Scroll of light

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? Scroll.png
Name light
Appearance random
Base price 50 zm
Weight 5
Ink to write 4–7
Monster use Will not be used by monsters.

A scroll of light is a scroll that appears in NetHack.

Effects

Reading a noncursed scroll of light will created a radius of permanent light around you—an uncursed scroll creates light in a 5-square radius, while a blessed scroll creates a 9-unit radius of light. Reading a cursed scroll of light instead darkens a 5-square area around you. In either case, the scroll will auto-identify.

Reading the scroll of light while confused will create a radius of darkness corresponding to the scroll's beatitude around you. However, they also have a 15 chance to instead summon a light monster—reading noncursed scrolls while confused can summon a yellow light, while the cursed scroll can summon a black light. The scroll will not auto-identify if it creates a monster.[1]

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Per this commit, Izchak may now stock scrolls of light in his shop.

Reading the scroll while confused now instead summons multiple tame cancelled lights. An uncursed scroll will summon 3–4 y yellow lights; a blessed scroll will summon 5–6 yellow lights; and a cursed scroll will summon 3–4 y black lights (which are invisible, but still provide light). Nothing will be summoned if the appropriate type of light is genocided.

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Area lit by uncursed scroll

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Area darkened by cursed scroll

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Area lit by blessed scroll

Strategy

While a scroll useful for lighting up a single room, the wand of light and the light spell tend to be more efficient, as is any light source tool. A player that has a consistent source of lighting can reliably save this scroll for blanking.

History

The scroll of light has been present in the game since Hack 1.21, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack. The confused reading of a scroll creating a yellow or black light was added in NetHack 3.6.0—variants based on previous versions retain the usual behavior for confused readings, though this is not always the case.

Messages

A lit field surrounds you!
You read a blessed or uncursed scroll.
You are surrounded by darkness!
You read a cursed scroll, or a scroll of any beatitude while confused.
Your <light source> goes out!
You read a cursed scroll or read any scroll of light while confused, and your lit lamp or lantern went out.
Your <candle>'s flame is extinguished.
As above, with a candle.
Suddenly, the only light left comes from Sunsword!
As above, but you are wielding Sunsword.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.


Lights appear all around you!
You read the scroll while confused and summoned lights. This auto-identifies the scroll if you can see any of the lights.
Tiny lights sparkle in the air momentarily.
You read the scroll while confused, but lights could not be summoned because they are genocided.

Variants

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, reading a scroll of light while confused has a different effect than reading a cursed scroll. If blessed or uncursed, it will summon 5–10 yellow lights scattered throughout the level. If the scroll is cursed, it will instead summon up to 15 black lights.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, an uncursed scroll of light illuminates a radius of 11 squares rather than 5. A blessed scroll illuminates the entire level, even areas that are not within line of sight. Otherwise, scrolls of light use the same behavior as NetHack 3.7.0.

References