Chest

English

 • 中文（中国大陆）

(
Name	chest
Appearance	chest
Base price	16 zm
Weight	600
Material	wood
Monster use	Will not be used by monsters.

A chest is a type of tool that appears in NetHack. The chest is a lockable container that is made of wood, and it is similar to the large box.

Mimics generated in shops frequently hide by imitating chests among other items, and the default tile for the "strange object" that signifies a disguised mimic has a deliberately close resemblance to a chest.

Generation

Chests make up ⁷⁄₂₀₀ (3.5%) of all tools randomly generated on the floor (in the dungeon and Gehennom), in general shops or as death drops. Hardware stores can also stock chests, and any chests normally generated in shops have their contents generated as normal. Chests are always generated as uncursed outside of bones levels and trap "bones".

Each level of the Dungeons of Doom has a chance of placing a single large box in a room that is dependent on the number of rooms created on that floor, with a roughly 10% chance of placing at least one chest per level. Graveyards have a ¹⁄₃₀ chance of placing a chest on each square. Barracks have a ¹⁄₆₀ chance of placing a chest on each square. Throne rooms will always have a chest present on one of its squares, with some gold placed inside alongside other possible contents.

Each level above the the Oracle level, other than the floor with the stair to the Gnomish Mines, has an effective ⁴⁄₉ chance of generating a single chest in a room during level creation: this chest will act as a "supply container" and contain some useful items.

• The chest has a ⁵⁄₆ chance of being locked.
• Each item inside has a roughly ¹⁄₂ chance of being a potion of healing, with a further roughly ¹⁄₂ chance of a stack of two healing potions—otherwise, the item will be one of a potion of extra healing, speed or gain energy, a scroll of enchant weapon, enchant armor, confuse monster, or scare monster, a wand of digging, or a spellbook of healing.
• Once an item is generated in the supply container, another item will be placed if that previous item was cursed or with a ¹⁄₅ chance (20%) otherwise—this continues until either an item fails to generate or 50 total items have been generated, though this latter outcome has incredibly low odds.
• After all items above are placed, there is a ²⁄₃ chance of an additional non-tool item being placed, with a slight bias towards lower-level spellbooks.

Other normally-created have a ⁴⁄₅ chance of generating as locked and a separate ¹⁄₁₀ chance of generating with a container trap, and a trapped chest has a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance of generating as "obviously" trapped, i.e. the hero will know its trapped status upon seeing it. Chests other than the supply container that are created locked can generate with up to 7 random items inside, and otherwise can generate with up to 5 random items inside.

Besides the supply container, chests can also be generated in themed rooms and some fixed locations:

• The "buried treasure" themed room has a chest containing 3-12 random objects that is buried in the floor, with a burned engraving placed on a random square of the dungeon level that points to its exact location.
• The "storeroom" themed room has a ³⁄₁₀ chance of placing a "chest" on each square, with a ¹⁄₄ chance of an actual chest being placed and otherwise placing a mimic monster disguised as a chest.
• The "water-surrounded vault" themed room has a chest placed on each square within the vault rather than the typical pile of gold, with a giant zombie, ettin zombie or vampire lord inhabiting the vault as well—one of the chest is also guaranteed to contain one of a scroll of teleportation, ring of teleportation, wand of teleportation, or wand of digging as an escape item, with that chest being created as unlocked in the event that the escape item is made of a fragile material (i.e. glass) to prevent a case where a hero tries to kick open a locked chest and destroys the escape item inside.
• The Grotto Town map of Minetown places a chest within the closet in the southeastern-most corner of the map.
• The home level for each of the Quest branches (minus the Monk quest and Priest quest) generate a chest within the quest leader's dwelling, and almost all of them place the chest on or near the leader's square.
• The Castle always has two chests.
  • An untrapped and locked chest with a guaranteed wand of wishing and a potion of gain level is located in one of the turrets of the Castle, with a cursed scroll of scare monster and a burned "Elbereth" engraving on its square.
  • The central room with the throne places a chest between the throne and the secret door that leads to the storerooms and the trap doors into Gehennom.
• Several chests are generated in Vlad's Tower during level creation, with random contents unless otherwise specified.
  • On the middle floor, a chest is placed in two of the randomly-assigned niches, with one chest containing an amulet of life saving and the other containing an amulet of strangulation.
  • On the top floor, one of the chests contains 4-8 tallow candles, and another contains 4-8 wax candles.

Description

Chests store items like other containers, and cannot be placed into other containers themselves. A chest prevents its contents from being subjected to external damage by fire, cold or shock, and the chest will also protect them from becoming wet unless it is cursed, which reduces the chance of protection to ²⁄₃. A chest will gradually rot away if buried underground, and a buried chest that fully rots away will leave its contents buried (and thus susceptible to rot).

A hero can use a chest by looting it while standing on its square, or else by applying it while it is in their inventory. A locked chest must be unlocked or have its lock forced open and broken before a hero can store items within it, and a broken lock can be repaired with the wand of locking, the wand of opening, the spell of wizard lock, or the spell of knock. Forcing a chest's lock open with an edged weapon has a chance of breaking the weapon, while using a blunt weapon has a chance of destroying the chest, and destroying a chest with a blunt weapon may destroy some of its former contents in the process. Kicking or throwing a chest has a chance of destroying some of its contents, including fragile items—kicking a locked chest also has a chance of breaking open the lock.

If there is at least one chest on a dungeon level, and a hero is looting a throne on that level while confused and carrying gold in their open inventory, then they will have a random amount of that gold (up to all of it) warped into the nearest chest, which will then lock itself (including repairing a broken lock if necessary). If no chest is present when this occurs, a throne room monster will be generated and the gold is moved into their inventory instead.

Monsters can pick up chests: monsters that are intelligent and have hands will rummage through a chest if it has contents that interest them, and an intelligent monster with hands and an unlocking tool will be able to unlock a locked chest—monsters will avoid chests that are on the same square as a scroll of scare monster. A gelatinous cube will instead eat chests that they move across, avoiding ones with a scroll of scare monster on their square as normal: if a cube eats a chest and engulfs its contents, it will silently use a move to digest one organic item from its freshly-gained inventory on each of its subsequent moves, and it remains motionless as it eats unless the hero is in melee range of it. A tame gelatinous cube will behave similarly when coming across a chest, considering it "acceptable" food, and will prefer eating items over dropping them (e.g., when eating a chest and engulfing its contents). Heroes that are polymorphed into gelatinous cubes cannot eat chests unless they are empty.

Strategy

As with large boxes, untrapping chests that you come across is generally wise to avoid YASD, especially in the early game, but you can leave a trap that you discover on a chest for later if you are not confident in successfully disarming it—additionally, chests in early dungeon levels (particularly inside shops) should be approached with significant caution, in the event a player mistakes a cloaked mimic for an actual chest.

Chests can serve as stash locations, and can provide a means of dealing with troll corpses by locking them inside to prevent them from reviving—trolls are often present in throne rooms within the deeper parts of the dungeon, so the throne room's chest provides a convenient means for permanently disposing of them. Unfortunately, a chest is heavier in weight than a large box, so they are much less practical as an emergency container if a hero cannot find a bag elsewhere in the dungeon, but they may suffice if the hero is especially desperate, cannot find a large box and has enough carrying capacity to spare. Random chests are somewhat less commonplace in terms of random generation, while containing more items inside them on average compared to large boxes.

Securing a stash kept within a chest by locking it and placing it on a square with a boulder and/or a scroll of scare monster is important if a player plans to spend a long time on a stash's level where a gelatinous cube has a chance of generating—in a worst-case scenario where a cube has gotten to a stash chest and eaten it, it is imperative to kill the cube quickly before too many of the former contents are digested. This is especially true for heroes opting to keep a pet cube, since if it drops its inventory due to carrying capacity limitations and then moves back over the pile, it will engulf and attempt to eat the organic objects in the resulting pile all at once.

History

The chest first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. From this version to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the large box has been subject to several bug fixes and other code adjustments.

• In versions up to NetHack 3.1.3:
  • A common strategy for identifying worthless pieces of glass is to gather a large collection of gems, naming them all "fake blue" or whichever color they desired, placing them in a chest or other container, and then repeatedly kicking the container to break any worthless glass within until the game stopped printing messages about gems shattering—the surviving gems are confirmed to be valuable. This tactic was nicknamed "kickboxing", and NetHack 3.2.0 fixes this by making worthless pieces of glass non-fragile.
• In versions up to NetHack 3.6.7:
  • Monsters are capable of picking up chests, but will not attempt to remove their contents or unlock one if it is locked. NetHack 5.0.0 gives monsters the ability to open containers and unlock locked containers via commit b12ea03d, and fixes a regression via commit 4b270099 that causes them to ignore a scroll of scare monster on the same square as a container that interests them.
  • Hostile gelatinous cubes will always eat chests that they move across, engulfing the contents afterward without also eating them—tame gelatinous cubes will instead drop the contents of the chest immediately, introducing the risk of the cube moving back over the pile soon after and consuming all organic contents within it. This behavior is changed for NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 2108abd3 and commit dafd8549 so that cubes will eat items one at a time regardless of whether they are hostile.
  • A bug prevents the hero from using the open command to open a chest if they are in a pit or spiked pit, even if the chest is also in that pit. This is fixed for NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 4e6d3aba.
  • Chests remain completely waterproof, even if they are cursed. This is changed for NetHack 5.0.0 via commit f90bb4fb so that a cursed chest does not always prevent water damage to its contents.
  • There is a bug that makes it possible for the game to crash if the hero loots a throne while confused and is carrying gold that is also quivered. This bug is fixed for NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 38185134 so that any such gold is properly removed from the quiver prior to migrating it into a chest (or into a monster's inventory).
  • The chest containing the wand of wishing is locked or unlocked at random, and does not contain another item. The chest's locked status is set in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit b0e645a6, while the potion of gain level is added via commit a8800a9a.
• NetHack 5.0.0 makes the following changes to chests:
  • Supply containers are added to the early floors of the dungeon via commit ae3e5d28.
  • Themed rooms are introduced via commit 9b74ea0b, with the "water-surrounded vault" and "buried treasure" rooms being part of the initial commit—the escape item adjustments to the water-surrounded vault are included via commit 95b410ee, commit d99b549b and commit 085594ac.

Messages

You succeed in unlocking the <container>.

You successfully unlocked a locked chest with an unlocking tool.

Klick!

You unlocked a locked chest with the spell of knock or a wand of opening.

You break open the lock!

You kicked a locked chest open.

THUD!

As above, but the chest was not opened.

THUD! The lid slams open, then falls shut.

As above, but the chest wasn't locked.

You hear a muffled shatter.

You kicked or threw a chest and broke at least one item inside it.

You hear a muffled cracking.

As above, and at least one egg inside was destroyed.

Thank you for your contribution to reduce the debt.

You looted a throne while carrying gold in open inventory, and some or all of that gold was placed in a chest on the level.

Variants

Some NetHack variants may change how chests function—a common quality-of-life addition is to allow placing a container on an altar to identify the beatitude of both the container and its contents. Variants that implement object materials may alter a chest's properties based on its material.

In variants that incorporate the Pirate patch, The Treasury of Proteus is an artifact chest that acts as the Pirate quest artifact: while carried it grants magic resistance, absorbs most curses similar to Magicbane and acts as a luck item; the contents of The Treasury are polymorphed at random, and obtaining it also initiates "king of the hill" mode for a Pirate hero—see the article for more details.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, upgrading a chest will produce an ice box and vice versa.

Several new rooms and levels have chests generated within:

• Giant courts always generate a chest within the room, as with regular throne rooms.
• Grund's Stronghold contains a dozen chests with various specified contents—see that article for more information on those contents.
• The Lawful Quest generates a chest with specific contents in the center of the "Spice Girls" room at level creation; the Neutral Quest generates a chest on the Beholder's square at level creation; and the Chaotic Quest generates eight chests in Vecna's room at level creation.
• The Sunless Sea generates a chest on the lone island in the sea at level creation.
• All the newly added roles have quest branches that place a chest in the quest leader's dwelling, minus the Yeoman quest—the Undead Slayer quest is also a near-identical copy of the Priest quest, including the several graveyards with chests that can be encountered between the home and goal levels.
• The Giant Caverns generates a chest in the hidden room near the center of the map at level creation.

SporkHack

In SporkHack, there is a chest in all four turrets of the Castle, with a burnt Elbereth on each chest's square: one contains the wand of wishing as normal, while another has a wand of secret door detection, and the other two each contain a random wand.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, several chests are generated in various locations:

• The buried treasure random vault has a chest buried in the ground with 3-12 items, while the "Ozymandias' Tomb" random vault has a chest with a container trap.
• There are multiple chests generated on both maps for the top floor of the Ruins of Moria at level creation.
• The Convict quest has a chest generated in the lower-right corner of the southeastern-most room on the goal level.
• The two new maps for the Castle have several chests depending on the layout:
  • The island map of the Castle has a store room with three chests, and another chest is located within each of the two turrets bordering the entrance—one of them contains the usual wand of wishing, with the chest being untrapped and on a burned Elbereth.
  • The lava map of the Castle has a chest in each of the several alcoves around the throne room—the chest with the wand of wishing is untrapped and on a burned Elbereth, while the other nine chests have random loot.
• The top level of the Palace of Sheol has two chests with random loot in each of the ice-blocked rooms bordering the room with the throne; the bottom level where the Executioner resides has four chests with random loot, two chests that each have a crystal pick inside, and a chest with a magic marker.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, there are two additional special room types that contain chests: magic item vaults are generated with at least four chests containing varying types of valuable magical items, and "island" special rooms have a buried chest full of gold next to the island's tree.

The top floor of the Windowless Tower features boxes flavored as coffins in place of chests.

The chest in the Castle contains a ring of wishes instead of a wand of wishing.

Maids that pick up chests with broken locks will mend those locks.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, monsters can loot and unlock chests—the Castle's chest is special-cased to prevent monsters stealing the guaranteed wand of wishing this way.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, chests in xNetHack have special behaviors based on their material:

• Chests made of mineral (or "stone") have no lock and cannot be made locked by any means, although they may still be trapped like other chests.
• Chests made of iron, metal or any similar metallic material cannot be kicked open or have their locked forced by blunt weapons, and edged weapons used to force their locks are more likely to break.
• Chests made of glass (or "crystal") will always be generated as locked—they cannot be forced open, and can only be un-locked or re-locked by magical means. "Crystal" chests are also transparent: a hero that walks over one for the first time will automatically look at its contents, and can do so at any time by using the near look command while on its square. Crystal chests that are generated with random contents will contain 1 additional random item in comparison to chests made of other materials.

A thiefstone that is keyed to a square without a container during level creation will have a chest with random loot generated on that square in order to hold any items "stolen" by that thiefstone.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, the chests in graveyards and Vlad's Tower are replaced by coffins.

EvilHack

EvilHack adds the crystal chest, a type of chest-like container made of gemstone that can only be unlocked or locked through magical means and is immune to other forms of magic. EvilHack also adds the magic chest, which functions similarly to magic chests in other variants and can only be locked of unlocked with a magic key item. Both of these items may replace normal chests within level maps that are retained from vanilla NetHack.

Standard chests are generated in several areas:

• Both maps of Goblin Town have a chest in the cell near the guaranteed forge.
• Mines' End always has a chest containing a magic key with an engraving on its square, and some of the maps may also have their own chests as well.
  • In Mimic of the Mines, the chest is buried in one of the seven niches that does not contain any gems or glass, and is untrapped and locked. The engraving reads "One-Eyed Sam was here".
  • In the Gnome King's Wine Cellar, the chest is buried in one of four specific locations that is randomly chosen each game, and is untrapped and locked. The engraving reads "Property of Croesus".
  • In the Catacombs, the chest is buried in one of four specific locations that is randomly chosen each game, and is untrapped and locked. The engraving is a simple "X".
  • In the Orc Temple, the chest is buried in one of the eight niches that does not contain any gems or gray stones, and is untrapped and locked. The engraving reads "Do not dig here". The two side rooms with altars also each have a trapped chest.
  • In The Sewers of Waterdeep, the chest is located in an isolated room that can only be reached by teleportation (and has a teleportation trap the can be used to leave). This chest is the only one with a magic key that is not buried, and it is also trapped. In addition to the magic key, the chest has a random wand, a random spellbook, a smaller container, and a pair of useful tools:
    • The container will be either a sack (¹⁄₂/50% chance), an oilskin sack (²⁄₅/40% chance), or a bag of holding (¹⁄₁₀/10% chance).
    • The first tool will be either a stethoscope (⁷⁄₁₀/70% chance), a pick-axe (³⁄₂₀/15% chance), or a can of grease (³⁄₂₀/15% chance).
    • The second tool will be either a tinning kit (¹⁄₂/50% chance), a tooled horn (²⁄₅/40% chance), or a magic lamp (¹⁄₁₀/10% chance).
• The Castle has several possible chests on each of its maps.
  • The first map for the Castle has an untrapped chest in all four turrets as in SporkHack, with a burnt Elbereth and a cursed scroll of scare monster on each chest's square: one is locked and contains a wand of wishing, while another has a wand of nothing, and the other two each contain a random wand. The chest containing the wand of wishing has a ¹⁄₂ chance of being a crystal chest instead.
  • The island map of the Castle adapted from UnNetHack has a store room with three chests, and another chest is located within each of the two turrets bordering the entrance—one of the chests is untrapped and on a square with a burned 'Elbereth', and contains the wand of wishing.
  • The lava map of the Castle adapted from UnNetHack has a chest in each of the several alcoves around the throne room—the chest with the wand of wishing is untrapped and on a burned Elbereth, while the other nine chests have random loot.

Encyclopedia entry

Dantes rapidly cleared away the earth around the chest. Soon the center lock appeared, then the handles at each end, all delicately wrought in the manner of that period when art made precious even the basest of metals. He took the chest by the two handles and tried to lift it, but it was impossible. He tried to open it; it was locked. He inserted the sharp end of his pickaxe between the chest and the lid and pushed down on the handle. The lid creaked, then flew open.
Dantes was seized with a sort of giddy fever. He cocked his gun and placed it beside him. The he closed his eyes like a child, opened them and stood dumbfounded.
The chest was divided into three compartments. In the first were shining gold coins. In the second, unpolished gold ingots packed in orderly stacks. From the third compartment, which was half full, Dantes picked up handfuls of diamonds, pearls and rubies. As they fell through his fingers in a glittering cascade, they gave forth the sound of hail beating against the windowpanes.

[ The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas ]