Samaritan: Redirected page to Player's misconceptions

2016-06-26T18:31:32Z

Redirected page to Player's misconceptions

Samaritan: This page was originally titled "Player Myths", but I think the word "misconception" is more fitting to what it tackles. I have given it this new titled, added a new section (and reordered others) and some links, and revised it. --~~~~

2016-06-26T18:22:13Z

This page was originally titled "Player Myths", but I think the word "misconception" is more fitting to what it tackles. I have given it this new titled, added a new section (and reordered others) and some links, and revised it. --~~~~

New page

This page will attempt to dispel common assumptions and misconceptions that many new players (and even some experienced players) may have about [[NetHack]].
<br/>
== Misconception: Drinking water is necessary. ==
The [[Guidebook]]'s advice on this matter is misleading, stating that "although creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is a physiological need for water". Though that is true for real life, it surely does not apply for the game, where there is absolutely no need to drink water at all — instead of being healthy, {{kbd|q}}[[quaffing|uaffing]] from [[fountain]]s can be downright dangerous.

== Misconception: Wizards are better at reading spellbooks. ==
In fact, the formula that determines the chance of successfully reading a [[spellbook]] is the same for all roles (and, just for completeness, all races and alignments). The only advantage [[Wizard]]s have in reading books is that, when attempting to read an [[BUC|uncursed]] book with less than 100% chance of success, they are given a warning and prompted whether to continue reading. The actual success chance, however, is the same as for all other roles.

== Misconception: The player should never wear a single piece of metal armor if intending to cast. ==
Metal generally does tend to hinder casting, but some types of armor made of metal have much less effect than many players may think. For example, a Wizard with 18 [[Intelligence|Int]] can wear a metal helmet or metal boots and can still cast low-level spells with 0% failure, and will only see a small increase in fail rate for higher-level spells.

== Misconception: A Chaotic character can kill anything without penalties of any kind. ==
Actually, [[Alignment|Chaotic]] characters get alignment penalties for most of the same things that characters of other alignments do, such as killing coaligned peaceful monsters or killing always-peaceful humans. See the [[Alignment record]] page for more details on alignment penalties and bonuses.

== Misconception: Eating pet corpses is bad. ==
There is no specific penalty for eating a [[pet]]'s [[corpse]] after the creature is already dead — actually ''killing'' it, though, incurs into a penalty of a -15 Alignment and -1 [[Luck]]. Eating a domestic [[cat]] or [[dog]] corpse will give you the [[Aggravate monster]] intrinsic, but this applies whether it had been a pet or not.

== Misconception: Offering a human corpse is bad. ==
There is no specific penalty (or, for that matter, bonus) for [[Sacrifice|#offer]]ing human corpses — they are just standard sacrifices. Of course, sacrificing one's own race has its [[Sacrifice#Sacrificing_creatures_of_own_race|peculiarities]], but they do not apply more for a human offering another human than, say, a gnome offering another gnome.

== Misconception: Gauntlets of power are required to maximize carrying capacity. ==
Fact: [[Encumbrance|Carrying capacity]] is based on more than just [[Strength]], and also has a limit. Specifically, the formula is:
(([[Strength|Str]] + [[Constitution|Con]]) * 25) + 50
Further, the result is capped at 1000. Therefore, if (Str + Con) >= 38, carry capacity is maxed, and all races other than elf can reach this without [[Gauntlets of power]] or any other additional equipment.

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:31, 26 June 2016
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	~~This page will attempt to dispel common assumptions and misconceptions that many new players (and even some experienced players) may have about [~~[~~NetHack]].~~	+	#REDIRECT [[Player's_misconceptions]]
−	~~<br/>~~
−	~~== Misconception: Drinking water is necessary. ==~~
−	~~The~~ [~~[Guidebook]]~~'s advice on this matter is misleading, stating that "although creatures can survive long periods of time without food, there is a physiological need for water". Though that is true for real life, it surely does not apply for the game, where there is absolutely no need to drink water at all — instead of being healthy, {{kbd\|q}}[[quaffing\|uaffing]] from [[fountain]]s can be downright dangerous.
−
−	~~== Misconception: Wizards are better at reading spellbooks. ==~~
−	In fact, the formula that determines the chance of successfully reading a [[spellbook]] is the same for all roles (and, just for completeness, all races and alignments). The only advantage [[Wizard]]s have in reading books is that, when attempting to read an [[BUC\|uncursed]] book with less than 100% chance of success, they are given a warning and prompted whether to continue reading. The actual success chance, however, is the same as for all other roles.
−
−	~~== Misconception: The player should never wear a single piece of metal armor if intending to cast. ==~~
−	Metal generally does tend to hinder casting, but some types of armor made of metal have much less effect than many players may think. For example, a Wizard with 18 [[Intelligence\|Int]] can wear a metal helmet or metal boots and can still cast low-level spells with 0% failure, and will only see a small increase in fail rate for higher-level spells.
−
−	~~== Misconception: A Chaotic character can kill anything without penalties of any kind. ==~~
−	Actually, [[Alignment\|Chaotic]] characters get alignment penalties for most of the same things that characters of other alignments do, such as killing coaligned peaceful monsters or killing always-peaceful humans. See the [[Alignment record]] page for more details on alignment penalties and bonuses.
−
−	~~== Misconception: Eating pet corpses is bad. ==~~
−	There is no specific penalty for eating a [[pet]]'s [[corpse]] after the creature is already dead — actually ''killing'' it, though, incurs into a penalty of a -15 Alignment and -1 [[Luck]]. Eating a domestic [[cat]] or [[dog]] corpse will give you the [[Aggravate monster]] intrinsic, but this applies whether it had been a pet or not.
−
−	~~== Misconception: Offering a human corpse is bad. ==~~
−	There is no specific penalty (or, for that matter, bonus) for [[Sacrifice\|#offer]]ing human corpses — they are just standard sacrifices. Of course, sacrificing one's own race has its [[Sacrifice#Sacrificing_creatures_of_own_race\|peculiarities]], but they do not apply more for a human offering another human than, say, a gnome offering another gnome.
−
−	~~== Misconception: Gauntlets of power are required to maximize carrying capacity. ==~~
−	~~Fact: [[Encumbrance\|Carrying capacity]] is based on more than just [[Strength]], and also has a limit. Specifically, the formula is:~~
−	~~(([[Strength\|Str]] + [[Constitution\|Con]]) * 25) + 50~~
−	~~Further, the result is capped at 1000. Therefore, if (Str + Con) >= 38, carry capacity is maxed, and all races other than elf can reach this without [[Gauntlets of power~~]] ~~or any other additional equipment.~~

Player's Misconceptions - Revision history

Samaritan: Redirected page to Player's misconceptions

Samaritan: This page was originally titled "Player Myths", but I think the word "misconception" is more fitting to what it tackles. I have given it this new titled, added a new section (and reordered others) and some links, and revised it. --~~~~