Lightsaber Forms (dNetHack)

Every class aside from Anachrononauts are restricted in all lightsaber forms.

Unskilled forms can't be activated. You can change forms with #style.

All Anachrononauts can get expert in every lightsaber form. You gain the bonuses of the lesser of your base weapon skill and the activated lightsaber form, so advancing a form to skilled has no effect if you are only basic in saber. However, since you cannot advance each form past your current saber skill anyway, this rarely actually matters.

Additionally, forms cannot be used if you are wearing restrictive armor:

|--------------------+-------------------|
| Form               | Restricted by     |
|--------------------+-------------------|
| Form I:   Shii-Cho | None              |
| Form II:  Makashi  | Heavy             |
| Form III: Soresu   | Heavy             |
| Form IV:  Ataru    | Heavy             |
| Form V:   Shien    | Medium            |
| Form V:   Djem So  | Medium            |
| Form VI:  Niman    | Metal             |
| Form VII: Juyo     | Medium            |
|--------------------+-------------------|
Heavy armor is armor that fully removes DEX bonus to AC (eg. plate mail, chain mail).
Medium armor is armor that halves your DEX bonus to AC (eg.  dragon scale mail, ring mail).
Any armor with a metallic base material will fully block Niman, but unusual non-metallic materials on normally-metallic armors (i.e. bone orcish ring mail) will work fine.

Forms have the following effects when active and wielding an ignited lightsaber:

Form I: Shii-Cho

• To gain Shii-Cho xp, fight using a lightsaber.
• Shii-Cho is the default lightsaber form, and will be used automatically if you are unskilled or restricted in all forms.
• -5 bonus to hit against targets wielding ignited lightsabers
• Unskilled
  • -2 penalty to hit
• Basic
  • Can gain xp in other lightsaber forms
• Skilled
  • +2 bonus to hit
  • Can gain xp in other lightsaber forms
• Expert
  • +5 bonus to hit
  • Can gain xp in other lightsaber forms

Form II: Makashi

• To gain Makashi xp, fight using a normal lightsaber (not a beamsword or double-bladed lightsaber) without wearing a shield or dual wielding.
• Attacking a monster studies it, placing a 'study' stack on the target.
• Attacking a monster with a 'study' stack does bonus damage equal to the number of stacks.
• Using Makashi with a beamsword or double-bladed lightsaber incurs a -20 to hit penalty
• Basic:
  • ((DEX + 3 / 3) - 4) bonus to hit
  • if not wearing a shield or dual wielding, additional 2 + (((DEX + 3) / 3) - 4) bonus to damage
  • Each attack adds 1 stack of 'study'. Max 5.
  • Each adjacent monster above 1 reduces your to hit bonus by 5
  • Each adjacent monster above 1 reduces your armor class by 10
• Skilled:
  • 2 * ((DEX + 3 / 3) - 4) bonus to hit
  • if not wearing a shield or dual wielding, additional 5 + 2 * (((DEX + 3) / 3) - 4) bonus to damage
  • Each attack adds 2 stack of 'study'. Max 10.
  • Each adjacent monster above 1 reduces your to hit bonus by 2
  • Each adjacent monster above 1 reduces your armor class by 5
• Expert:
  • 3 * ((DEX + 3 / 3) - 4) bonus to hit
  • if not wearing a shield or dual wielding, additional 10 + 3 * (((DEX + 3 / 3)) - 4) bonus to damage
  • Each attack adds 4 stack of 'study'. Max 20.
  • Each adjacent monster above 1 reduces your to hit bonus by 1
  • Each adjacent monster above 1 reduces your armor class by 2

Form III: Soresu

• To gain Soresu xp, be attacked in melee while wielding a lit lightsaber.
• When you have negative AC, you roll twice for effective AC and use the lower result.
• Grants reflection (includes dragon breath)
• Basic:
  • speed is reduced by 6 (min 1)
  • bonus (DEX + INT - 20) / 5 AC
  • 25% chance of counterattacking in melee
  • 33% chance to burn incoming projectiles out of the air
  • Counterattacks are made at +1 to-hit, but regular attacks are made at -10 to-hit.
• Skilled:
  • speed is reduced by 4 (min 1)
  • bonus (DEX + INT - 20) / 3 AC
  • 50% chance of counterattacking in melee
  • 66% chance to burn incoming projectiles out of the air
  • Counterattacks are made at +2 to-hit, but regular attacks are made at -5 to-hit.
• Expert:
  • speed is reduced by 3 (min 1)
  • bonus (DEX + INT - 20) / 2 AC
  • 75% chance of counterattacking in melee
  • 100% chance to burn incoming projectiles out of the air
  • Counterattacks are made at +5 to-hit, but regular attacks are made at -2 to-hit.

Form IV: Ataru

• To gain Ataru xp, attack using a lightsaber after having moved since your last attack (including the somersault for a successful hit).
• successful attacks somersault you to a square adjacent to your target
• Basic:
  • +6 penalty to armor class
  • -2 penalty to hit
  • if you have moved since your last attack (including the somersault for a successful hit), +1d(weapon damage), +2d(weapon damage) if using a double-bladed lightsaber
• Skilled:
  • +4 penalty to armor class
  • -1 penalty to hit
  • if you have moved since your last attack (including the somersault for a successful hit), +2d(weapon damage), +4d(weapon damage) if using a double-bladed lightsaber
• Expert:
  • +2 penalty to armor class
  • if you have moved since your last attack (including the somersault for a successful hit), +3d(weapon damage), +6d(weapon damage) if using a double-bladed lightsaber

Form V: Shien

• To gain Shien xp, be attacked at range while wielding a lit lightsaber.
• grants reflection (includes dragon breath)
• Receives a bonus damage die if multiple monsters are adjacent to you
• Basic:
  • 5% chance of counterattack in melee
  • 33% chance to burn incoming projectiles out of the air
  • 33% chance to redirect reflected attacks
  • Bonus damage die: 1d(strength/3 + number of adjacent monsters)
  • Counterattacks are made at normal to-hit, but regular attacks are made at -5 to-hit.
• Skilled:
  • 10% chance of counterattack in melee
  • 66% chance to burn incoming projectiles out of the air
  • 66% chance to redirect reflected attacks
  • Bonus damage die: 1d(strength/3 + 2*(number of adjacent monsters))
  • Counterattacks are made at +1 to-hit, but regular attacks are made at -2 to-hit.
  • Grants +1 Djem So skill
• Expert:
  • 20% chance of counterattack in melee
  • 100% chance to burn incoming projectiles out of the air
  • 100% chance to redirect reflected attacks
  • Bonus damage die: 1d(strength/3 + 3*(number of adjacent monsters))
  • Counterattacks are made at +2 to-hit, but regular attacks are made at -1 to-hit.
  • Grants +2 (total) Djem So skill

Form V: Djem So

• To gain Djem So xp, attack monsters that have recently attacked you, while wielding a lit lightsaber.
• How to calculate your strength bonus to-hit:
  • if strength less than 6, -2 penalty
  • else if strength less than 8, -1 penalty
  • else if strength greater than 18, less then 18/51, +1 bonus
  • else if strength less than 18/**, +2 bonus
  • else +3 bonus
• Basic:
  • 5% chance of counterattack in melee
  • against targets that recently attacked you, 10% chance of staggering blow
  • otherwise, 2% chance of staggering blow
  • bonus damage 1d((strength bonus + 2) / 3)
  • strength bonus + 1 bonus to-hit
• Skilled:
  • 10% chance of counterattack in melee
  • against targets that recently attacked you, 15% chance of staggering blow
  • otherwise, 3% chance of staggering blow
  • bonus damage 2d((strength bonus + 2) / 3)
  • strength bonus + 2 bonus to-hit
  • Grants +1 Shien skill
• Expert:
  • 20% chance of counterattack in melee
  • against targets that recently attacked you, 20% chance of staggering blow
  • otherwise, 4% chance of staggering blow
  • bonus damage 3d((strength bonus + 2) / 3)
  • strength bonus + 5 bonus to-hit
  • Grants +2 (total) Shien skill

Form VI: Niman

• To gain Niman xp, attack monsters with a lit lightsaber after casting spells (while diff>0).
• diff = turn moves since your last spellcast - turn of you targets last move + 1
• Basic:
  • -2 damage
  • if diff is greater than 0, +3d(diff) damage, +6d(diff) for double-bladed lightsabers
• Skilled:
  • -1 damage
  • if diff is greater than 0, +6d(diff) damage, +12d(diff) for double-bladed lightsabers
• Expert:
  • if diff is greater than 0, +9d(diff) damage, +18d(diff) for double-bladed lightsabers

Form VII: Juyo

• To gain Juyo xp, attack disadvantaged targets
• Allows you to make sneak attack (+1dLevel) against disadvantaged targets, and grants movement points back on successful sneak attacks
• On any target, has a chance for a staggering blow, but the odds are reduced by 60% when not sneak attacking
• Basic:
  • +3 movement points refunded on hit
  • 4% chance for a staggering blow (10% when sneak attacking)
• Skilled:
  • +4 movement points refunded on hit
  • 6% chance for a staggering blow (15% when sneak attacking)
• Expert:
  • +6 movement points refunded on hit
  • 8% chance for a staggering blow (20% when sneak attacking)