Drain strength

Drain strength is a monster spell in NetHack that reduces your strength attribute.

Effects

The spell is a melee-range mage spell; if cast at you and you do not have magic resistance, the spell will inflict 1d(x − 6) points of strength damage, where x is the monster's level. Any strength drain that would take you below 3 strength is instead subtracted sixfold from your current and maximum hit points.

Magic resistance completely negates the effects of this spell; half spell damage will halve the number of points of strength it attempts to drain. A ring of sustain ability will stop the loss of strength, but you still take damage to your current and max HP if that casting would have drained your strength below 3. Half spell damage halves the strength drain, potentially preventing any HP loss.

Strategy

This spell, along with the touch of death, is a big reason not to face powerful spellcasting monsters without MR - high-level casters can do massive amounts of damage with this spell, and maximum HP lost this way cannot be restored even if your strength is subsequently raised back to normal (e.g., via unicorn horn). For example, a 70 HP character with 15 strength being attacked by a level 25 arch-lich will lose d19 strength from the spell - in the worst-case scenario, our character's strength will go to 3 and he will also lose 42 points from his maxHP, leaving him thoroughly hampered at 28 max HP.

Messages

You suddenly feel weaker!

A monster cast this spell at you, and you lost at least one point of strength from it. This is still displayed even if the stat loss is blocked through a ring of sustain ability.

You feel momentarily weakened.

As above, but nothing happened because you have magic resistance.