Magic cancellation (3.4.3) - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: potholes

2026-04-27T02:35:31Z

potholes

Umbire the Phantom: potholes

2026-04-19T22:49:01Z

potholes

Umbire the Phantom: potholes et. al.

2025-01-29T18:37:26Z

potholes et. al.

Umbire the Phantom: pothole

2025-01-16T18:47:29Z

pothole

Furey: /* Other links */ change spod-central link to our archived copy. change an http: to https:.

2024-06-12T14:02:19Z

‎Other links: change spod-central link to our archived copy. change an http: to https:.

Umbire the Phantom: one more

2024-03-24T01:39:10Z

one more

Umbire the Phantom: oops

2024-03-24T01:38:58Z

oops

Umbire the Phantom: tweaks to lede and cats

2024-03-24T01:38:48Z

tweaks to lede and cats

Umbire the Phantom: /* What magic cancellation protects against */ pothole

2023-10-29T23:42:19Z

‎What magic cancellation protects against: pothole

Umbire the Phantom: /* Magic cancellation numbers of armors */ pothole

2023-10-19T04:41:29Z

‎Magic cancellation numbers of armors: pothole

@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 * [[Disintegration]]
 * [[Acid]]
-* [[Blind]]ing
+* [[Blinding]]
-* [[Stun]]ning
+* [[Stunning]]
-* Leg damage by [[Xan]]s
+* Leg damage by [[xan]]s
 * [[Petrification]]
 * [[Gold stealing]] effects by [[leprechaun]]
-* [[Item stealing]]
+* [[Item stealing]] or [[charming]]
 * [[Erosion]] (including [[rusting]], [[corroding]] and [[rotting]])
 * [[Confusion]]

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 ==What magic cancellation protects against==
-Understanding how magic cancellation works requires some understanding of how an attack works in NetHack. An attack has two characteristics: ''attack type ''(e.g. bites and stings) and ''damage type ''(e.g. physical or poisonous). A [[soldier ant]] for instance, has two attacks: a bite which does 2d4 physical damage (i.e. ordinary damage), and a sting which does 3d4 [[poison]] damage. Magic cancellation will ''not'' protect against the 2d4 physical damage from the bite, ''nor'' will it prevent the 3d4 damage caused by the sting. It will however protect against the special effects from the [[poison]]ous sting, which randomly includes [[hitpoint]] reduction, [[attribute]] reduction, and [[instadeath]].
+Understanding how magic cancellation works requires some understanding of how an attack works in NetHack. An attack has two characteristics: ''attack type ''(e.g. bites and stings) and ''damage type ''(e.g. physical or poisonous). A [[soldier ant]] for instance, has two attacks: a bite which does 2d4 physical damage (i.e. ordinary damage), and a sting which does 3d4 [[poison]] damage. Magic cancellation will ''not'' protect against the 2d4 physical damage from the bite, ''nor'' will it prevent the 3d4 damage caused by the sting. It will however protect against the special effects from the poisonous sting, which randomly includes [[hit point]] reduction, [[attribute]] reduction, and [[instadeath]].
 There is no obvious pattern to what magic cancellation does and doesn't protect against. Shortly put, magic cancellation protects against ''certain'' attack types that deal a ''certain'' type of damage. This relation is shown in the table below. To be prevented by magic cancellation, both the attack type and damage type must be in the <span style="background-color:#ffdead;">orange area</span> of the table. If either the attack type or damage type is outside the orange area, magic cancellation will have ''no effect'' on the attack.
@@ Line 129: / Line 129: @@
 |colspan="4"|
 <references group="note">
-<ref group="note" name="melee_only">Magic cancellation protects against special melee weapon attacks, such as [[level drain]] from a [[barrow wight]]s weapon, but it does ''not'' protect against weapons that are thrown or launched, such as [[poisoned]] arrows and darts.</ref>
+<ref group="note" name="melee_only">Magic cancellation protects against special melee weapon attacks, such as [[level drain]] from a [[barrow wight]]s weapon, but it does ''not'' protect against weapons that are thrown or launched, such as [[Poisoned weapon|poisoned arrows and darts]].</ref>
 <ref group="note" name="never_applies">The type of damage done by every single kick, headbutt, tentacle attack, and grabbing attacks in the game are listed in the rightmost column "Damage type unaffected". And hence they all bypass magic cancellation.</ref>
 <ref group="note" name="not_passive">[[Disenchantment]] by the by the [[disenchanter]] claw is prevented, but magic cancellation does not however protect against the [[passive]] disenchanting attack, since passive attacks are listed in the leftmost column "Attack type unaffected".</ref>

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 * Melee weapon attacks<ref group="note" name="melee_only"/>
 |valign="top" style="background:#ffdead;"|
-* [[Fire]] (burns scrolls and boils potions)
+* [[Fire (element)|Fire]] (burns scrolls and boils potions)
 * [[Cold]] (shatters potions)
 * [[Shock]] (detonates rings and wands)
@@ Line 99: / Line 99: @@
 *[[Lich (monster class)|lich]] magic spells
 |valign="top" style="background:#ffdead;" colspan="2"|
-* [[Fire]] damage from a [[fire ant]] bite
+* [[Fire (element)|Fire]] damage from a [[fire ant]] bite
 * [[Cold]] damage from a [[lich]] touch
 * [[Shock]] damage from an [[electric eel]] bite
@@ Line 163: / Line 163: @@
 |}
-If all these tests are passed, the player will suffer the special effect. In the case of [[fire]], [[cold]], and [[shock]], there is further a test for determining if any inventory items are damaged or destroyed.
+If all these tests are passed, the player will suffer the special effect. In the case of [[Fire (element)|fire]], [[cold]], and [[shock]], there is further a test for determining if any inventory items are damaged or destroyed.
 Magic cancellation is very useful, as can be seen from the following example. If you are wearing one of the best armors in the game, the [[gray dragon scale mail]], you are are attacked by a [[vampire]], then 1/3 of the vampire's successful bites cause you to lose a level. If however you wear an easy-to-find [[orcish cloak]] (MC 2) over the armor, the probability of the vampire's bites causing [[level drain]] will drop to <math>\frac{1}{3}\times\frac{52}{150}\approx 11.6\%</math>. An even better magic cancellation, such as that of an [[oilskin cloak]] (MC 3), would reduce the probability to <math>\frac{1}{3}\times\frac{3}{150}\approx 0.7 \%</math>.
@@ Line 250: / Line 250: @@
 Magic cancellation is not the same as [[magic resistance]]. Magic resistance is an [[extrinsic]] that protects against [[spell]], [[wand]], and [[trap]] effects and damage. It is important to remember that [[cloak of magic resistance|cloaks of magic resistance]] also provide the highest level of magic cancellation.
-Also note that the magical cancellation is different from intrinsic [[resistance]]s against [[fire]], [[cold]], and [[shock]] damage. If you suffer fire damage while [[fire resistance|fire resistant]], you won't be dealt hit point damage, but there is still a chance of items such as [[scroll]]s, [[spellbook]]s, and [[potion]]s being destroyed. Magic cancellation on the other hand won't prevent the damage, but it will reduce the probability of item-destroying effects occurring.
+Also note that the magical cancellation is different from intrinsic [[resistance]]s against [[Fire (element)|fire]], [[cold]], and [[shock]] damage. If you suffer fire damage while [[fire resistant]], you won't be dealt hit point damage, but there is still a chance of items such as [[scroll]]s, [[spellbook]]s, and [[potion]]s being destroyed. Magic cancellation on the other hand won't prevent the damage, but it will reduce the probability of item-destroying effects occurring.
 ==Common misconceptions==

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 *[[Hallucination]] caused by a [[black light]] exploding
 *[[Erosion]] due to [[brown pudding]] bites
-*[[Nymph]] stealing claw
+*[[Nymph (monster class)|Nymphs]]' theft attack
 |-
 |colspan="4"|

@@ Line 268: / Line 268: @@
 * [[Source:NetHack_3.4.3/src/mthrowu.c|mthrowu.c]]
-==External links==
+==Other links==
-* [http://www.spod-central.org/~psmith/nh/armr-343.txt armr-343.txt]
+* [[armr-343.txt]]
-* [http://alt.org/nethack/topdeaths.html NAO top types of death]
+* [https://alt.org/nethack/topdeaths.html NAO top types of death]
 {{noversion}}
 [[Category:Armor]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{caption||This page is for an older version of Nethack (3.4.3). For the current version see [[Magic cancellation]].}}
+{{caption||This page is for an older version of Nethack (3.4.3). For the current version, see [[magic cancellation]].}}
 {{For|the effects of a [[wand of cancellation]] or a [[spell of cancellation]]|cancellation}}
 '''Magic cancellation''', or '''MC''' for short, is a property of some pieces of [[armor]] which protects the player from certain non-damage effects caused by a monster attacking and touching the player with some part of its body. Examples include [[poison]] from [[killer bee]] stings, [[lycanthropy]] caused by [[werejackal]] bites, and the [[green slime]]'s [[sliming]] attacks. Such attacks are referred to as ''special melee attacks'' in this article. A precise list of the special melee attacks that magic cancellation protects against is provided in the [[#How it works|section below]].

@@ Line 101: / Line 101: @@
 *[[Medusa]] petrifying gaze
 *[[Pyrolisk]] fire gaze
-*[[Lich]] magic spells
+*[[Lich (monster class)|lich]] magic spells
 |valign="top" style="background:#ffdead;" colspan="2"|
 * [[Fire]] damage from a [[fire ant]] bite

@@ Line 212: / Line 212: @@
 |-
 |[[cornuthaum]]
-|[[helmet]]
+|[[helm]]
 |-
 |[[crystal plate mail]]