Wand of secret door detection
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | secret door detection |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 5% |
| Base price | 150 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | non-directional |
| Maximum charges | 15 |
| Spell | detect unseen |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A wand of secret door detection is a type of wand that appears in NetHack.
Generation
Wizards may be given a wand of secret door detection as the random wand in their starting inventory.[1]
Wands of secret door detection make up 1⁄20 (5%) of all randomly-generated wands. General stores and "quality apparel and accessories" shops can sell wands of secret door detection.
Wands of secret door detection can generate with 8 to 15 charges.
Description
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The wand of secret door detection is non-directional, and a hero zapping the wand produces the same effect as casting the detect unseen spell: the wand detects all undiscovered secret doors, mimics, hiding monsters (including submerged sea monsters), and traps in a radius of 8 squares within the hero's line of sight, auto-identifying the wand if the hero sees it reveal any of the aforementioned monsters or features.[2][3][4] This will also mark the location of invisible monsters within the area with a I and remove other I where no monsters are present.[5] The wand's effects can penetrate clouds on the Plane of Air, but will have no effect if the hero is engulfed.[6] Monsters will not use this wand.
Breaking a charged wand of secret door detection by applying it–or else wresting one last charge from an applied wand–will have no effect.[7]
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 wand of secret door detection (and also the spell of detect unseen) are also capable of detecting trapped doors and trapped containers. It will additionally display a brief flashing animation at the locations where something was detected, and then print a message summarizing what was detected, including if nothing was detected. Since the wand always gives some unambiguous feedback, it always auto-identifies.Strategy
The wand of secret door detection is an invaluable tool for trap detection throughout the game, from avoiding early spiked pits and polymorph traps to finding the magic portal to the Quest, to discovering the vibrating square and finding the temple entrance in Moloch's Sanctum, to finding portals on the Elemental Planes in the last stages of the ascension run. It can also be used as polyfodder due to generating with a higher number of charges like most non-directional wands.
Formally identifying the wand of secret door detection is very easy, with the only potential hurdle being a non-directional wand of nothing: both wands will appear to produce the same effects unless the former actually reveals anything hidden.
History
The wand of secret door first appears in Hack 1.21 as the wand of trap detection, and also appears in Hack for PDP-11 as the wand of secret door + trap detection—both games are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack. The item is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0, where it is given its current name.
References
- Jump up ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 164
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2164
- Jump up ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1455
- Jump up ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1574
- Jump up ↑ src/vision.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2747
- Jump up ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1578
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3363
