on the game than its various mechanics, so if you wish to experience as much of the challenge as possible, read with caution and mind the spoiler tags and links.'''

Much of the following analysis is rooted in information directly taken from the Guideboook included with each copy of NetHack.

=Character Classes= While not "true" characters in and of themselves, many of the available roles have traits and features associated with them that remain consistent across playthroughs, such as a specific pantheon of gods (with the exception of the Priest, who can serve any of the pantheons at random) and a unique set of abilities and features.

Archeologist
"Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this enables them to move quickly and sneak up on the local nasties. They start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Adventure Archaeologist: Complete with pick-axe, bullwhip and Indy-style fedora.
 * Character Alignment: Archeologists can be lawful or neutral.
 * Danger Sense: Archaeologists gain the searching intrinsic at XL 10, which can be handy for spotting traps and hidden monsters.
 * Dual Wielding
 * Fragile Speedster/Weak but Skilled: While they tend to start with low strength and aren't exactly the most combat-ready class at the beginning, their intrinsic speed and stealth lends themselves a lot to hit-and-run tactics that can carry them a long way, and their starting tinning kit makes it easier to safely procure food and intrinsics. Pick-axes can also provide training for a solid proper 'weapon' in the dwarvish mattock.
 * Grave Robbing: Archaeologists are penalized for doing this.
 * Mayincatec: The theme of their quest, and their pantheon consists of Quetzalcoatl, Camaxtli, and Huhetotl.
 * Mummies: Plenty of them appear on the quest.
 * Whip It Good: One of their starting weapons is a bullwhip.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Invoked - their quest branch's monster generation is heavily skewed towards all sorts of snakes.

Barbarian
"Barbarians are warriors out of the hinterland, hardened to battle. They begin their quests with naught but uncommon strength, a trusty hauberk, and a great two-handed sword."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Acquired Poison Immunity: Barbarians start the game with this, increasing the availability of early options for food.
 * An Axe to Grind: Barbarians start the game with one, either a standard or double-headed battle axe. Cleaver is an artifact battle-axe that serves as their first sacrifice gift.
 * Barbarian Hero
 * Blade of Fearsome Size: Barbarians have a 50% chance of their starting sword being a two-handed sword.
 * Character Alignment: Barbarians can be chaotic or neutral.
 * Conan the Barbarian: The core inspiration for the entire role and their quest, right down to their pantheon including Crom as the neutral god and Set as the chaotic god (though his encyclopedia entry returns a quote about the Egyptian Set). is the Barbarian quest nemesis, and guards The Heart of Ahriman.
 * Dual Wielding
 * Dumb Muscle: Subverted, as they have a high spellcasting penalty and start with low wisdom and intelligence stats, but don't necessarily suffer for it and have the same capacity for intelligence as other player characters.
 * Hindu Mythology/Zoroastrianism: Mitra, the lawful Barbarian god, is based on Mithra, who originated as an Indian deity and was translated by Zoroaster into an attendant to Ahura Mazda and an enemy to Angra Mainyu (or rather, Ahriman).
 * Master Swordsman: One of three roles that can reach Skilled or better in 5 of the 6 sword-based skill classes.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Shares this with a few other roles, particularly the Valkyrie - both are heavily combat-focused classes that have heavy spellcasting penalties, but can easily get by on stellar armor and weapons, and the barbarian also has the additional boon of starting with intrinsic poison resistance.

Caveman
"Cavemen and Cavewomen start with exceptional strength but, unfortunately, with neolithic weapons."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * All Cavemen Were Neanderthals: The Caveman role plays this fairly straight, with the quest guardians even being called neanderthals.
 * Babylonian Mythology: Their pantheon consists of Anu, Ishtar and Ashtar.
 * Carry a Big Stick: The club is one of their starting weapons, and their quest artifact, the Sceptre of Might, is a mace. Cavefolk can attain Expert skill in both.
 * Danger Sense: Cavefolk gain the warning intrinsic at XL 15.
 * Difficult but Awesome/Weak but Skilled: Cavefolk are considered a "harder" version of melee-focused roles like the Valkyrie and Barbarian, as they are a combat-oriented role with harsh spell-casting penalties in exchange for high starting strength and constitution - but they also cannot use most edged weapons without receiving them as sacrifice gifts, and their starting club and leather armor are also lackluster. However, multishot spears at Expert skill can do absurd amounts of damage, and the aklys is a stellar weapon that can pull double duty as ranged and melee weapon for most of the game.
 * Magikarp Power: Those that make it to the late game have more choices in food due to their lack of cannibalism penalties; their quest artifact, The Sceptre of Might, is also considered one of the best artifacts in the game for its ability to invoke conflict.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Cavefolk can eat monsters of the same race as them with no penalty, which among other things makes tine of nurse meat far more beneficial for human Cavefolk compared to other roles.
 * Noble Savage: Cavefolk can be lawful or neutral, and many of their role's aspects are drawn from this (e.g. Shaman Karnov, the quest leader).
 * Suffer the Slings: Cavefolk start the game with a sling and a set of rocks and flint stones.
 * Useless Useful Spell: Practically anything in their hands, but a special mention goes to their special spell - dig. It's a high-level matter spell, and there's very few meaningful matter spells to train with. the spellcasting penalties also ensure that most Cavefolk won't even bother, and the spell's function is superseded by more plentiful items such as pick-axes and wands of digging.

Healer
"Healers are wise in medicine and apothecary. They know the herbs and simples that can restore vitality, ease pain, anesthetize, and neutralize poisons; and with their instruments, they can divine a being's state of health or sickness. Their medical practice earns them quite reasonable amounts of money, with which they enter the dungeon."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Acquired Poison Immunity: Healers always start with poison resistance, likely due to immunizing themselves.
 * Amoral Doctor: Implied by the fact that they're only Neutral, though in NetHack terms this isn't so much fully amoral as it is "not above being unscrupulous".
 * Character Alignment: Healers are exclusively neutral.
 * Combat Medic: Can serve as this with some luck in finding armor and training with early weapons that they can master. Staves, knives and unicorn horns in particular (often used to cure Standard Status Ailments) can be trained to Expert.
 * Classical Mythology/Greek Mythology: Healers are styled after classical-era doctors and surgeons (e.g. humour theory is still in practice, their starting weapon is a scalpel), and their pantheon consists of Athena, Hermes and Poseidon, with a Cyclops serving as the quest nemesis.
 * Crippling Overspecialization: Healers excel at healing spells, but are restricted in all other spell classes and tend to lack any real offensive options in the beginning. Downplayed somewhat in that it doesn't cut them off from casting them completely, merely restricting the amount of benefits they can expect from such spells - magic missile is still plenty powerful in their hands, for example.
 * Danger Sense: Healers gain the warning intrinsic at XL 15.
 * Deadly Doctor: A high-level Healer can be quite fearsome, especially with their quest artifact on hand.
 * Instant Sedation: Healers start with a wand of sleep.
 * Knife Nut: Healers can reach Expert skill in knives, and can throw multiple knives at once.
 * Simple Staff: The base item for their quest artifact, the Staff of Aesclapius.
 * Useless Useful Spell: Cure sickness, their special spell... which only cures sickness (and also sliming).
 * Boring but Practical: It's also the only such means of curing sickness that can be made 100% reliable, since even blessed unicorn horns may fail occasionally; the special spell bonus on top of it being an "emergency spell" allows for a lot of leniency in terms of armor choices.
 * Weak but Skilled: Healers start with little in the way of armor, food, and weapons, but with care and diligence can still make it a few levels - enough to reliably cast the stone-to-flesh spell, which can easily solve any food-related problems for most of the game. Their starting cash and stethoscope can be used to sniff out or purchase solid armor and weapons, and their healing abilities and items allow them to reliably stay alive and support their pets well (especially for protection rackets and/or Pacifist Runs).

Knight
"Knights are distinguished from the common skirmisher by their devotion to the ideals of chivalry and by the surpassing excellence of their armor."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Amplifier Artifact: The Magic Mirror of Merlin is the Knight quest artifact, and gives double damage to some spells cast by Knights in addition to its other benefits.
 * Blade on a Stick: Knights start with a lance.
 * Celtic Mythology: Their pantheon consists of Lugh, Brigid and Manannan Mac Lir.
 * Chess Motifs: Knight have a special intrinsic jumping ability that lets them move like actual chess knights, though with the restriction of not having their jumping path obstructed.
 * The Code: Knights are exclusively Lawful and expected to adhere by an in-game code of chivalry, which penalizes them in particular for overeating, stealing, and using poisoned weapons, or else attacking immobilized or fleeing foes.
 * Cool Horse: The Knight always starts with a saddled pony, and their starting apples and carrots are primarily meant for the steed - horses are vegetarian, and thus gain more nutrition from them.
 * Dual Wielding: Knight are one of five roles that can attain Skilled level or better in twoweaponing.
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: Knights can attain Expert in bare-handed combat.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Knights start with a long sword.
 * Knight Errant in Shining Armor
 * Lightning Bruiser: Combining their lance with the speed of their mount allows Knights to joust and pound several enemies to death, potentially before they can actually get a hit in.
 * Magic Knight: Knights are capable of becoming adept spellcasters, especially once they find casting-friendly armor. Their quest artifact, the Magic Mirror of Merlin, also grants double spell damage exclusively to Knights.
 * Master Swordsman: One of three roles that can reach Skilled or better in 5 of the 6 sword-based skill classes.
 * Mounted Combat: The Knight excels most at this among the playable roles per Lightning Bruiser; they are the only role that can attain Expert level in riding, and they can also mount steeds without decreasing their tameness.
 * The Paladin: Knights draw from this archetype: they can only be Lawful humans, are expected to follow a moral code to maintain their alignment, and their most ideal forms of offense are especially effective against demons and undead, such as...
 * Turn Undead: In special role ability and special spell form!

Monk
"Monks are ascetics, who by rigorous practice of physical and mental disciplines have become capable of fighting as effectively without weapons as with. They wear no armor but make up for it with increased mobility."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Acquired Poison Immunity: Monks are unusual in that they gain a majority of their intrinsics through leveling, such as poison resistance at XL 3; this is to make up for their intended vegetarian diet limiting sources of intrinsics to food such as ooze globs and jelly corpses.
 * All Monks Know Kung Fu
 * Bare-Fisted Warrior Monk: The Monk is geared towards fighting unarmed, and gets the most damage out of fighting with their bare (technically gloved) hands among the available roles.
 * It's less powerful than was intended, though - the role is ported directly from SLASH'EM, where the monk also had access to special techniques, and the quest was balanced with this in mind. The result is the quest nemesis, Master Kaen, gaining a reputation as That One Boss.
 * Canon Immigrant: The Monk role was imported from SLASH'EM.
 * Character Alignment: Monks can be any alignment.
 * Chinese Mythology: Their pantheon consists of Shan Lai Ching, Chih Sung-tzu and Huan Ti.
 * Danger Sense: Monks gain warning at XL 7 and searching at XL 9.
 * Enlightenment Superpowers: Of a sort - in addition to acquiring many intrinsics through gaining levels (and starting with a good few already), Monks are solid spellcasters and actually exercise wisdom by going hungry. Their quest artifact, the Eyes of the Overworld, also gives them 'astral vision'.
 * Self-Imposed Challenge: The Monk is the most friendly role by design for several conducts - their diet is 'naturally' vegetarian (eating meat incurs a -1 alignment penalty), their proficiency in martial arts is conducive towards weaponless conduct (which only counted wielded weapons), and they can even be used for "foodless" runs (evoking the image of an ascetic survivng only on prayer).
 * Shaolin and Wu Tang: Monks are styled after this archetype.
 * Simple Staff: One of the few weapons they can actually take skill levels in.
 * Useless Useful Spell: The spell of restore ability, their special spell (with the spellbook being their crowning gift) can restore lowered stats... and so can unicorn horns for absolutely no cost in magic power. And unlike the potion, the spell can't restore lost levels. <--In 3.7, the nerf to the unicorn horn's healing ability makes this spell much more useful.-->
 * Veganopia: The Monk is implied to be from one, as their alignment standards actively punish breaking vegetarian conduct (albeit far less harshly than it could).

Priest
"Priests and Priestesses are clerics militant, crusaders advancing the cause of righteousness with arms, armor, and arts thaumaturgic. Their ability to commune with deikties via prayer occasionally extricates them from peril, but can also put them in it."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Carry a Big Stick: Priests start the game with a mace. The aklys is also a prime choice of weapon that doubled as a ranged attack.
 * Character Alignment: Priests can be any alignment.
 * Church Militant: Of the "blunt weapons" kind - all edged weapon skills are restricted, but in return the Priest can obtain skilled or better in several bashing weapon classes such as the club, mace and quarterstaff.
 * Danger Sense: Priests gain the warning intrinsic at XL 15.
 * Drop the Hammer: One of three roles that can attain Expert in hammer.
 * Detect Magic: Priests have the innate ability to recognize if an item is cursed or blessed.
 * Holy Burns Evil: Priests start with holy water for blessing items (blessed items do some extra damage to undead and demons), and garlic that can be set down to ward off undead, naturally including vampires.
 * Turn Undead: In special role ability and spell form!

Ranger
"Rangers are most at home in the woods, and some say slightly out of place in a dungeon. They are, however, experts in archery as well as tracking and stealthy movement."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Anarchy Is Chaos: Rangers can be chaotic or neutral, and based on the details of the quest, the player character's fellow rangers aren't entirely keen on this "civilization" thing.
 * The Archer
 * Danger Sense: Rangers start with the searching intrinsic, in line with their tracking abilities.
 * Dual Wielding
 * Fish Out of Water: Implied by their guidebook description.
 * Forest Ranger: An archer that hails from a dwelling in the woods.
 * Hunt the Wumpus:
 * Roman Mythology: Their pantheon consists of Mercury, Venus and Mars.
 * Spiritual Successor: Introduced in 3.3.0 as one to the now-defunct Elf role, with their quest in particular being adapted from the Elf's quest and further refined during 3.3.1.

Rogue
"Rogues are agile and stealthy thieves, with knowledge of locks, traps, and poisons. Their advantage lies in surprise, which they employ to great advantage."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Back Stab: The role's unique skill, which increases damage against fleeing foes based on your level. It does not work when Dual Wielding, however.
 * Character Alignment: Rogues are always Chaotic.
 * Danger Sense: Rogues gain the searching intrinsic at XL 10, helping them better spot traps among other things.
 * Dual Wielding: Short swords are among the best offhand weapons for this purpose, and the rogue can attain Expert skill with twoweaponing in general and short swords in particular.
 * Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser: Their pantheon is derived from the stories' universe, consisting of Issek, Mog and Kos, and their quest leader is none other than...
 * Flechette Storm: Capable of dealing absurd "storm" damage with knives, darts, and especially their trademark daggers (which Rogues get a +1 multishot bonus for when throwning).
 * Fragile Speedster: Subverted in that they don't gain intrinsic speed by level-up, but start with a combination of high dexterity and low AC, and must use their stealth skills to survive and outwit foes until they can find better armor.
 * Knife Nut: They start with a plentiful stack of daggers, and can attain Expert in both daggers and knives.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Rogues that can train up the exceptional strength befitting that of a thug - and combine it with the above projectile-throwing abilities and a solid stack of (preferably enchanted) daggers - can turn anyone within line-of-sight into a makeshift knife rack.
 * Master of Unlocking: Rogues start with a lock pick. While any role can make use of Skeleton Keys, the Rogue gets a bonus when using their trusty lock pick, to the point of being faster at (un)locking chests than any other role with high enough dexterity (which is naturally their best stat).
 * Master Swordsman: One of three roles that can reach Skilled or better in 5 of the 6 sword-based skill classes.
 * Skeleton Key: While Rogues prefer lockpicks, they're not too bad with these, either.
 * Video Game Stealing: Of a sort. Rogues always start the game with a sack, which can be used for theft via credit cloning and stashing unpaid items (e.g. for a pet to carry outside of the store, where they "legally" become yours). They don't have an actual theft attack, though, being more of a thug or robber that wouldn't be out of place in Discworld.
 * Unusually, they're the only chaotic-compatible role to not get an alignment bonus for directly stealing from shops.
 * What, you want a medal for doin' yer job?

Samurai
"Samurai are the elite warriors of feudal Nippon. They are lightly armored and quick, and wear the dai-sho, two swords of the deadliest keenness."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Blade of Fearsome Size: The Tsurugi of Muramasa, the Samurai quest artifact, is a large two-handed tsurugi that can literally cleave many foes in two, instantly killing the victim.
 * Blind Weaponmaster: Samurai were the prime class of choice for zen players due to their inherent melee strength; they also have a chance to start with a blindfold, and prior to the release of 3.6.0, they were one of the few roles that could.
 * Dual Wielding: Both their starting weapons are good twoweaponing material, particularly the katana - and Samurai are one of two roles that can attain Expert level in twoweaponing, with the other being the Rogue.
 * Gratuitous Japanese: When playing as a Samurai, the game refers to certain items by Japanese names of varying accuracy, but otherwise treats them the same. The role itself is styled after the stereotypical samurai's honorable service to his lord and country (hence their being Lawful-exclusive humans), and the Quest in particular is full of this.
 * Grave Robbing: Samurai are penalized for this.
 * Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Samurai start without one, though naturally they'll want to find one before diving into the depths of the dungeon proper.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Samurai always start with a katana and washizaki (the role's name for a short sword), and the katana is an excellent twoweapon choice for the offhand. Their quest artifact, the Tsurugi of Muramasa, can bisect some monsters in half.
 * Japanese Mythology: The basis of their pantheon, naturally, consisting of Amaterasu Omikami, Raijin and Susanowo.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: All samurai start with a katana (otherwise called a samurai sword), and their first sacrifice gift will always be the artifact katana Snickersnee. Samurai wielding katana can break enemy weapons with it.
 * Master Swordsman: Along with bieng one of three roles that can reach Skilled or better in 5 of the 6 sword-based skill classes, Samurai are capable of reaching Expert skill level in three of them.
 * Ninja: The only ninjas in the game are found on the Samurai quest. It's also one of the role's rank titles.
 * Ronin: Averted with the quest storyline, which sees you returning to your homeland and lord to aid them.
 * Stock Ninja Weaponry: Samurai can reach Skilled level or better in washizaki, tanto, nunchaku, and shuriken (i.e. short swords, knives, flails and... shuriken).
 * Unskilled but Strong: Downplayed. Similar to Valkyries, Samurai are strong melee fighters with the same base spellcasting penalty. Unlike the Valkyrie, they also start with a viable means of ranged attack and intrinsic speed, which the Valkyrie must develop through training daggers or other weapons and gaining levels.

Tourist
"Tourists start out with lots of gold (suitable for shopping with), a credit card, lots of food, some maps, and an expensive camera. Most monsters don't like being photographed."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Acquired Poison Immunity: Tourists can get this naturally... at XL 20, by which time they'll likely have found a corpse to provide the intrinsic for them.
 * Big Eater: Implied by the usually high amount of starting food.
 * Blinding Camera Flash: Tourists always start the game with an expensive camera that's used for this purpose.
 * Character Alignment: Tourists are always neutral.
 * Discworld: The entire basis of the role, complete with their pantheon featuring Blind Io, The Lady and Offler, acting as the quest leader, and the quest nemesis being
 * Danger Sense: Tourists gain the searching intrinsic at XL 10.
 * Dual Wielding: One of five roles that can attain Skilled level or better in twoweaponing.
 * Flechette Storm: Tourists can achieve Expert skill in darts and daggers.
 * Jack of All Trades: Able to attain Basic skill or better in every form of weapon save for clubs.
 * Lethal Joke Character: The Tourist has the lowest starting AC in the game, with nothing but the Hawaiian shirt on their backs as armor, and their combat stats are lackluster. Their only means of starting offense is a stack of throwing darts, and their other items aren't much use in the way of combat beyond some healing potions. Tourists also start with a fair amount of gold, and if they can safely make it to a shop, they can easily buy their way into a solid kit - their natural high Charisma can offset shops overcharging them, and being a Jack of All Trades can get quite a lot out of almost any weapon. Their starting kits also include a flashy camera that can be used to deter and blind attackers, and a pile of food that'll keep them from going hungry for quite a while, which all leads to...
 * Magikarp Power: Surviving long enough to clear their quest gives them the benefit of several in-branch shops and a relative Breather Boss in their quest nemesis. Their quest artifact is also among the most desirable in the game for neutral characters, and is effectively an infinite-use blessed scroll of charging in their hands - one that also grants magic resistance, telepathy, and half damage from enemy spells simply via carrying it. This means most wands have double or triple the duration, +4 or +5 rings are easy to create, and most chargeable tools get infinite uses. The Tourist skill tree allows them to attain Skilled level or better in many weapon classes associated with the more powerful artifacts; the scroll of magic mapping, which they start the game with a few of, is most useful in traversing Gehennom; and the starting shirt can easily be enchanted for a lightweight source of high AC.

Valkyrie
"Valkyries are hardy warrior women. Their upbringing in the harsh Northlands makes them strong, inures them to extremes of cold, and instills in them stealth and cunning."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * An Ice Person/Kill It with Ice: Valkyries start with innate cold resistance and can walk over icy terrain without slipping. The cone of cold is their special spell.
 * Character Alignment: Valkyries can be Lawful or Neutral.
 * Drop the Hammer: One of three roles that can attain Expert in hammer. Mjolnir is also their first guaranteed sacrifice gift.
 * Dual Wielding: One of five roles that can attain Skilled level or better in twoweaponing.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Valkyries start with a long sword.
 * Norse Mythology: But of course. The Norn is their quest leader, their nemesis is Lord Surtur, and their pantheon consists of Tyr, Odin and Loki. ((spoiler|Their quest artifact, the Orb of Fate, is also personally signed by Odin.}}
 * One-Gender Role: Valkyries are always female by default.
 * Warp Whistle:

Wizard
"Wizards start out with a knowledge of magic, a selection of magical items, and a particular affinity for dweomercraft. Although seemingly weak and easy to overcome at first sight, an experienced Wizard is a deadly foe."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Anti-Magic: Wizards start with a cloak of magic resistance - a valuable defense against spells and rays (though less so for the latter than reflection) - and their first sacrifice gift is Magicbane, which can stun and even cancel monsters it hits while absorbing magical energy from them.
 * Character Alignment: Wizards can be neutral or chaotic.
 * Egyptian Mythology: Their pantheon consists of Ptah, Thoth, and Anhur.
 * Magic Missile: Their special spell, and easily the most damaging spell in the game in their hands.
 * Robe and Wizard Hat: The starting cloak of magic resistance acts as the former, though you can still find a "proper" robe, and the latter appears as a "cornuthaum", an item that only Wizards benefit from wearing.
 * Simple Staff: Wizards start with one.
 * Skill Gate Character
 * Sorcerous Overlord: The quest has a couple of these.
 * Teleportation: Wizards gain access to at-will teleportation at XL 8, where all other roles get it at XL 12. They also get the ability to control their teleports at XL 17.
 * Warp Whistle:
 * Weak but Skilled: Wizards have one of the lowest starting AC among roles and tend to start with very low strength. Those that can get around their low combat prowess and lack of armor in the early game can gain access to destructively powerful magic.
 * Weak but Skilled: Wizards have one of the lowest starting AC among roles and tend to start with very low strength. Those that can get around their low combat prowess and lack of armor in the early game can gain access to destructively powerful magic.

=Character Alignment= "Often, Lawful is taken as good and Chaotic as evil, but legal and ethical do not always coincide. Your alignment influences how other monsters react toward you. Monsters of a like alignment are more likely to be non-aggressive, while those of an opposing alignment are more likely to be seriously offended at your presence."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack

The game allows player characters to be one of three alignments: Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic. There is no good/neutral/evil axis as such - the game instead tracks players' "alignment record", which in essence is an indicator of one's standing with their respective god. This is because NetHack is based on earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons prior to their addition of the "good-evil" axis; at this time, it was common for players to interpret lawful as "good" and chaotic as "evil" as indicated (by the quote above), and other roguelikes such as Ancient Domains of Mystery still run with this interpretation. In practice, the alignments in NetHack function more as a barometer of Order Versus Chaos. Despite Nearly Everything Trying to Kill You, monsters also have alignment ratings that determine certain things, such as the type of nasties an Enemy Summoner can produce and which monsters can potentially generate as peaceful towards you. Positive values indicate a lawful monster, while negative values are used for chaotic ones (thus meaning that neutral monsters have a rating of 0); this also means that some monsters are more strongly lawful or chaotic than others.

The most unambiguously evil characters by the standard of alignment rating are the "unaligned" and their servants, i.e. the Wizard of Yendor and Moloch's priests. Since the game is built around randomization - with the Excuse Plot among the only fixed elements - the rest can very much be a matter of perspective Depending on the Player.

While the gods themselves and their pantheons are fairly interchangeable in terms of gameplay, each alignment has their own expected code of conduct from the player, albeit a fairly loose one. Humans can be of any alignment, while the other playable races are exclusive to one of the three, restricting the amount of role-race-alignment combos possible.

Artifact weapons are also given alignments as well, determining which ones a given character can use and receive; they can also be "non-aligned", meaning that they have no particular alignment bias and characters of any alignment can safely wield them. For artifacts that serve as quest objectives and sacrifice gifts, their alignment will be adjusted to match that of the recipient.

Lawful
The lawful alignment is as close to a traditional fantasy hero as you'll get in terms of alignment, and most lawful-compatible roles often have an accompanying set of stringent standards that reflect this. Despite this, lawful characters are still capable of a surprising amount of tricks that even a lawful god wouldn't be disapproving of.

Player character dwarves are exclusively lawful. Roles that can be played as lawful include Archeologists, Barbarians, Cavemen, Knights, Monks, Priests, Samurai, and Valkyries.


 * Excalibur:
 * Good Feels Good: Lawful characters get alignment bonuses for healing peaceful or tame monsters and untrapping others.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Just because you're a lawful character doesn't mean you can't play a little underhanded still - it's subverted in that you do still get penalized for certain actions.
 * Lawful monsters such as dwarves will also gladly take the fight to you - unless you're also lawful, in which case most of them will regard you peacefully and otherwise mine their business.
 * Some of the more dangerous nasties such as titans and golden nagas are lawful, and most of them may generate peaceful towards lawful characters.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Most of the sacrifice gifts that lawful player characters are eligible for are long swords.
 * Holy Burns Evil:
 * Many of the artifacts that are most effective against mostly-chaotic monsters (e.g. Demonbane, Grayswandir, the Sceptre of Might) are lawful.
 * Inverted with lawful player characters themselves, who take damage if they quaff unholy water and restore HP if they quaff holy water.
 * Lawful Good/Lawful Neutral: Generally where the player character falls.
 * Lawful Evil: Certain demons are rated as lawful in terms of monster alignment, vaguely similar to how Dungeons and Dragons handles demons and devils.
 * Light Is Good:
 * Angelic minions (represented by the 'A' glyph) are lawful by default, barring angels in service of a specific non-lawful god.
 * Sacrifices from lawful characters disappear in flashes of light instead of a burst of flame, serving as an unintentional Bowdlerisation of sorts.
 * Sunsword is a lawful long sword that doubles as a light source and deals bonus damage against undead, and Demonbane is a lawful-aligned Long Sword of Major Demon-Slaying - both of which may be generated in the hands of an angelic being.
 * Our Dwarves Are All the Same: All dwarves in the game are lawful.

Neutral
The neutral alignment is often associated with animals and nature. Neutral players are still expected to be generally decent people, but are not held to standards as stringent as those of lawful players and can play a little dirtier.

Player character gnomes are exclusively neutral. Roles that can be played as neutral include Archeologists, Barbarians, Cavemen, Healers, Monks, Priests, Rangers, Tourists, Valkyries, and Wizards.


 * Anti-Magic: Magicbane, a desirable artifact athame (which is a type of ritual dagger), is neutral-aligned by default, and can absorb and resist item-cursing effects. It also has various "magic-absorbing" effects when used against foes, with one of the more desirable ones being cancellation; many players tend to keep it enchanted at +2 for this reason.
 * Elemental Embodiment: The elemental class of monsters (which includes the invisible stalker, a species of air elemental) are all neutral.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Downplayed. Domestic animals have a higher chance of generating peaceful for a neutral player character, making them easier to tame. Elementals - forces of nature that include the dangerous air elemental - may also generate as peaceful towards them.
 * Neutral Good: Neutral alignment standards lean towards this.
 * True Neutral: Many animals, particularly several domestic ones, are considered neutral in this sense. The domestic animals in particular only attack out of hunger - throwing them a type of food that they don't normally eat (e.g. throwing vegetables at dogs and cats, or throwing food rations at horses) will pacify them.

Chaotic
The chaotic alignment is as close to "evil" as a player can get in the base game, but is ultimately not portrayed as such - at least not explicitly. They are still expected to be nominally good, or at least not chaotic to the point where it starts causing problems.

Player character orcs and elves are exclusively chaotic. Roles that can be played as chaotic include Barbarians, Monks, Priests, Rangers, Rogues, and Wizards.


 * Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted due to the player character potentially being chaotic, and also due to the Order Versus Chaos underpinning of the alignment system; as mentioned before, "unaligned" monsters are most likely to fit that bill. Other chaotic monsters such as orcs and elves may also generate peaceful towards you depending on your starting race.
 * Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: Chaotic players and monsters exhibit many characteristics consistent with this.
 * Chaotic Good: The watchmen commonly encountered in most versions of Minetown are rated as chaotic by the monster alignment system, despite serving as law enforcement for the area.
 * Elric of Melnibone: The portrayal of elves as chaotic draws partly from this series by Michael Moorcock. More pertinently,
 * Even Chaotics Have Standards: Chaotic characters have the loosest set of alignment standards, but are still expected to behave - even if only out of sheer pragmatism (e.g. they don't get penalized for murder, but can still lose a lot of alignment from indiscriminately killing peaceful monsters). The chaotic gods and many of their servants also still oppose the Wizard of Yendor and Moloch on principle.
 * Evil Feels Good: In addition to qualities like healing slightly from drinking unholy water, chaotic player characters are the only ones allowed (if not encouraged!) to perform same-race sacrifice, and gain alignment and possibly even Luck from it.
 * Fire and Brimstone Hell: Gehennom (including the Valley of the Dead) fits many of the hallmarks, and monster generation is heavily skewed towards chaotic monsters.
 * Holy Burns Evil:
 * Chaotic characters take damage if they quaff holy water, and restore HP if they quaff unholy water.
 * All forms of undead, all werecreatures and many demons have a chaotic monster alignment, and many still retain their traditional "holy-aligned" weaknesses (e.g. demons and undead take bonus damage from blessed weapons, and all demons, werecreatures and vampires are weak to silver).
 * Human Sacrifice: Only chaotic player characters can sacrifice members of their own species without penalty, and in fact gain quite a few bonuses for it.
 * Necromancy: In accordance with the above, chaotic characters casting Turn Undead can pacify them.


 * Our Elves Are Better: All elves in the game are chaotic, and elves may generate as peaceful towards chaotic non-orc player characters.
 * Our Orcs Are Different: All orcish monsters are chaotic, and may generate as peaceful especially towards orc player characters.
 * Our Werebeasts Are Different: All were creatures are rated as chaotic.
 * Villain Protagonist: The Rogue comes the closest to this out of the playable roles, being a trained thief and enforcer.

Unaligned
In NetHack, only four gods lack an alignment: Marduk, Moloch, Arioch and Elbereth; in gameplay terms, the "unaligned" alignment is only attributed to Moloch, his priests and the Wizard of Yendor. This marks the three of them as unambiguously Chaotic Evil in practice, since almost all unaligned entities actually present in the game serve as antagonists. As mentioned before, there are also non-aligned artifacts that can be given to any player as a sacrifice gift.


 * Always Chaotic Evil: The only exception among them is the priest of Moloch in the Valley of the Dead, who functions like any other peaceful 'aligned' priest.
 * Blue and Orange Morality: To a degree with Moloch; he is the enemy of all three alignments' gods, and doesn't seem to care much for anyone except his priests (and in some cases not even then).
 * The Wizard of Yendor himself is an antagonist to the player no matter their alignment, and seems to have no trouble with Moloch or his servants while making his home in Gehennom.

=Playable Races= Beyond matters of alignment discussed above, the five playable races also have their own distinct and exclusive traits.

Dwarves
"Dwarves are smaller than humans or elves, but are stocky and solid individuals. Dwarves' most notable trait is their great expertise in mining and metalwork. Dwarvish armor is said to be second in quality not even to the mithril armor of the Elves."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack

Elves
"Elves are agile, quick, and perceptive; very little of what goes on will escape an Elf. The quality of Elven craftsmanship often gives them an advantage in arms and armor."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * The Fair Folk: In the arachived Usenet newsgroup FAQ, Dylan O'Donnell notes that this is one of the many likely rationales for why all elves in the game are rated chaotic-aligned by the code, citing examples such as Michael Moorcock's Melnibonians and Steven Brust's Dragaerians, as well as Sir Terry Pratchett's handling of elves in Lords and Ladies.
 * That said, they do share a "Tolkienian" hatred of orcs, who are also chaotic - the feeling's mutual.

Gnomes
"Gnomes are smaller than but generally similar to dwarves. Gnomes are known to be expert miners, and it is known that a secret underground mine complex built by this race exists within the Mazes of Menace, filled with both riches and danger."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack

Humans
"Humans are by far the most common race of the surface world, and are thus the norm by which other races are often compared. Although they have no special abilities, they can succeed in any role."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * I'm a Humanitarian: Subverted - humans are penalized heavily for engaging in cannibalism unless they're Cavemen; in practice, this mostly comes into play with
 * What Measure Is a Humanoid?/What Measure Is a Non-Human?: As long as they aren't "people", humans can eat the corpses of practically anything or anyone they want within reason.
 * Jack of All Stats/Jack of All Trades: Humans have the highest average attribute caps of the five playable races. Among the few objective drawbacks are lower dexterity and constitution caps compared to dwarves, and lower intelligence and wisdom caps than gnomes and elves; they also lack infravision, making dark areas more hazardous for them without a light source. Furthermore, NPC gnomes don't care for humans, and neither do dwarves unless you're lawful.

Orcs
"Orcs are a cruel and barbaric race that hate every living thing (including other orcs). Above all others, Orcs hate Elves with a passion unequalled, and will go out of their way to kill one at any opportunity. The armor and weapons fashioned by the Orcs are typically of inferior quality."

- A Guide to the Mazes of Menace: Guidebook for NetHack


 * Acquired Poison Immunity: A natural trait of player orcs.
 * Eat the Dog: Orcs don't get penalized for doing it, as it happens!
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Orcs not only don't get penalized for cannibalism as well, they even get benefits from same-race sacrifice (discussed in the chaotic section above).