Elf (starting race) - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: tweak

2026-05-19T10:05:41Z

tweak

Umbire the Phantom: potholes

2026-05-14T22:00:28Z

potholes

Umbire the Phantom: pothole

2026-04-16T11:46:26Z

pothole

Umbire the Phantom: /* EvilHack */ and pothole it

2026-03-07T22:35:35Z

‎EvilHack: and pothole it

Umbire the Phantom: /* EvilHack */ follow-up

2026-03-07T22:35:23Z

‎EvilHack: follow-up

Mobileuser: EvilHack elves searching

2026-03-07T20:20:36Z

EvilHack elves searching

Umbire the Phantom: /* dNetHack */ tweaks

2026-01-14T19:22:40Z

‎dNetHack: tweaks

Umbire the Phantom: /* xNetHack */ copyedit

2026-01-14T18:42:32Z

‎xNetHack: copyedit

Umbire the Phantom: /* Strategy */ corrections et. al.

2025-08-06T16:14:02Z

‎Strategy: corrections et. al.

Umbire the Phantom: /* dNetHack */ forgot!

2025-05-28T20:20:48Z

‎dNetHack: forgot!

@@ Line 75: / Line 75: @@
 Elves have stellar mental stats that make them a prime choice for chaotic spellcasting heroes, and can buoy their chances of successfully casting spells that use restricted or less-trained [[skills]]. However, their poor strength and constitution along with their physical frailty limits both their maximum HP and damage output&mdash;it also means that elven heroes must use [[gauntlets of power]] if they want to increase carrying capacity beyond their natural maximum of 900 [[aum]] (which is 100 below the maximum that any hero can reach). Fortunately, [[bags of holding]] and methods such as [[quaffing]] [[potions of full healing]] and [[nurse dancing]] can help counterbalance these drawbacks&mdash;other races can utilize these as well, though they may not feel as necessary as they do for elves.
-Elven Priests and Wizards are easily the best spellcasters of their respective roles, to the point that elven Wizards in particular are usually the most recommended race to play the role as. Elven Rangers boast the greatest firepower of their role due to their multishot bonuses and can deal with [[rust monster]]s and other hostile monsters that can [[erode]] metallic projectiles&mdash;in return, they lack a [[displacement]] source like other Rangers (as explained previously), must be more careful around [[gelatinous cube]]s, [[fire elemental]]s and similar monsters, and lose a point of multishot if they elect to switch to [[The Longbow of Diana]]. Elven heroes can also supplement their ranged casting prowess with artifact weapons such as [[Stormbringer]] and [[Magicbane]] (for Wizards), and Priests and Rangers can even force Stormbringer by [[naming]] [[Sting]] and [[Orcrist]]. Elven Priests and Wizards also have a good chance of starting with a tonal instrument that can be used to [[scare]] monsters (via bugle, tooled horn or leather drum) or play the [[passtune]] at the [[Castle]] (via bugle, tooled horn, wooden harp, or wooden flute).
+Elven Priests and Wizards are easily the best spellcasters of their respective roles, to the point that elven Wizards in particular are usually the most recommended race to play the role as. Elven Rangers boast the greatest firepower of their role due to their multishot bonuses and can deal with [[rust monster]]s and other hostile monsters that can [[erode]] metallic projectiles&mdash;in return, they do not start with a [[Displacement (property)|displacement]] source like other Rangers, must be more careful around [[gelatinous cube]]s, [[fire elemental]]s and similar monsters, and lose a point of multishot if they elect to switch to [[The Longbow of Diana]]. Elven heroes can also supplement their ranged casting prowess with artifact weapons such as [[Stormbringer]] and [[Magicbane]] (for Wizards), and Priests and Rangers can even force Stormbringer by [[naming]] [[Sting]] and [[Orcrist]]. Elven Priests and Wizards also have a good chance of starting with a tonal instrument that can be used to [[scare]] monsters (via bugle, tooled horn or leather drum) or play the [[passtune]] at the [[Castle]] (via bugle, tooled horn, wooden harp, or wooden flute).
 {{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|55ec68ef0a297b4de1348b548ba71fe2f3d5ef89}}, Rangers gain a +1 multishot bonus while wielding the Longbow of Diana and shooting any type of arrows from it.

@@ Line 145: / Line 145: @@
 | [[dagger]]                    || [[Noble]], [[Ranger/dNetHack|Ranger]], [[Rogue/dNetHack|Rogue]]
 |-
-| [[knife]]                     || [[Pirate]]
+| [[knife]]                     || [[Pirate/dNetHack|Pirate]]
 |-
 | [[spear]]                     || rowspan="2"|[[elven spear]]             || none
 |-
-| [[rapier]]                    || [[Noble]]
+| [[Rapier (dNetHack)|rapier]]                    || [[Noble]]
 |-
 | [[short sword]]               || [[elven short sword]]                   || [[Rogue/dNetHack|Rogue]]
@@ Line 187: / Line 187: @@
 In [[xNetHack]], elves are moved to the [[Quendi]] monster class in order to make them more visibly distinct from humans&mdash;an elven hero will appear as {{white|Q}} if the <tt>showrace</tt> option is turned on.
-Elven heroes remain chaotic, and can be played as the same roles as in ''NetHack''. They retain their racial properties and abilities, gain +1 [[AC]] for each piece of worn elven armor, and have an iron allergy that renders it deadly to the touch: elves of all types take an extra die of damage when hit with iron weapons or objects. Elven heroes in roles that start with iron items have them replaced with [[copper]] equivalents.
+Elven heroes remain chaotic, and can be played as the same roles as in ''NetHack''. They retain their racial properties and abilities, gain +1 [[AC]] for each piece of worn elven armor, and have an iron allergy that renders the material deadly to the touch: elves of all types take an extra die of damage when hit with iron weapons or objects. Elven heroes in roles that start with iron items have them replaced with [[copper]] equivalents.
 The iron allergy, low physical stats and HP growth make the early game a challenge to survive for most elven heroes.

@@ Line 163: / Line 163: @@
 | [[kite shield]]               || none
 |-
-| [[victorian underwear]]       || rowspan="2"|[[Noble]]
+| [[Victorian underwear (dNetHack)|Victorian underwear]]                   || rowspan="2"|[[Noble]]
 |-
 | [[ruffled shirt]]

@@ Line 197: / Line 197: @@
 ===EvilHack===
-In [[EvilHack]], elves gain automatic searching at experience level 9. Elves of all types take extra damage from iron weapons and objects, including elven heroes (as in xNetHack), and cannot regenerate HP while iron touches their bare skin as in UnNetHack.
+In [[EvilHack]], elves gain [[automatic searching]] at experience level 9. Elves of all types take extra damage from iron weapons and objects, including elven heroes (as in xNetHack), and cannot regenerate HP while iron touches their bare skin as in UnNetHack.
 [[Drow (starting race)#EvilHack|Drow]] are available as a playable race, behaving as "dark" counterparts to the already-chaotic elves as in some other variants.

@@ Line 197: / Line 197: @@
 ===EvilHack===
-In [[EvilHack]], [[Drow (starting race)#EvilHack|drow]] are available as a playable race, behaving as "dark" counterparts to the already-chaotic elves as in some other variants.
+In [[EvilHack]], elves gain automatic searching at experience level 9. Elves of all types take extra damage from iron weapons and objects, including elven heroes (as in xNetHack), and cannot regenerate HP while iron touches their bare skin as in UnNetHack.
-Elves of all types take extra damage from iron weapons and objects, including elven heroes, as in xNetHack, and cannot regenerate HP while iron touches their bare skin, as in UnNetHack.
+[[Drow (starting race)#EvilHack|Drow]] are available as a playable race, behaving as "dark" counterparts to the already-chaotic elves as in some other variants.
 ==Encyclopedia entry==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:20, 7 March 2026
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	Elves of all types take extra damage from iron weapons and objects, including elven heroes, as in xNetHack, and cannot regenerate HP while iron touches their bare skin, as in UnNetHack.		Elves of all types take extra damage from iron weapons and objects, including elven heroes, as in xNetHack, and cannot regenerate HP while iron touches their bare skin, as in UnNetHack.
		+
		+	Elves gain searching at experience level 9.

	==Encyclopedia entry==		==Encyclopedia entry==

@@ Line 134: / Line 134: @@
 |}
-Elves in dNetHack have the best HP growth of all playable races, which compensates for their lower constitution, and also have the third best energy growth after gnomes and [[Incantifier (starting race)|incantifiers]] (who use magic energy as a form of "nutrition").
+Elves in dNetHack have the best HP growth of all playable races, which compensates somewhat for their lower constitution, and also have the third-best energy growth after gnomes and [[Incantifier (starting race)|incantifiers]] (who use magic energy as a form of "nutrition", necessitating that they have far more energy than other races).
 Elven heroes that are not [[Madpeople]] start with knowledge of all elven items from ''NetHack'', along with some that are new to dNetHack: the [[elven mace]], the [[elven lance]], the [[Elven helm (dNetHack)|elven helm]] (distinct from the elven leather helm of ''NetHack''), and the [[elven toga]]. There are several racial substitutions made for elven heroes:

@@ Line 185: / Line 185: @@
 ===xNetHack===
-In [[xNetHack]], elves are moved to the [[Quendi]] monster class at {{white|Q}}, including elven heroes with <tt>showrace</tt> turned on, in order to make them more visibly distinct from humans.
+In [[xNetHack]], elves are moved to the [[Quendi]] monster class in order to make them more visibly distinct from humans&mdash;an elven hero will appear as {{white|Q}} if the <tt>showrace</tt> option is turned on.
-Elven heroes remain chaotic, and can be played as the same roles as in ''NetHack''. They retain their racial properties and abilities, gain +1 [[AC]] for each piece of worn elven armor, and have an iron allergy that renders it deadly to touch: elves of all types take an extra die of damage when hit with iron weapons or objects. Elven heroes in roles that start with iron items have them replaced with [[copper]] equivalents.
+Elven heroes remain chaotic, and can be played as the same roles as in ''NetHack''. They retain their racial properties and abilities, gain +1 [[AC]] for each piece of worn elven armor, and have an iron allergy that renders it deadly to the touch: elves of all types take an extra die of damage when hit with iron weapons or objects. Elven heroes in roles that start with iron items have them replaced with [[copper]] equivalents.
 The iron allergy, low physical stats and HP growth make the early game a challenge to survive for most elven heroes.

@@ Line 79: / Line 79: @@
 {{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|55ec68ef0a297b4de1348b548ba71fe2f3d5ef89}}, Rangers gain a +1 multishot bonus while wielding the Longbow of Diana and shooting any type of arrows from it.
-Per {{commit|d87cadaf}} and {{commit|c2c797fa357bef663fa3d962850196350a9cdb3b}}, artifact balance is substantially reworked: artifacts have 2 additional internal stats&mdash;the minimum [[sacrifice]] value required to obtain them by sacrificing (which is usually just the [[difficulty]] rating of the monster sacrificed), and a flat number added to the weapon's [[enchantment]] when it is either randomly generated or gifted. This means that forcing Stormbringer via this exact method is no longer possible for elven Priests: per {{commit|b1a5a9c3903a0282f82787d20fd70f13196e2465}}, Demonbane is their first sacrifice gift, though they have a {{frac|2}} chance of obtaining Stormbringer as their next gift by naming Sting and Orcrist, then using a sacrifice valued at 9 or higher&mdash;this will produce either Stormbringer or the unaligned [[Frost Brand]]. Elven Rangers can still reliably force Stormbringer as a first gift with this given method as well, since a first gift will always be co-aligned and the other gift candidates for sacrifices of 9 or higher value are Frost Brand and the lawful [[Grayswandir]].}}
+Per {{commit|d87cadaf}} and {{commit|c2c797fa357bef663fa3d962850196350a9cdb3b}}, artifact balance is substantially reworked: artifacts have 2 additional internal stats&mdash;the minimum [[sacrifice]] value required to obtain them by sacrificing (which is usually just the [[difficulty]] rating of the monster sacrificed), and a flat number added to the weapon's [[enchantment]] when it is either randomly generated or gifted. This means that forcing Stormbringer is no longer possible for elven Priests, as Demonbane is their first sacrifice gift per {{commit|b1a5a9c3903a0282f82787d20fd70f13196e2465}}, though Elven Rangers can still reliably force Stormbringer as a first gift.}}
 ==History==

@@ Line 136: / Line 136: @@
 Elves in dNetHack have the best HP growth of all playable races, which compensates for their lower constitution, and also have the third best energy growth after gnomes and [[Incantifier (starting race)|incantifiers]] (who use magic energy as a form of "nutrition").
-Elven heroes that are not [[Madpeople]] start with knowledge of all elven items from ''NetHack'', along with some that are new to dNetHack: the [[elven mace]], the [[elven lance]] and the [[Elven helm (dNetHack)|elven helm]] (distinct from the elven leather helm of ''NetHack''). There are several racial substitutions made for elven heroes:
+Elven heroes that are not [[Madpeople]] start with knowledge of all elven items from ''NetHack'', along with some that are new to dNetHack: the [[elven mace]], the [[elven lance]], the [[Elven helm (dNetHack)|elven helm]] (distinct from the elven leather helm of ''NetHack''), and the [[elven toga]]. There are several racial substitutions made for elven heroes:
 {| class="prettytable"