🚀 go-pugleaf

> 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.)

We are running version 1.0.2, but I suspect things have not changed.  A
nurse is quite an unfriendly monster unless you (a) are not wielding
anything (anything at all, not just a weapon) and (b) are wearing no
armor.  Only then will the nurse help you along.

By the way, don't bother killing a nurse.  Just let it keep following
you around and pounding on you.  The results are rather pleasant.  In
fact, nurses (and, I suppose, dogs) are good reasons for saving a wand
of hasten monster (an item that otherwise is only useful as something
to sell to shopkeepers).  If you really want to get rid of a nurse,
wait for it to go away for a while -- nurses wander off and come back
occasionally -- and drop down to the next level.  The only problem is
when you get trapped with a monster you can't deal with without your
armor or a weapon.  Remember, though, that you can always go under
Elbereth, and the nurse is right there helping you as you mix it up
with the meanies.  I once fought off an umber hulk and a xorn at the
same time, bare-handed and defenseless, while two nurses helped me stay
alive.

-- 

Ted Hopp	{seismo,umcp-cs}!nbs-amrf!hopp