Vault

This article is about gold-containing vaults. For the UnNetHack feature, see Random vault (UnNetHack)..

A vault, also known as a Magic Memory Vault, is a type of room that appears in NetHack. Vaults are 2x2 square areas surrounded by normal walls, and contain gold that belongs to Croesus—his guards patrol these vaults regularly and are the source of the footsteps heard on some levels, indicating there is a vault on that floor.

Generation

A vault has a ¹⁄₂ chance of being generated on any level that has at least 6 rooms, with the exception of the Rogue level, and only one vault can occur on a level—the level must also have room for the entire 4x4 space that the vault occupies, making the number of vaults even lower in practice.

There is a ²⁄₃ chance of a level with a vault also containing a closet that has a one-use teleportation trap keyed to the vault's location, marked by the engraving "ad aerarium" in the dust of the square in front of it. On deeper levels, a hero may also encounter closets with the same engravings that house a level teleporter, which appear independently of actual vault teleporters and may be found on the same level as one.

Each square of a vaulthais 50+d(100*level) gold pieces, where level is the dungeon level. Between level 11 and Medusa's Island, each vault that appears also has a ¹⁄₃ chance of containing a magic portal that leads to Fort Ludios if it has not yet been generated, with the exception of the level containing the Quest portal—As such, it is not always accessible in a given game.

On levels that contain a vault, messages indicating their presence will be printed occasionally.

Guards

If a hero remains on any of the squares within the 4x4 area of a vault for 30 turns, or else applies a cursed tin whistle, a guard will be generated on the outer squares of the vault, opening a space in the room's wall or the outside solid rock if necessary. There is no limit to the amount of guards that can generate this way, which also ingores the normal extinction cap used for other monsters, but only one guard can be present on the level at a time. The article about guards linked above explains their mechanics in-depth.

If you linger within a vault for 30 turns, one of the guards will enter and ask for your name; blowing a cursed tin whistle while inside a vault will immediately summon a guard. Replying to their query with "Croesus" (or "Kroisos"/"Creosote") will cause them to leave - if the real Croesus is dead, the guard will immediately become hostile instead. Responding with any other name will have the guard request that you to drop all your gold (including gold within containers in your inventory) and follow them out. Complying will have them lead you out of the vault, and the guard will create a temporary path for this purpose; refusing to drop your gold, leaving with it via teleportation, or else trying to retrieve it while the guard is present will anger them.

This can be a nuisance, especially if something else interferes with you looting the vault and leaving promptly - however, guards can also be useful if you end up trapped in one without a means of escape, which usually occurs early in the game. You can also safely double back to retrieve the gold after the guard is gone. Note that once the guard disappears, the temporary path will usually disappear soon after, which can potentially trap you if you are still inside; pets caught in the reforming rock will be teleported elsewhere on the level and have their tameness reduced. See the linked article above for more details on interactions with guards.

Strategy

Vaults are a useful resource for obtaining gold early, provided has a means of locating and subsequently accessing them.

Finding vaults

Vaults can be discovered or located through various means:

• Reading a noncursed scroll of magic mapping or casting the magic mapping spell will detail the entire level and reveal the vault's location directly.
• Reading a scroll of gold detection, quaffing a potion of object detection or casting the detect treasure spell can reveal the location of the gold that a vault contains.
• Telepathy can reveal the location of monsters that may have randomly generated within a vault at some point - watch for monsters that move in a tight 2x2 square and/or appear isolated from the rest of the level.
• While unreliable, falling through a hole or trap door from a higher dungeon level may drop you in a vault on the level you land in.
• Finding the closet containing the vault teleporter and stepping on it will take you directly to the vault.

Once you locate a vault or its teleporter, you can enter the vault using one of the following methods:

• Warp in using the vault's teleporter - if you possess magic resistance, you can press Ctrl + T while standing on the tile.
• Dig into the vault using a pick-axe or wand of digging. Once done, you can exit using the same path.
• If you have teleport control and know the vault's location, you can use a wand or scroll of teleportation to warp directly in, then dig or teleport out once you are done.

Monsters and vaults

Tunneling monsters such as dwarves may dig their way to the vault, leaving a path; digging monsters such as rock moles or umber hulks may also open a path to vaults. If there is a dwarf wandering around on a vault level, they may find the vault while tunneling and pick up the gold - hostile dwarves may bring the gold to you while seeking out a fight.

History

The vault first appears in Hack for PDP-11 and PC/IX Hack, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the room list for Hack 1.0. From these versions to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on them, it is possible to steal all the money from a still-closed vault using a domestic pet or any of its growth stages: First, you must have both the pet and yourself in the vault. This can be done by blocking the pet in the doorway to the vault teleporter closet - as it cannot leave the doorway diagonally, the pet will eventually take the teleporter even if it is aware of the trap. This will not use up the trap, allowing you to follow it in.

Once you are in the vault with your pet, pick up all the money and then drop it and your gold in a single stack. Once the guard appears and you respond with your real name (or any other name if you are named Croesus or one of its equivalents), follow them out as slowly as possible, making sure your pet follows and brings the money with it. Be caureful not to exit the guard's path while the pet is still inside!

Starting in NetHack 3.6.0, the standard domestic pets - dogs, cats and horses - will only pick up a single gold piece at a time, making this strategy much less useful early on. NetHack 3.6.0 also introduces the ability to summon a guard via cursed tin whistle.

Messages

You hear the footsteps of a guard on patrol.

There is a vault on the level.

You hear someone counting money.

The level's vault has not been looted.

You hear Ebenezer Scrooge!

As above, while you are hallucinating.

You hear someone searching.

The vault has been looted.

Variants

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, Fort Ludios is guaranteed to be accessible: the portal is in the first vault that is generated below level 10, provided that floor does not contain the Quest portal, and can otherwise be found on Medusa's Island.

UnNetHack also has a level generation feature called "random vaults", which have no relation to the standard gold vaults.

dNetHack

In addition to normal gold vaults, dNetHack also has magic item vaults and hell vaults with much more valuable treasures, but far more dangerous monsters guarding them. dNetHack will also generate the portal to Fort Ludios on the earliest eligible floor when possible.

xNetHack

xNetHack will generate the portal to Fort Ludios in the first eligible vault.