Difference between revisions of "Loadstone"
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Loadstones are normally generated cursed, so an unknown gray stone on the floor is a loadstone if a pet will only "reluctantly" move over it. This method still works on stones [[Mine's End|stuck next to undiggable walls]], but beware of [[trap#.5E_Level_teleporter|traps]]. A loadstone generated inside a container will have a significant weight, and you usually get a pickup_burden warning when indirectly lifting a loadstone. | Loadstones are normally generated cursed, so an unknown gray stone on the floor is a loadstone if a pet will only "reluctantly" move over it. This method still works on stones [[Mine's End|stuck next to undiggable walls]], but beware of [[trap#.5E_Level_teleporter|traps]]. A loadstone generated inside a container will have a significant weight, and you usually get a pickup_burden warning when indirectly lifting a loadstone. | ||
| − | If you need to read a noncursed [[scroll of remove curse]] for other reasons anyway, you might want to deliberately pick up a known loadstone and #name or formally identify it. You will then recognize any future ones. Beware [[scroll of amnesia|amnesia]] ([[mind flayer|attacks]]), as you may forget the identification for the loadstone and pick one up, lulled in a false sense of security. (Check your [[discoveries]] to see whether you | + | If you need to read a noncursed [[scroll of remove curse]] for other reasons anyway, you might want to deliberately pick up a known loadstone and #name or formally identify it. You will then recognize any future ones. Beware [[scroll of amnesia|amnesia]] ([[mind flayer|attacks]]), as you may forget the identification for the loadstone and pick one up, lulled in a false sense of security. (Check your [[discoveries]] to see whether you still know the loadstone.) |
===[[Vulture]]=== | ===[[Vulture]]=== | ||
Revision as of 02:02, 22 April 2014
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|---|---|
| Name | loadstone |
| Appearance | gray stone |
| Damage vs. small | 1d3 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d3 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | sling |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 1 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 500 |
| Material | mineral |
A loadstone is an undesirable gem to have on your person. It is extremely heavy and almost always generated cursed. Unlike most items you cannot drop it or place it into a container while it is cursed. You can get rid of it if you lift its curse somehow, e.g. by scroll, spell, holy water, or dipping it into a fountain. Prayer can work under certain circumstances; having a cursed loadstone counts as a minor trouble. You can also have it stolen by a nymph. The spell of stone to flesh will dispose of it. You can wield a loadstone, but you cannot uncurse it with a scroll of enchant weapon.
Loadstones autocurse when they are dropped or leave your main inventory in any other way. The only exception where you can see an uncursed loadstone is 1/11 of those generated inside containers.
Loadstones are also one of the most easily picked-up items in NetHack. Any setting of the pickup_burden variable will be ignored if the character attempts to pick up a loadstone, and other inventory restrictions may be ignored as well -- in case a character's knapsack has already reached the 52-item limit, the loadstone's inventory letter will be a pound sign (#)!
For all its weight, a loadstone does not do any more damage than flint when thrown. However, in Slash'EM Extended, a loadstone fired with a sling does a whopping d40 damage if it hits.
Strategy
To test if a gray stone is a loadstone, kick it before you pick it up. Take off any items that add to your strength or kicking capabilities: remove gauntlets of power and kicking boots first, and make sure you are not a class that uses martial arts (samurai or monk) or polymorphed into a creature that has a bonus to kicking, such as a sasquatch.[1][2] Loadstones are heavy enough that they cannot be kicked under normal circumstances (unenhanced strength, not on ice, no kicking bonus from class/equipment/polyself).
If for any reason you cannot (or do not want to) prevent yourself from having kicking bonuses, you can compare kicking ranges. A loadstone should travel much less far than a harmless gray stone or any object of similar weight, e. g. a rock. Be careful though; some bonuses add a small random amount to the distance. Do not kick fragile objects.
Loadstones are normally generated cursed, so an unknown gray stone on the floor is a loadstone if a pet will only "reluctantly" move over it. This method still works on stones stuck next to undiggable walls, but beware of traps. A loadstone generated inside a container will have a significant weight, and you usually get a pickup_burden warning when indirectly lifting a loadstone.
If you need to read a noncursed scroll of remove curse for other reasons anyway, you might want to deliberately pick up a known loadstone and #name or formally identify it. You will then recognize any future ones. Beware amnesia (attacks), as you may forget the identification for the loadstone and pick one up, lulled in a false sense of security. (Check your discoveries to see whether you still know the loadstone.)
Vulture
As you can see the weight of items, it is much easier to avoid picking up a loadstone. Drop a junk item on any suspect gray stone, this forces the pickup menu to appear since there are now several items. Gray stones weighing only 10 are harmless to pick up.
Origin
The name loadstone is a pun on the word lodestone, a naturally magnetic mineral.
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
