Nymph

There are three species of nymph: water nymph, wood nymph and mountain nymph.

While not a strong attacker, the nymph is nevertheless a very dangerous monster. The main danger of nymphs is that they will charm/seduce you and steal items. They are hit-and-run artists. They can and will use even the most powerful items against you. Nymphs often carry mirrors and potions of object detection.

Dealing with the nymph
You shouldn't attack a nymph in melee unless you are strong enough to kill them in one hit. Polearms or lances may be effective if you are fast enough to always keep them one space away while you attack, but you will need to find a way to increase your speed since nymphs can easily outrun an early game player. Launchers and thrown weapons are the best choice against them, as well as spells and wands. Because they carry mirrors, it is not a good idea to zap them with a wand of striking or a spell of force bolt because the mirrors will often break resulting in a luck penalty. Besides attacking them, you can also use cancellation, which would make them hamless.

Do NOT have a wand of sleep out in the open or in your inventory when a nymph is nearby. They will steal it from you and use it to put you to sleep, leaving you open to more thefts.

Nymphs are often generated asleep. If you don't have a perfectly safe way to deal with one, the best idea is to just leave it asleep.

Polymorphing into a nymph
You can polymorph into any species of nymph. The polymorph is safe for your armor. This gives you two unique abilities:


 * You can remove an iron chain with a #monster command.
 * You can steal gear from monsters without killing them.

In order to steal, attack the monster bare-handedly. The game asks you for confirmation when you try to attack peaceful monsters, but stealing does NOT make them hostile.

Water nymph
These sometimes ambush you when you try drinking from a fountain.