Engraving - Revision history

Ardub23: /* Additional notes */ Link to Ice

2026-06-03T02:54:15Z

‎Additional notes: Link to Ice

Phol ende wodan: more 3.7: whatis command can be used to remember engravings

2026-01-20T14:46:00Z

more 3.7: whatis command can be used to remember engravings

Phol ende wodan: 3.7: engraving map symbols and ability to be farlooked

2026-01-20T14:39:02Z

3.7: engraving map symbols and ability to be farlooked

Phol ende wodan: /* Quality */ 3.7: engraving with stack of edged weapons dulls only 1

2024-12-24T20:16:54Z

‎Quality: 3.7: engraving with stack of edged weapons dulls only 1

Itanic: /* Quality */ Add Fire Brand as a new permanent way to engrave in 3.7

2024-09-20T15:25:52Z

‎Quality: Add Fire Brand as a new permanent way to engrave in 3.7

Umbire the Phantom: follow up

2024-05-03T23:56:55Z

follow up

Silverwing235: revise

2024-05-03T13:23:40Z

revise

Umbire the Phantom: potholes, etc.

2024-02-11T14:11:53Z

potholes, etc.

Silverwing235: /* Speed */ add connective tissue

2023-07-26T23:29:37Z

‎Speed: add connective tissue

Umbire the Phantom: de-SLEX

2022-10-05T00:42:19Z

de-SLEX

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 * The epitaphs on [[grave]]stones share these properties, for obvious reasons. They are permanent, but can be changed or extended with a hard gem or bladed weapon. This will summon a [[ghoul]]. Elbereth on gravestones is ignored to avoid abusing this, or naming yourself Elbereth to get a permanent Elbereth.
 * Using a [[magic marker]] to engrave [[graffiti]] on the floor is generally seen as a waste of the magic marker, but is also the most common type of writing used for engravings that are randomly generated in the dungeon.
-* "Burning" with a wand of {{of|wand|fire|or=1|lightning}} into ice will instead melt letters into the ice, which is like a semi-permanent engraving.
+* "Burning" with a wand of {{wand of|fire|or=1|lightning}} into [[ice]] will instead melt letters into the ice, which is like a semi-permanent engraving.
 * Engraving may also be used to [[Wand#Engrave-identification|identify wands]].
 * When you [[name]] an item, it is possible to get a message such as "While engraving your hand slips." The mechanics of engraving{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|460|nethack=3.6.0}} and naming{{refsrc|src/do_name.c|598|nethack=3.6.0}} are separate and quite different; the message is part of an internal mechanism to preserve the [[Naming artifacts|unique naming of artifacts]]. This is certainly a special kind of engraving, because it is absolutely permanent and requires no tool at all! It also doesn't break the illiterate conduct.

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 {{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Engravings now render on the map: {{brightblue|`}} for engravings on room spaces, and {{brightblue|#}} for engravings on corridor spaces, regardless of whether they are dust, carved, burnt, etc. Note that if you play with color turned off, an engraving on a corridor is still indistinguishable from normal corridor.
-Once you have read the text of an engraving, you can remember its text without returning to the space by [[farlook]]ing the space, unless there is an object obscuring the engraving. This also works for engravings on [[headstone]]s.}}
+Once you have read the text of an engraving, you can remember its text without returning to the space by [[farlook]]ing the space, unless there is an object obscuring the engraving. This also works for engravings on [[headstone]]s. Nearby engravings or all engravings on the map, including ones under objects, can also be viewed with the '/' (whatis) command.}}
 == Speed ==

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 {{Keyboard commands}}
 An '''engraving''' is any form of text written on the ground. Such text can be written ("engraved") with the command {{kbd|shift|e}}. This includes carving or burning [[ASCII|characters]] into the dungeon floor, writing on the floor with a writing instrument, and drawing in the dust with fingers, wands, etc. This can ostensibly be done by a player to record messages to themselves, and there are also random engravings left in the dungeon; however, the most common use of engraving is to write the name [[Elbereth]].
 == Speed ==

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	''Semi-permanent'' engravings are written with a charged [[magic marker]] or carved into the floor with an edged weapon, a hard gemstone, a ring containing a hard gemstone, or a [[wand of digging]]. Using a magic marker consumes one charge for every two characters written. Engraving with any weapon other than a non-cursed athame will make the weapon dull (reduce enchantment) to a minimum of −3, at which point the weapon is too dull to engrave any more. (If it is not [[cursed]], an athame will engrave forever without dulling. This, and its speed, make it highly prized as an engraving tool.) The weapon ordinarily suffers a −1 degradation for every second letter engraved, but a loophole in how this calculation is done can allow you to write longer messages by breaking the engraving job up into smaller parts: engraving three letters is still only a −1 penalty, so it is possible to use a +0 weapon to engrave three letters, then add three more, and then another three, for a total of nine characters before the weapon is useless, rather than only seven if you had attempted to engrave all at once. This is especially important when engraving the eight-character word [[Elbereth]]. Semi-permanent engravings can erode over time as they are walked over or stood upon, but not nearly as quickly as will temporary (finger) engravings.		''Semi-permanent'' engravings are written with a charged [[magic marker]] or carved into the floor with an edged weapon, a hard gemstone, a ring containing a hard gemstone, or a [[wand of digging]]. Using a magic marker consumes one charge for every two characters written. Engraving with any weapon other than a non-cursed athame will make the weapon dull (reduce enchantment) to a minimum of −3, at which point the weapon is too dull to engrave any more. (If it is not [[cursed]], an athame will engrave forever without dulling. This, and its speed, make it highly prized as an engraving tool.) The weapon ordinarily suffers a −1 degradation for every second letter engraved, but a loophole in how this calculation is done can allow you to write longer messages by breaking the engraving job up into smaller parts: engraving three letters is still only a −1 penalty, so it is possible to use a +0 weapon to engrave three letters, then add three more, and then another three, for a total of nine characters before the weapon is useless, rather than only seven if you had attempted to engrave all at once. This is especially important when engraving the eight-character word [[Elbereth]]. Semi-permanent engravings can erode over time as they are walked over or stood upon, but not nearly as quickly as will temporary (finger) engravings.
		+
		+	{{upcoming\|NetHack 3.7.0\|Engraving with a stack of edged weapons will only dull one weapon from that stack.}}

	''Temporary'' "engravings" are made by drawing in the dust on the floor with your fingers by responding "-" when asked what to engrave with, or you can use another object such as a soft gemstone, or any wand other than fire, lightning, or digging (certain wands may have undesirable effects on the engraving itself, such as polymorphing it). This is fast, but subject to a {{frac\|25}} chance of mis-engraving per letter, and any movement, such as fighting or throwing missiles, will damage the engraving. Even standing still on the engraving will eventually degrade it, as no one stands perfectly still. Temporary engravings can also be erased with a [[towel]]. Attempting to write in the dust while [[polymorph]]ed into a [[M2_DEMON\|demon]] or [[vampire]] will instead ''scrawl in blood'', which shares the same properties as writings in the dust.		''Temporary'' "engravings" are made by drawing in the dust on the floor with your fingers by responding "-" when asked what to engrave with, or you can use another object such as a soft gemstone, or any wand other than fire, lightning, or digging (certain wands may have undesirable effects on the engraving itself, such as polymorphing it). This is fast, but subject to a {{frac\|25}} chance of mis-engraving per letter, and any movement, such as fighting or throwing missiles, will damage the engraving. Even standing still on the engraving will eventually degrade it, as no one stands perfectly still. Temporary engravings can also be erased with a [[towel]]. Attempting to write in the dust while [[polymorph]]ed into a [[M2_DEMON\|demon]] or [[vampire]] will instead ''scrawl in blood'', which shares the same properties as writings in the dust.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:25, 20 September 2024
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	''Permanent'' engravings are burned into the floor with a [[wand of fire]] or [[wand of lightning]]. The wand of lightning can blind you if your eyes are not protected. (The blindness takes effect ''after'' the engraving is completed—you will not increase your risk of misengraving through blindness.) Permanent engravings will not erode from being stood on or walked over, but can be eliminated through techniques such as overwriting them with another wand of fire or lightning, erasing the engraving with a [[wand of cold]], or changing the engraving with a [[wand of polymorph]].		''Permanent'' engravings are burned into the floor with a [[wand of fire]] or [[wand of lightning]]. The wand of lightning can blind you if your eyes are not protected. (The blindness takes effect ''after'' the engraving is completed—you will not increase your risk of misengraving through blindness.) Permanent engravings will not erode from being stood on or walked over, but can be eliminated through techniques such as overwriting them with another wand of fire or lightning, erasing the engraving with a [[wand of cold]], or changing the engraving with a [[wand of polymorph]].
		+
		+	{{upcoming\|3.7.0\|Per {{commit\|928677c810fa56ee1b838238e6ee0d5ac13aae79}}, engraving with Fire Brand also create a permanent engraving without dulling the blade.}}

	''Semi-permanent'' engravings are written with a charged [[magic marker]] or carved into the floor with an edged weapon, a hard gemstone, a ring containing a hard gemstone, or a [[wand of digging]]. Using a magic marker consumes one charge for every two characters written. Engraving with any weapon other than a non-cursed athame will make the weapon dull (reduce enchantment) to a minimum of −3, at which point the weapon is too dull to engrave any more. (If it is not [[cursed]], an athame will engrave forever without dulling. This, and its speed, make it highly prized as an engraving tool.) The weapon ordinarily suffers a −1 degradation for every second letter engraved, but a loophole in how this calculation is done can allow you to write longer messages by breaking the engraving job up into smaller parts: engraving three letters is still only a −1 penalty, so it is possible to use a +0 weapon to engrave three letters, then add three more, and then another three, for a total of nine characters before the weapon is useless, rather than only seven if you had attempted to engrave all at once. This is especially important when engraving the eight-character word [[Elbereth]]. Semi-permanent engravings can erode over time as they are walked over or stood upon, but not nearly as quickly as will temporary (finger) engravings.		''Semi-permanent'' engravings are written with a charged [[magic marker]] or carved into the floor with an edged weapon, a hard gemstone, a ring containing a hard gemstone, or a [[wand of digging]]. Using a magic marker consumes one charge for every two characters written. Engraving with any weapon other than a non-cursed athame will make the weapon dull (reduce enchantment) to a minimum of −3, at which point the weapon is too dull to engrave any more. (If it is not [[cursed]], an athame will engrave forever without dulling. This, and its speed, make it highly prized as an engraving tool.) The weapon ordinarily suffers a −1 degradation for every second letter engraved, but a loophole in how this calculation is done can allow you to write longer messages by breaking the engraving job up into smaller parts: engraving three letters is still only a −1 penalty, so it is possible to use a +0 weapon to engrave three letters, then add three more, and then another three, for a total of nine characters before the weapon is useless, rather than only seven if you had attempted to engrave all at once. This is especially important when engraving the eight-character word [[Elbereth]]. Semi-permanent engravings can erode over time as they are walked over or stood upon, but not nearly as quickly as will temporary (finger) engravings.

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 == Speed ==
-Engraving techniques may be classed as fast (fingers, [[wand]], non-cursed [[athame]]{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1059|nethack=3.6.0}}) or slow (other edged weapons,{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1058|nethack=3.6.0}} hard gems,{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1076|nethack=3.6.0}} gemstone rings{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1076|nethack=3.6.0}}). A fast engraving method takes 1 game turn per 10 characters engraved; if you engrave fewer than 10 characters by a fast method, it is '''instantaneous''' (this distinction is explained in detail below); otherwise, it takes 1 game turn to write 10&ndash;19 characters, 2 game turns to write 20&ndash;29 characters, and so forth - a slow method takes 1 game turn per character.
+Engraving techniques may be classed as fast (fingers, [[wand]], non-cursed [[athame]]{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1059|nethack=3.6.0}}) or slow (other edged weapons,{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1058|nethack=3.6.0}} hard gems,{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1076|nethack=3.6.0}} gemstone rings{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|1076|nethack=3.6.0}}). A fast engraving method takes 1 game turn per 10 characters engraved, and is '''instantaneous''' if you engrave fewer than 10 characters by a fast method (which is explained in detail below) - otherwise, it takes 1 game turn to write 10&ndash;19 characters, 2 game turns to write 20&ndash;29 characters, and so forth; a slow method takes 1 game turn per character.
 A non-instantaneous engraving isn't done until after the turn(s) have passed. This is a concern for two reasons: first, while [[player]]s reading a [[spellbook]] or eating a [[food ration]] will stop when approached by hostile monsters, characters busy engraving will continue even when under attack; second, if you are trying to engrave [[Elbereth]], you are only protected once it is complete. So you can be killed while doing a non-instantaneous engraving (you will be described as "helpless" in the death reason). Until the new engraving is finished, the floor is considered completely blank&mdash;even if part of the message could be completed sooner, and even if there was an existing engraving on the floor before you started. So doing a non-instantaneous engraving obscures any existing engraving of [[Elbereth]] until the turns are complete.

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 ''Semi-permanent'' engravings are written with a charged [[magic marker]] or carved into the floor with an edged weapon, a hard gemstone, a ring containing a hard gemstone, or a [[wand of digging]]. Using a magic marker consumes one charge for every two characters written. Engraving with any weapon other than a non-cursed athame will make the weapon dull (reduce enchantment) to a minimum of &minus;3, at which point the weapon is too dull to engrave any more. (If it is not [[cursed]], an athame will engrave forever without dulling. This, and its speed, make it highly prized as an engraving tool.) The weapon ordinarily suffers a &minus;1 degradation for every second letter engraved, but a loophole in how this calculation is done can allow you to write longer messages by breaking the engraving job up into smaller parts: engraving three letters is still only a &minus;1 penalty, so it is possible to use a +0 weapon to engrave three letters, then add three more, and then another three, for a total of nine characters before the weapon is useless, rather than only seven if you had attempted to engrave all at once. This is especially important when engraving the eight-character word [[Elbereth]]. Semi-permanent engravings can erode over time as they are walked over or stood upon, but not nearly as quickly as will temporary (finger) engravings.
-''Temporary'' "engravings" are made by drawing in the dust on the floor with your fingers by responding "-" when asked what to engrave with, or you can use another object such as a soft gemstone, or any wand other than fire, lightning, or digging (certain wands may have undesirable effects on the engraving itself, such as polymorphing it). This is fast, but subject to a {{frac|25}} chance of mis-engraving per letter, and any movement, such as fighting or throwing missiles, will damage the engraving. Even standing still on the engraving will eventually degrade it, as no one stands perfectly still. Temporary engravings can also be erased with a [[towel]]. Attempting to write in the dust while [[polymorph]]ed into a [[demon]] or [[vampire]] will instead ''scrawl in blood'', which shares properties with writings in the dust.
+''Temporary'' "engravings" are made by drawing in the dust on the floor with your fingers by responding "-" when asked what to engrave with, or you can use another object such as a soft gemstone, or any wand other than fire, lightning, or digging (certain wands may have undesirable effects on the engraving itself, such as polymorphing it). This is fast, but subject to a {{frac|25}} chance of mis-engraving per letter, and any movement, such as fighting or throwing missiles, will damage the engraving. Even standing still on the engraving will eventually degrade it, as no one stands perfectly still. Temporary engravings can also be erased with a [[towel]]. Attempting to write in the dust while [[polymorph]]ed into a [[M2_DEMON|demon]] or [[vampire]] will instead ''scrawl in blood'', which shares the same properties as writings in the dust.
 == Success probability ==

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 There is therefore a lot of danger in doing a non-instantaneous engraving, so you almost never want to do a non-instantaneous engraving lasting more than 1 turn.
-Furthermore, if you are [[very fast]] and you know that you will get two turns in a row, you might be able to safely do a non-instantaneous 1 turn engrave: 1 character slowly or up to 19 characters quickly.
+Furthermore, if you are [[very fast]] and you know that you will get two turns in a row, you might be able to safely do a non-instantaneous 1-turn engrave: 1 character slowly or up to 19 characters quickly.
 Instantaneous engraving is much simpler and safer. It uses only one player turn (so you may get multiple instantaneous engraves per game turn, if fast or very fast, via the usual speed system). Your engraving takes immediate effect, like most other simple player commands; in other words, an instantaneous [[Elbereth]] is on the ground ''before'' the monsters take their next move. You aren't helpless, and any existing engraving on the ground is not obscured while you engrave.

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	== Variants ==		== Variants ==
−
−	~~=== Slash'EM Extended ===~~
−	~~==== Chances of engraving ====~~
−
−	In [[Slash'EM Extended]] version v45 and greater, the chances of messing up a letter have been tweaked. Writing in the dust has a {{frac\|30}} chance of messing up each letter, and there's a (cumulative) chance of messing up if you are [[blindness\|blind]] ({{frac\|25}}), [[Confusion\|confused]] ({{frac\|20}}), [[stun]]ned ({{frac\|15}}), or [[Hallucination\|hallucinating]] ({{frac\|18}}). This means the chances of successfully engraving Elbereth while impaired are much higher than in vanilla, making Elbereth a viable tactic even while stunned or hallucinating.
−
−	~~==== Speeds ====~~
−
−	In Slash'EM Extended version v64 and greater, engraving with a wand of digging is much faster; up to 50 characters can be engraved in a single turn, which corresponds to 6 active Elbereths. (In [[SLASH'EM]], as well as before [[NetHack 3.6.0]], the effects of multiple Elbereths in a single engraving stack.)

	=== xNetHack ===		=== xNetHack ===