Nightmare's bullet mold - Revision history

Klepto: correction regarding amount of projectiles per XL.

2026-02-01T02:18:56Z

correction regarding amount of projectiles per XL.

Klepto: added details on XP loss.

2026-01-21T03:13:18Z

added details on XP loss.

Umbire the Phantom: lede

2026-01-10T09:08:56Z

lede

Klepto: correction regarding leg for blood draw.

2025-10-09T17:12:22Z

correction regarding leg for blood draw.

Klepto: Klepto moved page Bullet mold to Nightmare's bullet mold: "bullet mold" is an abbreviation and should be a redirect.

2025-08-29T17:51:07Z

Klepto moved page Bullet mold to Nightmare's bullet mold: "bullet mold" is an abbreviation and should be a redirect.

Klepto: added minimum needed hp.

2025-08-28T15:48:44Z

added minimum needed hp.

Klepto: created page.

2025-08-28T14:31:46Z

created page.

New page

{{tool
|name=nightmare's bullet mold
|appearance=blade-tipped mold
|weight=15
|cost=300
|material=iron
|color=metal color
|tile=
}}
A '''nightmare's bullet mold''' is a type of [[charge]]able [[magical tool]] that appears in [[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]]. It is used to create [[blood-bullet]]s or [[blood-spears]] at the cost of your [[hit points]] and [[experience]].

[[Vampire (starting race in dNetHack)|Vampire]] [[Undead hunter]]s who have taken the blood-spears [[defilement]] upgrade will make blood-spears instead of blood-bullets. In all other cases, the bullet mold will make blood-bullets.

Nightmare's bullet molds can be improved through [[smithing]] at a forge to imbue any [[object properties#dNetHack|object properties]] they are given onto the [[projectiles]] they make, following the same rules as imbuing weapons. Object properties can either be applied directly, using any applicable spells currently known, or through the corresponding gems.

When applied, the mold subtracts 30% max hp from your current hp and 30% of the experience points needed to reach (XL - 1) from your current XP total, possibly draining a level, but not past that. It then creates a quantity of projectiles based on your XL before the subtraction:
* creates 5 projectiles at XL 1–12
* creates 10 projectiles at XL 13–22
* creates 20 projectiles at XL 23–30

These projectiles will always be made of [[hemargyos]], making them blunt/piercing/slashing weapons. Their [[enchantment]] is determined by your [[impurity]], gaining +1 per 4 points of impurity you have, up to a theoretical +12 at 48 impurity. The [[beatitude]] will be the same as the bullet mold's, and the projectiles will always appear as fully identified. If blood-bullets hadn't been formally identified, successfully applying it will do so.

A character that is wielding a [[Shanta-pata|shanta-pata/twingun pata]] in their main or offhand will have it become bloodied for +10 turns additively after a blood mold has been successfully used to create projectiles,

==Generation==
Nightmare's bullet molds do not randomly generate.

All Undead hunters start with an uncursed nightmare's bullet mold.

The Undead hunter quest will always generate two nightmare's bullet molds, one in the [[quest home]] level's [[chest]] (top left room), and one on the quest goal level, placed on a random square.

Male Vampire [[Madpeople]] will find a nightmare's bullet mold in their [[Madpeople#Box|quest box]], alongside a [[soldier's rapier]].

==Messages==
{{message|You jab the bullet mold into your leg!|If below 18 [[insight]].}}
{{message|You jab the bullet mold into your head!}}
{{message|You jab the bullet mold into your <leg/head>! But nothing flows into the mold!|When below hp minimum.}}

==Origin==
The concept of using your own health to create ammunition for your weapon stems from the [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Blood+Bullet Blood Bullets] from the 2015 game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodborne Bloodborne], where pressing up on the D-pad would add +5 to your [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Quicksilver+Bullets Quicksilver Bullet] count. The animation accompanying this sees the hunter stabbing their right leg with a vial, presumably to extract blood and directly infusing it into the bullets—dNetHack seems to support this idea, based on the item's description as a blade-tipped mold. This uses the opposite leg that [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Blood+Vial Blood Vials] use to inject the syringe-shaped vial into the leg. We know from the [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Old+Hunter+Trousers Old Hunter Trousers]' item description that: "A widespread belief of the period was that 'beast blood crept up the right leg'[...]". Whether this is due to, e.g. most hunters being right-handed isn't made clear. What this may hint at, is that hunters prefer to extract blood from the side "more prone" to the beast blood and inject blood vials into the other, in a likely attempt to postpone the beast blood's effects.

{{stub}}
{{variant-343}}
[[Category: dNetHack tools]]
[[Category: notdNetHack tools]]
[[Category: notnotdNetHack tools]]

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 When applied, the mold subtracts 30% max hp from your current hp as nonlethal damage, leaving you with at least 1 hp. Attempting to apply the mold when it would leave you with 0 hit points will fail. It also subtracts 30% of the experience points needed to reach (XL - 1) from your current XP total&ndash;possibly draining a level&ndash;but not past that. It then creates a quantity of projectiles based on your XL before the subtraction:
 * creates 5 projectiles at XL 1&ndash;12
-* creates 10 projectiles at XL 13&ndash;22
+* creates 10 projectiles at XL 13&ndash;21
-* creates 20 projectiles at XL 23&ndash;30
+* creates 20 projectiles at XL 22&ndash;30
 These projectiles will always be made of [[hemargyos]], making them blunt/piercing/slashing weapons. Their [[enchantment]] is determined by your [[impurity]], gaining +1 per 4 points of impurity you have, up to a theoretical +12 at 48 impurity. The [[beatitude]] will be the same as the bullet mold's, and the projectiles will always appear as fully identified. If blood-bullets hadn't been formally identified, successfully applying it will do so.

@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
 ==Origin==
-The concept of using your own health to create ammunition for your weapon stems from the [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Blood+Bullet Blood Bullets] from the 2015 game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodborne Bloodborne], where pressing up on the D-pad would add +5 to your [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Quicksilver+Bullets Quicksilver Bullet] count. The animation accompanying this sees the hunter stabbing their right leg with a vial, presumably to extract blood and directly infusing it into the bullets&mdash;dNetHack seems to support this idea, based on the item's description as a blade-tipped mold. This uses the opposite leg that [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Blood+Vial Blood Vials] use to inject the syringe-shaped vial into the leg. We know from the [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Old+Hunter+Trousers Old Hunter Trousers]' item description that: "A widespread belief of the period was that 'beast blood crept up the right leg'[...]". Whether this is due to, e.g. most hunters being right-handed isn't made clear. What this may hint at, is that hunters prefer to extract blood from the side "more prone" to the beast blood and inject blood vials into the other, in a likely attempt to postpone the beast blood's effects.
+The concept of using your own health to create ammunition for your weapon stems from the [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Blood+Bullet Blood Bullets] from the 2015 game [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodborne Bloodborne], where pressing up on the D-pad would add +5 to your [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Quicksilver+Bullets Quicksilver Bullet] count. The animation accompanying this sees the hunter stabbing their left leg with a vial, presumably to extract blood and directly infusing it into the bullets&mdash; dNetHack's description of the Nightmare's bullet mold as a blade-tipped mold seems to be based on this idea. This uses the opposite leg that [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Blood+Vial Blood Vials] use to inject the syringe-shaped vial into the leg (see the [[Phlebotomy kit]]). We know from the [https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/Old+Hunter+Trousers Old Hunter Trousers]' item description that: "A widespread belief of the period was that 'beast blood crept up the right leg'[...]". Whether this is due to, e.g. most hunters being right-handed isn't made clear. What this may hint at, is that hunters prefer to extract blood from the side "more prone" to the beast blood and inject blood vials into the other, in a likely attempt to postpone the beast blood's effects.
 {{stub}}

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Nightmare's bullet molds can be improved through [[smithing]] at a forge to imbue any [[object properties#dNetHack|object properties]] they are given onto the [[projectiles]] they make, following the same rules as imbuing weapons. Object properties can either be applied directly, using any applicable spells currently known, or through the corresponding gems.
-When applied, the mold subtracts 30% max hp from your current hp and 30% of the experience points needed to reach (XL - 1) from your current XP total, possibly draining a level, but not past that. It then creates a quantity of projectiles based on your XL before the subtraction:
+When applied, the mold subtracts 30% max hp from your current hp as nonlethal damage, leaving you with at least 1 hp. Attempting to apply the mold when it would leave you with 0 hit points will fail. It also subtracts 30% of the experience points needed to reach (XL - 1) from your current XP total&ndash;possibly draining a level&ndash;but not past that. It then creates a quantity of projectiles based on your XL before the subtraction:
 * creates 5 projectiles at XL 1&ndash;12
 * creates 10 projectiles at XL 13&ndash;22

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 A '''nightmare's bullet mold''' is a type of [[tool]] that appears in [[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]]. It is a [[chargeable]] [[magical item]] that can create [[blood-bullet]]s or [[blood-spears]] at the cost of [[hit points]] and [[experience]].
-[[Vampire (starting race in dNetHack)|Vampire]] [[Undead hunter]]s who have taken the blood-spears [[defilement]] upgrade will make blood-spears instead of blood-bullets. In all other cases, the bullet mold will make blood-bullets.
+==Generation==
 Nightmare's bullet molds can be improved through [[smithing]] at a forge to imbue any [[object properties#dNetHack|object properties]] they are given onto the [[projectiles]] they make, following the same rules as imbuing weapons. Object properties can either be applied directly, using any applicable spells currently known, or through the corresponding gems.
@@ Line 23: / Line 31: @@
 A character that is wielding a [[Shanta-pata|shanta-pata/twingun pata]] in their main or offhand will have it become bloodied for +10 turns additively after a blood mold has been successfully used to create projectiles,
-==Generation==
+===XP loss===
-Nightmare's bullet molds do not randomly generate.
+The amount of XP lost per use of a bullet mold or of a phlebotomy kit, based on XL at the time it was applied:
+{| class="wikitable"
-All Undead hunters start with an uncursed nightmare's bullet mold.
+! XL 1&ndash;15 !! XP loss !! XL 16&ndash;30 !! XP loss
+|-
-The Undead hunter quest will always generate two nightmare's bullet molds, one in the [[quest home]] level's [[chest]] (top left room), and one on the quest goal level, placed on a random square.
+| 1 || 0 || 16 || 5010
 ==Messages==

← Older revision	Revision as of 17:51, 29 August 2025
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