Spellbook of finger of death - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: shorter clarification

2026-01-23T21:54:27Z

shorter clarification

Josinalvo: /* Description */ clarify that reflections do not kill a hero with magic resistance

2026-01-23T20:23:56Z

‎Description: clarify that reflections do not kill a hero with magic resistance

Umbire the Phantom: /* SLASH'EM */ rephrase

2025-07-10T01:47:13Z

‎SLASH'EM: rephrase

Umbire the Phantom: /* EvilHack */ word choice

2025-07-09T07:30:10Z

‎EvilHack: word choice

Umbire the Phantom: precise cite

2025-07-04T19:17:10Z

precise cite

Umbire the Phantom: copyedit re: kraken farming

2025-07-04T07:07:34Z

copyedit re: kraken farming

Umbire the Phantom: grunt

2025-07-02T20:36:06Z

grunt

Umbire the Phantom: final correction

2025-07-02T19:39:35Z

final correction

Umbire the Phantom: think we're done!

2025-07-02T19:35:04Z

think we're done!

Umbire the Phantom: /* Description */ bleah

2025-07-02T19:19:26Z

‎Description: bleah

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 At all [[skill]] levels, the finger of death behaves identically to [[zapping]] a [[wand of death]]:{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1098|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1137|nethack=3.6.7|comment=all directional spells and wand equivalents fall through to this line}} successfully [[cast]]ing the spell prompts the player for a cardinal direction to fire the death [[ray]] in, and the ray will instantly kill any hero or monster that it hits unless they have [[magic resistance]] or [[reflection]]{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3662|nethack=3.6.7}}&mdash;[[major demon]]s and [[nonliving]] monsters (including shapeshifted [[Vampire (monster attribute)|vampires]]) [[Death resistance|resist death rays]] and are unaffected, and [[Death (monster)|Death]] has up to half of their maximum [[HP]] restored if hit by the ray.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3663|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3671|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3841|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3845|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4156|nethack=3.6.7}} The rays from a finger of death will bounce off the walls, ceiling and floor, and destroy any [[door]]s they make contact with (which will stop the ray).{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4639|nethack=3.6.7}}
-A hero that zaps themselves with the spell will [[Instant death|die instantly]] regardless of reflection or magic resistance, unless they are [[polymorph]]ed into a nonliving monster or major demon.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|2448|nethack=3.6.7}}. This refers to targeting themselves, not to reflections from walls.
+A hero that zaps the spell directly at themselves will [[Instant death|die instantly]] regardless of reflection or magic resistance, unless they are [[polymorph]]ed into a nonliving monster or major demon.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|2448|nethack=3.6.7}}
 ==Strategy==

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 At all [[skill]] levels, the finger of death behaves identically to [[zapping]] a [[wand of death]]:{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1098|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1137|nethack=3.6.7|comment=all directional spells and wand equivalents fall through to this line}} successfully [[cast]]ing the spell prompts the player for a cardinal direction to fire the death [[ray]] in, and the ray will instantly kill any hero or monster that it hits unless they have [[magic resistance]] or [[reflection]]{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3662|nethack=3.6.7}}&mdash;[[major demon]]s and [[nonliving]] monsters (including shapeshifted [[Vampire (monster attribute)|vampires]]) [[Death resistance|resist death rays]] and are unaffected, and [[Death (monster)|Death]] has up to half of their maximum [[HP]] restored if hit by the ray.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3663|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3671|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3841|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3845|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4156|nethack=3.6.7}} The rays from a finger of death will bounce off the walls, ceiling and floor, and destroy any [[door]]s they make contact with (which will stop the ray).{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4639|nethack=3.6.7}}
-A hero that zaps themselves with the spell will [[Instant death|die instantly]] regardless of reflection or magic resistance, unless they are [[polymorph]]ed into a nonliving monster or major demon.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|2448|nethack=3.6.7}}
+A hero that zaps themselves with the spell will [[Instant death|die instantly]] regardless of reflection or magic resistance, unless they are [[polymorph]]ed into a nonliving monster or major demon.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|2448|nethack=3.6.7}}. This refers to targeting themselves, not to reflections from walls.
 ==Strategy==

@@ Line 62: / Line 62: @@
 ==Variants==
 ===SLASH'EM===
-In [[SLASH'EM]], the finger of death spell is unchanged, but several new and returning monsters have formal or informal [[death resistance]], including minotaurs, [[Cthulhu (SLASH'EM)|Cthulhu]] and most [[angelic being]]s, removing the finger of death spell as an option against them; some other returning monsters, as well as new major threats like the [[giant shoggoth]], lack this resistance.
+In [[SLASH'EM]], the finger of death spell is the only spell unaffected by the [[sigil of discharge]] and [[sigil of tempest]] [[technique]]s.
-The finger of death spell is the only spell unaffected by the [[sigil of discharge]] and [[sigil of tempest]] [[technique]]s.
+Several new and returning monsters have formal or informal [[death resistance]], including minotaurs, [[Cthulhu (SLASH'EM)|Cthulhu]] and most [[angelic being]]s, removing the finger of death spell as an option against them&mdash;some other returning monsters, as well as new major threats like the [[giant shoggoth]], lack this resistance.
 ===GruntHack===

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 ===EvilHack===
-In [[EvilHack]], the finger of death spell is made into a level 7 [[evocation spell]], and is otherwise unchanged in function. The Wizard's default crowning gift is similarly changed to a blessed [[spellbook of power word kill]], while the [[Druid]] role receives a blessed spellbook of finger of death as their default crowning gift.
+In [[EvilHack]], the finger of death spell is made into a level 7 [[evocation spell]], and is otherwise unchanged in function. The Wizard's default crowning gift is also changed to a blessed [[spellbook of power word kill]], and the [[Druid]] role receives a blessed spellbook of finger of death as their default crowning gift.
 ==References==

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 ==Description==
-At all [[skill]] levels, the finger of death behaves identically to [[zapping]] a [[wand of death]]:{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1098|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1135|nethack=3.6.7|comment=all directional spells and wand equivalents fall through to this line}} successfully [[cast]]ing the spell prompts the player for a cardinal direction to fire the death [[ray]] in, and the ray will instantly kill any hero or monster that it hits unless they have [[magic resistance]] or [[reflection]]{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3662|nethack=3.6.7}}&mdash;[[major demon]]s and [[nonliving]] monsters (including shapeshifted [[Vampire (monster attribute)|vampires]]) [[Death resistance|resist death rays]] and are unaffected, and [[Death (monster)|Death]] has up to half of their maximum [[HP]] restored if hit by the ray.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3663|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3671|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3841|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3845|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4156|nethack=3.6.7}} The rays from a finger of death will bounce off the walls, ceiling and floor, and destroy any [[door]]s they make contact with (which will stop the ray).{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4639|nethack=3.6.7}}
+At all [[skill]] levels, the finger of death behaves identically to [[zapping]] a [[wand of death]]:{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1098|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/spell.c|1137|nethack=3.6.7|comment=all directional spells and wand equivalents fall through to this line}} successfully [[cast]]ing the spell prompts the player for a cardinal direction to fire the death [[ray]] in, and the ray will instantly kill any hero or monster that it hits unless they have [[magic resistance]] or [[reflection]]{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3662|nethack=3.6.7}}&mdash;[[major demon]]s and [[nonliving]] monsters (including shapeshifted [[Vampire (monster attribute)|vampires]]) [[Death resistance|resist death rays]] and are unaffected, and [[Death (monster)|Death]] has up to half of their maximum [[HP]] restored if hit by the ray.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3663|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3671|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3841|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|3845|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4156|nethack=3.6.7}} The rays from a finger of death will bounce off the walls, ceiling and floor, and destroy any [[door]]s they make contact with (which will stop the ray).{{refsrc|src/zap.c|4639|nethack=3.6.7}}
 A hero that zaps themselves with the spell will [[Instant death|die instantly]] regardless of reflection or magic resistance, unless they are [[polymorph]]ed into a nonliving monster or major demon.{{refsrc|src/zap.c|2448|nethack=3.6.7}}

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
 * Both [[Master Kaen]] (the [[Monk]] quest nemesis) and the Dark One can gain immunity to the spell or a wand of death from picking up the quest artifact they have stolen&ndash;[[The Eyes of the Overworld]] for Kaen, and The Eye of the Aethiopica for the Dark One&ndash;and force a hero to either resort to alternative strategies or else take their shot while the nemesis is still meditating. [[NetHack 3.6.0]] makes it so that each artifact must be worn to grant magic resistance, and neither Kaen nor the Dark One will wear the artifacts or their base items, rendering it a valid strategy again.
-* [[Kraken]] can be killed trivially while on dry land, and their corpses can be revived using a [[wand of undead turning]] or the {{+ of|turn undead}} spell&mdash;this enables a hero to engage in [[kraken farming]] by continuously reviving and killing krakens on dry land, which is most efficiently done by trapping the kraken in diagonal areas that they cannot move through, then repeatedly casting the turn undead and finger of death spells along those diagonals with copy-and-paste. NetHack 3.6.0 and later versions make this strategy vastly more dangerous, if not impossible: kraken will no longer revive while on land, and leaving them in water puts the hero at risk of instadeath by drowning attack.
+* [[Kraken]] can be killed trivially while on dry land, and their corpses can be revived using a [[wand of undead turning]] or the {{+ of|turn undead}} spell&mdash;this enables a hero to engage in [[kraken farming]] by continuously reviving and killing krakens on dry land, which is most efficiently done by trapping the kraken in diagonal areas that they cannot move through, then repeatedly casting the turn undead and finger of death spells along those diagonals with copy-and-paste. This is changed in NetHack 3.6.0 via {{commit|772fea0361422057f1c479b87558336857506ea4}} so that this strategy is vastly more dangerous: kraken (and [[sea monster]]s in general) will no longer revive while on land, and leaving them in water puts the hero at risk of instadeath by drowning attack.
 ==Origin==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:36, 2 July 2025
Line 65:		Line 65:

	The finger of death spell is the only spell unaffected by the [[sigil of discharge]] and [[sigil of tempest]] [[technique]]s.		The finger of death spell is the only spell unaffected by the [[sigil of discharge]] and [[sigil of tempest]] [[technique]]s.
		+
		+	===GruntHack===
		+	In [[GruntHack]], some monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, including the finger of death.

	===dNetHack===		===dNetHack===

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
   |level=7
   |type=attack
-  |turns=80
+  |turns=82
   |direction=ray
   |equiv=[[wand of death]]
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 }}
-In ''[[NetHack]]'', the '''spellbook of finger of death''' can be [[read]] to learn the '''spell of finger of death''', also known simply as the '''finger of death'''. It is a level 7 [[attack spell]], and the [[spellbook]] takes roughly 80 turns to read.
+In ''[[NetHack]]'', the '''spellbook of finger of death''' can be [[read]] to learn the '''spell of finger of death''', also known simply as the '''finger of death'''. It is a level 7 [[attack spell]], and the [[spellbook]] takes 82 actions to read.
 ==Generation==