Scroll of punishment
? 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | punishment |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 300 zm |
| Weight | 5 |
| Ink to write | 5-9 |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A scroll of punishment is a type of scroll that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Monks may be given a scroll of punishment as the random scroll in their starting inventory.[1] Wizards may be given a scroll of punishment as any of the three random scrolls in their starting inventory.[2]
Scrolls of punishment make up 3⁄200 (1.5%) of all randomly-generated scrolls. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books shops can sell scrolls of punishment.
Writing a scroll of punishment with a magic marker takes up 5 to 9 charges.
Description
A hero reading a scroll of punishment will auto-identify the scroll and be subjected to punishment, which creates and chains a heavy iron ball to their leg or else affects the weight of an already-chained iron ball, with the exact effects depending on the scroll's beatitude:[3][4]
- An uncursed scroll chains a heavy iron ball to the hero, and if an iron ball is already chained to them it will instead increase that ball's weigh by 160 aum.[5][6][7]
- An cursed scroll chains a heavy iron ball to the hero, and if an iron ball is already chained to them it will instead increase that ball's weigh by 320 aum.
- A blessed scroll prints a message with no other effect regardless of whether or not the hero is already punished, and reading any beatitude while confused also has no effect.[8]
A hero that is polymorphed into an amorphous, whirly or unsolid monster and reads a scroll of punishment will generate the ball and chain as normal, but will not have it attached to them.[9]
Monsters will not read this scroll.
Strategy
The scroll of punishment is one of many reasons why it is generally a Bad Idea to read unidentified scrolls. A hero in the early game with a known scroll of punishment may consider selling it to an appropriate shop, and it is otherwise best used for blanking. Some players will deliberately read the known scroll and then get rid of the chain through some means and/or have the hero wield the iron ball as a makeshift weapon, and there are some corner uses for the iron ball when jumping—for these reasons, heroes are allowed to start a game with scrolls of punishment.[10]
Identification
The scroll of punishment shares its base price of 300zm with the scroll of genocide and the scroll of stinking cloud. A blessed 300zm scroll is always safe to read: as detailed above, blessed scrolls of punishment merely print a message; blessed genocide can be used to eliminate a troublesome monster class such as liches or disenchanters, which share their monster class with rust monsters that are similarly annoying but much less lethal; and a blessed scroll of stinking cloud can be used to overwhelm a group of hostile monsters with poison damage (which can instantly kill monsters without poison resistance) and blindness.
History
The scroll of punishment first appears in Hack 1.0 alongside the heavy iron ball.
Messages
- You feel guilty.
- You read a blessed scroll, or read any scroll while confused, and it had no effect.
Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, reading a non-blessed scroll of punishment while confused will summon a Punisher adjacent to the hero, which makes doing so very dangerous and a bad idea.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, reading a blessed scroll of punishment, or else reading a scroll of punishment of any beatitude while confused, will simply generate an iron chain without the accompanying iron ball.
Encyclopedia entry
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
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 1689
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2345: punish() function
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1694: calls punish() function
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2352
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2354
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1690
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2359
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 992
