Dagger
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | dagger |
| Appearance | dagger |
| Damage vs. small | 1d4 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d3 |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Weapon skill | dagger |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 4 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 10 |
| Material | iron |
A dagger is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a one-handed stackable weapon that can both be used in melee and thrown as a projectile, and is made of iron.[1]
Contents
Generation
Various roles start the game with one or more daggers:
- Human and gnomish Rangers start each game with a +1 dagger as their secondary weapon.[2] Elven Rangers start with a +1 elven dagger in place of the standard dagger, while orcish Rangers start with a +1 orcish dagger in place of the standard dagger.[3][4]
- Human Rogues start each game with a stack of 6-15 +0 daggers as their secondary weapons.[5][4]
- Valkyries start each game with a +0 dagger as their secondary weapon.[6]
The dagger makes up 3⁄100 (3%) of all weapons that are randomly generated on the floor, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapon outlets can also stock daggers.
Various monsters can be generated with daggers:
- Watchmen and soldiers have a 1⁄2 chance of generating with a dagger as their secondary weapon, and other mercenaries have a 1⁄4 chance of being given a dagger as their primary weapon.[7][8]
- Students, attendants, abbots, acolytes, guides, and apprentices have a roughly effective 1⁄3 chance of generating with a dagger.[9]
- Hunters have a 1⁄3 chance of generating with a dagger.[10]
- Thugs have a 2⁄3 chance of generating with a dagger.[11]
- Hobbits have a 1⁄3 chance of generating with a dagger.[12]
- Dwarves that are not undead have an effective 1⁄2 chance of generating with a dagger.[13]
- One of the five default weapon sets for monsters that have weapon attacks, are not strong and do not have a default initial weapon is a stack of 3–5 daggers.[14]
- The Master of Thieves is generated with a stack of 2-8 non-cursed +2 daggers when acting as the quest leader for the Rogue quest.[15]
- Player monsters, including those generated on the Astral Plane, have an effective 5⁄194 chance (~2.58%) of generating with a stack of up to 8 daggers as their initial weapon before role-based replacements are applied.[16][17]
Dagger skill
| Dagger | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Basic | |
| Skilled | |
| Expert | |
The following weapons use the dagger skill:
The following artifact weapons use the dagger skill:
Dagger-type weapons may be automatically quivered if the hero uses the firing command without any projectiles or ammo quivered.[18]
Rangers throwing any projectile except for dagger-type weapons gain a +1 multishot bonus.[19] Rogues throwing dagger-type weapons gain a +1 multishot bonus.[20]
Wielding a dagger-type weapon while eating a non-blessed tin will open the tin in 3 turns.[21]
Strategy
Despite their weight and low base damage, daggers can be very useful in the early game: a ranged volley at sufficient skill levels can kill monsters before they even breach melee range, and can at least soften them up before they can engage you. They are typically cheap and plentiful, and are more durable than arrows, crossbow bolts and darts, but cannot be poisoned by dipping into a potion of sickness. A spare, non-cursed dagger can also serve as a makeshift "pick" for forcing open locked chests and large boxes.
All roles except Monks and Priests can attain proficiency in dagger skill, and may wish to do so early on if the circumstances warrant it. Rogues and Wizards in particular can reach Expert and gain multishot bonuses, which gives them high damage potential from a "storm" of daggers. If daggers are your primary choice of projectile, then be sure to erodeproof them when possible, and avoid leaving any of them near metallivores such as rock moles and rust monsters if possible—additionally, avoid throwing any enchanted daggers at disenchanters.
History
The dagger first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, variants of Jay Fenlason's Hack. It is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds the dark elven dagger, the great dagger and the wooden stake as weapons that use the dagger skill. There are also new artifact weapons that use the dagger skill:
- The Great Dagger of Glaurgnaa is an artifact great dagger that acts as the Necromancer quest artifact.
- Serpent's Tongue is a chaotic artifact dagger that is the guaranteed first sacrifice gift for Necromancers.
- Deep Freeze is an artifact athame that is the guaranteed first sacrifice gift for Ice Mages.
- Firewall is an artifact athame that is the guaranteed first sacrifice gift for Flame Mages.
- The Stake of Van Helsing is an artifact wooden stake that acts as the Undead Slayer quest artifact.
The dagger skill has also been adjusted:
| Dagger | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Basic | |
| Skilled | |
| Expert | |
All new roles can reach Expert in dagger except the Yeoman, who can reach Skilled.
dNetHack
dNetHack adds several weapons that use the dagger skill:
Any weapon that uses the dagger skill can be used to carve staves into wooden weapons.
The dagger itself makes up 1⁄50 (2%) of all weapons that are randomly generated on the floor, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapon outlets can also stock daggers.
Drow heroes in roles that would start with daggers will instead start with droven daggers. Vampire heroes in roles that would start with athames will instead start with daggers—currently, this only applies to the Wizard.
The Air Crystal increases a hero's skill cap for daggers by 1 while carried.
Andromalius is a spirit that grants skill in daggers while bound, and his seal must contain two items from a set of several eligible objects, including a standard dagger—successfully binding him will exchange the two items for a third object, which also has a chance of being a dagger.
SpliceHack
SpliceHack adds the parazonium as a weapon that uses the dagger skill, and also imports the dark elven dagger from SLASH'EM.
A dagger can be combined with an iron chain at a furnace to create a spiked chain.
notdNetHack
In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, two spirits generate with daggers when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder:
- Andromalius generates with a stack of 5-15 daggers.
- Balam generates with two separate sets of large daggers.
EvilHack
EvilHack adds the dark elven dagger as a weapon that uses the dagger skill, and adds Shadowblade as an artifact that uses the dagger skill. As of version 0.8.3, EvilHack also merges the knife skill into the dagger skill.
A dagger can be created at a forge by combining two arrows and a knife. Daggers can be used to create many other items:
- A dagger can be combined with two darts to create 3-4 shuriken.
- A dagger can be combined with two arrows to create a spear.
- A dagger can be combined with a stiletto to create an athame.
- A dagger can be combined with a spear to create an axe.
- A dagger can be combined with two crossbow bolts to create a short sword.
- A dagger can be combined with a broadsword to create a runesword.
- A dagger can be combined with a club to create a mace.
- A dagger can be combined with a mace to create a morning star.
- A dagger can be combined with a dented pot to create a helmet.
- A dagger can be combined with a helmet to create a small shield.
SlashTHEM
In addition to SLASH'EM details, SlashTHEM adds the sharpened pencil as a weapon that uses the dagger skill.
Player vampires, kobolds and doppelgangers can always reach a minimum of Basic skill in daggers.
Hack'EM
Hack'EM adds the great dagger and stake from SLASH'EM, as well as the parazonium from SpliceHack.
Encyclopedia entry
Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
References
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1433-L1435
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 125
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 226: elven substition for daggers
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 235: orcish substitution for daggers
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 125
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 162
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 199
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 213-L215
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 276-L283
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 308
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 317
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 363-L367
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 397-L399
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 555-L557
- ↑ dat/Rog-strt.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 109
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 150: 1⁄2 to get a random weapon—the designated range of objects covers weapons from the spear to the bullwhip inclusively in objects.h, and uses normal generation odds
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 267-L271: throwable weapons can have up to 7 more added
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 420-L423
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 58-L62
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 63-L67
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1752-L1761
