Difference between revisions of "Altar"
("Please note that all contributions to NetHackWiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here." Now to pick up where I was...) |
(sacrifice and prayer: better to point those to in-article sections imo; didn't see point in separating prayer and water prayer, but mulling it over it's nbd; note what does and doesn't break atheism; already wiztested the water prayer with an angry god...) |
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==Description== | ==Description== | ||
| − | An altar can be used for various religious purposes, including [[sacrifice]] | + | An altar can be used for various religious purposes, including [[#Sacrificing corpses|sacrifice]] as well as [[#Prayer|prayer]]. The alignment of an altar can be determined by either using [[far look]], or else by standing on it and using [[near look]]. |
===Beatitude=== | ===Beatitude=== | ||
| − | If a character [[drop]]s one or more [[objects]] on an altar, either manually or under certain circumstances (e.g. [[polymorph]] or [[slippery fingers]], but not | + | If a character [[drop]]s one or more [[objects]] on an altar, either manually or under certain circumstances (e.g. [[polymorph]] or [[slippery fingers]], but ''not'' [[throw]]ing an object so that it lands on an altar) will reveal the [[beatitude]] of the object(s):{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/do.c|269|comment=function doaltarobj}} A black flash marks a cursed item, while an amber flash marks a blessed one. Dropping an item on an altar this way breaks atheist conduct. |
| + | |||
| + | Characters cannot detect an item's beatitude if they are [[blind]]. Similarly, they cannot detect whether an item is blessed or cursed if they are [[hallucinating]], as the flashes will be of random hallucinatory colors - uncursed items can still be detected, as there will be no flash at all. | ||
===Sacrificing corpses=== | ===Sacrificing corpses=== | ||
{{main|Sacrifice}} | {{main|Sacrifice}} | ||
| + | Sacrificing fresh corpses at a co-aligned altar with a prayer timeout above zero will reduce the timeout, while sacrificing with a prayer timeout of zero can increase [[luck]], improve the character's [[alignment record]], and may even reward them with powerful [[artifact weapon]]s. | ||
| − | Sacrificing | + | Sacrificing at the altar of another god has a chance of converting that altar to the hero's alignment, potentially [[anger]]ing that altar's former god - if their alignment record is poor enough, however, the hero ''themselves'' may be converted to that altar's alignment, angering their original god and making it difficult or impossible to complete the [[Quest]] (and thus possibly making the game [[unwinnable]]). A hero's alignment can only be converted this way once per game: in any circumstance where a sacrifice from an already-converted hero would convert them again, they incur a -5 penalty to alignment record and luck, their [[wisdom]] is reduced by 2, and that god's anger is increased by 3. |
===Prayer=== | ===Prayer=== | ||
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A prayer on a co-aligned altar has enhanced benefits compared to normal prayer, though normal prayer timeouts still apply. | A prayer on a co-aligned altar has enhanced benefits compared to normal prayer, though normal prayer timeouts still apply. | ||
| − | If a character successfully prays on an altar while one or more [[potions of water]] are on it, then in addition to any other effects of that prayer, the potions of water will be made into [[holy water]] if the altar is co-aligned, or [[unholy water]] otherwise.{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/pray.c|1230|comment=function water_prayer}} This occurs regardless of the water's initial beatitude - an unsuccessful prayer on a co-aligned altar will not change the beatitude of any water on that altar. | + | ===Water prayer=== |
| + | {{main|Prayer#Water prayer}} | ||
| + | If a character successfully prays on an altar while one or more [[potions of water]] are on it, then in addition to any other effects of that prayer, the potions of water will be made into [[holy water]] if the altar is co-aligned, or [[unholy water]] otherwise.{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/pray.c|1230|comment=function water_prayer}} This breaks atheist conduct and occurs regardless of the water's initial beatitude - an unsuccessful prayer on a co-aligned altar will not change the beatitude of any water on that altar. | ||
===Scaring monsters=== | ===Scaring monsters=== | ||
| − | Standing on any altar | + | Standing on any altar, even an unaligned altar, [[scare]]s [[vampire]]s as if the character were standing on [[Elbereth]] or a [[scroll of scare monster]].{{refsrc|nethack=3.6.7|src/monmove.c|153}} This does not break atheist conduct. |
===Misusing an altar=== | ===Misusing an altar=== | ||
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Some special temples contain a '''high altar''' with a [[high priest]] tending to it: [[Moloch's Sanctum]] has a temple of Moloch with a high altar to him, and temples with high altars of each alignment always appear on the [[Astral Plane]] - every character's goal is to reach their co-aligned temple on the Astral Plane and offer the [[Amulet of Yendor]] on its high altar in order to [[ascend]]. | Some special temples contain a '''high altar''' with a [[high priest]] tending to it: [[Moloch's Sanctum]] has a temple of Moloch with a high altar to him, and temples with high altars of each alignment always appear on the [[Astral Plane]] - every character's goal is to reach their co-aligned temple on the Astral Plane and offer the [[Amulet of Yendor]] on its high altar in order to [[ascend]]. | ||
| − | High altars cannot be converted under any circumstances, and attempting to convert one will cause its god to reach maximum | + | High altars cannot be converted under any circumstances, and attempting to convert one will cause its god to reach maximum anger immediately and smite the offender - should they somehow survive, the god will also summon three hostile [[minion]]s to protect the altar. |
Far looking at a high altar only reveals if the altar is aligned or unaligned, and an "aligned" high altar can be of any alignment, not necessarily of ''your character's alignment''! Near looking at an altar functions as normal. | Far looking at a high altar only reveals if the altar is aligned or unaligned, and an "aligned" high altar can be of any alignment, not necessarily of ''your character's alignment''! Near looking at an altar functions as normal. | ||
Revision as of 04:57, 9 July 2024
| Religion in NetHack |
|---|
An altar is a dungeon feature that appears in NetHack and is represented by an underscore, _. An altar is always dedicated to a god, and is co-aligned if its alignment matches the alignment of the hero, or cross-aligned if its alignment differs from theirs; altars to Moloch are always unaligned.
A temple is a special room that contains an altar with an aligned priest tending to it, and can occur randomly throughout the Dungeons of Doom and its branches, in addition to specific locations within them.
Most ways of interacting with an altar will break the atheist conduct.
Contents
Generation
Altars can be randomly generated on ordinary room-and-corridor levels in the Dungeons of Doom - there is an independent 1⁄60 chance that any room that is not a special room contains an altar, with the exception of special rooms.[1] Altars occupy any square that is cardinally adjacent to a door or occupied by another dungeon feature.[2] A randomly generated altar has an equal probability of being each of the three alignments; unaligned altars are never randomly generated. Altars that are part of a loaded bones level are adjusted to the pantheon of the hero's current role.
In addition, altars are always generated in the following locations, including several Quest levels:
- The Barbarian quest goal level has a chaotic altar in the northeastern portion of the cavern.
- The Healer quest home level has a neutral altar in the room directly west of the central room.
- The Monk quest goal level contains an unaligned altar placed on one of two squares within the level.
- The Wizard quest goal level contains a cross-aligned altar in the bottom of the two western-most rooms.
- Orcus-Town has a room containing an unaligned altar, which is not a temple though it may resemble one.
Altars always appear in the center of randomly-generated temples, as well as guaranteed temples that are not desecrated.
Description
An altar can be used for various religious purposes, including sacrifice as well as prayer. The alignment of an altar can be determined by either using far look, or else by standing on it and using near look.
Beatitude
If a character drops one or more objects on an altar, either manually or under certain circumstances (e.g. polymorph or slippery fingers, but not throwing an object so that it lands on an altar) will reveal the beatitude of the object(s):[3] A black flash marks a cursed item, while an amber flash marks a blessed one. Dropping an item on an altar this way breaks atheist conduct.
Characters cannot detect an item's beatitude if they are blind. Similarly, they cannot detect whether an item is blessed or cursed if they are hallucinating, as the flashes will be of random hallucinatory colors - uncursed items can still be detected, as there will be no flash at all.
Sacrificing corpses
Sacrificing fresh corpses at a co-aligned altar with a prayer timeout above zero will reduce the timeout, while sacrificing with a prayer timeout of zero can increase luck, improve the character's alignment record, and may even reward them with powerful artifact weapons.
Sacrificing at the altar of another god has a chance of converting that altar to the hero's alignment, potentially angering that altar's former god - if their alignment record is poor enough, however, the hero themselves may be converted to that altar's alignment, angering their original god and making it difficult or impossible to complete the Quest (and thus possibly making the game unwinnable). A hero's alignment can only be converted this way once per game: in any circumstance where a sacrifice from an already-converted hero would convert them again, they incur a -5 penalty to alignment record and luck, their wisdom is reduced by 2, and that god's anger is increased by 3.
Prayer
A prayer on a co-aligned altar has enhanced benefits compared to normal prayer, though normal prayer timeouts still apply.
Water prayer
If a character successfully prays on an altar while one or more potions of water are on it, then in addition to any other effects of that prayer, the potions of water will be made into holy water if the altar is co-aligned, or unholy water otherwise.[4] This breaks atheist conduct and occurs regardless of the water's initial beatitude - an unsuccessful prayer on a co-aligned altar will not change the beatitude of any water on that altar.
Scaring monsters
Standing on any altar, even an unaligned altar, scares vampires as if the character were standing on Elbereth or a scroll of scare monster.[5] This does not break atheist conduct.
Misusing an altar
If you sit on,[6] engrave on,[7] or kick[8] an altar, you will experience negative effects depending on the altar alignment and your alignment record.[9] If the altar is co-aligned and your alignment record is greater than -rn2(4), you lose one point of wisdom and one point of alignment record; otherwise, if your luck is greather than -5; you lose 0-2 points of luck.
Misusing an altar does not break atheist conduct.
Digging an altar
If you (or a monster) zap a wand of digging downwards while on an altar, the digging ray is ineffective, and nothing further happens. If you break a wand of digging or apply a drum of earthquake, altars are not affected.
High altar
Some special temples contain a high altar with a high priest tending to it: Moloch's Sanctum has a temple of Moloch with a high altar to him, and temples with high altars of each alignment always appear on the Astral Plane - every character's goal is to reach their co-aligned temple on the Astral Plane and offer the Amulet of Yendor on its high altar in order to ascend.
High altars cannot be converted under any circumstances, and attempting to convert one will cause its god to reach maximum anger immediately and smite the offender - should they somehow survive, the god will also summon three hostile minions to protect the altar.
Far looking at a high altar only reveals if the altar is aligned or unaligned, and an "aligned" high altar can be of any alignment, not necessarily of your character's alignment! Near looking at an altar functions as normal.
Strategy
An altar is an excellent source of artifact weapons, intrinsic protection, other intrinsic properties, spellbooks, holy water, nutrition, and other benefits. Because nutrition is available through prayer, it is possible to stay at an altar indefinitely, a practice known as altar farming.
Misusing an altar can be used deliberately lower your luck or alignment record to prevent crowning. You can use a ring of sustain ability or a noncursed unicorn horn to counter wisdom loss, and a MSGTYPE to hide the complaints from the altar's god.
To find the correct high altar on the Astral Plane, you can:
- visit each of the high altars
- zap a wand of probing at a high priest
- note if you are given sanctuary in a particular temple
- use a helm of opposite alignment to change your alignment opportunistically
History
In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier, including variants based on those versions, pudding farming was a strategy for generating large numbers of corpses for altar fodder by repeatedly splitting puddings.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier, including variants based on those versions, breaking a wand of digging or applying a drum of earthquake would destroy an altar.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier, including variants based on those versions, the Astral call bug enabled players to find the correct high altar trivially.
Variants
Players of NetHack brass and SLASH'EM need to be wary when converting altars, because of the increased chance that the altar's original god will dispatch a minion against you.[10] Players with a high luck will have fewer minions dispatched against them.
Even worse, there's an additional chance of one or more minions appearing post-conversion. In SLASH'EM, if you are at experience level 4 or above, there is a chance that "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" and the god dispatches two minions.[11] Afterwards, you still have the original chance of another minion, as above. Again, luck is a factor.
In NetHack brass, you will always receive "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" For all experience levels, at least one minion will appear. Two rolls are made: the first from 0 to 9, the second from 0 to 19. For each roll, if your level is less than the generated random number, a post-conversion minion is summoned. Luck is not a factor. Thus in brass it is very dangerous to convert altars. You might convert an altar at experience level one and have to flee to another level from one minion, or three minions if the game rolled 0 twice, thus giving you no use of the converted altar. If converting an altar at experience level 7 or above, you might still get the pre-conversion minion, forcing you to fight as many as four summoned minions.[12]
Also, there seems to be a possibility in SLASH'EM to have equipment being worn blessed if you sacrifice enough.
Encyclopedia entry
Altars are of three types:
1. In Temples. These are for Sacrifices [...]. The stone
top will have grooves for blood, and the whole will be covered
with _dry brown stains of a troubling kind_ from former
Sacrifices.
To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?
References
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 832
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1613: function mkaltar
- ↑ src/do.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 269: function doaltarobj
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1230: function water_prayer
- ↑ src/monmove.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 153
- ↑ src/sit.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 137
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 576
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1061
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2232: function altar_wrath
- ↑ pray.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1606
- ↑ pray.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1583
- ↑ src/pray.c in brass 040923
