v0.34:Bogeyman

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v50.14 · v0.47 · v0.34.11 · v0.31 · v0.28 · v0.23 This article is about an older version of DF. More Info · V

A bogeyman is a night creature which attacks unwary adventurers who travel or sleep outside at night alone. The bane of many a young adventurer, bogeymen can prove to be fatal foes for the inexperienced and the unprepared. Fortunately, however, they can be avoided entirely by being accompanied by at least one companion, by sleeping the night away inside of a shelter (see below), or by sleeping/travelling underground or in the more desolate biomes, such as mountains, deserts, beaches, oceans and lakes.

When you are ambushed by bogeymen, you will get the message:

You are surrounded by incessant cackling.

and will receive the message:

You are still surrounded by cackling.

if you try to travel or sleep/wait while you're still being attacked.

If you're playing as an adventurer with High Agility, you may be able to run away from bogeymen. However, there is no escaping the night. No matter where you run, the bogeymen will teleport near you if you ever get too far away. Fortunately, there are three ways to get rid of bogeymen:

1. Killing them all
The most obvious remedy. However it is probably the most difficult one for inexperienced adventurers, and anyone who attempts to do this should be well prepared. Once your adventurer becomes skilled, this will become a trivial task. See the "Fighting bogeymen" section for more information.

2. Surviving until dawn
Bogeymen will be vaporized by the morning sun, so if you can't kill them but are able to run away from them or dodge/block their attacks well, you have another option:keep on doing that until dawn breaks. Unfortunately, this can take quite a while, depending on the time of night you were ambushed.

3. Entering a shelter
"Shelter" here refers to (non-abandoned) buildings, (inhabited or uninhabited) lairs and caves. Seeking refuge in such a place will make the bogeymen disappear in a puff of smoke. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why townspeople encourage you to spend the night in their homes. You can find the nearest shelter by examining the map in your Quest Log.

Once you succeed in doing one of the above, you'll get the message:

The cackling fades away.

And then you can get back to adventuring.

Note that even if you successfully defeat bogeymen using any of the three methods described above, you can never get rid of bogeymen permanently, as they will ambush you again some other night if you do not take precautions. However, if you prefer not having to deal with bogeymen, generating a world with "Number of bogeymen types" set to 0 [BOGEYMAN_NUMBER:0] in advanced world generation will ensure that no bogeymen exist in your world.

Bogeymen are created procedurally at the start of world gen, much like Titans and Forgotten Beasts but to a lesser extent. The number of different types of bogeymen can be controlled in advanced world generation, as demonstrated in the previous paragraph. During a bogeyman ambush, you will face mixed types of bogeymen. For example, some Bogeymen are generated with wings and thus have the ability to fly, but this doesn't usually affect adventurers unless they too can fly. Others might be generated with appendages such as horns which can be used to gore the bogeyman's prey.

Bogeymen dissolve into smoke shortly after being killed, but will not light objects on fire. Bogeymen body parts can be picked up but they too vaporize quickly. However, it is sometimes possible to keep them if you pick them up and fast-travel away before they start smoking. Bogeymen cannot be butchered as they are considered sapient creatures.

During a bogeyman attack, the "give up" option in the Esc screen becomes Give in to the night. Selecting this will end the game immediately. If you end the game in this way, or are otherwise killed by bogeymen, you will be described in Legends mode as having died in the the dark.

Fighting bogeymen

Direct combat against bogeymen might seem suicidal, but if you know how to fight them effectively, they will go down surprisingly easily. Here are a few tips for fighting them:

• Don't panic. Carefully planned manoeuvring is the key to survival.

• Use your size to your advantage. Bogeymen are surprisingly small relative to the playable races available in unmodded games. Set your combat preference to charge, and you will knock them over every time you strike. This can easily give you the upper hand in battle, as being prone slows bogeymen down and gives you more time to act.

• Your speed is an important factor when it comes to fighting bogeymen. Whilst a slow adventurer can be swarmed and killed in seconds, one who is faster than the bogeymen has a distinct advantage. Remember, prone bogeymen are much slower, so charge at them as often as you can. You could also try to sever off feet or legs, as this will make them permanently prone. If you are carrying a lot of heavy objects, it might be a good idea to drop your backpack or, better yet, throw the heavier and/or pointier objects at the bogeymen if they are not too close to you. If you are really desperate for speed, you might also want to consider dropping your armor if it is slowing you down too much. Note that, while the extra speed might very well prove vital for your survival, you will also be more exposed to bogeymen attacks and will probably die faster if they manage to attack you and you are not a good dodger.

• Despite what your imagination might imply, bogeymen are actually organic creatures. This means that they can be killed by damage to the brain, beheading, bisection and excessive blood loss, and it is generally easy to sever limbs and break bones. However, like a number of other night creatures, bogeymen do not feel pain and do not breathe, so they do not receive pain-related penalties or die from suffocation. This means that the most effective weapons to use against them are edged weapons. With sufficient weapon skill, it is easy to score a hit that will sever a limb or puncture a vital organ such as the heart. Due to their small size, it is also easy to chop off the head or the lower body, killing the bogeyman instantly.

• Whatever you do, don't allow yourself to get surrounded. If a group a bogeymen are approaching you from one direction, move in the opposite direction. This generally leads to them approaching you in a line rather than a group, as the fastest bogeyman reaches you first. Thus you can fight them one at time if you are fast enough.

• Don't let bogeymen get the initiative. If you let the bogeyman attack you, it might be the beginning of the quick end. So you should charge at one, attack it and run away before it has the chance to attack you.

• If the odds are against you, don't hesitate to flee. Remember that you don't need to kill bogeymen to get rid of them - you just have to survive the night or enter a shelter. Thus you should try to run in the direction of the nearest town, fortress, cave or lair. If you have a high enough speed, running away should actually be quite easy, as the bogeymen won't be able to catch up with you despite their constant teleportation. If ever a bogeyman gets too close to you, charge at it to knock it over and slow it down, and then continue running.

• Above all, remember that Losing is fun!

V · T · E Creatures
Races	Dwarf • Elf • Goblin • Human • Kobold Subterranean animal people Amphibian man • Antman • Bat man • Cave fish man • Cave swallow man • Olm man • Reptile man • Rodent man • Serpent man
Birds	Albatross (man, giant) • Barn owl (man, giant) • Bushtit (man, giant) • Cassowary (man, giant) • Cockatiel (man, giant) • Crow (man, giant) • Eagle (man, giant) • Emu (man, giant) • Great horned owl (man, giant) • Grey parrot (man, giant) • Hornbill (man, giant) • Kakapo (man, giant) • Kea (man, giant) • Kestrel (man, giant) • Kiwi (man, giant) • Loon (man, giant) • Lorikeet (man, giant) • Magpie (man, giant) • Masked lovebird (man, giant) • Osprey (man, giant) • Ostrich (man, giant) • Parakeet (man, giant) • Peach-faced lovebird (man, giant) • Penguin (little, emperor, man, giant) • Peregrine falcon (man, giant) • Puffin (man, giant) • Raven (man, giant) • Snowy owl (man, giant) • Sparrow (man, giant) • Swan (man, giant) • White stork (man, giant) • Wren (man, giant)
Bugs	Bark scorpion (man, giant) • Brown recluse spider (man, giant) • Damselfly (man, giant) • Grasshopper (man, giant) • Jumping spider (man, giant) • Louse (man, giant) • Mantis (man, giant) • Moon snail (man, giant) • Mosquito (man, giant) • Moth (man, giant) • Slug (man, giant) • Snail (man, giant) • Thrips (man, giant) • Tick (man, giant)
Desert	Desert tortoise (man, giant) • Gila monster (man, giant) • Leopard gecko (man, giant)
Domestic	Alpaca • Blue peafowl • Cat • Cavy • Chicken • Cow • Dog • Donkey • Duck • Goat • Goose • Guineafowl • Horse • Llama • Mule • Pig • Rabbit • Reindeer • Sheep • Turkey • Water buffalo • Yak
Mountain	Chinchilla (man, giant) • Dark gnome • Hoary marmot • Mountain gnome • Mountain goat • Wolverine (man, giant)
Ocean	Angelshark • Basking shark • Blacktip reef shark • Blue shark • Bluefin tuna • Bluefish • Bull shark • Cod • Coelacanth • Common skate • Conger eel • Crab (man, giant) • Cuttlefish (man, giant) • Elephant seal (man, giant) • Frill shark • Giant grouper • Great barracuda • Great white shark • Halibut • Hammerhead shark • Harp seal (man, giant) • Horseshoe crab (man, giant) • Leopard seal (man, giant) • Longfin mako shark • Manta ray • Marlin • Milkfish • Narwhal (man, giant) • Nautilus (man, giant) • Nurse shark • Ocean sunfish • Octopus (man, giant) • Opah • Orca (man, giant) • Sea lamprey • Shortfin mako shark • Sperm whale (man, giant) • Spiny dogfish • Sponge (man, giant) • Spotted wobbegong • Squid (man, giant) • Stingray • Sturgeon • Swordfish • Tiger shark • Walrus • Whale shark • Whitetip reef shark
River/Lake	Axolotl (man, giant) • Beaver (man, giant) • Carp • Hippo • Leech (man, giant) • Longnose gar • Mink (man, giant) • Otter (river, sea, man, giant) • Pike • Platypus (man, giant) • Pond turtle (man, giant) • Snapping turtle (common, alligator, man, giant) • Tigerfish
Temperate	Adder (man, giant) • Alligator • Badger (man, giant) • Black bear • Bobcat (man, giant) • Buzzard • Capybara (man, giant) • Coati (man, giant) • Copperhead snake (man, giant) • Cougar • Coyote (man, giant) • Deer • Dingo (man, giant) • Echidna (man, giant) • Fox • Gray langur (man, giant) • Green tree frog (man, giant) • Grizzly bear • Groundhog • Hare (man, giant) • Ibex (man, giant) • Kangaroo (man, giant) • Kingsnake (man, giant) • Koala (man, giant) • Moose (man, giant) • Opossum (man, giant) • Panda (man, giant) • Porcupine (man, giant) • Raccoon • Rattlesnake (man, giant) • Red panda (man, giant) • Rhesus macaque • Skunk (man, giant) • Weasel (man, giant) • Wild boar (man, giant) • Wolf • Wombat (man, giant)
Tropical	Aardvark (man, giant) • Anaconda (man, giant) • Armadillo (man, giant) • Aye-aye (man, giant) • Bilou • Black mamba (man, giant) • Black-crested gibbon • Black-handed gibbon • Bonobo • Bushmaster (man, giant) • Capuchin (man, giant) • Cheetah (giant) • Chimpanzee • Elephant • Gazelle • Giant desert scorpion • Giant tortoise (man, giant) • Giraffe • Gorilla • Gray gibbon • Honey badger • Hyena (man, giant) • Impala (man, giant) • Jackal (man, giant) • Jaguar (giant) • King cobra (man, giant) • Leopard (giant) • Lion (giant) • Lion tamarin (man, giant) • Mandrill • Mongoose (man, giant) • Monitor lizard (man, giant) • Ocelot (man, giant) • One-humped camel • Orangutan • Pangolin (man, giant) • Pileated gibbon • Python (man, giant) • Rhinoceros • Saltwater crocodile • Siamang • Silvery gibbon • Sloth (man, giant) • Sloth bear (man, giant) • Spider monkey (man, giant) • Tapir (man, giant) • Tiger (giant, man) • Two-humped camel • Vulture • Warthog • White-browed gibbon • White-handed gibbon
Tundra	Elk • Lynx (man, giant) • Muskox • Polar bear • Stoat (man, giant)
Subterranean	Amethyst man • Blind cave bear • Blind cave ogre • Blood man • Bugbat • Cave blob • Cave crocodile • Cave dragon • Cave floater • Creeping eye • Crundle • Draltha • Drunian • Elk bird • Fire imp • Fire man • Flesh ball • Floating guts • Gabbro man • Giant bat • Giant cave spider • Giant cave swallow • Giant earthworm • Giant mole • Giant olm • Giant rat • Giant toad • Gorlak • Green devourer • Helmet snake • Hungry head • Iron man • Jabberer • Large rat • Magma crab • Magma man • Manera • Molemarian • Mud man • Naked mole dog • Plump helmet man • Pond grabber • Reacher • Rutherer • Troglodyte • Voracious cave crawler
Mammals	Flying squirrel (man, giant) • Hamster (man, giant) • Hedgehog (man, giant)
Miscellaneous	Beak dog • Blizzard man • Foul blendec • Gremlin • Grimeling • Harpy • Ice wolf • Merperson • Nightwing • Ogre • Sasquatch • Satyr • Sea monster • Sea serpent • Strangler • Troll • Unicorn • Yeti
Semi-Megabeasts	Cyclops • Ettin • Giant • Minotaur
Megabeasts	Bronze colossus • Dragon • Forgotten beast • Hydra • Roc • Titan
Nonexistent	Centaur • Chimera • Griffon