Wand of light
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | light |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 9.5% |
| Base price | 100 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | non-directional |
| Maximum charges | 15 |
| Spell | light |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A wand of light is a type of wand that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Wizards may be given a wand of light as the random wand in their starting inventory.[1]
Wands of light are the most common type of wand, and make up 19⁄200 (9.5%) of all randomly-generated wands. General stores and "quality apparel and accessories" shops can sell wands of light.
Wands of light are created with 8 to 15 charges, and generate as blessed 1⁄34 of the time, cursed 1⁄34 of the time and uncursed the remainder of the time.[2][3]
Description
A hero zapping a wand of light will permanently light the area within a 5-square radius around them.[4][5][6][7] Monsters will not use this wand.
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Gremlins caught in the light will take up to 5 points of damage.[8][9] The hero will auto-identify the wand if they can see the resulting light, or if they can hear a gremlin react to it.[10][8] Engraving with a wand of light will illuminate the same area and auto-identify the wand, as with zapping it normally.[11]
The wand will not light anything if the hero is engulfed, underwater or on the Plane of Water.[12] On the Rogue level, zapping the wand in an unlit room will always light the entire room.[13]
Breaking a charged wand of light by applying it–or else wresting one last charge from an applied wand–will cause an explosion that deals anywhere between 1 and (4×<charges>) damage, lights the same area as zapping the wand, deals up to 20 damage to gremlins, and blinds the hero and other monsters caught in the explosion for (<charges>+1)d25 turns.[14][15][16][17] This auto-identifies the wand.
Strategy
A wand of light is useful in the early game to make unlit rooms easier to navigate, as well as mapping unlit floors of the Gnomish Mines, especially if the hero is a human and lacks infravision. Once a hero learns the light spell, they can reserve the wand for times when they are low on power—this is somewhat dependent on their overall energy stores, general spellcasting prowess, spell school access, and their ability to cast it reliably.
The wand is useful to "mark" explored locations in otherwise unlit areas, and can also aid in creating a path for jumping through dungeon levels at various stages of the game; though it takes a turn per use and is slightly less powerful than having an active light source, it is a viable substitute if not light sources are available. Using the wand can also help a hero save on usage for oil lamps and other temporary light sources during protracted battles, especially on the stairs up where covetous monsters like to retreat.
A hero that can reliably maintain energy and cast the light spell, or else has a suitable long-term light source like a spare magic lamp, can use the wand of light as polyfodder due to their high amount of charges.
Identification
Identifying the wand of light is incredibly trivial, even without the wand auto-identifying: for price identification, only the wand of nothing and wand of light share their base price of 100zm.
History
The wand of light first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are both based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.
Messages
- A lit field surrounds you!
- You read a blessed or uncursed scroll.
- <The monster's> <stomach> is lit.
- As above, while you are engulfed by an animal.
- <The monster> shines briefly.
- As above, while you are engulfed by a whirly monster.
- <The monster> glistens.
- As above, while you are engulfed by any other type of monster.
Variants
SporkHack
In SporkHack, wands of light blind nearby monsters when engraving or zapping with them. Be wary of using them close to pets in order to avoid pet abuse, and be especially careful around peaceful monsters, particularly aligned priests and/or the Minetown watch.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the wand of light always has the appearance of a "glass wand", and its frequency is slightly lowered to 9⁄100 (9%).
The treasure piles generated in the Grue's Cavern at level creation will contain a wand of light.
A hero that has the spirit Tenebrous bound will unbind it if they create permanent light by zapping the wand or any other means.
NetHack Fourk
In NetHack Fourk, which implements the Wands Balance Patch, the wand of light's effects depend on the user's wand skill: at Unskilled, the wand lights a small radius equal to a lit lamp, while at Basic it behaves as in vanilla NetHack; at Skilled, it lights a 9-square radius as a blessed scroll of light does, at Expert it lights a 15-square radius, and at Master it lights the entire level. This also applies to FIQHack.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, a wand of light can be combined with a wand of opening at a furnace to create a wand of enlightenment.
The wand of light is one of the wands whose effects can be replicated by a wand of wonder.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the non-cursed wand behaves as in SporkHack, and angering peacefuls and abusing pets contributes to alignment abuse, making it imperative for a hero to pay attention to their surroundings.
A cursed wand of light will instead darken the same radius around the hero as a non-cursed wand when zapped, and can be of great use to a drow hero in particular.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, zapping a wand of wonder has a 1⁄21 chance of replicating the effects of a wand of light, permanently lighting the same area.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, a cursed wand of light behaves as it does in EvilHack.
The wand of light is one of the wands whose effects can be replicated by a wand of wonder.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 164
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1022
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1025
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2156: calls litroom() in read.c
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1930: litroom() function
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1957: on boolean is always true for litroom() when called by the spell and wand
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1997
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2161
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2018
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2159
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 657
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1973
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1983
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3353
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2481
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2614
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2623
