Scroll of taming
? 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | taming |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 5 |
| Ink to write | 10-19 |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A scroll of taming is a type of magical scroll that appears in NetHack.
Generation
Monks may be given a scroll of taming as the random scroll in their starting inventory.[1] Wizards may be given a scroll of taming as any of the three random scrolls in their starting inventory.[2]
Scrolls of taming make up 3⁄200 (1.5%) of all randomly-generated scrolls. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books shops can sell scrolls of taming.
Writing a scroll of taming with a magic marker takes up 10 to 19 charges.
Description
Reading a non-cursed scroll of taming will attempt to tame monsters that are adjacent to the hero, subject to their MR score, with the range extended to 5 squares away from the hero (i.e. an 11x11 area) if the scroll is read while confused.[3][4][5][6] Monsters that do not resist the scroll's effect will be made tame, and any such monsters that cannot be tamed (e.g. aligned priests, quest guardians, and the quest leader) will instead be made peaceful, and shopkeepers are always pacified by the scroll.[7]
Reading a cursed scroll of taming will turn peaceful monsters adjacent to the hero hostile, with the range extended to an 11x11 area if read while confused.[8] Reading a scroll of any beatitude while engulfed will restrict the range of the effects to the engulfing monster, even if read while confused.[9]
The scroll is auto-identified if the hero sees its effects on any monsters within their vision.[10] If no monsters are affected by the scroll, a message is printed and the player is prompted to type-name the scroll.[11]
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit 231bd75b, pets that are affected by taming magic have their tameness increased by one.
Per commit 9b4f38ee, a blessed scroll of taming increases the tameness of pets by an amount dependent on the hero's charisma. Per commit 13b8725a, pets with 10 tameness or lower may have their tameness increased by 1 from reading a non-cursed scroll of taming, with the chance being higher the lower that pet's tameness is, and a blessed scroll will additionally boost tameness by 2.Strategy
Non-cursed scrolls of taming are a useful "escape" item for dire situations, e.g. being cornered by powerful nasties such as 0 MR minotaurs and 10 MR dragons: at minimum, it can stop them from attacking you and even provide temporary allies that can help dispose of a summoner and/or other hostiles. Non-cursed scrolls of taming are also useful for pacifying important peaceful monsters that were angered, e.g. due to accidents involving Stormbringer or a stray wand shot—depending on the monster and their MR score, multiple scrolls may be required; heroes that can reliably cast the charm monster spell and have the energy stores required may prefer doing so to reading the scroll.
The scroll of taming's effects while confused are relatively unique, since it enables taming monsters at a distance and is not reliant on the hero's experience level like the magic harp. This makes it especially useful for handling multiple hostile monsters in a less-confined area, provided you have a means to inflict confusion on demand and cure it.
Identification
Using price identification to distinguish the scroll of taming from other 200zm scrolls–amnesia, create monster, and earth–can be somewhat tricky. Monsters can read scrolls of create monster, and while they can also read the scroll of earth, they are much less likely to do so if not wearing a hard helm; Sokoban guarantees two scrolls of earth on its first floor, making it trivial to type-name. The scroll of amnesia is the most critical to formally identify beforehand, since reading the scroll has very detrimental effects for the hero.
Of note is that the scroll of taming's messages are completely unique to its scroll type, so even an unidentified one can be reliably identified informally if the hero reads it.
History
The scroll of taming first appears in Hack 1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, no message is printed if the hero reads the scroll and no monsters are affected, and the player is prompted to type-name the scroll—this allows for easy informal identification, since it is the only scroll to do so in these versions.
Messages
- Nothing interesting happens.
- You read a scroll of taming with no monsters in range.
- Nothing interesting seems to happen.
- You read a scroll of taming with monsters in range that were not tamed or angered.
- The neighborhood <is/seems> friendlier.
- You read a non-cursed scroll of taming and tamed at least one monster, with "seems" swapped for "is" if you cannot see the results.
- The neighborhood <is/seems> unfriendlier.
- As above, but you read a cursed scroll.
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 930: maybe_tame
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1401: same effects as charm monster spell
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1409: range of scroll effects
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1422: calls maybe_tame after determining monsters affected
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 937
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 941
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1405
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1436
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1429
