nethack spoiler site http://www.nethack.de/ Maintainer: Sascha Wostmann (sascha@nethack.de) ----------------------------------------------------------- YANFAQ ~~~~~~ yet another nethack frequently asked questions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Collector: Sascha Wostmann Questions: rec.games.roguelike.nethack participants Answers: mostly Sascha Wostmann Date: May-06-97 Version: 1.2 I don't want to copy all the spoiler files here, but give you the answers to questions that are asked in the newsgroups regulary (that's the reason for a FAQ, isn't it?) I gave each question a 'level' of depth in the game, so the low-level questions come first, then the ones concerning with things that happen later in the game. The level is represented by the number preceding the 'Q'. Changes from the last version are marked with an asterik in front of the question, for example "*2Q: what is ..." Some of the answers are ROT13 so you don't accidently read an spoiler if you don't want to. You can download this file from my spoiler site too, with all the answers in clean text, because most editors can't ROT13. And of course, any comments and additions are welcome. Happy hacking, Sascha wostmann@geocities.com http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/3216/index.html special thanks for giving me suggestions to improve the FAQ go to: Dean Luick Kevin Hugo and probably some more I just forgot, please forgive me! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: where can I download the game? here you find pre-compiled games and (sometimes) the source code: ftp://ftp.uu.net/pub/games/nethack http://www.win.tue.nl/games/roguelike/nethack/index.html http://www.eecs.lehigh.edu/~jgt2/NetHack/ http://neylonpc.engin.umich.edu/nethack/ http://blues.helsinki.fi/~vviitane/nhcode.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: where can I find spoilers and other information about nethack? At these sites you can find spoilers, tips and variants of nethack: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/3216/index.html (spoilers etc.) http://www.eecs.lehigh.edu/~jgt2/NetHack/ (spoilers and binaries) http://neylonpc.engin.umich.edu/nethack/ http://www.rhein-main.de/~ptower/ (hints etc.) http://www.rz.tu-ilmenau.de/~wi019/ (Slash 4.1.2-x) http://members.xoom.com/wac/nethack/ (Slash'em beta) http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~mneylon/nethack/ (spoilers etc.) http://www.win.tue.nl/games/roguelike/nethack/index.html (anything, but old) http://users.aol.com/ADOMDev/index.html (ADOM, a variant) And here you find some additional programs for nethack, like NHSound: http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/3216/index.html (NH_Alert, MK_Bones) http://www.hut.fi/~tax/nhsound.html (NHSound) http://www.cs.hope.edu/~rvaniwaa/xf86ports.html (OS/2 Tiles version) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: Is Nethack multiplayer? No. There are several attempts to convert it to a multiplayer game, but none of them has finished yet. (not that nethack was finished yet...) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: How do I enable graphics? There are tiles included in nethack since Version 3.2 . First, look in your documentation to check if your version supports tiles. The DOS version for example does. To activate them for DOS, you have to edit your configuration file nethack.cnf and uncomment the line "#OPTIONS=video:autodetect". You uncomment it by removing the # at the beginning of the line. When you restart nethack, it will start in tiles mode. In UNIX-versions, you should look at win/X11/NetHack.ad, which contains a lot of the X11 modifiable parameters. The easiest thing for the user to do is to add the contents of that file to their .Xdefaults file. One of the entries commented out in this file is: NetHack.tile_file: x11tiles Uncomment this line to get tiles. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: how do I enter explore mode and what is the benefit of doing so? In explore mode you just can't die. Everytime your HP reaches zero, you are aked "die [yn] ?" and you can answer "n" to survive. To enter this mode, just hit "X" during a running game or enter "nethack -X" on the command line. In this case you'll start your game with a wand of wishing. You don't get an entry in the high-score table when you die/quit in explore mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: how do I enter wizard mode and what is the benefit of doing so? You can enter wizard mode (or debug mode) only via command line. The correct command is "nethack -u wizard -D" for vanilla nethack. The variants may have different commands, for example SLASH uses "nethack -u wizard -Z". On multiplayer Operating Systems like UNIX you have to be the one who compiled the game to enter wizard mode. Then you can just type "nethack -D". On the Macintosh, you can enter wizard mode by temporarily dragging the Nethack Defaults file out of the game folder; when you start up the game, a dialog box will pop up where you can select wizard mode. In wizard mode you have a couple of additional commands like magic mapping, searching, teleporting, etc. You can get a list of wizard mode commands by pressing "?" during the game and select "wizard mode commands" from the menu. This item only appears while you are actually in wizard mode. There are some more extended commands available (the ones that start with the #-character), but these are mainly debugging tools. The main differences are: you always have teleport control, there are commands to teleport at will (also level teleport), to do a magic mapping, to wish (also for unusual objects like altars, traps, etc.), to search (like a wand of secret door detection) and you won't die, like in explore mode. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: My computer crashed while I was playing nethack and now I have lost my best character ever. Is there a way to get it back into the game? Yes, probably. There is a programm called 'recover' in the distribution and this is the utility you need now. In your nethack directory are several files called after your character with a number as extension. Now you type recover . and the utility will hopefully create a save-file for the moment when you entered the level. (you may have to replace the dot with your actual directory in the above command.) But this only works if you are _NOT_ using version 3.2.1, where the recover utility had an error. PS: the Macintosh version of recover can be named "mrecover" or "recover". The usage is pretty obvious, you start the program, open the level 0 file and the rest is automatic. Unfortunately, the past several distributions have had a broken copy of recover, so copy your save file just in case. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: I've heard about bones files, what's that? When your character dies, there is a chance that the level will be saved to your disk. This file is called a bones file. When another character enters the same level number, there is a chance that instead of generating a random new level this saved level will be reloaded. You will find everything that was on the level when the former character died. But most of the inventory will be cursed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: It seems as if I never get bones files on my Win95 installation. Yes, that's possible because of a bug in the 3.2.2 version of the DOS compilation. Download and install MK_BONES from my nethack site to fix the problem (http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/3216/mkbones.zip) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: I always starve to death, where do I find something to eat? There are many food items laying around, they are all represented by a '%' sign in ASCII-Mode. You can eat your kills too, but some of them are poisonous. In the gnomish mines town, there is a good chance of a food store to be generated. When you still don't have enough to eat, you can ask your god for help. Just pray when you're getting weak and if all your stats are OK, your stomach will feel content again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1Q: I've read about someone named "Rodney" or "Dudley" in the newsgroup, but who are these persons? Your main enemy in this game is the Wizard of Yendor, who has stolen the Amulet of Yendor. Now, if you spell Yendor backwards, you get Rodney, the default character's name for some old versions of (net)hack. Dudley was created by someone in the news by misspelling Rodney and was adopted as an alias for the same person. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Q: What is that conical hat? What is a cornuthaum? A conical hat can be either a cornuthaum or a dunce cap. The cornuthaum has the following properties: For a Wizard: +1 CHA and clairvoyance. For a non-Wizard: -1 CHA, and if you obtain clairvoyance, it won't work. A dunce cap automatically turns cursed when you wear it and reduces your INT to 3 points. Mind flayer brain sucking attacks won't work while you wear the dunce cap. (you still forget identified objects or levels, but you don't die from brainlessness) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Q: how do I direct something at myself (wand, spell, etc.) ? Just hit the period key as the desired direction. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Q: how do I affect only several of a bunch of items in my inventory? enter the number of items before you press the letter of it. Example : a - 5 food rations now type "d2a" (drop two 'a') you drop 2 food rations a - 3 food rations -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Q: what else can I do with traps - beside getting trapped? You can untrap some traps. These are the dart- and arrow-traps that will create the corresponding weapon (around 20 of them). You can also disarm bear traps and land mines. These will create the objects bear trap and land mine that can be carried around and set up where you want them to be. And you can 'untrap' a squeaky board with a can of grease or a potion of oil. The squeaky board will disappear after the process. To untrap such a trap, use the extended command #untrap. You can also untrap pits, trap doors and holes by filling it up with a boulder. You can create a pit and a hole with your pick-axe or with a wand of digging if you direct it downwards, hit the > key as direction. When a monster has fallen into a pit you can try to pull it out by the #untrap command. If you succeed, there is a chance that the monster will be peaceful or even tame afterwards. Of course that doesn't work with heavy monsters like giants. And finally, when you fell into a pit and have a bullwhip with you and a boulder or a large monster next to the pit, you can (a)pply the whip towards the boulder or monster and pull yourself out of the pit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Q: whenever I want to cast a spell, the fail rate is at 100%. How do I lower it? Casting spells is hindered by metallic armor and the shield. So to successfully cast a spell you have to remove metal armor and your shield. Things you may wear are: (ROT13) All shirts All dragon scales and dragon scale mails Leather jacket, leather armor, studded leather armor Crystal plate mail All cloaks Elven leather helm, fedora, helm of brilliance Cornathaum (wizards only) All gloves except gauntlets of power All boots except iron boots (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Q: I am ambushed by a lot of monsters and I can't kill them all at once. What should I do? try to retreat into a corridor. There you only have to fight against one or two monsters at the same time. And if there are monsters firing arrows or darts at you, they probably hit their mates instead of you. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2Q: how do I prevent dying in the gnomish mines? The gnomish mines are quite dangerous compared to the early appearance. But you don't have to explore it right now, you can explore the main dungeon instead and gain a few levels, then come back and enter the mines. I usually descend until oracle or until I have around 60 HP and then head for the mines. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: how can I distinguish real gems from coloured glass? If you play the version 3.1.3, the easiest method is kick-boxing. Just name your gemstones 'worthless' and put them into a chest. Then step aside and kick the chest until no more 'you hear a muffled shatter' appear. The remaining gems are real ones and you rename them 'real' Unfortunately this method has been removed with version 3.2.0, so you have to use another approach. When you find a unicorn (preferrably one of your alignment), you can throw the gemstones at it. If it keeps the stone, it was a real one, if it drops it, it was a piece of glass. You can narrow down the decision by writing on the floor with the stone. When you engrave into the floor, the stone is hard and therefor a real gem. When you only write in the dust, the stone is soft and may be glass, but may also be a gem. The last method you can use to identify the glass is to collect all the gems you find and look which ones of each color you have the most of. This is usually the glass. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: how do I manually trigger a teleport trap when stepping onto it didin't work? hit ^T (ctrl-T) to activate a teleport trap. This is especially useful if you are wearing or carrying some objects that give you magic resistance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: My items are getting cursed, how can I make them uncursed again? The standard method of uncursing an item is to dip it into holy water (AKA blessed potion of water). This way you can uncurse any cursed item in your inventory or you can bless an uncursed item. (ROT13) You can even bless a bunch of uncursed water by dipping it into one potion of holy water and so you make lots of potions of holy water out of just one. (/ROT13) Another method is the scroll of remove curse. When it is blessed, it will uncurse all cursed items in your current inventory, but it won't affect items in a bag. So if you happen to find one, take everything you want to uncurse in your inventory, then read it. When the scroll is only uncursed, it will only affect 'vital' objects, these are weapon, armor, ring, amulet, an iron ball chained to you and a loadstone. (ROT13) But you can uncurse an arbitrary item with an uncursed scroll of remove curse if you temporarily wield it as a weapon. So you may want to wield a cursed scroll of enchant weapon... (/ROT13) Dipping the cursed item into a fountain is also a way to uncurse it, but the chance of success is quite low. And there are several bad effects that can occur when you fool around with fountains. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: My armor/weapon has become rusty/damaged/rotten. How do I repair it? You can repair and rustproof/fireproof/etc. your item in one turn. All you have to do is reading a scroll of enchant weapon/armor while you are confused. The damage will be repaired and the item is now ...proof. Another way to remove rust is the potion of oil. By dipping the weapon into it, you remove one degree of rust (there are three: rusty, very rusty and thouroughly rusty). But you don't rustproof the item and you can't dip armor into a potion of oil. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: What good is a potion of oil? You can refill an oil lamp with it. And you can repair squeaky boards with it. Or, the most useful IMO, you can apply it and then throw it at a monster of your choice. Instant fireball. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: I became invisible and now I can't enter a shop anymore. Is there a way? It depends on why you are invisible. If it is just a ring or a cloak, simply take it off and you will show up again. You may first need to uncurse the item. But if you are permanent invisible (by a wand for example) you can still enter shops if you wear a mummy wrapping. But first make sure the thing isn't cursed, otherwise you can't take it off again. This method only works since version 3.2, but there are other ways to enter shops, too. Be creative! (ROT13) Use jumping boots or a teleport scroll. Or just use a trap door on the level above and hope that you'll land right inside the shop. (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: I was punished by reading a scroll. How do I get rid of the ball and chain? There are several ways. The monst common is to read a scroll of remove curse and the chain will unlock and you are free. Another way is to let a nymph steal the ball, but this is quite risky. The coolest method (IMO) is (ROT13) to push a boulder next to a pit, then jump into the pit, climb out again, but let your ball stay inside, move around the boulder and push it into the pit. (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: There is one monster I could probably beat, but it always kills me first. What is a good tactic in this situation? Hit-and-run. You need a circuit around the actual level, maybe a room with a corridor that connects two doorways. Then you just run away from the beast. If you're fast enough you will get 'free' moves regulary where you move, but the monster stays still. These are the turns you can use to hit it. So if for example you are 1/3 faster than the monster, you'll get a free move every three turns. Now just count run-run-hit run-run-hit etc. The monster won't have a chance to hurt you, but you will constantly reduce its hit points and finally kill it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: What is so special about the luckstone, where can I get it? When you have a luckstone in your inventory, you affect your luck. There are several things you can do to affect your luck, e.g. throwing gems at unicorns, and whenever your luck differs from zero it will slowly come back (time out). By carrying a blessed luckstone, your good luck does no longer time out. That means that if you are lucky, you stay lucky. But if you are unlucky, you slowly get back to zero automatically. With a cursed luckstone, only your bad luck doesn't time out. That means if you are unlucky, you stay unlucky. Otherwise if you are lucky, your luck wears off as time goes by. When you carry an uncursed luckstone, both good and bad luck don't time out, that means your current luck is frozen until you do something that affects it. You can find it all over the dungeon because it can be generated randomly. A guaranteed luckstone is at the end of the gnomish mines, but you have to search for it, it is hidden somewhere. You can get the best possible luck with just one blessed luckstone. You will not achieve any better luck by having more luckstones of any type; keep the rest in a bag as reserves. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: How can I differentiate a luckstone from another gray stone? There are three different gray stones in nethack, the luckstone, the flint stone and the loadstone. The loadstone is the most heavy of the three so you can identify it by trying to kick it. Don't pick up any unidentified gray stone until you identified the loadstone, because by picking it up, it gets cursed and you can't drop it anymore. And because it is very heavy you probably have to drop your other things to move. Back to the gray stones, by kicking you can identify the loadstone, the other two are equally in weight. By trying to sell them, you can tell the luckstone from the flint stone, because a shopkeeper will give you more for a luckstone than for a flint stone. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: How can I find out the price of objects in a shop? You can ask the shopkeeper about the price of everything in his shop by stepping on the item in question and use the #chat command. He will tell you how much it is. To find out the value of your own items, just drop them and the shopkeeper will tell you how much he wants you to give for it. You can sell it if you want to, or you just say NO. Remember to pick the not-sold item up again before you leave the shop. Remember two things: The shopkeeper wants to make profit, so he will offer you less money than he wants from you when you buy it back. You charisma is taken into account in the price policy, so you may want to wear that ring of adornment and take off or hide your hawaiian shirt. The other thing is that some shops are specialized for one item class, like weapons, tools, gems, lightning store. In such a shop you can only sell items of the proper kind, the shopkeeper isn't interested in your other items. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: I am teleporting around and now I'm fearing to teleport out of a shop by accident before I am able to pay for what I pick up. What can I do? There is a way to go shopping safely, even when you have the intrinsic of teleporting. Here's the plot: - step on the item you want to have - ask the shopkeeper about the price (look previous question) - drop that amount of money (by typing for example d1000$), you'll get credit for your gold. - pick up the item - press 'p' to pay the shopkeeper. The price will be taken from your credit. if you teleport out after you dropped the gold, but before you pick up the item, your credit will remain. If you teleport out after you took the item, but before erasing your credit, the shopkeeper will take the credit for the item. (special thanks to Bruce Cox for explaining that technique in the news) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: What do I have to know about the weapon skill system? (Ver 3.2 and above) You can get 4 different levels of weapon skills: unskilled [u], basic [b], skilled [s] and expert [e]. You start with [u] in all the weapon classes but the ones you have in your starting inventory, these are [b]. After some time, you get a message like 'You feel more confident with your fighting skills.' That means that you can advance at least one of the weapon classes to a higher skill level. If you advance in one weapon and get the message 'you feel you could be more dangerous' that means that you can advance another weapon or another level. There is a limit for each weapon and character class how far you can advance. For example a knight may become [e] with long swords, where a barbarian only gets to [s]. On the other hand, the barbarian can get [e] with pick-axe and the knight only [b]. There is a complete table about how far each character may advance with the different weapons. You can find it at the spoiler sites. To advance a skill level, you have to hit monsters with that weapon. Hit them often. Hit them hard. You need 20 hard hits to advance from [u] to [b], 60 more for [s] and another 100 for [e]. But the hits are only one half of your needs to advance a skill. The other part is called 'skill slots'. You gain one of these slots with each level you gain. To advance from [u] to [b], you use up one of the slots, two for [s] and another three for [e]. That needs 6 slots for [u]->[e]. These slots are weapon-independent, so you may want to remain at a lower level with a bad weapon if you intend to use a better weapon later in the game. This is the reason, why skill enhancements doesn't work automatic. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: Some of the weapon classes aren't shown in the list. Where are they? (Ver 3.2 and above) That indicates that you can't enhance your skill with these weapons. They are called restricted and that's the same as being unskilled. (ROT13) The only way to achieve a skill in restricted weapons is to get such a weapon as a gift by your god. For example the Wizard is restricted in long swords. If he now gets demonbane after sacrifying, his skill will be shown as [u] and he may advance it to [b]. (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: what is so special with a cameleon? because it polymorphs by the time, it can have all intrinsics like breathe attacks, resistances, etc. It's a good tactic to attack it while it is quite whimpy like a grid bug or a newt. Or you can try to tame it by throwing tripe at it while it is a cat or a dog. But such a pet usually don't survive very long because of it's polymorphing. (ever had a pet yellow light?) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: what is polypiling? make a pile of stuff and zap a wand or spell of polymorph at the pile. Each item in the pile will polymorph into another item of the same object class. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3Q: what should I consider if I want to polypile? If your pile is too large and contains too many items of the same material, you may produce a golem of this kind (iron items = iron golem, etc.). To prevent this, create several piles in a line and zap along this line. Some of the items don't survive the polypiling even if no golem is created. The objects will stay in their class, so a piece of armor will remain a piece of armor and a wand will become a wand again. The items stay with their blessed/cursed-status, but you won't see it anymore unless you're a priest. And the items will remain their charges, so an empty wand will always be an empty wand. There are some objects you can't create by polypiling, to prevent the possibility of endless wishes. You can't create charged magic lamps, wands of wishing and artifacts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: How do I get rid of teleporting around? You have a bad case of teleportitis. You get this intrinsic by wearing the ring of teleportation or by eating several monsters (mostly leprechauns and nymphs). It's very difficult to get rid of it, but you may learn to like it, if you also get the intrinsic 'teleport control'. If so, you are asked where you want to teleport and everything is fine. To gain teleport control you can wear the ring of teleport control or you can eat a tengu or the Wizard of Yendor. Remeber eating the wizard is cannibalism unless you're an elf. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: Why doesn't my pet attack any monster anymore? Every monster has a experience level, just like you. And a pet will only attack monsters that are max. 1 level above itself. So your level 5 dog only attacks monsters with a level of 6 and below. To increase the value of your pet, you can polymorph it into really killers. A dragon for example attacks almost everything. If you can't polymorph it, you can use a ring of conflict, but then stay out of the way of you pet. It will attack everything. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: what is 'nurse dancing' ? When a nurse hits you while you aren't wearing armor and aren't wielding a weapon, she will heal you. That's the good news, the bad news is that the she will disappear after some time. Usually she only teleports away on the same level, but sometimes she will totally go away. (ROT13) You can prevent the teleport-away by catching a nurse on a no-teleport-level like medusa. And you can delay her total disappearing by wielding your weapon from time to time so her hits will actually hurt you. The chance of her disappearing is lower when you are not fully healed. Now, if you have a cursed scroll of genocide and lock yourself on a no-teleport level, you are 'nurse-dancing' when you read the scroll and ask for nurses. (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: I used to replace my pet by walking into it. But now I start attacking it if I do so, what's the reason? Assuming you haven't changed the option 'safe_pet' recently, you are probably wielding Stormbringer. One of its abilities is to attack everything you walk into, regardless if the monster is tame or peaceful. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: I experienced that my character keeps forgetting things he/she used to know before. For example suddenly I have an unidentified gem as a Archaeologist. What's the reason? A scroll of amnesia will make you forget your discoveries as well as some map levels. Also the mind flayer has this effect if his attack succeeds. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: How, exactly, do I use a magic marker? Do I write the name of the scroll (e.g., THARR,) or the type of scroll I want (e.g., charging), or what? You (a)pply the marker. Then you are asked what to write on, so you need a blank scroll or spellbook. Then you can either specify the correct name of the scroll (scroll of light) or just a short form (light) or the label (ZELGO MER), but the latter only if you already have such a scroll. (you can't write a ZELGO MER if you have never seen one). You can use the same scheme for spellbooks. You can even write an 'indigo' spellbook : What do you want to use or apply? [cm or ?*] m What do you want to write on? [ijklw or ?*] l What type of spellbook do you want to write? indigo The spellbook warps strangely, then turns indigo. l - an uncursed spellbook of detect food. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: How do I keep trolls dead? Inside. Put it into a bag, chest, box, ice-box, your stomach, a tin or your pet's stomach. Seriously: the best way is to have a hungry pet (dragons seem to be eating all the time) and feed it with the troll's corpses. Or tin them and they don't come back. You also prevent them from respawning by putting their corpse into a container. And you can throw the not-water-trolls into a pool and they'll drown as soon as they come back to life. Other solutions are to polymorph the live or dead troll into another monster or food item. Or just sacrify the corpse at the next altar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: I quaffed a potion and some monster popped out. What's happening here? Smoky potions may contain a djinni, and milky potions may contain a ghost. By drinking the potion you release it. Releasing the djinni out of a potion has the same effects as releasing it from a magic lamp. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: what are the probabilities of getting a wish by a djinni? That depends on the blessed/cursed status of the item the djinni came from. There are 5 possible outcomes when releasing a djinni: - get a wish - get a tame djinni (pet) - get a peaceful djinni - the djinni disappears - get a hostile djinni (ROT13) And depending on the cursed/blessed state of the item you have different chances for all the results. A blessed one has a eighty% chance of a wish and five% all the others. A cursed has eighty% hostile and five% others. An uncursed has equal chances (twenty%) for all five possibilities. (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4Q: What is the penalty/bonus for (not) advancing a weapon skill? (Ver 3.2 and above) There are two variables influenced by the weapon skill, the 'to hit' value that shows how likely you hit your opponent and the 'damage' value that indicates, how hard you hit the monster. Being unskilled (or restricted) gives a -4 to hit and -2 damage. Basic is +0/+0. Skilled +2/+1. Expert gives you +3 to hit and +2 damage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *5Q: eating a tengu gives either the intrinsic "teleport control" or "teleport". Does getting "teleport" prior to eating it increase my chance of getting "teleport control"? First of all, remember that a tengu can also give poison resistance. But your question has to be answered with "no", since the selection which intrinsic to confer is made without checking if you already have it. So there is always a 33% chance of getting teleport, although you already have it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: I've read the term 'ascension kit', what is that and where do I find it? An 'ascension kit' in no item in the game, it describes the stuff that most characters are carrying when they finally ascend. The items are (contents may vary due to personal preferrences): (ROT13) gray dragon scale mail speed boots shield of reflection some cloak (displacement or oilskin) gauntlets of power or dexterity artifact weapon blessed bag of holding blessed unicorn horn (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: what monster should I genocide? This question is hard to answer since everyone has his/her own favourite, but many players prefer to get rid of master liches and mind flayers first. Some also prefer sea monsters (eels, kraken) and nymphs. There is a spoiler file about genociding on my homepage, http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/3216 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: I arrive at medusa's island, but I can't cross the water. Am I stuck here? No, yo don't need to cross the water now. Although you can't teleport at medusa's level, you can level-teleport away. With teleport control you can specify the next level as destination. And even without level teleporting, you can use a pick-axe or a wand of digging to dig a hole into the floor and fall through to the next level. (ROT13) But always remember that medusa will still be there awaiting you when you come back to the level... (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: I finally killed my first dragon, and it left scales. How do I get the dragon scale _mail_ ? Dragon scale mail is the enchanted version of pure dragon scale. So you simply wear the scales and read a scroll of enchant armor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: I heard that it is able to create artifacts on your own. How does it work? The easiest artifacts for homework are Sting and Orcrist. You just look for the raw material (elven dagger and elven broadsword respective) and #name it. You can also create Excalibur by dipping it into a fountain. You need to be lawful and at least 5th level to succeed. Excalibur will then be rustproof. And finally you can create crysknife by wielding a worm tooth and then reading a scroll of enchant weapon. This isn't really an artifact, because you can have several of them. And these 'artifacts' change back to a worm tooth if you drop it on the floor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: If I wish for an artifact, what are my chances of success? The more artifacts already exist in your game, the lower is your chance of success. All artifacts that ever existed come into account, also those that were destroyed in the past. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: I finally found a wand of wishing, why does it explode when I try to charge it after it went out of charges? You can recharge a wand of wishing only once. When you try it the second time, it will explode. Otherwise you could wish for blessed scrolls of charging and have unlimited wishes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: OK, but what can I do with my empty wand of wishing if I can't recharge it? You can wrest one last charge out of every empty wand. You just have to zap it some more times. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5Q: My Rogue is doing quite well and finally reached the bottom of the Quest. But now, I can't reach the nemesis because the walls are too hard and I can't teleport. What should I do? There are several solutions. The monst common is to polymorph yourself into a Xorn that can cross walls like butter. But you need some equipment for self polymorphing. Another way is to dig a hole in the level above and fall through hoping to get into another part of the level. You need some way to leave the level afterwards though. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6Q: I fell through a trapdoor in the castle and now I'm stuck in the valley of dead. I can't descend deeper. What should I do? Well, besides level teleporting down, you could search for the down stairs. They are behind a hidden pathway that start in the upper section of the temple on the left part of the level. Just search the walls and you'll find a hidden door. The stairway is on the leftmost upmost place in the level. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6Q: I found the Wizard of Yendor(via telepathy) inside a large rectangular area of the map, but there seems to be no entrance. How can I reach him? The Wizard of Yendor resides in his "tower". You can't actually get inside the rectangular area of the map. Instead you have to descent further down until you find a small plus-shaped building in the center of a maze level. If you are lucky, the middle of this building contains a magic portal that teleports you into the tower at the lowest level. You have to go upstairs inside the tower to finally reach the Wizard. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6Q: I know I have to find a vibrating square, but I can't find it. What's wrong? The vibrating sqare appears at the very last level of gehennom. You can check if it's the last one if you try to dig downwards and get a message that the floor is too hard. Here you have to walk around until you eventually hit the vibrating sqare. You will notice a strange vibration under your feet. This spot will not be shown on your map, and you can't find it by the search command or any other means of searching (i.e. crystal balls). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6Q: what items do I need at the vibrating square and where do I get them? You need the Candelabrum of Invocation, seven candles, the Bell of Opening and the Book of the Dead. All the items except the candles must not be cursed. (ROT13) You find them with your quest leader, in the gnomish mines town, with Vlad the Impaler and with the Wizard of Yendor, respective. The correct order of using the objects is to apply the candles to the Candelabrum, then apply the Candelabrum itself, ring the Bell and finally read the Book. (/ROT13) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7Q: How do I find the portals in the endgame? You can use a crystal ball to find the traps (^) on the level. One of these is the portal. Or you can use a scroll of gold detection while confused or a cursed one while clear in mind. Zap a wand of secret door detection or the spell of detect unseen. Or search with a ring or intrinsic. Or wear the Amulet of Yendor. It gets warmer the nearer the portal is. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7Q: How can I tell the real Amulet of Yendor from all the fake ones? You can't put the real one into any container. The fake ones will go inside happily (I suppose that is going to be changed soon...). Another way is to #name the real one right after you got it the first time. With your inscription, you will find it again later. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------