Ascension
In NetHack, ascension is the objective of every player character and the means by which the game is won.
A character ascends by retrieving the Amulet of Yendor from Moloch's Sanctum and bringing it to the Elemental Planes while avoiding the Wizard of Yendor, then reaching the Astral Plane and successfully offering the Amulet on their god's high altar. The ascension kit refers to a set of items that most characters seek out in order to achieve this goal, and the ascension run refers to the final segment of the game after obtaining the Amulet of Yendor.
There are players who claim to have played for decades without ascending, although their number has been reduced in recent years as the Internet has provided easy access to spoilers.
Description
Offering the real Amulet of Yendor (rather than a cheap plastic imitation) on any high altar will immediately end the game in one of three ways:
- If the character offers the Amulet on a cross-aligned high altar, that altar's god gains dominion over their god while allowing the character to escape the dungeon in celestial disgrace.[1]
- If the character offers the Amulet on the high altar to Moloch in his Sanctum, Moloch retains dominion over their god and kills the character, and a character revived by life saving is then reduced to dust.[2] The only way to survive this is in explore mode or wizard mode, by declining when prompted if you want to die, though the game ends regardless since the character is then forced out of the dungeon.[3]
- If the character offers the Amulet at the high altar of their god, they will ascend to demigod-hood, and the game is won.[4] This does not take any conversions into account, only checking to see that the character's alignment matches that of the high altar, so it is possible to ascend a character as their original alignment after permanent conversion by using a helm of opposite alignment. This applies a score multiplier of 2× if the character never converted from their starting alignment, or 1.5× if they converted and used the helm to change back.
As it is required to complete the game, offering the Amulet to any deity does not break atheist conduct.
Messages
The following message occurs when a character successfully ascends:
You offer the Amulet of Yendor to [your god]... An invisible choir sings, and you are bathed in radiance... The voice of [your god] [booms out/booms/thunders/rings out]: "Mortal, thou hast done well!" "In return to thy service, I grant thee the gift of Immortality!" You ascend to the status of Demigod[dess]...
Variants
Though ascending by offering the Amulet of Yendor does not break atheist conduct in NetHack, some variants offer an alternate means of ascension that avoids interacting directly with the gods in order to maintain "true" atheism. Some variants may also offer new roles with alternate conditions for ascension.
