Elven mithril-coat
[ elven mithril-coat 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | elven mithril-coat |
| Slot | body armor |
| AC | 5 |
| Special | |
| Base price | 240 zm |
| Weight | 150 |
| Material | mithril |
An elven mithril-coat is a type of body armor that appears in NetHack. It is made of mithril.
Contents
Generation
In addition to random generation, armor shops and general stores can stock elven mithril-coats.
Live elves have an effective 1⁄4 chance of being generated with an elven mithril-coat.[1] Hobbits have a 1⁄10 chance of generating with an elven mithril-coat.[2]
Description
While worn, an elven mithril-coat confers 5 base AC and MC2. As metallic armor, it hinders spellcasting. Wearing or removing an elven mithril-coat takes only 1 turn.[3]
Elven mithril-coats can safely be enchanted with a scroll of enchant armor from +5 like other elven armor.
Strategy
Elven-mithril coats are among the best available body armor after dragon scale mail - obtaining one is often a major goal for early game characters due to its high AC. They also weigh much less than the various types of plate mail (including bronze plate mail and crystal plate mail) in return for slightly less base AC, which is especially ideal for early characters with low strength and no bag of holding. Characters in spellcasting roles (such as Wizards) will occasionally make use of a mithril-coat to boost AC, only removing it to cast as needed - said swaps will also be much quicker, with 1 turn to wear/remove mithril-coats versus 5 for most other body armor.
Though the dwarvish mithril-coat has one more point of base AC, an elven mithril-coat can be safely boosted to a higher enchantment, making it more effective. It is also somewhat easier to obtain earlier in the game if you have a lucky encounter with a hobbit. Barring a wish, an elven mithril-coat can easily last as a character's primary armor throughout the mid-game or until their desired set of dragon scales becomes available, whichever occurs first. The coat's material protects it from erosion while worn, though it still breaks if a polymorph trap turns you into a large enough monster.
History
The elven mithril-coat first appears in NetHack 1.3d, where it is known as elfin chain mail and has most of the same qualities: elfin chain mail is a light form of body armor that is fairly rare, provides 5 AC and MC3 when worn, and takes a near-minimum amount of time to put on or remove. In NetHack 3.0.0, elfin chain mail is replaced by the elven mithril-coat in its current form - from this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including variants based on those versions, it still grants MC3 when worn.
The defunct Elf role would always start the game with elfin chain mail (or an elven mithril-coat in NetHack 3.0.0 and later versions) if the TOLKIEN compile-time option was enabled.
Variants
Variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions may retain the MC3 granted by wearing an elven mithril-coat, while variants that employ object materials may replace the elven mithril-coat with a similar item that can be made of mithril.
Some variants may give elves an AC bonus for wearing an elven mithril-coat, including elven player characters.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the elven mithril-coat grants MC3 while worn.
Upgrading an elven mithril-coat produces a dark elven mithril-coat, and vice versa.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, elven mithril-coats grant +1 AC to elven monsters that wear them, including elven players.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, the elven mithril-coat grants 3 AC, 2 DR and MC3 while worn, and its weight is lowered to 20 aum.
The November NetHack Tournament
In The November NetHack Tournament, all Devteam members have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with an elven mithril-coat.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, elven mithril-coats are replaced with elven ring mail, which has a base material of copper and grants 2 AC - a mithril set of elven ring mail behaves identically to an elven mithril-coat, since mithril body armor will always grant at least MC2. Hobbits have the same chance of generating with elven ring mail, which will always be mithril.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, elven mithril-coats are also replaced with elven ring mail, similar to xNetHack.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, elven mithril-coats are replaced with elven chain mail. Elven chain mail grants 5 AC while worn and has a base material of copper - when made of mithril, it behaves similarly to an improved elven mithril-coat, and grants two more points of base AC and MC2 along with an additional 1 AC and MC3 for elven characters.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, elven mithril-coats are also replaced with elven chain mail, which behaves as in EvilHack.
Encyclopedia entry
_Mithril_! All folk desired it. It could be beaten like
copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make
of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel.
Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty
of _mithril_ did not tarnish or grow dim.
References
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 225: Default equipment for elves
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 364
- ↑ src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 417
