Gold (material)

Gold is a material that appears in NetHack. It is an inherently erosion-proofed type of metal.

Description

Gold pieces are the currency used for zorkmids; the only other gold items are rings with the randomized appearance of "gold ring" and the Candelabrum of Invocation.

Metallivores can eat gold items, except for the Candelabrum of Invocation; in practice, this is usually limited to rock moles eating any gold they encounter while tunneling through the dungeon, though it can also factor in eating gold rings. Gold golems are generated randomly in the dungeon, and may be created as the result of polypiling enough gold items. A noncursed scroll of gold detection will reveal all gold pieces and gold golems on the level; a blessed scroll will additionally detect items made of gold.

Variants

The object materials system used in many variants incorporates gold items; in GruntHack, gold armor will have a -2 penalty to base AC, i.e. any armor with a base AC of 2 or less would have a base AC of 0 if made of gold. Leprechauns in some of these variants can also steal items made of gold as well as the player's money. Croesus will always wear a set of gold armor, and will sometimes be given a gold two-handed sword.