Scroll of food detection
? 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | food detection |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 100 zm |
| Weight | 5 |
| Ink to write | 4-7 |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A scroll of food detection is a type of magical scroll that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Monks may be given a scroll of food detection as the random scroll in their starting inventory.[1] Wizards may be given a scroll of food detection as any of the three random scrolls in their starting inventory.[2]
Scrolls of food detection make up 1⁄40 (2.5%) of all randomly-generated scrolls. General stores, second-hand bookstores, rare books shops, and health food stores can sell scrolls of food detection.
Writing a scroll of food detection with a magic marker takes up 4 to 7 charges.
Description
Reading a scroll of food detection will cause the hero to smell and detect certain items dependent on the scroll's beatitude:[3][4] a non-cursed scroll of food detection detects and reveals the location of all comestibles on the level, including those in monster inventories, while a blessed scroll has the same effect and additionally grants the food appraisal intrinsic; reading a cursed scroll, or being confused and reading a scroll of any beatitude, will instead detect all potions on the level.
Detecting either food or potions using this scroll will auto-identify it, and the player will otherwise be prompted to type-name the scroll. Monsters will not read this scroll.
Strategy
The most obvious use for a scroll of food detection is to efficiently track down food if you are hungry and/or short on comestibles: remember that the scroll will display all comestibles, including corpses that are tainted from age, poisoned, or otherwise harmful (e.g. petrification from a footrice corpse). Unless you have food appraisal from a blessed scroll), you will not get any warning before eating such a corpse, so do not chow down carelessly. The food appraisal intrinsic from the scroll is also useful to prevent breaking conducts; however, it will only warn you once before the intrinsic is lost and will need to be reapplied.
The potion-detecting capability of cursed and/or confused readings of the scroll have a niche application for finding useful potions, such as smoky potions or a potion of gain level, before a monster can grab it, or else kill a monster before they can use it; this functionality can generally be duplicated by other means, however. Potion detection may be of slightly more use for a hero attempting the foodless conduct.
Once you learn the spell of detect food or reach a point where food is not much of a concern anymore, this scroll is a good candidate for blanking.
History
The scroll of food detection first appears in Hack 1.0.
Messages
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"Check food_detect to verify that all messages are present."
- Your <nose> starts to tingle and you smell food.
- You read a blessed scroll of food detection and detected comestible items elsewhere on the level, while gaining the food appraisal intrinsic.
- Your <nose> continues to tingle and you smell food.
- As above, but you already have the food appraisal intrinsic.
- Your <nose> tingles and you smell <food/something>.
- You read a non-blessed scroll and detected either comestibles or potions elsewhere on the level.
- Your <nose> twitches then starts to tingle.
- You read a blessed scroll of food detection and gained the food appraisal intrinsic, but there were no comestibles on the level.
- Your <nose> twitches.
- As above, but you already have the food appraisal intrinsic or read a non-blessed scroll.
- Your <nose> starts to tingle.
- This is printed before before any of the messages below this one if the read scroll is blessed.
- You smell food nearby.
- You read a non-cursed scroll, and the only comestibles on the level are on your square.
- You sense a lack of food nearby.
- You read a non-cursed scroll after previously detecting comestibles on the level, but they are gone now. The additional message for gaining the food appraisal intrinsic at skilled level or higher is not included.
- You have a strange feeling for a moment, then it passes.
- You read the scroll as a beginner, and there are no comestibles on the level.
- You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes.
- As above while hallucinating.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the incantifier is a playable race that consumes magic instead of normal food: incantifiers in roles that start with food will receive scrolls of food detection instead, with the notable exception of the Tourist.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, incantifiers in non-Tourist roles that start with food will receive scrolls of food detection instead, as in dNetHack and its variants.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 89
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 167
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1479: call food_detect in detect.c
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 455: food_detect function
This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:
Redistribution, copying, and editing of these spoilers, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
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