Altar - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: word choice

2026-03-25T23:34:27Z

word choice

Tomsod: /* Strategy */ the important part is you may still be crowned after kicking once

2025-10-26T15:09:54Z

‎Strategy: the important part is you may still be crowned after kicking once

Tomsod: /* Misusing an altar */ elaborate on luck loss amount

2025-10-26T14:52:45Z

‎Misusing an altar: elaborate on luck loss amount

Phol ende wodan: /* Digging an altar */ 3.6: text implied you cannot destroy an altar at all, which you definitely can; 3.7: destroying an altar gets you smited

2024-12-18T19:52:24Z

‎Digging an altar: 3.6: text implied you cannot destroy an altar at all, which you definitely can; 3.7: destroying an altar gets you smited

Umbire the Phantom: ditto

2024-12-16T17:09:36Z

ditto

MrSurvivor1997: /* Generation */ Yet another result of sink polymorph.

2024-12-16T16:55:18Z

‎Generation: Yet another result of sink polymorph.

Umbire the Phantom: /* SLASH'EM */ detail

2024-11-26T10:30:04Z

‎SLASH'EM: detail

Umbire the Phantom: adjust link to water prayer

2024-07-12T11:33:24Z

adjust link to water prayer

Umbire the Phantom: dnh, space out lede

2024-07-12T05:25:19Z

dnh, space out lede

Umbire the Phantom: fragment here, header there, clarify a detail

2024-07-09T06:41:34Z

fragment here, header there, clarify a detail

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 ===Digging an altar===
-If a character or a monster [[zap]]s a [[wand of digging]] downwards while on an altar, the digging ray will be ineffective, and nothing further happens. If a character [[applies]] a wand of digging to break it, or applies a [[drum of earthquake]], the altar can be destroyed by the resulting creation of [[pit]]s and [[hole]]s (unless it is a [[high altar]]).
+If a character or a monster [[zap]]s a [[wand of digging]] downwards while on an altar, the digging ray will be ineffective, and nothing further happens. If a character [[applies]] a wand of digging to break it, or applies a [[drum of earthquake]], the altar can be destroyed by the resulting creation of [[pit]]s and/or [[hole]]s (unless it is a [[high altar]]).
 {{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|When you destroy an altar by creating a pit or hole under it, its god immediately tries to fatally [[smite]] you with lightning and disintegration.}}

@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 An altar is an excellent source of various gifts such as artifact weapons, [[intrinsic protection]] and various other [[intrinsic properties]], [[spellbook]]s, [[holy water]], [[nutrition]], and other benefits. Because nutrition is available through prayer, it is possible to stay at an altar indefinitely, a practice known as [[altar farming]].
-Misusing an altar can be used to deliberately lower luck or [[alignment record]] in order to prevent [[crowning]]: you can use a [[ring of sustain ability]] or a noncursed [[unicorn horn]] to counter wisdom loss, and a [[MSGTYPE]] to hide the complaints from the altar's god.
+Misusing an altar can be used to deliberately lower luck or [[alignment record]] in order to prevent [[crowning]]: you can use a [[ring of sustain ability]] or a noncursed [[unicorn horn]] to counter wisdom loss, and a [[MSGTYPE]] to hide the complaints from the altar's god.  Note that since [[3.6.3]] the luck loss is randomized: with +13 luck, you have a roughly 5% chance of losing two points instead of one and also about 5% of not losing luck at all.  When in doubt, use [[enlightenment]]; failing that, kick at least twice.
 To find the correct high altar on the [[Astral Plane]], you can:

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 ===Misusing an altar===
-A character that [[sit]]s on, [[engrave]]s on or [[kick]]s an altar will experience negative effects depending on the altar alignment and their [[alignment record]].{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/sit.c|137|comment=sitting on altars}}{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/engrave.c|576|comment=engraving on altars}}{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/dokick.c|1061|comment=kicking altars}}{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/pray.c|2232|comment=function altar_wrath}} If the altar is co-aligned and your character's alignment record is greater than -[[rn2]](4), you lose one point of wisdom and one point of alignment record; otherwise, if your luck is greater than -5, you lose 0-2 points of luck.
+A character that [[sit]]s on, [[engrave]]s on or [[kick]]s an altar will experience negative effects depending on the altar alignment and their [[alignment record]].{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/sit.c|137|comment=sitting on altars}}{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/engrave.c|576|comment=engraving on altars}}{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/dokick.c|1061|comment=kicking altars}}{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/pray.c|2232|comment=function altar_wrath}} If the altar is co-aligned and your character's alignment record is greater than -[[rn2]](4), you lose one point of wisdom and one point of alignment record; otherwise, if your luck is greater than -5, you lose up to two points of luck: there's 1 in (Luck+6) chance of avoiding the luck loss, otherwise you lose at least one point, with a 5% chance of two.
 Misusing an altar does not break atheist conduct.

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 ===Digging an altar===
-If a character or a monster [[zap]]s a [[wand of digging]] downwards while on an altar, the digging ray will be ineffective, and nothing further happens. If a character [[applies]] a wand of digging to break it, or applies a [[drum of earthquake]], altars are not affected by the resulting creation of [[pit]]s and [[hole]]s.
+If a character or a monster [[zap]]s a [[wand of digging]] downwards while on an altar, the digging ray will be ineffective, and nothing further happens. If a character [[applies]] a wand of digging to break it, or applies a [[drum of earthquake]], the altar can be destroyed by the resulting creation of [[pit]]s and [[hole]]s (unless it is a [[high altar]]).
 ===High altars===

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 Randomly generated altars can appear in ordinary room-and-corridor levels in the [[Dungeons of Doom]] - there is an independent {{frac|60}} chance that any room that is not a [[special room]] contains an altar, and this chance is not dependent on dungeon level.{{refsrc|src/mklev.c|832|nethack=3.6.7}} Altars cannot occupy any [[square]] in a room that is cardinally adjacent to a [[door]] (diagonally adjacent altars are fine) or otherwise occupied by another dungeon feature.{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/mklev.c|1613|comment=function mkaltar}}
-Dropping a [[ring of polymorph]] down a [[sink]] has a 25% chance to turn the sink into an altar.
+A randomly generated altar has an equal probability of being each of the three alignments, and is never unaligned. Altars that are part of a loaded [[bones]] level are adjusted to the pantheon of the [[hero]]'s current [[role]].
-A randomly generated altar has an equal probability of being each of the three alignments, and is never unaligned. Altars that are part of a loaded [[bones]] level are adjusted to the pantheon of the [[hero]]'s current [[role]].
+[[Sink]]s have a {{frac|4}} chance (25%) of turning into an altar if a [[ring of polymorph]] is dropped on their square, with an equal probability for each alignment.
 A [[Temple#Generation|randomly-generated temple]] that is not created in a "desecrated" state will always have an altar, usually placed in or near the center of the room - there are [[Temple#Special levels with temples|several special levels]] where temples can be encountered.

@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 ==Variants==
 ===SLASH'EM===
-In [[SLASH'EM]], sacrifice at a co-aligned altar can grant various other boons, such as having [[wield]]ed and [[worn]] items blessed or even being granted [[tame]] minions. If a sacrifice at a cross-aligned altar converts that altar, there is a chance that the altar's original god will send two hostile minions after them{{refsrc|pray.c|1583|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}} - this chance is calculated independently of the original chance that the altar's original god will send a hostile minion, which is increased compared to ''NetHack''.{{refsrc|pray.c|1606|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}} This makes altar conversion very dangerous for the unprepared, though high luck reduces the chance of minions generating in either case.
+In [[SLASH'EM]], sacrifice at a co-aligned altar can grant various other boons, such as having [[wield]]ed and [[worn]] items blessed or even being granted [[tame]] minions. If a sacrifice at a cross-aligned altar converts that altar, there is a chance that the altar's original god will send two hostile minions after them{{refsrc|pray.c|1583|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}} - this chance is calculated independently of the original chance that the altar's original god will send a hostile minion, which is increased compared to ''NetHack''.{{refsrc|pray.c|1606|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}} This makes altar conversion very dangerous for the unprepared, though being at experience level 3 or below and having high luck reduces the chance of minions generating in either case.
 ====Messages====

@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 ===Water prayer===
-{{main|Prayer#Water prayer}}
+{{main|Prayer#Water prayer|l1=Water prayer}}
 If a character successfully prays on an altar while one or more [[potions of water]] are on it, then in addition to any other effects of that prayer, the potions of water will be made into [[holy water]] if the altar is co-aligned, or [[unholy water]] otherwise.{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/pray.c|1230|comment=function water_prayer}} This breaks atheist conduct and occurs regardless of the water's initial beatitude - an unsuccessful prayer on a co-aligned altar will not change the beatitude of any water on that altar.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{features}}
 {{religion}}
-An '''altar''' is a [[dungeon feature]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'' and is represented by an [[underscore]], {{lightgray|_}}. An altar is always dedicated to a [[god]], and is '''co-aligned''' if its [[alignment]] matches the alignment of the [[hero]], or '''cross-aligned''' if its alignment differs from theirs; altars to [[Moloch]] are always '''unaligned'''.
+An '''altar''' is a [[dungeon feature]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'' and is represented by an [[underscore]], {{lightgray|_}}.
 A [[temple]] is a [[special room]] that contains an altar with an [[aligned priest]] of the same alignment tending to it, and can occur randomly throughout the [[Dungeons of Doom]] and its branches, in addition to specific locations within them.
-Most ways of interacting with an altar will break the [[atheist]] [[conduct]].
+Most ways of interacting with an altar will break [[atheist]] [[conduct]].
 ==Generation==
@@ Line 86: / Line 88: @@
 ===NetHack brass===
 In [[NetHack brass]], sacrificing at a cross-aligned altar will always cause that altar's god to send a hostile minion after you, with two independent chances of an additional hostile minion being generated, all of which occur before the chance of the altar being converted is calculated.<ref>src/pray.c in brass 040923</ref> Once the first pre-conversion minion is generated, two rolls are made: the first is from 0 to 9, while the second is from 0 to 19, and for each randomly rolled number that is less than the character's experience level, a hostile minion is summoned; luck has no effect on any of these rolls. This means that an especially unfortunate character attempting to convert an altar at low experience levels may end up being forced to flee from or contend with up to four hostile minions.
 ==Encyclopedia entry==

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 An '''altar''' is a [[dungeon feature]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]'' and is represented by an [[underscore]], {{lightgray|_}}. An altar is always dedicated to a [[god]], and is '''co-aligned''' if its [[alignment]] matches the alignment of the [[hero]], or '''cross-aligned''' if its alignment differs from theirs; altars to [[Moloch]] are always '''unaligned'''.
-A [[temple]] is a [[special room]] that contains an altar with an [[aligned priest]] tending to it, and can occur randomly throughout the [[Dungeons of Doom]] and its branches, in addition to specific locations within them.
+A [[temple]] is a [[special room]] that contains an altar with an [[aligned priest]] of the same alignment tending to it, and can occur randomly throughout the [[Dungeons of Doom]] and its branches, in addition to specific locations within them.
 Most ways of interacting with an altar will break the [[atheist]] [[conduct]].
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 ===Beatitude===
-If a character [[drop]]s one or more [[objects]] on an altar, either manually or under certain circumstances (e.g. [[polymorph]] or [[slippery fingers]], but ''not'' [[throw]]ing an object so that it lands on an altar) will reveal the [[beatitude]] of the object(s):{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/do.c|269|comment=function doaltarobj}} A black flash marks a cursed item, while an amber flash marks a blessed one. Dropping an item on an altar this way breaks atheist conduct.
+If a character [[drop]]s one or more [[objects]] on an altar, either manually or under certain circumstances (e.g. from [[polymorph]]ing or [[slippery fingers]], but ''not'' from [[throw]]ing an object so that it lands on an altar), the altar will reveal the [[beatitude]] of the object(s):{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/do.c|269|comment=function doaltarobj}} A black flash marks a cursed item, while an amber flash marks a blessed one. Dropping an item on an altar this way breaks atheist conduct.
 Characters cannot detect an item's beatitude if they are [[blind]]. Similarly, they cannot detect whether an item is blessed or cursed if they are [[hallucinating]], as the flashes will be of random hallucinatory colors - uncursed items can still be detected, as there will be no flash at all.
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 Sacrificing fresh corpses at a co-aligned altar with a prayer timeout above zero will reduce the timeout, while sacrificing with a prayer timeout of zero can increase [[luck]], improve the character's [[alignment record]], and may even reward them with powerful [[artifact weapon]]s.
-Sacrificing at the altar of another god has a chance of converting that altar to the hero's alignment, potentially [[anger]]ing that altar's former god - if their alignment record is poor enough, however, the hero ''themselves'' may be converted to that altar's alignment, angering their original god and making it difficult or impossible to complete the [[Quest]] (and thus possibly making the game [[unwinnable]]). A hero's alignment can only be converted this way once per game, and an already-converted hero in any circumstance where another permanent conversion would occur instead incurs multiple penalties.
+Sacrificing at the altar of another god has a chance of converting that altar to the hero's alignment, potentially [[anger]]ing that altar's former god into sending a hostile minion after them - if their alignment record is poor enough, however, the hero ''themselves'' may be converted to that altar's alignment, angering their original god and making it difficult or impossible to complete the [[Quest]] (and thus possibly making the game [[unwinnable]]). A hero's alignment can only be converted this way once per game, and an already-converted hero instead incurs multiple penalties in any circumstance where another permanent conversion would occur from sacrifice.
 ===Prayer===
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 Some special temples contain a '''high altar''' with a [[high priest]] tending to it: [[Moloch's Sanctum]] has a temple of Moloch with a high altar to him, and temples with high altars of each alignment always appear on the [[Astral Plane]] - every character's goal is to reach their co-aligned temple on the Astral Plane  and offer the [[Amulet of Yendor]] on the temple's high altar in order to [[ascend]].
-High altars cannot be converted under any circumstances, and attempting to convert one will cause its god to reach maximum anger immediately and smite the offender - should they somehow survive, the god will also summon three hostile [[minion]]s to protect the altar.
+High altars cannot be converted under any circumstances, and attempting to convert one will cause its god to reach maximum anger immediately and smite the offender - should they somehow survive, the god will also summon three hostile minions to protect the altar.
-Far looking at a high altar only reveals if the altar is aligned or unaligned, and an "aligned" high altar can be of any alignment, not necessarily of ''your character's alignment''! Near looking at an altar functions as normal.
+Far looking at a high altar only reveals if the altar is aligned or unaligned, and an "aligned" high altar can be of any alignment, not necessarily ''your character's alignment''! Near looking at an altar functions as normal.
 ==Strategy==
@@ Line 84: / Line 84: @@
 {{message|You feel <god> is very angry at you!|A god sent two hostile minions after you.}}
-==NetHack brass==
+===NetHack brass===
 In [[NetHack brass]], sacrificing at a cross-aligned altar will always cause that altar's god to send a hostile minion after you, with two independent chances of an additional hostile minion being generated, all of which occur before the chance of the altar being converted is calculated.<ref>src/pray.c in brass 040923</ref> Once the first pre-conversion minion is generated, two rolls are made: the first is from 0 to 9, while the second is from 0 to 19, and for each randomly rolled number that is less than the character's experience level, a hostile minion is summoned; luck has no effect on any of these rolls. This means that an especially unfortunate character attempting to convert an altar at low experience levels may end up being forced to flee from or contend with up to four hostile minions.