Protection
Protection is the name of a number of effects which reduce your AC by magical means.
If you have any source of protection, you will receive the enlightenment message, "You are protected." (If your protection is negative, the message reads, "You are ineffectively protected.")
Extrinsic protection
The following are sources of extrinsic protection:
- The spellbook of protection teaches a spell that temporarily lowers AC.
- The cloak of protection gives you extrinsic protection when worn. This appears in the list of attributes seen with enlightenment but does not affect your AC in any unusual way.
- A ring of protection lowers AC by its enchantment when worn. Thus, a +1 ring of protection lowers AC by 1, and a -2 ring of protection raises AC by 2. Rings of protection with negative enchantment are often also cursed.
- Some quest artifacts (the Mitre of Holiness and the Tsurugi of Muramasa) give extrinsic protection while equipped.
Starting in NetHack 3.6.0, extrinsic protection from equipment is also associated with higher magic cancellation. The cloak of protection is the only item that naturally grants MC3, and rings of protection and extrinsic protection from artifacts increase your effective magic cancellation by one point. So a robe or mithril coat (both MC2) worn with a ring of protection, the Mitre of Holiness, or the Tsurugi of Muramasa will give you MC3, the same as a worn cloak of protection.
The MC bonus is non-cumulative. Two rings of protection or two protection artifacts equipped with a leather armor or any other MC1 item will only give you a magic cancellation of 2, not 3.
Intrinsic protection
The following are sources of intrinsic protection:
- Donating 400-600 times experience level gold to an aligned priest in a temple, including a cross-aligned temple or a temple to Moloch, but not a desecrated temple.
- As a favor from prayer.
- Gained by eating a ring of protection.
Strategy
All of these types of protection stack; you can buy protection from a temple (more than once), wear two rings of protection, and cast the spell, if you need a large temporary AC boost.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds natural protection to the Monk class and to the Doppelganger and Lycanthrope races. Note that these bonuses will stack for Doppelganger Monks. Monks will have their AC lowered by level/2 + 2, with a maximum of 11 bonus AC at level 18 if they are not wearing a shield, body armor (robes are allowed), and are not wielding a weapon. Doppelganger and Lycanthropes will have their AC lowered by level/4 + 1 if they are not wearing any body armor (robes are not allowed), even if they are in a form that would not be able to wear body armor anyways (and thus would likely have lowered natural AC already to compensate).
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