Potion of gain level
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| |
|---|---|
| Name | gain level |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 300 zm |
| Weight | 20 |
| Monster use | May be used by monsters as misc items. |
A potion of gain level is a potion that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Many monsters both peaceful and hostile will receive this as a miscellaneous item.
Effects
Quaffing a non-cursed potion of gain level will increase your experience level by one - an uncursed potion will set your experience points to the minimum for your new experience level, while a blessed potion will set your experience points to a random value from the minimum to the maximum for your new experience level - e.g., quaffing an uncursed potion at XL 2 will increase your level to 3 and set your experience points to 40 (the minimum for level 3), while quaffing a blessed potion will set your experience points to a random number from 40 to 79 (80 points is the minimum for level 4). This will also auto-identify the potion.
Your stats and attributes will increase as normal depending on your level, race, role, and constitution. If you quaff the noncursed potion while already at the maximum level (30), it will still increase your HP and energy.
A cursed potion does not increase your experience level, but makes you gain one dungeon level by causing you to rise through the ceiling to the floor above. However, this does not work in any of the following locations: the End Game, Sokoban, the top floors of the Wizard's Tower and Vlad's Tower, the top floor of the Quest, and Fort Ludios. A cursed potion of gain level will only work on dungeon level 1 if you are carrying the Amulet of Yendor. This does not auto-identify the potion, but will prompt you to name it.
Intelligent monsters with hands will quaff a potion of gain level in their inventory as soon as the player is within a certain range. A monster quaffing a non-cursed potion will gain experience and possibly grow up into a more powerful form (e.g. a master lich into an arch-lich); if their grown-up form is genocided, the monster dies instead. If the potion is cursed, the monster may rise through the ceiling, subject to the same conditions as the player. As usual, witnessing a monster gain experience will auto-identify the potion, and witnessing the cursed potion's effects will prompt you to name it.
Strategy
Blessing potions of gain level before drinking them makes more sense earlier in the game than later. At higher levels - usually around the time you are quest-ready (e.g. XL 14-17) - the number of experience points needed to level up through normal adventuring runs into the hundreds of thousands, such that there is little point in doing so. Potions, foocubi, and wraith corpses are the preferred methods of gaining levels in that phase.
Cursed potions of gain level are most useful for quickly leaving Moloch's Sanctum and other non-teleport levels while on the ascent to the Elemental Planes, and can be used as an escape item in a pinch.
For alchemy, the potion of gain level has the same uses as a potion of gain energy, but gaining an extra level of experience is generally a better idea unless you have potions to spare. There are also an couple of alchemy recipes for producing them.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, items dipped into a potion of gain level are upgraded, much like using the gnomish tinker technique. This does not violate polypileless conduct. This can be used to identify potions of gain level: if you dip an upgradable object into a potion and receive the message "Hmm! You don't recall dipping that into the potion.", then you will be prompted to name the potion. The potion of polymorph will also change the item, but does not produce this message and auto-identifies.
The potion is also more worthwhile to bless and quaff in SLASH'EM, as the lower XP requirements for gaining levels make killing enough monsters to advance a level feasible for a longer period in comparison to vanilla.
