Orcish helm

[   orcish helm
Appearance	iron skull cap
Slot	helm
AC	1
Special	(none)
Base price	10 zm
Weight	30
Material	iron

An orcish helm is a type of helm that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron, and appears as an iron skull cap when unidentified.

Generation

Non-undead orcs have a ¹⁄₂ chance of being generated with an orcish helm among their armor.

Description

When worn, an orcish helm provides 1 base AC before factoring in its enchantment.

Strategy

Orcish helms are usually the first type of helm encountered, and can provide a small source of early AC for a starting character along with protection from early falling rock traps until they are eventually replaced - with luck, you may happen across early orcish helms at +3 or higher enchantment. Orcish helms also make decent fodder for polypiling.

History

The orcish helm first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Variants

In variants with object materials, unidentified orcish helms may appear as simply skull caps. Some variants may give orcs (including the player) an AC bonus for wearing an orcish helm.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, you can upgrade a dented pot into an orcish helm, and upgrading an orcish helm produces a dwarvish iron helm.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, orcish helms grant +1 AC to orcish monsters that wear them, including orcish players.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, an orcish helm grants 1 AC and 0 DR when worn.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, orcish helms grant +1 AC to orcish monsters that wear them, including orcish players. Orcish Knights will have an orcish helm in place of the role's standard helmet.

An orcish helm can be created at a forge by combining a dented pot and an orcish dagger. Orcish helms can be combined with orcish boots to create an orcish shield, and can be combined with an orcish shield to create orcish ring mail.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, upgrading an orcish helm will produce a dwarvish helm as in SLASH'EM, but upgrading a dwarvish helm will only produce an orcish helm.