🚀 go-pugleaf

>>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.