Weight - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: follow up on that

2026-06-09T05:56:31Z

follow up on that

Darth l33t: 5.0.0 update

2026-06-08T19:12:36Z

5.0.0 update

Aximili: typo

2026-02-22T21:35:36Z

typo

Joes: variants that show weight

2025-05-20T16:08:38Z

variants that show weight

Ion frigate: phrasing, clarify it was a $.25 gold coin

2024-10-19T05:01:19Z

phrasing, clarify it was a $.25 gold coin

Ion frigate: banish it to a footnote, but give examples of coins that small

2024-10-18T06:26:06Z

banish it to a footnote, but give examples of coins that small

Ion frigate: clean up end a bit; get rid of unnecessary adjective

2024-10-18T06:14:50Z

clean up end a bit; get rid of unnecessary adjective

Ion frigate: seems relevant (was trying to remember that article)

2024-10-18T06:10:15Z

seems relevant (was trying to remember that article)

Ion frigate: I suppose i should round properly

2024-08-17T12:37:23Z

I suppose i *should* round properly

Ion frigate: from an AD&D manual in front of me - gygax massively overestimated the weights of weapons in general; i think it's better to be approximate with the gram estimates; go into why no single estimate will ever really work

2024-08-17T12:35:38Z

from an AD&D manual in front of me - gygax massively overestimated the weights of weapons in general; i think it's better to be approximate with the gram estimates; go into why no single estimate will ever really work

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 {{tocright}}
-In ''[[NetHack]]'', '''weight''' is a measure of an [[item]]'s heaviness. Carrying too much weight will increase your [[encumbrance]], rendering you burdened, stressed or possibly worse depending on the size of your load - fighting while significantly encumbered is not advised, as excessive weight lowers your [[speed]].
+In ''[[NetHack]]'', '''weight''' is a measure of an [[item]]'s heaviness. Carrying too much weight will increase the [[hero]]'s [[encumbrance]], and can render them burdened, stressed or possibly worse depending on the size of their load&mdash;this also lowers their movement [[speed]].
-''NetHack'' in its normal mode never directly tells you the weight of an item, or even gives a name to its unit of weight. In [[wizard mode]], however, your inventory displays the weight of each item in '''aum''', short for "arbitrary unit of measurement".
+''NetHack'' does not normally display the weight of items: in [[wizard mode]], the hero's inventory displays the weight of each item in '''aum''', short for "arbitrary unit(s) of measurement".
 ==List of item weights==
@@ Line 110: / Line 110: @@
 ==Strategy==
 In a few cases, weight testing can be a [[Identification#Weight identification|way to identify objects]], especially after [[price identification]].

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 In ''[[NetHack]]'', '''weight''' is a measure of an [[item]]'s heaviness. Carrying too much weight will increase your [[encumbrance]], rendering you burdened, stressed or possibly worse depending on the size of your load - fighting while significantly encumbered is not advised, as excessive weight lowers your [[speed]].
-''NetHack'' expresses item weight in '''aum''', short for "arbitrary unit of measurement". Normally, the only case where the game explicitly tells you an item's weight is when you purchase a [[glob]] of [[pudding]] from a [[shop]]. In [[wizard mode]], however, your inventory displays the weight of each carried item. Several variants ([[UnNetHack]], [[AceHack]], [[NerfHack]]) allow the player to show the weights of objects in their inventory during regular (non-wizard mode) play.
+''NetHack'' in its normal mode never directly tells you the weight of an item, or even gives a name to its unit of weight. In [[wizard mode]], however, your inventory displays the weight of each item in '''aum''', short for "arbitrary unit of measurement".
 ==List of item weights==
@@ Line 111: / Line 111: @@
 ==Strategy==
 In a few cases, weight testing can be a [[Identification#Weight identification|way to identify objects]], especially after [[price identification]].
 ==See also==
@@ Line 119: / Line 125: @@
 [[Category:Item attributes]]
-{{nethack-366}}
+{{nethack-500}}

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 {{tocright}}
-In ''[[NetHack]]'', '''weight''' is a measure of an [[item]]'s heaviness. Carrying too much weight will increase your [[encumbrance]], rendering you burdened, stressed or possibly worse depending on the size of your load - fighting while significantly encumbered is not advised, as excessive weight lowers you [[speed]].
+In ''[[NetHack]]'', '''weight''' is a measure of an [[item]]'s heaviness. Carrying too much weight will increase your [[encumbrance]], rendering you burdened, stressed or possibly worse depending on the size of your load - fighting while significantly encumbered is not advised, as excessive weight lowers your [[speed]].
 ''NetHack'' expresses item weight in '''aum''', short for "arbitrary unit of measurement". Normally, the only case where the game explicitly tells you an item's weight is when you purchase a [[glob]] of [[pudding]] from a [[shop]]. In [[wizard mode]], however, your inventory displays the weight of each carried item. Several variants ([[UnNetHack]], [[AceHack]], [[NerfHack]]) allow the player to show the weights of objects in their inventory during regular (non-wizard mode) play.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 In ''[[NetHack]]'', '''weight''' is a measure of an [[item]]'s heaviness. Carrying too much weight will increase your [[encumbrance]], rendering you burdened, stressed or possibly worse depending on the size of your load - fighting while significantly encumbered is not advised, as excessive weight lowers you [[speed]].
-''NetHack'' expresses item weight in '''aum''', short for "arbitrary unit of measurement". Normally, the only case where the game explicitly tells you an item's weight is when you purchase a [[glob]] of [[pudding]] from a [[shop]]. In [[wizard mode]], however, your inventory displays the weight of each carried item. Several variants allow the player to show the weights of objects in their inventory during regular (non-wizard mode) play.
+''NetHack'' expresses item weight in '''aum''', short for "arbitrary unit of measurement". Normally, the only case where the game explicitly tells you an item's weight is when you purchase a [[glob]] of [[pudding]] from a [[shop]]. In [[wizard mode]], however, your inventory displays the weight of each carried item. Several variants ([[UnNetHack]], [[AceHack]], [[NerfHack]]) allow the player to show the weights of objects in their inventory during regular (non-wizard mode) play.
 ==List of item weights==

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 The weights of many items in ''NetHack'' (notably weapons and armor) are directly pulled from [[Dungeons and Dragons]], specifically Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, which was current when [[Hack]] was written.  In that game, a single unit of weight is defined as {{frac|10}} of a pound (roughly 45 grams), meaning a long sword weighs 4 pounds, a human corpse weighs 145 pounds, etc.  The writers of D&D notably overestimated the weights of many medieval weapons: a NetHack or D&D-style one-handed [[Wikipedia:Knightly sword|"long sword"]]<ref>Real-world "longswords" are primarily [[two-handed sword]]s</ref> would generally weigh closer to 2.5 pounds.  Correcting this error would suggest an aum to be closer to an ounce, or {{frac|16}} of a pound (roughly 30 grams).
-Overall, no estimate for the weight of an aum will work for every item.  For example, both weight estimates above are unrealistically low for gold [[zorkmid]]s: {{frac|100}} of an aum equates to either .3 or .45 grams.  While coins that small have been produced, they are extremely uncommon, as their small size makes them very difficult to use; even the 1.7 gram [[Wikipedia:Gold dollar|US gold dollar]] was considered inconvenient due to its small size<ref>A real-world example of a coin comparable in size to a zorkmid are unofficial 25-cent pieces produced during the [[Wikipedia:California gold coinage|California gold rush]], due to a scarcity of small-denomination silver coins; the [[Wikipedia:Dam (Nepalese coin)|Nepalese Dam]] is another example</ref>.  The reason for this disparity is that the developers of NetHack chose to make NetHack's gold coins weigh {{frac|10}} of what they did in AD&D, so as not to make gold inconveniently heavy.  Similar balance decisions (rather than realism) influence the weights of many items, while many later-added items may have simply been given arbitrary weights.
+Overall, no estimate for the weight of an aum will work for every item.  For example, both weight estimates above are unrealistically low for gold [[zorkmid]]s: {{frac|100}} of an aum equates to either .3 or .45 grams.  While coins that small have been produced, they are extremely uncommon, as their small size makes them very difficult to handle; even the 1.7 gram [[Wikipedia:Gold dollar|US gold dollar]] was considered inconvenient due to its small size<ref>A real-world example of a coin comparable in size to a zorkmid are unofficial gold 25-cent pieces produced during the [[Wikipedia:California gold coinage|California gold rush]], due to a scarcity of small-denomination silver coins; the [[Wikipedia:Dam (Nepalese coin)|Nepalese Dam]] is another example</ref>.  The reason for this disparity is that the developers of NetHack chose to make NetHack's gold coins weigh {{frac|10}} of what they did in AD&D, so as not to make gold inconveniently heavy.  Similar balance decisions (rather than realism) influence the weights of many items, while many later-added items may have simply been given arbitrary weights.
 ==Strategy==

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 A [[bag of holding]] modifies the weight of its contents - an uncursed bag of holding effectively reduces the weight of its contents by {{frac|2}}, and a blessed one does so by {{frac|3|4}}, while a cursed one doubles the weight. The weight of the bag itself is always 15 aum.
-===Real world comparisons===
+===Origin and real-world comparisons===
-By comparing the weights of objects in NetHack to their real world counterparts, it has been determined that one aum is roughly the equivalent of one avoirdupois ounce, or 28.349 grams.
+The weights of many items in ''NetHack'' (notably weapons and armor) are directly pulled from [[Dungeons and Dragons]], specifically Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, which was current when [[Hack]] was written.  In that game, a single unit of weight is defined as {{frac|10}} of a pound (roughly 45 grams), meaning a long sword weighs 4 pounds, a human corpse weighs 145 pounds, etc.  The writers of D&D notably overestimated the weights of many medieval weapons: a NetHack or D&D-style one-handed [[Wikipedia:Knightly sword|"long sword"]]<ref>Real-world "longswords" are primarily [[two-handed sword]]s</ref> would generally weigh closer to 2.5 pounds.  Correcting this error would suggest an aum to be closer to an ounce, or {{frac|16}} of a pound (roughly 30 grams).
 ==Strategy==