Here is a list of the armor class values provided by suits
of armor:
- Dragon scale mail 1
- Plate mail, Crystal plate mail 3
- Bronze plate mail, Splint mail,
+ Dragon scale mail 1
+ Plate mail, Crystal plate mail 3
+ Bronze plate mail, Splint mail,
Banded mail, Dwarvish mithril-coat 4
- Chain mail, Elven mithril-coat 5
- Scale mail, Orcish chain mail 6
- Ring mail, Studded leather armor,
+ Chain mail, Elven mithril-coat 5
+ Scale mail, Orcish chain mail 6
+ Ring mail, Studded leather armor,
Dragon scales 7
- Leather armor, Orcish ring mail 8
- Leather jacket 9
- none 10
+ Leather armor, Orcish ring mail 8
+ Leather jacket 9
+ none 10
You can also wear other pieces of armor (cloak over suit,
shirt under suit, helmet, gloves, boots, shield) to lower your
Putting on a ring activates its magic. You can wear at most
two rings at any time, one on the ring finger of each hand.
- Most rings also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly, the
- rate varying with the type of ring.
+ Most worn rings also cause you to grow hungry more rapidly,
+ the rate varying with the type of ring.
When wearing gloves, rings are worn underneath. If the
gloves are cursed, rings cannot be put on and any already being
+ The blind option can be set (prior to game start) to attempt
+ to play the entire game without being able to see (a self-imposed
+ challenge which is very difficult to accomplish).
+
The command to use a tool is `a' (apply).
7.10.1. Containers
Like rings, amulets have various magical properties, some benefi-
cial, some harmful, which are activated by putting them on.
- Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.
+ Only one amulet may be worn at a time, around your neck.
+ Like wearing rings, wearing an amulet affects your metabolism,
+ causing you to grow hungry more rapidly.
The commands to use amulets are the same as for rings, `P'
(put on) and `R' (remove). `A' can be used to remove various
tile weapons (if you have a sling). In the most desperate of
cases, you can still throw them by hand.
- 7.13. Large rocks (``')
- Statues and boulders are not particularly useful, and are
- generally heavy. It is rumored that some statues are not what
- they seem.
- Boulders occasionally block your path. You can push one
- forward (by attempting to walk onto its spot) when nothing blocks
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ 7.13. Large rocks (``')
+
+ Statues and boulders are not particularly useful, and are
+ generally heavy. It is rumored that some statues are not what
+ they seem.
+
+ Boulders occasionally block your path. You can push one
+ forward (by attempting to walk onto its spot) when nothing blocks
its path, or you can smash it into a pile of small rocks with
breaking magic or a pick-axe. Very large humanoids (giants and
their ilk) have been known to pick up boulders and use them as
er the object and resume remembering it.
The situation is the same for a pile of objects, except that
- only the top item of the pile is displayed. The hilite_pile op-
- tion can be enabled in order to show an item differently when it
- is the top one of a pile.
-
- 8. Conduct
-
- As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain
- players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
- the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some
+ only the top item of the pile is displayed. The hilite_pile
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ option can be enabled in order to show an item differently when
+ it is the top one of a pile.
+
+ 8. Conduct
+
+ As if winning NetHack were not difficult enough, certain
+ players seek to challenge themselves by imposing restrictions on
+ the way they play the game. The game automatically tracks some
of these challenges, which can be checked at any time with the
#conduct command or at the end of the game. When you perform an
action which breaks a challenge, it will no longer be listed.
brains while polymorphed into a mind flayer, is considered eating
an animal, although wax is only an animal byproduct.
- Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are
- indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
- swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
- ing the monster's corpse. Please note that the term "vegan" is
- used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to
- choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g.
- leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
- keep track of this for you. Also note that "milky" potions may
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ Regardless of conduct, there will be some items which are
+ indigestible, and others which are hazardous to eat. Using a
+ swallow-and-digest attack against a monster is equivalent to eat-
+ ing the monster's corpse. Please note that the term "vegan" is
+ used here only in the context of diet. You are still free to
+ choose not to use or wear items derived from animals (e.g.
+ leather, dragon hide, bone, horns, coral), but the game will not
+ keep track of this for you. Also note that "milky" potions may
be a translucent white, but they do not contain milk, so they are
compatible with a vegan diet. Slime molds or player-defined
"fruits", although they could be anything from "cherries" to
You can change the form of an item into another item of the same
type ("polypiling") or the form of your own body into another
creature ("polyself") by wand, spell, or potion of polymorph;
- avoiding these effects are each considered challenges. Polymor-
- phing monsters, including pets, does not break either of these
- challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a game
- without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as is a
- game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact imme-
- diately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity to
- make a wish for an item, you may choose "nothing" if you want to
- decline.
-
+ avoiding these effects are each considered challenges.
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ Polymorphing monsters, including pets, does not break either of
+ these challenges. Finally, you may sometimes receive wishes; a
+ game without an attempt to wish for any items is a challenge, as
+ is a game without wishing for an artifact (even if the artifact
+ immediately disappears). When the game offers you an opportunity
+ to make a wish for an item, you may choose "nothing" if you want
+ to decline.
+
8.1. Achievements
End of game disclosure will also display various achieve-
unique but are considered to be prizes or rewards for exploring
those levels since doing so is not necessary to complete the
game. Finding other instances of the same objects doesn't record
- the corresponding achievement.
-
- The Medusa achievement is recorded if she dies for any rea-
- son, even if you are not directly responsible, and only if she
- dies.
-
- Blind and Nudist are also conducts, and they can only be en-
- abled by setting the correspondingly named option in
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
- NETHACKOPTIONS or run-time configuration file prior to game
- start. In the case of Blind, the option also enforces the con-
- duct. They aren't really significant accomplishments unless/un-
- til you make substantial progress into the dungeon.
+ the corresponding achievement.
+
+ The Medusa achievement is recorded if she dies for any rea-
+ son, even if you are not directly responsible, and only if she
+ dies.
+
+ Blind and Nudist are also conducts, and they can only be en-
+ abled by setting the correspondingly named option in NETHACKOP-
+ TIONS or run-time configuration file prior to game start. In the
+ case of Blind, the option also enforces the conduct. They aren't
+ really significant accomplishments unless/until you make substan-
+ tial progress into the dungeon.
9. Options
Any line in the configuration file starting with `#' is
treated as a comment. Empty lines are ignored.
- Any line beginning with `[' and ending in `]' is considered
- a section marker. The text between the square brackets is the
- section name. Lines after a section marker belong to that sec-
- tion, and are ignored unless a CHOOSE statement was used to se-
- lect that section. Section names are case insensitive.
- You can use different configuration statements in the file,
- some of which can be used multiple times. In general, the state-
- ments are written in capital letters, followed by an equals sign,
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ Any line beginning with `[' and ending in `]' is considered
+ a section marker. The text between the square brackets is the
+ section name. Lines after a section marker belong to that sec-
+ tion, and are ignored unless a CHOOSE statement was used to se-
+ lect that section. Section names are case insensitive.
+
+ You can use different configuration statements in the file,
+ some of which can be used multiple times. In general, the state-
+ ments are written in capital letters, followed by an equals sign,
followed by settings particular to that statement.
Here is a list of allowed statements:
The location that a record of game aborts and self-diagnosed
game problems is kept. Defaults to HACKDIR, must be writable.
- AUTOCOMPLETE
- Enable or disable an extended command autocompletion. Autocom-
- pletion has no effect for the X11 windowport. You can specify
- multiple autocompletions. To enable autocompletion, list the
- extended command. Prefix the command with "!" to disable the
- autocompletion for that command.
-
-
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ AUTOCOMPLETE
+ Enable or disable an extended command autocompletion. Autocom-
+ pletion has no effect for the X11 windowport. You can specify
+ multiple autocompletions. To enable autocompletion, list the
+ extended command. Prefix the command with "!" to disable the
+ autocompletion for that command.
+
Example:
AUTOCOMPLETE=zap,!annotate
Define a sound mapping. See the "Configuring User Sounds" sec-
tion.
- SOUNDDIR
- Define the directory that contains the sound files. See the
- "Configuring User Sounds" section.
-
- SYMBOLS
- Override one or more symbols in the symbol set used for all
- dungeon levels except for the special rogue level. See the
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ SOUNDDIR
+ Define the directory that contains the sound files. See the
+ "Configuring User Sounds" section.
+
+ SYMBOLS
+ Override one or more symbols in the symbol set used for all
+ dungeon levels except for the special rogue level. See the
"Modifying NetHack Symbols" section.
Example:
option to the list, and turn it off by typing a `!' or "no" be-
fore the name. Others take a character string as a value. You
can set string options by typing the option name, a colon or
- equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
- minated by the next comma or the end of string.
-
- For example, to set up an environment variable so that color
- is on, legacy is off, character name is set to "Blue Meanie", and
- named fruit is set to "lime", you would enter the command
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ equals sign, and then the value of the string. The value is ter-
+ minated by the next comma or the end of string.
+
+ For example, to set up an environment variable so that color
+ is on, legacy is off, character name is set to "Blue Meanie", and
+ named fruit is set to "lime", you would enter the command
+
% setenv NETHACKOPTIONS "color,\!leg,name:Blue Meanie,fruit:lime"
in csh (note the need to escape the `!' since it's special to
ment from being picked randomly. Cannot be set with the `O'
command. Persistent.
- autodescribe
- Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when asked to
- get a location on the map (default true). The whatis_coord op-
- tion controls whether the description includes map coordinates.
- autodig
- Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
- into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ autodescribe
+ Automatically describe the terrain under cursor when asked to
+ get a location on the map (default true). The whatis_coord op-
+ tion controls whether the description includes map coordinates.
+
+ autodig
+ Automatically dig if you are wielding a digging tool and moving
+ into a place that can be dug (default false). Persistent.
+
autoopen
Walking into a closed door attempts to open it (default true).
Persistent.
Synonym for "role" to pick the type of your character (for ex-
ample "character:Monk"). See role for more details.
- checkpoint
- Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
- after program crash (default on). Persistent.
-
- checkspace
- Check free disk space before writing files to disk (default
- on). You may have to turn this off if you have more than 2 GB
- free space on the partition used for your save and level files
- (because too much space might overflow the calculation and end
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ checkpoint
+ Save game state after each level change, for possible recovery
+ after program crash (default on). Persistent.
+
+ checkspace
+ Check free disk space before writing files to disk (default
+ on). You may have to turn this off if you have more than 2 GB
+ free space on the partition used for your save and level files
+ (because too much space might overflow the calculation and end
up looking like insufficient space). Only applies when MFLOPPY
was defined during compilation.
The listing of vanquished monsters can be sorted, so there are
two additional choices for `v':
- ? - prompt you and default to ask on the prompt;
- # - disclose it without prompting, ask for sort order.
-
- Asking refers to picking one of the orderings from a menu. The
- `+' disclose without prompting choice, or being prompted and
- answering `y' rather than `a', will default to showing monsters
- in the traditional order, from high level to low level.
-
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ ? - prompt you and default to ask on the prompt;
+ # - disclose it without prompting, ask for sort order.
+
+ Asking refers to picking one of the orderings from a menu. The
+ `+' disclose without prompting choice, or being prompted and
+ answering `y' rather than `a', will default to showing monsters
+ in the traditional order, from high level to low level.
+
Omitted categories are implicitly added with `n' prefix. Spec-
ified categories with omitted prefix implicitly use `+' prefix.
Order of the disclosure categories does not matter, program
fruit
Name a fruit after something you enjoy eating (for example
- "fruit:mango") (default "slime mold"). Basically a nostalgic
- whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
- this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
- Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
- NetHack, so don't use those.
-
- gender
- Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ "fruit:mango") (default "slime mold"). Basically a nostalgic
+ whimsy that NetHack uses from time to time. You should set
+ this to something you find more appetizing than slime mold.
+ Apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and melons already exist in
+ NetHack, so don't use those.
+
+ gender
+ Your starting gender (gender:male or gender:female). You may
specify just the first letter. Although you can still denote
your gender using the "male" and "female" options, the "gender"
option will take precedence. The default is to randomly pick
inverse video is often used; with tiles, generally displays a
small plus-symbol beside the object on the top of the pile.
- hitpointbar
- Show a hit point bar graph behind your name and title. Only
- available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
- is on.
-
- horsename
- Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ hitpointbar
+ Show a hit point bar graph behind your name and title. Only
+ available for TTY and Windows GUI, and only when statushilites
+ is on.
+
+ horsename
+ Name your starting horse (for example "horsename:Trigger").
Cannot be set with the `O' command.
ignintr
Enable coloring menu lines (default off). See "Configuring
Menu Colors" on how to configure the colors.
- menustyle
- Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
- jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
- value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
- lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial. Tradi-
- tional was the only interface available for early versions; it
- consists of a prompt for object class characters, followed by
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ menustyle
+ Controls the interface used when you need to choose various ob-
+ jects (in response to the Drop command, for instance). The
+ value specified should be the first letter of one of the fol-
+ lowing: traditional, combination, full, or partial. Tradi-
+ tional was the only interface available for early versions; it
+ consists of a prompt for object class characters, followed by
an object-by-object prompt for all items matching the selected
object class(es). Combination starts with a prompt for object
class(es) of interest, but then displays a menu of matching ob-
Show object symbols in menu headings in menus where the object
symbols act as menu accelerators (default off).
- menu_overlay
- Do not clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
- to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty port. (de-
- fault on)
-
-
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ menu_overlay
+ Do not clear the screen before drawing menus, and align menus
+ to the right edge of the screen. Only for the tty port. (de-
+ fault on)
+
menu_previous_page
Menu character accelerator to goto the previous menu page. Im-
plemented by the Amiga, Gem and tty ports. Default `<'.
For backward compatibility, no value needs to be specified
(which defaults to "full"), or it can be negated (which
- defaults to "single").
-
- name
- Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
- can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ defaults to "single").
+
+ name
+ Set your character's name (defaults to your user name). You
+ can also set your character's role by appending a dash and one
or more letters of the role (that is, by suffixing one of -A -B
-C -H -K -M -P -Ra -Ro -S -T -V -W). If -@ is used for the
role, then a random one will be automatically chosen. Cannot
prompting is desired. The default is paranoid_confirma-
tion:pray.
- Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes"
- rather than `y', also require "no" to reject in-
- stead of accepting any non-yes response as no
- quit - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm quitting
- the game or switching into non-scoring explore
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ Confirm - for any prompts which are set to require "yes"
+ rather than `y', also require "no" to reject in-
+ stead of accepting any non-yes response as no
+ quit - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm quitting
+ the game or switching into non-scoring explore
mode;
die - require "yes" rather than `y' to confirm dying
(not useful in normal play; applies to explore
l - Left line indicator
r - Right line indicator
- Some of those choices might not work, particularly the final
- three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
- software.
-
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ Some of those choices might not work, particularly the final
+ three, depending upon terminal hardware or terminal emulation
+ software.
+
Currently multiple highlight-style letters can be combined by
simply stringing them together (for example, "bk"), but in the
future they might require being separated by plus signs (such
might only be allowed for someone logged in under a particular
user name (on multi-user systems) or specifying a particular
character name (on single-user systems) or it might be disabled
- entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible re-
- sults in explore mode instead. Default is normal play.
-
- pushweapon
- Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
+ entirely. Requesting it when not allowed or not possible
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ results in explore mode instead. Default is normal play.
+
+ pushweapon
+ Using the `w' (wield) command when already wielding something
pushes the old item into your alternate weapon slot (default
off). Likewise for the `a' (apply) command if it causes the
applied item to become wielded. Persistent.
teleport - update the map after movement has finished;
run - update the map after every seven or so steps;
- walk - update the map after each step;
- crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.
-
- This option only affects the game's screen display, not the
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
- actual results of moving. The default is "run"; versions prior
+ walk - update the map after each step;
+ crawl - like walk, but pause briefly after each step.
+
+ This option only affects the game's screen display, not the ac-
+ tual results of moving. The default is "run"; versions prior
to 3.4.1 used "teleport" only. Whether or not the effect is
noticeable will depend upon the window port used or on the type
of terminal. Persistent.
Sort the pack contents by type when displaying inventory (de-
fault on). Persistent.
- sparkle
- Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
- hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
- sistent.
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ sparkle
+ Display a sparkly effect when a monster (including yourself) is
+ hit by an attack to which it is resistant (default on). Per-
+ sistent.
+
standout
Boldface monsters and "--More--" (default off). Persistent.
travel
Allow the travel command via mouse click (default on). Turning
this option off will prevent the game from attempting unintend-
- ed moves if you make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map win-
- dow. Does not affect traveling via the `_' ("#travel") com-
- mand. Persistent.
-
- verbose
- Provide more commentary during the game (default on).
+ ed moves if you make inadvertent mouse clicks on the map
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
- Persistent.
+ window. Does not affect traveling via the `_' ("#travel") com-
+ mand. Persistent.
+
+ verbose
+ Provide more commentary during the game (default on). Persis-
+ tent.
whatis_coord
When using the `/' or `;' commands to look around on the map
windowtype
When the program has been built to support multiple interfaces,
- select which one to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default de-
- pends on build-time settings; use "#version" to check). Cannot
- be set with the `O' command.
-
- When used, it should be the first option set since its value
- might enable or disable the availability of various other
+ select which one to use, such as "tty" or "X11" (default
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
- options. For multiple lines in a configuration file, that
- would be the first non-comment line. For a comma-separated
- list in NETHACKOPTIONS or an OPTIONS line in a configuration
- file, that would be the rightmost option in the list.
+ depends on build-time settings; use "#version" to check). Can-
+ not be set with the `O' command.
+
+ When used, it should be the first option set since its value
+ might enable or disable the availability of various other op-
+ tions. For multiple lines in a configuration file, that would
+ be the first non-comment line. For a comma-separated list in
+ NETHACKOPTIONS or an OPTIONS line in a configuration file, that
+ would be the rightmost option in the list.
wizweight
Augment object descriptions with their objects' weight (default
example, specified with the traps option) straight through to
your terminal (default off).
- font_map
- if NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for the
- map window.
-
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ font_map
+ if NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for the
+ map window.
+
font_menu
If NetHack can, it should use a font by the chosen name for
menu windows.
If NetHack can, it should display the map in the manner speci-
fied.
- player_selection
- If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts
- for character selection.
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ player_selection
+ If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes, or use prompts
+ for character selection.
+
popup_dialog
If NetHack can, it should pop up dialog boxes for input.
tile_file
Specify the name of an alternative tile file to override the
- default.
-
- tile_height
- Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
+ default.
+
+ tile_height
+ Specify the preferred height of each tile in a tile capable
port.
tile_width
fit in the visible area of the window.
-
-
-
-
NetHack 3.7 February 15, 2020
projects / nethack / commitdiff