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Message-Id: <2bbrsg$pn4@pith.uoregon.edu>
Date: 4 Nov 1993 21:23:28 GMT
From: seth@cie (Master Nethacker)
Organization: University of Oregon Campus Information Exchange
Subject: Rec.games.hack SPOILER FAQ--many spoilers, warning!!
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Lines: 173
"Spoiler FAQ" for rec.games.hack
This is the third version of the 'spoiler FAQ,' and thanks to all for their
critique of the first version. Keep it up, keep me honest ;) Also, I notice
that this document seems to be growing, when the original idea was to
produce a fairly small document. Shall I simply post this FAQ less
frequently, say every two or three weeks, or shall I pare it down and
revise it? It was your idea, folks-- help me out here!
Purpose: This document simply lists many of the tricks that can be so
essential in playing nethack, yet so trying to learn on one's own.
Standard disclaimer: This document reflects, at times, my opinion. Tough :)
if you disagree, but I welcome any suggestions. Distribute this at will,
as long as it includes this disclaimer and as long as it is not used for
commercial benefit. My email address is
seth@cie-2.uoregon.edu
Also, I take no responsibility for any lessening of your enjoyment of the
game from reading the spoilers listed here... If you're reading
rec.games.hack, you are already familiar with the warning, "spoilers," so
consider yourself warned. Wherever you obtained this "spoiler FAQ,"
I'll say it once: much of (my) enjoyment of NetHack comes from figuring
things out _for myself_, and this document may spell things out for you
that you may prefer to learn on your own. It is your choice; good luck!
** Simple spoilers (religion, survival, and getting around):
1. Kicking can open locked (or stubborn) doors and chests.
2. If a door resists opening, just try again.
3. If you _can not_ find a way down, search for secret doors. Be persistent.
4. You can eat most corpses, but some things are poisonous. Poison effects
will vary, including damage (hp), loss of ability score points,
confusion, stunning.
5. Don't eat a corpse that is more than a few moves old, or you will be
fatally poisoned. Hint: zombies are never less than a few moves old, even
when they're still animate.
6. Prayer can save you from starvation; if you are weak or fainting
and you can't get any food (_and_ if praying is safe, see below), prayer is
a common last resort.
7. If you aren't chaotically aligned, sacrificing human corpses isn't usually
a good idea. :) That is, unless you WANT to meet a demon lord face-to-
face...
8. Eating human corpses (or, if you're an elf, elf corpses) is a bad move, too.
9. Make holy water by dropping clear potions (water) on an altar that
matches your alignment. Stand on the altar and pray (if it's safe to pray--
again, see below).
10. An object's cursed, uncursed, or blessed status will be revealed if you
drop it on an altar-- regardless of the altar's alignment, or yours.
** Prayer, Quests, Wishes, Yendorian matters, etc: **
Q: How do I rustproof my (weapon or armor)?
A: Wield or wear the item, and get confused. Easy ways to get confused
include umber hulk gaze attacks, potions of confusion, eating rotten
food, and casting a spell after you've burned it out. While confused,
read a scroll of enchant weapon or armor, as appropriate. Note that
if you want to rustproof a _specific_ item of armor, it's best to
strip down to wearing ONLY that piece of armor, since the scroll might
not enchant the item you want if you're wearing several armors.
Q: How can I tell when it's safe to pray?
A: When you sacrifice, and it is accepted by your god. If your god has done
anything nice for you in the last 400 or so turns (given you something,
listened to a prayer - even if it wasn't answered), forget about praying
until a sacrifice is accepted. It will take much longer than 400 turns
if your god is angry. Also, any accepted sacrifice decreases the amount
of time it will be until it is safe to pray again.
Q: My god is mad at me. What can I do?
Q: How do I get (this or that artifact)?
Q: How do I convert an altar to MY alignment?
A) Sacrifice a corpse, the larger the better (in the first two cases), and
remeber that spoiled meat is harmlessly ignored. Artifacts sometimes
appear when one sacrifices at an altar, but not often, so don't hold your
breath ;)
Q: I'm in the rogue's quest, and I can't get through all these little chambers
in the bottom level! How am I supposed to reach the Master Assassin?
A) There ARE no doors to the Master Assassin, I'm afraid-- you have to
either become a monster capable of phasing (a xorn or an earth
elemental) OR you have to fall through trapdoors from the level above,
using level teleportation to escape, until you fall into the right
chamber. The phasing method is VASTLY preferable ;)
Q: The Wizard of Yendor didn't have the Amulet!?!
A) Yep. Don't panic, the amulet is farther down. The Wizard does
have a useful object, though, which leads us to--
Q: How do I get the Book of the Dead/Candelabrum of Invocation/Bell of
Opening?
A) These objects are always placed in specific locations in any given
game-- the Wizard of Yendor has the Book, Vlad the Impaler has the
Candelabrum, and the 'quest-enemy' has the Bell.
Q: How do I get back from the Quest?
A) There is a magic portal leading back, located on the spot where you
first appeared on the first 'Home' level.
Q: I'm at the bottom of the Gnomish Mines, and there are no more stairs
down. Where do I go now?
A) Look around, and go back up to the rest of the Dungeons of Doom...
The Mines only extend a few levels down, and are not meant to take
you to the path to the endgame. To be more clear: the level where
the mines begin has TWO stairs down, and one stair leads to the MINES,
whereas the other leads onward to the Quest, Medusa, and all those
other unpleasant ways to die ;)
Q: I got a wish from (whatever)... What should I wish for?
("Do you know, do you know, do you know?" ;)
A: Here are some popular, time-honored choices.. :
"blessed +3 shield of reflection"
"blessed amulet of life saving"
"blessed fireproof +3 speed boots"
"blessed +3 gray dragon scale mail"
"blessed magic marker"
"3 blessed scrolls of charging"
"3 blessed scrolls of genocide"
"blessed figurine of an Archon"
"blessed rustproof +3 gauntlets of power"
"blessed wand of polymorph"
Weapons to wish for, by alignment: (and by all means a _partial_ list)
Neutral-
"blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Vorpal Blade"
"blessed rustproof +3 war hammer named Mjollnir"
"blessed rustproof +1 athame named Magicbane"
"blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Fire Brand"
"blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Frost Brand"
Chaotic-
"blessed rustproof +3 runed broadsword named Stormbringer"
(be _careful_ with Stormbringer! Fair warning! ;)
Lawful-
"blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Excalibur"
"blessed +3 silver saber named Grayswandir"
**Note- I have not included Quest artifacts in this list, and here is why:
if I do, newbies will make impossible wishes, or wish for their class' Quest
artifact before doing the quest, OR they'll wish up something and get
blasted by alignment incompatibility. If _I_ were lawful, I'd wish for the
ToM, of course! :) who wouldn't? But advising such things in a short FAQ
would probably slay characters, more often than it'd help.
*** A List of Common Abbreviations Used in rec.games.hack) ***
"WoW" - Wand of Wishing
"WoY" .- Wizard of Yendor
"GDSM" - Gray Dragon Scale Mail
"AoLS" - Amulet of Life Saving
"PYEC" - Platinum Yendorian Express Card
"Stormy" - Stormbringer
"ToM" - the Tsurugi of Muramasa
(please point out the many others I'm not remembering right at this
moment, folks)
Afternote: There are several things that I could include, but that I have
avoided thus far. These topics include, among others: luck, Quest artifacts,
the actual architecture of the endgame levels, polypiling (!!) and other so-
called "NetHack abuses," esoteric throne, sink, and fountain effects, and the
various ways of trying to identify things without identify magic. These
things and countless more are covered in excellent detail in the Wheaton
College Spoiler file, which is mentioned in the rec.games.hack FAQ, and which
is currently being revised for NetHack 3.1.3; also, there are other net-posted
spoilers available in archives listed in the rec.games.hack FAQ, and of course,
other players represent the most prolific of all sources of spoilers.