Cloak
- This article is about the type of armor. For the item referred to as simply a "cloak" in some variants, see leather cloak.
A cloak is a type of armor that appears in NetHack, and is one of seven armor slots available to the hero and certain monsters. It is one of three torso armor slots, along with the shirt and body armor (or suit).
Contents
Description
A cloak is worn over the body, covering any other armor worn on the torso, and is one of two primary sources of magic cancellation. The effects of a scroll of destroy armor or the destroy armor monster spell will always target a hero's worn cloak before any of the armor underneath it.
Worn cloaks protect armor underneath it from the effects of erosion, including rust traps and the attacks of monsters such as black puddings and rust monsters. A greased cloak additionally protects the wearer from holding attacks (including drowning attacks) by preventing the attacker from grasping them, though it has a chance to wear off with each prevented attack.
Use by monsters
Any monster that can wear armor and is not too large for body armor will wear a cloak.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Large monsters that can wear armor will wear a mummy wrapping.List of cloaks
| Name | Cost | Weight | AC | Material | Effect | MC | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mummy wrapping | 2 | 3 | 0 | cloth | Overrides invisibility | 1 | |
| orcish cloak | 40 | 10 | 0 | cloth | 1 | coarse mantelet | |
| dwarvish cloak | 50 | 10 | 0 | cloth | 1 | hooded cloak | |
| leather cloak | 40 | 15 | 1 | leather | 1 | ||
| cloak of displacement | 50 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Displacement | 1 | randomized |
| oilskin cloak | 50 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Immunity from all grabbing and drowning attacks | 2 | slippery cloak |
| alchemy smock | 50 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Poison and acid resistance | 1 | apron |
| cloak of invisibility | 60 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Invisibility | 1 | randomized |
| cloak of magic resistance | 60 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Magic resistance | 1 | randomized |
| elven cloak | 60 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Stealth | 1 | faded pall |
| robe | 50 | 15 | 2 | cloth | Spellcasting bonus | 2 | |
| cloak of protection | 50 | 10 | 3 | cloth | Protection | 3 | randomized |
Four cloaks have a randomized appearance that is shuffled among the following options at the start of each game: tattered cape, ornamental cope, opera cloak, and piece of cloth. Of those four cloaks, the cloak of magic resistance is the only one that does not auto-identify at all when worn; the cloak of invisibility will not auto-identify if the wearer is already invisible when putting it on.
Strategy
For characters that do not start the game with a cloak, any non-cursed cloak of at least +0 enchantment is at least worth wearing in order to protect body armor; a worn cloak is also an extra layer of armor that a foocubus has to remove, which can give the hero an extra opportunity to refuse. Even a mummy wrapping or dwarvish cloak is sufficient for this purpose - a mummy wrapping additionally provides heroes that are invisible with a means of entering and leaving shops as normal.
Through the early game an into the mid-game, an elven cloak is one of the more ideal cloaks to keep on hand: it grants stealth while worn and can be safely enchanted to +7, making it worthwhile polyfodder to turn into a different desired cloak.
Popular cloaks for the late game and/or the ascension run include:
- Cloak of magic resistance: A source of magic resistance typically paired with silver dragon scale mail or another source of reflection.
- Cloak of protection: Typically used by character builds focused on maintaining MC3 as often as possible.
- Oilskin cloak: Blocks holding and drowning attacks from giant eels and similar monsters.
- Cloak of displacement: Causes hostile monsters to attack the hero's displaced image instead of them, making combat or escape somewhat easier.
History
Body armor is present as an armor slot in Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and appears in Hack 1.0.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and previous versions, including some variants based on those versions, some types of cloaks have different MC values:
| Name | Cost | Weight | AC | Material | Effect | MC | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mummy wrapping | 2 | 3 | 0 | cloth | Overrides invisibility | 1 | |
| orcish cloak | 40 | 10 | 0 | cloth | 2 | coarse mantelet | |
| dwarvish cloak | 50 | 10 | 0 | cloth | 2 | hooded cloak | |
| leather cloak | 40 | 15 | 1 | leather | 1 | ||
| cloak of displacement | 50 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Displacement | 2 | randomized |
| oilskin cloak | 50 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Immunity from all grabbing and drowning attacks; protects body armor from rusting | 3 | slippery cloak |
| alchemy smock | 50 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Poison and acid resistance | 1 | apron |
| cloak of invisibility | 60 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Invisibility | 2 | randomized |
| cloak of magic resistance | 60 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Magic resistance | 3 | randomized |
| elven cloak | 60 | 10 | 1 | cloth | Stealth | 3 | faded pall |
| robe | 50 | 15 | 2 | cloth | Spellcasting bonus | 3 | |
| cloak of protection | 50 | 10 | 3 | cloth | Protection | 3 | randomized |
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, player vampires get a +1 charisma boost for wearing an opera cloak.
Encyclopedia entry
Cloaks are the universal outer garb of everyone who is not a Barbarian. It is hard to see why. They are open in front and require you at most times to use one hand to hold them shut. On horseback they leave the shirt-sleeved arms and most of the torso exposed to wind and Weather. The OMTs [ Official Management Terms ] for Cloaks well express their difficulties. They are constantly _swirling and dripping_ and becoming _heavy with water_ in rainy Weather, _entangling with trees_ or _swords_, or needing to be _pulled close around her/his shivering body_. This seems to suggest they are less than practical for anyone on an arduous Tour.
