Temple

A temple is a type of special room that appears in NetHack, and usually (but not always) contains an altar to a deity that is typically placed in the center of the room, along with a peaceful aligned priest of that deity tending to the altar. The altar of a temple is internally known as a shrine.

Generation

A temple has a ¹⁄₅ chance of being created in any ordinary room within a standard rooms-and-corridors level that is on or below dungeon level 9, provided it does not already have a shop, a throne room, a leprechaun hall or a zoo. A temple generated in a dungeon branch that has bias towards a particular alignment has a ⁴⁄₅ chance of being the same alignment as that branch, and the rest of the time it will be any of the three alignments with a ¹⁄₃ chance of each.

Special levels with temples

The following special level and other locations listed below contain temples:

• Every layout of Minetown has a temple containing an aligned priest and a randomly aligned altar with the exception of Orcish Town, which instead has an unaligned altar in a desecrated temple. Minetown can also load bones, making it possible to have a temple where the altar, the priest or both may not be present.
• Several Quest levels may contain a temple:
  • The Caveman quest home level has a co-aligned temple.
  • The Healer quest locate level has a chaotic temple.
  • The Knight quest locate level has a neutral temple.
  • The Monk quest home level contains a desecrated temple with an unaligned altar.
  • The Priest quest home level has a desecrated temple with an unaligned altar, while the locate level has a temple to Moloch.
• The Tourist quest locate level has a desecrated temple with no altar.
• The Wizard quest goal level has a desecrated temple that is always cross-aligned.

The room in Orcus Town with an unaligned altar is not considered a temple.

Description

A temple with a priest and altar of the same alignment as the hero is considered a sanctuary if the hero's alignment record is high enough. Chatting to the temple's priest while they are peaceful and not scared allows a character to donate gold for various purposes such as protection and clairvoyance. Converting a temple's altar will make the attendant priest hostile.

A temple is considered "desecrated" if the resident priest is dead or otherwise removed from the room, including the temples listed above that are always created without an attendant priest and/or altar; desecrated temples cannot be restored. Each time a character enters a desecrated temple, there is ¹⁄₅ chance of a ghost being generated next to the character, and if a ghost is generated the character is immobilized for three turns, ignoring free action.

Strategy

After using the altar to beatitude-test rings and scrolls, it's a good idea to leave the temple before using them. Otherwise you risk causing the priest to attack you with a ring of conflict or angering them with a scroll of fire.

Do not test a drum that might be a drum of earthquake anywhere on the level. If the altar is within line of sight, it may be destroyed, and the priest be made hostile. Even if the altar is not within line of sight, the priest may still be made hostile by a chasm opening underneath him.

If there is a gas spore in the room, lure it out of the temple before killing it. If you kill it while in the temple and the priest is caught in the explosion, the priest will get angry.

History

The messages involving priests pleading, praising, beseeching or sacrificing were not always limited to priests who matched the alignment of the altar. That limitation was added in NetHack 3.6.0.

Messages

You hear a strident plea for donations.
You hear someone praising <deity>.
You hear someone beseeching <deity>.

A priest who can speak is present whose alignment matches that of the altar.

You hear an an animal carcass being offered in sacrifice.

A priest who can speak is present whose alignment matches that of the altar, but you cannot see the priest or altar.

You have a forbidding feeling...

You are entering a desecrated or cross-aligned temple.

You have a strange forbidding feeling.

You are entering a temple and have an alignment record of -4 or lower.

You experience a sense of peace.

You are entering a coaligned temple and have an alignment record of 20 or higher.

You experience an unusual sense of peace.

You are entering a temple and have an alignment record below 20.

You have an eerie feeling...
You feel like you are being watched.
A shiver runs down your <spine>.

You are entering a temple without a priest.