Object materials (dNetHack) - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: /* List of materials */ grammar, etc.

2026-04-18T12:24:47Z

‎List of materials: grammar, etc.

Umbire the Phantom: word choice, earmark for later

2025-10-07T19:22:40Z

word choice, earmark for later

Umbire the Phantom: cats

2025-05-31T00:32:11Z

cats

Umbire the Phantom: word choice

2025-05-06T22:51:54Z

word choice

Umbire the Phantom: lede + potholes + cats

2024-07-20T01:09:57Z

lede + potholes + cats

Umbire the Phantom: potholes et. al.

2024-06-29T19:23:16Z

potholes et. al.

EasterlyIrk: unify wording to clarify if a "die size" is -2 or -1 faces

2024-04-13T03:51:21Z

unify wording to clarify if a "die size" is -2 or -1 faces

EasterlyIrk: material wishing/creation rules + basic strategy

2024-04-12T08:17:27Z

material wishing/creation rules + basic strategy

EasterlyIrk: clarify damage dice rules and gemstone subtypes

2024-04-12T07:40:18Z

clarify damage dice rules and gemstone subtypes

EasterlyIrk: platinum damage to chaotics

2024-04-12T07:25:29Z

platinum damage to chaotics

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 This table lists all materials and their core attributes, including weight, cost, and defense adjustments, erosion, and various other attributes considered a key part of the material. Damage adjustment, as well as special effects, are included in a separate table.
-The weight, cost, and defense multipliers are only defined relative to specific materials, and are not applied to any items that are normally that base type. For example, an [[dwarvish mithril-coat]] is typically made of mithril, costs 240 [[zorkmid]]s, weighs 48 [[Weight|aum]], and has 4 base AC and 3 base DR. This is not modified again by the effects of the mithril material, since any effects are considered to be incorporated into the item's statistics already. However, an iron dwarvish mithril coat will be adjusted to cost only 48 zorkmids, weigh 80 aum, and provide only 3 AC due to the material conversion.
+The weight, cost, and defense multipliers are only defined relative to specific materials, and are not applied to any items that are normally that base type. For example, a [[dwarvish mithril-coat]] is typically made of mithril, costs 240 [[zorkmid]]s, weighs 48 [[aum]], and has 4 base AC and 3 base DR. This is not modified again by the effects of the mithril material, since any effects are considered to be incorporated into the item's statistics already. However, an iron dwarvish mithril coat will be adjusted to cost only 48 zorkmids, weigh 80 aum, and provide only 3 AC due to the material conversion.
 All multipliers are applied directly and before other modifications - the result is always equal to the base weight, cost, or relevant defense multiplied by the ratio of the previous and current multiplier, {{frac|new|old}}. These multipliers are applied before effects like enchantment on cost and defenses. Unlike most other calculations in NetHack, the result always rounds up for the final AC or DR. As a result, for many armor pieces the resulting AC & DR is very similar to the original material, since the defense multipliers are too close to have much of an effect on items without very high base defenses.

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 The majority of items use a pool of possible materials when spawned, based on base material or categories. This only affects the initial material they spawn as, and does not prevent the items from being changed due to the (rare) influence of other effects after they've been created. However, some items and almost every single artifact will only ever spawn as their default material. Typically, items with fixed materials are items that include the material in their name, like [[elven mithril-coat]]s and [[studded leather armor]]. Most shirts and cloth body armor, such as robes, also have fixed materials. For an indication whether or not a specific item has a randomized material, please visit that item's page.
-Items can be wished for as any material they have a chance to normally spawn as. This means that you could wish for a silver or glass long sword, since both materials are possible materials for naturally spawned longswords, which use the generic iron/metal base material table. However, you cannot wish for a dragontooth long sword, since it's not a possible random base material for that item. Despite this, there are various objects generated in certain special levels or in certain monsters' inventories that break these rules, like the dragontooth long swords that [[intoner]]s can spawn with or the ceramic armor generated in the [[Law quest (dNethack)|Arcadia]] shops.
+Items can be wished for with any specified material that they can normally generate with, e.g. a hero can wish for a silver or glass long sword, but not a dragontooth long sword. Despite this, there are various objects generated in certain special levels or in certain monsters' inventories that break these rules, like the dragontooth long swords that [[intoner]]s can spawn with or the ceramic armor generated in the [[Law quest (dNethack)|Arcadia]] shops.
 For wishing, common recommendations are to wish for mithril, glass, or bone for metallic armor if possible, dragonhide for leather or cloth armor, and glass, gold, or silver for weapons.
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 All multipliers are applied directly and before other modifications - the result is always equal to the base weight, cost, or relevant defense multiplied by the ratio of the previous and current multiplier, {{frac|new|old}}. These multipliers are applied before effects like enchantment on cost and defenses. Unlike most other calculations in NetHack, the result always rounds up for the final AC or DR. As a result, for many armor pieces the resulting AC & DR is very similar to the original material, since the defense multipliers are too close to have much of an effect on items without very high base defenses.
-Gemstone items have varying names, costs, and colors, depending on the item in question. When created, they assign a random [[valuable gem]] as their subtype, taking description, item color and cost from the gem chosen. The color is set to match the gem, and the cost multiplier is increased by {{frac|10}} of the gem's base cost, e.g. a diamond adds 400 to the cost multiplier. For gems worth less than 500 (fluorite), this has no effect, and the cost multiplier is capped at 500 regardless. If the gem type is unidentified, this cost multiplier doesn't take effect, and the shopkeepers will always sell as if the cost multiplier was 250 or higher, and buy as if it was 100. All gemstone subtypes have the same chance to generate, with the exception of obsidian, which is already its own separate material and thus will never occur as a gemstone subtype&mdash;none of the possible subtypes affect the defensive stats of gemstone armor.
+Gemstone items have varying names, costs, and colors, depending on the item in question. When created, they assign a random [[valuable gem]] as their subtype, taking description, item color and cost from the gem chosen. The color is set to match the gem, and the cost multiplier is increased by {{frac|10}} of the gem's base cost, e.g. a diamond adds 400 to the cost multiplier. For gems worth less than 500 (fluorite), this has no effect, and the cost multiplier is capped at 500 regardless. If the gem type is unidentified, this cost multiplier doesn't take effect, and the shopkeepers will always sell as if the cost multiplier was 250 or higher, and buy as if it was 100. All gemstone subtypes have the same chance of generating with the exception of obsidian, which is already its own separate material and thus will never occur as a gemstone subtype&mdash;none of the possible subtypes affect the defensive stats of gemstone armor.
 Certain materials also have different appearances based on the item type. In the table, the more common alternate names are listed - these are functionally the same materials with no difference. Most of these name changes are for specific items - such as plant matter as straw for sedge hats, or cloth as silk for gentleman's suits. Some names specific to singular items or artifacts were not listed, view the page of the item or artifact in question for their base materials.
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 |Obsidian || Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons.
 |-
-|Shadowsteel || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. On any item, begins to evaporate (a special form of erosion) if exposed to light. This process degrades the item by one step per turn, and will completely destroy the item if left unchecked. This applies only when standing in lit squares, and is blocked by a worn cloak with decent MC. The chance to degrade is always at MC0, around {{frac|34|50}} (68%) at MC1, around {{frac|18|50}} (36%) at MC2, and {{frac|1|50}} at MC3 (2%). Only cloaks contribute to this calculation. [[Fixed]] shadowsteel items will recover from this damage when in darkness, one level per turn as long as the object is in a dark location or inside a container. Invisibility will prevent these items from degrading or repairing.
+|Shadowsteel || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. On any item, begins to evaporate (a special form of erosion) if exposed to light. This process degrades the item by one step per turn, and will completely destroy the item if left unchecked. This applies only when standing in lit squares, and is blocked by a worn cloak with decent MC. The chance of shadowsteel degrading is always at MC0, around {{frac|34|50}} (68%) at MC1, around {{frac|18|50}} (36%) at MC2, and {{frac|1|50}} at MC3 (2%). Only cloaks contribute to this calculation. [[Fixed]] shadowsteel items will recover from this damage when in darkness, one level per turn as long as the object is in a dark location or inside a container. Invisibility will prevent these items from degrading or repairing.
 |-
 |Mercurial || Applies a myriad of assorted effects, scaling with sanity and insight, for certain characters. Takes differing forms, appearing as 'streaming', 'chained', or 'kinstealing' depending on sanity. For more information, see [[Mercurial|the material's article]].

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 |}
 {{variant-343}}
 [[Category:Object materials]]

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 All multipliers are applied directly and before other modifications - the result is always equal to the base weight, cost, or relevant defense multiplied by the ratio of the previous and current multiplier, {{frac|new|old}}. These multipliers are applied before effects like enchantment on cost and defenses. Unlike most other calculations in NetHack, the result always rounds up for the final AC or DR. As a result, for many armor pieces the resulting AC & DR is very similar to the original material, since the defense multipliers are too close to have much of an effect on items without very high base defenses.
-Gemstone items have varying names, costs, and colors, depending on the item in question. When created, they assign a random [[valuable gem]] as their subtype, taking description, item color and cost from the gem chosen. The color is set to match the gem, and the cost multiplier is increased by {{frac|10}} of the gem's base cost - for example, a diamond adds 400 to the cost multiplier. For gems worth less than 500 (fluorite), this has no effect, and the cost multiplier is capped at 500 regardless. If unidentified, this cost multiplier doesn't take effect - the shopkeepers will always sell as if the cost multiplier was 250 or higher, and buy as if it was 100. All gemstone subtypes have the same chance to generate, with the exception of obsidian, which will never occur. None of the possible subtypes affect defenses.
+Gemstone items have varying names, costs, and colors, depending on the item in question. When created, they assign a random [[valuable gem]] as their subtype, taking description, item color and cost from the gem chosen. The color is set to match the gem, and the cost multiplier is increased by {{frac|10}} of the gem's base cost, e.g. a diamond adds 400 to the cost multiplier. For gems worth less than 500 (fluorite), this has no effect, and the cost multiplier is capped at 500 regardless. If the gem type is unidentified, this cost multiplier doesn't take effect, and the shopkeepers will always sell as if the cost multiplier was 250 or higher, and buy as if it was 100. All gemstone subtypes have the same chance to generate, with the exception of obsidian, which is already its own separate material and thus will never occur as a gemstone subtype&mdash;none of the possible subtypes affect the defensive stats of gemstone armor.
 Certain materials also have different appearances based on the item type. In the table, the more common alternate names are listed - these are functionally the same materials with no difference. Most of these name changes are for specific items - such as plant matter as straw for sedge hats, or cloth as silk for gentleman's suits. Some names specific to singular items or artifacts were not listed, view the page of the item or artifact in question for their base materials.

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-[[dNetHack]] is one of several [[variant]]s with an '''[[object materials]]''' system, which allows most weapons and armor to generate with varying materials. Armor is also differentiated by size and body plan, requiring even more consideration for what a given player should seek out. Like other variants, the material of an item determines its weight, ability to [[Erosion|erode]], and any bonus damage or effects against certain creatures.
+[[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]] are all [[variant]]s that share an '''[[object materials]]''' system, which allows most weapons and armor to generate with varying [[material]]s. Armor is also differentiated by size and body plan, requiring even more consideration for what a given player should seek out. Like other variants, the material of an item determines its weight, whether it is affected by [[erosion]], and any bonus damage or effects against certain creatures.
 == Material generation ==
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 |Obsidian || Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons.
 |-
-|Shadowsteel || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. On any item, begins to evaporate (a special form of erosion) if exposed to light. This process degrades the item by one step per turn, and will completely destroy the item if left unchecked. This applies only when standing in lit squares, and is blocked by a worn cloak with decent MC. The chance to degrade is always at MC0, around {{frac|34|50}} (68%) at MC1, around {{frac|18|50}} (36%) at MC2, and {{frac|1|50}} at MC3 (2%). Only cloaks contribute to this calculation. [[Erodeproofing|Fixed]] items will recover from this damage when in darkness, one level per turn as long as the object is in a dark location or inside a container. Invisibility will prevent these items from degrading or repairing.
+|Shadowsteel || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. On any item, begins to evaporate (a special form of erosion) if exposed to light. This process degrades the item by one step per turn, and will completely destroy the item if left unchecked. This applies only when standing in lit squares, and is blocked by a worn cloak with decent MC. The chance to degrade is always at MC0, around {{frac|34|50}} (68%) at MC1, around {{frac|18|50}} (36%) at MC2, and {{frac|1|50}} at MC3 (2%). Only cloaks contribute to this calculation. [[Fixed]] shadowsteel items will recover from this damage when in darkness, one level per turn as long as the object is in a dark location or inside a container. Invisibility will prevent these items from degrading or repairing.
 |-
 |Mercurial || Applies a myriad of assorted effects, scaling with sanity and insight, for certain characters. Takes differing forms, appearing as 'streaming', 'chained', or 'kinstealing' depending on sanity. For more information, see [[Mercurial|the material's article]].
 |}
 {{variant-343}}
-[[Category:dNetHack]]
+[[Category:dNetHack items]]
 [[Category:Object materials]]

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 ! Effects
 |-
-|Liquid || Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage, to a minimum of base damage of 1d2. For example, 1d8 becomes 1d6. This reduction is applied after all other damage dice adjustments, including from size.
+|Liquid || Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage, to a minimum of base damage of 1d2. For example, 1d8 becomes 1d6. This reduction is applied after all other damage dice adjustments, including from size. This reduction is also only applied to the first size of dice rolled for weapons with multiple, like
 |-
-|Wax || Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage.
+|Wax || Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage.
 |-
-|Veggy (plant matter) || Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage.
+|Veggy (plant matter) || Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage.
 |-
-|Flesh || Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage.
+|Flesh || Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage.
 |-
-|Paper || Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage.
+|Paper || Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage.
 |-
-|Cloth || Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage.
+|Cloth || Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage.
 |-
-|Leather || Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage.
+|Leather || Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage.
 |-
 |Wood || Weapons made of wood can be [[Ward (dNetHack)#Icelandic magical staves|carved]].
 |-
-|Dragonhide || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing weapons.
+|Dragonhide ||Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for piercing weapons.
 |-
 |Iron || Deals an extra 1d(defender's level) bonus damage when used against iron-hating targets (mostly elves and fey).
 |-
-|Green-steel || Deals an extra 1d(defender's level) bonus damage when used against iron-hating targets. Deals an extra 2d9 unholy damage to unholy-hating targets, even when not cursed, stacking with any other unholy damage. Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons.
+|Green-steel || Deals an extra 1d(defender's level) bonus damage when used against iron-hating targets. Deals an extra 2d9 unholy damage to unholy-hating targets, even when not cursed, stacking with any other unholy damage. Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons.
 |-
 |Silver || Deals an extra 1d20 bonus damage when used against silver-hating targets (mostly demons and vampires).
 |-
-|Gold || Increases the holy damage of blessed items when used against holy-hating targets to 1d20, from the typical 1d4. Increases the unholy damage of cursed items when used against unholy-hating targets, doubling the number of dice rolled without affecting die size. Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for bludgeoning weapons.
+|Gold || Increases the holy damage of blessed items when used against holy-hating targets to 1d20, from the typical 1d4. Increases the unholy damage of cursed items when used against unholy-hating targets, doubling the number of dice rolled without affecting die size. Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for bludgeoning weapons.
 |-
-|Platinum || Deals an extra 1d5 damage to lawful-hating monsters, including all chaotic monsters, doubled for divine minions or demons. Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for bludgeoning weapons.
+|Platinum || Deals an extra 1d5 damage to lawful-hating monsters, including all chaotic monsters, doubled for divine minions or demons. Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for bludgeoning weapons.
 |-
-|Lead || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for bludgeoning weapons. Applies a penalty of -2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. This bonus can cancel itself out, but the penalties for piercing and slashing weapons do not stack.
+|Lead || Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for bludgeoning weapons. Applies a penalty of -2 to die size for weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. This bonus can cancel itself out, but the penalties for piercing and slashing weapons do not stack.
 |-
-|Glass || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. Is the only non-opaque material, and can be seen through. Non-base material faceless items that are not made of glass cannot be seen through, and while worn will act as a blindfold.
+|Glass || Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. Is the only non-opaque material, and can be seen through. Non-base material faceless items that are not made of glass cannot be seen through, and while worn will act as a blindfold.
 |-
 |Gemstone || Gemstone items with the [[Gem#Jade|jade]] subtype specifically deal an extra 1d20 bonus damage when used against silver-hating targets (mostly demons and vampires). This does not stack with silver damage from droven holy symbol or silvered artifacts, but does stack with silver poison.
 |-
-|Obsidian || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons.
+|Obsidian || Applies a bonus of +2 to die size for weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons.
 |-
 |Shadowsteel || Applies a bonus of +2 die sizes to weapon base damage for piercing or slashing weapons. On any item, begins to evaporate (a special form of erosion) if exposed to light. This process degrades the item by one step per turn, and will completely destroy the item if left unchecked. This applies only when standing in lit squares, and is blocked by a worn cloak with decent MC. The chance to degrade is always at MC0, around {{frac|34|50}} (68%) at MC1, around {{frac|18|50}} (36%) at MC2, and {{frac|1|50}} at MC3 (2%). Only cloaks contribute to this calculation. [[Erodeproofing|Fixed]] items will recover from this damage when in darkness, one level per turn as long as the object is in a dark location or inside a container. Invisibility will prevent these items from degrading or repairing.