Magic lamp
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | magic lamp |
| Appearance | lamp |
| Base price | 50 zm |
| Weight | 20 |
| Material | copper |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A magic lamp provides light and never runs out of power, making it a useful tool to take into Gehennom and other dark places.
It can be easily identified in a shop as it costs more than the ordinary lamp.
Djinni of the lamp
Each time you rub a magic lamp, there is a 1/3 chance that "You see a puff of smoke" and another 1/3 chance that "Nothing happens"; in either case, just try again.
The remaining 1/3 of the time a djinni appears, the lamp is identified and turned into an oil lamp of the same BUC as the magic lamp and 1000-1500[1] charges, and one of the following five outcomes occurs. The relative probability of these outcomes depends on whether the lamp was blessed, uncursed, or cursed:[2]
| Blessed | Uncursed | Cursed | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80% | 20% | 5% | Grants one wish, then disappears. "I am in your debt. I will grant one wish!" |
| 5% | 20% | 5% | Remains as a pet. "Thank you for freeing me!" |
| 5% | 20% | 5% | Remains as a peaceful monster. "You freed me!" |
| 5% | 20% | 5% | Speaks, then vanishes. "It is about time!" |
| 5% | 20% | 80% | Remains in its regular state (hostile, or sometimes peaceful, if you are neutral). "You disturbed me, fool!" |
Note: There is no way to get a wish from the djinni other than the first outcome above.
If you wish for a magic lamp, you will instead get an ordinary oil lamp.
Strategy
An early magic lamp stands a high chance of being wasted if you rub it without knowing its BUC status. Always bless it before rubbing.
Some players prefer having an inexhaustible light source to an extra wish. This very much depends on the circumstances of your character. Note that the lamp may still be rubbed for a wish later, regardless of how long it has been used as a light source. If you reach the Astral Plane with a magic lamp, it might be worth blessing it and wishing for a good item to help you get through Astral; you won't need more than 1500 turns of light at that point.
Be wary of rubbing unpaid magic lamps; the shopkeeper will charge you a use fee if you manage to extract the genie.
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 Information on this page may be out of date.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.
