Psi bolt
Psi bolt is the internal name for a monster spell (though it is never referred to in the game as such). This spell can be cast by any monster that uses mage spells.
Contents
Damage
This spell deals damage depending on the level of the monster casting the spell (ml), and the damage dice of the monster's specific spellcasting attack:
- If the attack's damage dice is non-zero, i.e. if the damage dice is ndx, then the spell does (ml⁄2 + n)dx damage.
- If the attack's damage dice is zero, the spell does (ml⁄2 + 1)d6 damage.
As virtually every monster has either zero damage dice or 6-sided damage dice for their spellcasting attacks, one can describe the "base" damage of this spell as ml⁄2d6 damage, plus additional damage based on the monster that cast the spell: +8d6 for Orcus and Demogorgon, +6d6 for Dispater, +4d6 for Archons and golden naga, +2d6 for ki-rin and +1d6 for other monsters. Neferet the Green is the one exception: her Psi bolt spell does (her level/2 + 2)d8 damage. [1]
The damage can be halved by half spell damage and by magic resistance; if you have both, you will only suffer one quarter of the damage (rounded up).
Frequency
Because of the way monsters select their spells, the relative frequency of this spell decreases as the monster's level increases from 1 to 23, but the relative frequency increases as the monster's level increases from 23 to 50.[2] Thus, spellcasting monsters with a very high level (such as Demogorgon) will use this spell very often, which can be dangerous to the hero, as they can do a lot of damage with this spell (for example, 33d6 base damage for Demogorgon).
Messages
| Message | Damage dealt |
|---|---|
| "You get a slight <head>ache." | 0-5 |
| "Your brain is on fire!" (not to be confused with intelligence drain) | 6-10 |
| "Your <head> suddenly aches painfully!" | 11-20 |
| "Your <head> suddenly aches very painfully!" | 21+ |
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, there are many new spellcasting monsters. For the ones that can cast mage spells, the additional damages values (as explained above) are the following: +6d6 for ghoul mages, +5d6 for Solars, +4d6 for Planetars and ghoul queens, +2d6 for vampire mages, and +1d6 for all others.
References
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 Information on this page may be out of date.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.
