There are 22 monsters that you'll commonly encounter in the dungeon. Most monsters are identically generated; one is only more powerful than another simply because of theinternal dice rolls. There are a total of five exceptions shown in the lists below.
These monsters are organized in two groups:
- Humanoids are capable of stealing items from the player when they attack, making them a major threat during the endgame. They also collect gold from the dungeon floor.
- Rogue (will always steal when attacking)
- Barbarian
- Elvin Ranger (Can shoot arrows)
- Dwarven Guard
- Mercenary
- Swordsman
- Monk (Can drink Healing potions)
- Dark Warrior (on deeper levels can transform into a Dark WereTiger)
- Assassin (generally invisible, can throw daggers)
- War Lord (often carrying a War Shield)
- Mage (Instantly steals spells, and disguised as one of the above monsters. Can teleport.)
- Creatures: Creatures are a collection of the more typical monsters. They can fall down pits, causing them to be considered "clumsy".
- Dire Wolf
- Ogre (can throw skulls for damage)
- Hobgoblin
- Werebear
- Lizard Man (Can Stench to cause weakness)
- Gargoyle
- Troll (Seems to do extra damage to shields)
- Wyvern (Breathes Poison)
- Dimension Spider (teleports)
- Shadow Dragon (Breathes Scorching Darkness)
- Fyre Drake (Breathes Fire)
- Demon (Instantly drains experience, and disguised as one of the above monsters. Invincible.)
Sometimes, a monster is tagged as weak — this indicates your skill is about five times that of the monster. Accordingly, a monster tagged as powerful has a higher skill.
Starting on dungeon level 14 (or earlier if you tarry around), you may encounter a mage or demon. These appear to be a normal monster, but when you encounter them in combat, they will either steal your spells or drain your experience. The monster will then disappear. You can sometimes detect them if they appear to be a monster outside of their depth, such as a Rogue or Dire Wolf; but they are otherwise disinterested in the sword.
Monster Generation
On entering a new level, between 1 and 3 human monsters are created (using the monster strength of the previous level.) The monster strength rating is then reset, and an additional 2 to 4 creatures are created. There is a maximum of five monsters in a given level, and any monsters killed will be slowly respawnen from a staircase.
When a monster is created, it's either a humanoid or creature. Once that distinction is made, one entry is chosen randomly from the list according to the table below:
| Levels | Human | Creature |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogue | Dire Wolf |
| 1-3 | Barbarian | Ogre |
| 1-5 | Elvin Ranger | Hobgoblin |
| 1-7 | Dwarven Guard | Werebear |
| 2-9 | Mercenary | Gargoyle |
| 4-11, 14+ | Swordsman | Troll |
| 6+ | Monk | Wyvern |
| 8+ | Dark Warrior | Dimension Spider |
| 10+ | Assassin | Shadow Dragon |
| 12+ | War Lord | Fyre Drake |
| 14+ | Mage | Demon |
| Levels identifies monster generation level, which may differ from dungeon level. | ||
While a monster coming from an up staircase will be weaker than the current dungeon level, an arrival from the lower levels causes the danger level to be increased (until it is reset from a level change.) As stated earlier, the monster strength is reset only after some monsters are generated, thus it is not advisable to remain on a given dungeon level for too long.