Spellbook of create monster
| spellbook of + create monster 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 3.5% |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Turns to read | 5 |
| Ink to write | 10–19 |
| Spell type | clerical |
| Level | 2 |
| Power cost | 10 Pw |
| Direction | non-directional |
| Equivalent | scroll of create monster wand of create monster |
In NetHack, the spellbook of create monster can be read to learn the spell of create monster. It is a level 2 clerical spell, and the spellbook takes 5 actions to read.
Contents
Generation
Priests can be given a spellbook of create monster as either of the two initial spellbooks in their starting inventory.[1][2][3] Wizards can be given a spellbook of create monster as the secondary spellbook in their starting inventory.[4][2]
Spellbooks of create monster make up 7⁄200 (3.5%) of all randomly-generated spellbooks. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books stores can stock spellbooks of create monster.
An aligned priest can be generated with the spellbook of create monster as one of their spellbooks.[5]
Writing a spellbook of create monster with a magic marker uses up 10 to 19 charges.
Description
When successfully cast at any skill level, the spell of create monster behaves identically to reading an uncursed scroll of create monster:[6] one or more monsters are created adjacent to the hero, with a 72⁄73 chance of creating a single monster and a 1⁄73 chance of creating 2-5 monsters[7][8]—normal monster creation is used to generate each monster, meaning that monsters generated in groups count as a single instance.[9][10] Creating monsters with the spell in wizard mode will prompt the player for what kind of monster(s) to create.[11][12]
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.
The spell of create monster and other means of monster creation will provide feedback each time a monster is generated.Strategy
The spell of create monster is generally niche early on, and is reserved for when a hero is either amassing luck or else trying for a sacrifice gift with their spare energy by producing monsters to kill and sacrifice any corpses an altar—as with other sources of create monster, and depending on the hero's primary form of offense and their spell repertoire, the potential gains must be balanced against the risk of summoning something dangerous like a leocrotta or swarm of soldier ants, especially if you've just expended the last of your energy on this very spell. Outside of obtaining corpses for sacrifice, "farming" monsters from the spell can also be used to obtain spare armor, polyfodder or other generally-useful items; the monsters can also be used to feed pets and/or raise their levels, though be sure to keep carnivorous pets away from shapeshifter corpses unless you're fine with allowing them to polymorph, and be mindful of monsters with passives.
Unlike the very similar wand of create monster, a casting of the create monster spell that creates multiple monsters has a lower ceiling for the number of monsters generated and a much lower chance of creating multiple monsters this way in the first place: with groups of monsters counting as 1 instance like previously discussed, the wand can potentially create 2–8 with a 1⁄23 chance, compared to the 1⁄73 chance of 2-5 monsters from the spell.[13] This makes the spell much less ideal specifically for generating nutrition, either from the monsters' corpses or their death drops, when combined with other factors—the hero must be able to reliably cast the spell (with 20 nutrition burned for each attempt), randomly create monsters that can leave safely edible and/or filling corpses to begin with, and the monsters must then drop those corpses upon their death. Heroes other than Wizards are unlikely to find the spell to be nutrition-positive before reaching the depths where starvation ceases to be a threat.
A caster with a well-established supply of food that aims to go altar farming should pick a location where they can easily prevent generated monsters from escaping, or else easily escape the area themselves (e.g. via teleportation) if need be. Coaligned temples are generally among the best areas since the sanctuary provided will cause most monsters to flee rather than attack in melee, and Elbereth is a useful resource for areas without sanctuary. Heroes that are primary casters (who generally have a high pool of energy to cast from) can also make use of the spell in their quest to more quickly generate and/or farm monsters with useful corpses: Priests in particular can generate wraiths on their quest's home level this way, then lure them out through the magic portal so they have a higher chance of dropping corpses (with the usual wraith farming precautions applying); Wizards can take advantage of hungerless casting, especially with their quest artifact The Eye of the Aethiopica, to both farm wraiths from their own quest and rack up luck and sacrifice gifts along with other resources such as holy water and unholy water.
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.
Pets will not eat shapeshifter corpses unless they are starving or on the verge of untaming.Extinction
The spell of create monster is a mission-critical spell for extinctionist conducts, as it is by far the most reliable method to create large amounts of monsters with. Wizards are the best-positioned role to take advantage of the spell for extinctionist play, since the energy regeneration from The Eye of the Aethiopica allows them to cast the spell near-indefinitely, and by the time they obtain the quest artifact they will typically have more than enough resources to efficiently plan out the rest of their run. This is very often done starting from the top floors of the dungeons and working downward, both in order to control the maximum level of monsters that will be generated and to minimize any unwelcome surprises from standard monster generation that can occur on the deeper floors.
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.
For games running over 100,000 turns, prayer timeout will increase by 1 every 100 turns; in addition, most monsters will no longer death drop random food besides their corpses, unless they are a monster type that will pick up food normally. Among various other ramifications, this means that an extinctionist player may have to rely more often on their kills to ensure that their hero stays well-fed.History
The spellbook of create monster and its spell are introduced in NetHack 1.3d.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the spell of create monster is re-categorized to a level 2 attack spell.
Necromancers have a 1⁄5 chance of starting with the spellbook of create monster as their fourth spellbook.[14] Wizards have their starting inventory changed, and have a 1⁄9 chance of receiving the spellbook of create monster as their fourth spellbook.[15] Priests also have their starting inventory changed, and can no longer receive the spellbook.[16][17]
Grund's Stronghold has a 1⁄3 chance of generating a spellbook of create monster in a well-hidden chest in the northwestern corner at level creation—the book will always be accompanied by an amulet versus stone.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, some monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, including the create monster spell.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the spell of create monster is changed to a level 6 clerical spell, and serves as the special spell of the Troubadour (or Bard).
Unlike many other means of summoning monsters in these variants, which often create temporary monsters, the spell of create monster will always create "permanent" monsters, i.e. they will leave behind corpses and death drops if applicable, along with any inventory. The spell's level is thus raised to make it much less trivial to farm altars and the like.
The spell of create monster cannot be cast while the effects of a dimensional lock are active.
FIQHack
In FIQHack, this spellbook and its spell are replaced by the spellbook of summoning.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, the spell of create monster and other sources of monster creation will avoid creating groups of monsters for a single instance, e.g. the spell will generate a single hill orc rather than a group of hill orcs.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, the spell of create monster is re-categorized to a level 2 enchantment spell.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 107
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1020
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1050
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 169
- ↑ src/priest.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 264
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1154: the spell code directly calls the uncursed scroll effects
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1350
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1433
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1106
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1458
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1442
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1445
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2171: wand effects
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1124
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1284
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 157
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1135
