188622462@excalibur.UUCP (Greene T Richard) (03/13/86)
In article <187@moncol.UUCP>, john@moncol.UUCP (John Ruschmeyer) writes: >Something odd happened to me in a recent game that I was hoping someone on >the net could explain. > >Playing as a caveman, I found a wand. Not knowing what it was, I zapped a >homonculous that was clobbering me. It turned out that the wand was a wand >of polymorph and I had polymorphed the 'h' into a nurse. > >With only a couple of hit points left, I was hit by the nurse. Instead of >getting better, however, I was killed. > >What happened? Is a polymorphed nurse not the real thing? > >(I am playing an early copy of PC-HACK version 1.0.3.) > Yes and no. It seems the special power of the nurse is a voluntary one. Your hitpoints will increase only when the nurse is in the mood, aka when all your armour is off. However, since you polymorphed a homunculus into a nurse while the power was avaiable, the creature still had the personality of a homunculus. Therefore the attack was a normal one, not a healing one. BTW, this personality trait is true in all polymorphs of other creatures. I point out that when you polymorph your dog into something nice, like, say, a Xorn (preferably on level 2 or 3 to get at the people you dislike :-/ ), it still acts like your dog, helping you and bringing you things. Spoiler: If you are being chased by an angry shopkeeper, and you have the wand of polymorph, zap him with it. He is still mad, but is no longer as strong, I like polymorphing the shopkeeper and watching him change into an acid blob. A new college :the University of Hackenslash. Major studies include the art of barbaric yelling, blindly rushing down corridors, acting without thinking, and of course, how to eat a dead corpse and live to feel sick. -- Rick Greene ...!ihnp4!psuvax1!vu-vlsi!excalibur!188622462
e65138@dartvax.UUCP (Paula Brittingham) (03/19/86)
>>the net could explain. >> >>Playing as a caveman, I found a wand. Not knowing what it was, I zapped a >>homonculous that was clobbering me. It turned out that the wand was a wand >>of polymorph and I had polymorphed the 'h' into a nurse. >> >>With only a couple of hit points left, I was hit by the nurse. Instead of >>getting better, however, I was killed. >> >>What happened? Is a polymorphed nurse not the real thing? >> >>(I am playing an early copy of PC-HACK version 1.0.3.) >> > >Yes and no. It seems the special power of the nurse is a voluntary one. Your >hitpoints will increase only when the nurse is in the mood, aka when all your >armour is off. However, since you polymorphed a homunculus into a nurse >while the power was avaiable, the creature still had the personality of a >homunculus. Therefore the attack was a normal one, not a healing one. >BTW, this personality trait is true in all polymorphs of other creatures. I >point out that when you polymorph your dog into something nice, like, say, a >Xorn (preferably on level 2 or 3 to get at the people you dislike :-/ ), it >still acts like your dog, helping you and bringing you things. > >Spoiler: If you are being chased by an angry shopkeeper, and you have the wand > of polymorph, zap him with it. He is still mad, but is no longer as > strong, I like polymorphing the shopkeeper and watching him change > into an acid blob. > The problem lies in the fact that he still had his armor on. That is all. He polymorphed the homunculus into a nurse, and the nurse hit him while he had his armor on. Nothing special about that. Oh, and I sure hope you like Xorns, cause the shopkeeper can be polymorphed into those too.
ray@utcsri.UUCP (Raymond Allen) (03/19/86)
In article <439@excalibur.UUCP> 188622462@excalibur.UUCP (Greene T Richard) writes: >However, since you polymorphed a homunculus into a nurse >while the power was avaiable, the creature still had the personality of a >homunculus. Therefore the attack was a normal one, not a healing one. No! Whenever you polymorph any "regular" monster into another, the new monster behaves exactly like all others of its type. Thus a homunculus that is polymorphed into a nurse will behave exactly like any other nurse. By the way, I checked this on our own local (essentially unmodified) version 1.0.3 of hack and found this to be true. -- Ray Allen | "A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it." utcsri!ray | - Oscar Wilde as quoted in "Parachutes & Kisses" by Erica Jong
bruce@stc.co.uk (03/21/86)
In article <439@excalibur.UUCP> 188622462@excalibur.UUCP writes: >Yes and no. It seems the special power of the nurse is a voluntary one. Your >hitpoints will increase only when the nurse is in the mood, aka when all your >armour is off. However, since you polymorphed a homunculus into a nurse >while the power was avaiable, the creature still had the personality of a >homunculus. Therefore the attack was a normal one, not a healing one. Not quite true. You are correct in that monsters retain 'personality traits' after being polymorphed, however that isn't the reason the nurses attack killed the previous writer. Nurses always attack, pretty nasty too, until you're stripped off etc. >Spoiler: If you are being chased by an angry shopkeeper, and you have the wand > of polymorph, zap him with it. He is still mad, but is no longer as > strong, I like polymorphing the shopkeeper and watching him change > into an acid blob. I did this once and got a unicorn, which stayed mad, I was a bit unnerved at first, but I soon realised it was a hell of a lot easier than chasing round and round trying to corner a unicorn to throw gems at it. Instead it kept rushing up to attack me, and as soon as it was standing next to me I threw it a gem. My luck should have been massive, unfortunately I got pulled into a pool by an eel. So much for luck. -- Regards, Bruce Munro. <bruce@stc.UUCP> ...seismo!mcvax!ukc!stc!bruce