Spellbook of create familiar

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spellbook of +   create familiar
Appearance	random
Abundance	1%
Base price	600 zm
Weight	50
Turns to read	44
Ink to write	30–59
Spell type	clerical
Level	6
Power cost	30 Pw
Direction	non-directional

In NetHack, the spellbook of create familiar can be read to learn the spell of create familiar. It is a level 6 clerical spell, and the spellbook takes 44 actions to read.

Generation

Spellbooks of create familiar make up ¹⁄₁₀₀ (1%) of all randomly-generated spellbooks. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books stores can stock spellbooks of create familiar.

An aligned priest can be generated with the spellbook of create familiar as one of their spellbooks.

Writing a spellbook of create familiar with a magic marker uses up 30 to 59 charges.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 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 d42efcdd, the spellbook of invisibility generated in a chest generated within a random closet on the middle level of Vlad's Tower may be randomly replaced with a spellbook of create familiar.

Description

When successfully cast at any skill level, the spell of create familiar creates a monster adjacent to the hero: the monster has a ¹⁄₃ chance of being an appropriate monster type for the role, or else a monster specified by the player's pettype option, and will be tame if either applies—otherwise, the spell will create a random monster and make it tame if possible, or make it peaceful if it cannot be tame normally. For 'appropriate' pets, Cavepeople, Rangers and Samurai will create a little dog, Knights will create a pony, Wizards will create a kitten, and all other roles will create either a kitten or little dog with equal probability.

NetHack 5.0.0

The hero's Clerical skill level now improves the odds of getting better familiars. The upper limit for the difficulty of the monster created is increased by 3 for each skill level starting with +3 and Unskilled, +6 at skilled, and a maximum of +12 at Expert (only the skill being totally restricted grants +0). This is added to the base monster difficulty which increases with Dungeon level, hero level, and an equipped Ring of aggravate monster. The default minimum is (dungeon level / 6) and default max is (dungeon level + ½ hero level) / 2.. In short, the deeper you go and the higher your experience level is, the better familiars you will get.

Strategy

The spell of create familiar is not likely to see frequent use, due to a combination of its spell school and spell level: only five roles can train clerical spells to Skilled or better, which is nearly a requirement to have any reliable chance at casting the spell; heroes of those roles are unlikely to do so solely for the sake of creating pets, when domestic animals are easy to tame and transform via sources of polymorph. Though the Samurai is one of the aforementioned five roles, many Samurai players are highly unlikely to opt for spellcasting at all. A hero that finds the spellbook early can sell it for a nice amount of gold, and one found later on can be made into a spellbook of blank paper for writing other desired spells with a magic marker.

For heroes that do have sufficient skill in clerical spells, one advantage to using the spell over taming random monsters is that it does not require you to use up food you might want to keep for emergencies in the process. With a source of polymorph, the spell also makes it much easier to procure pets that can immediately be polymorphed into more desirable forms—polymorph traps are a great resource in general for this purpose since they pose no risk of system shock. Even then, some pet types cannot be obtained at all via polymorph, making figurines and the like more ideal for heroes that desire specific pets; the scroll of taming, magic harp and/or the charm monster spell can also be put to use in procuring particular pets.

Nethack 5.0.0

Although still difficult and expensive to cast, this spell now has a higher potential for better familiars. Interestingly, stronger familiars can be summoned by wearing a Ring of aggravate monster, which causes random monsters to generate as if at a Dungeon level twice as deep as your current depth (capping at a simulated depth of 50).. However, this means wearing the ring will slowly offer diminishing returns after dungeon level 25, and will provide minimal benefit after finally descending all the way to the Amulet of Yendor.

History

The spellbook of create familiar and its spell are introduced in NetHack 1.3d.

Variants

Variants of NetHack often add new starting pet options, which also increases the odds of that monster type being generated by the spell of create familiar. Some variants may also adjust the level of the spell.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the spell of create familiar is re-categorized to a level 6 healing spell.

GruntHack

In GruntHack, some monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, including the create familiar spell.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, female drow Healers can start the game having forgotten the spell of create familiar.

The spell of create familiar cannot be cast while the effects of a dimensional lock are active.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, with skill levels to match, and can learn and utilize the create familiar spell.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the spell of create familiar is changed to a level 3 clerical spell, making it significantly easier to cast.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, the spell of create familiar is changed to a level 6 enchantment spell, and it cannot create pets that are normally untameable or can turn traitor.