The Master Key of Thievery
| ( The Master Key of Thievery (No tile) | |
|---|---|
| Base item | skeleton key |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried | |
| When applied |
|
| When invoked |
|
| Base price | 3500 zm |
| Weight | 3 |
The Master Key of Thievery is the Rogue quest artifact. It is the prize for completing the Rogue quest, and its default alignment is chaotic. Its base item type is a skeleton key.
Description
While carried, The Master Key of Thievery grants warning, teleport control and half physical damage, and Rogues carrying The Master Key of Thievery also gain a bonus when using the #untrap extended command to disarm traps on the floor; applying the Master Key of Thievery to unlock doors will always succeed. Carrying The Master Key of Thievery has additional effects if the artifact is non-cursed for Rogues or blessed for other roles:[1][2]
- Locking or unlocking a trapped door or container with the Key automatically detects and offers to remove the trap, which is guaranteed to succeed if selected.[3]
- Untrapping doors and chests manually will always succeed.[4]
- Wielding the artifact while not wearing gloves will print messages that hint at the presence of unseen traps nearby.[5][6]
Monsters using The Master Key of Thievery will untrap any door they are trying to open.[7]
Invoking The Master Key of Thievery and selecting an adjacent door or container removes all traps from that object.[8]
Strategy
- For optimized invocation, see Invoke#Optimum invocation schedule.
For Rogues that are willing to brave the high amount of shapeshifters and guardian nagas on their quest, The Master Key of Thievery is well worth the trouble: it is a slotless and lightweight source of the rare half physical damage property, which is especially useful for Rogues that are low on maximum HP and/or built towards melee fighting. Slotless warning and teleport control are generally useful as well: the former can easily complement any telepathy the hero has and reliably detect hostile monsters, while the latter allows easy navigation within and between dungeon floors.
The Master Key of Thievery is a useful wish candidate for any other hero for much of the same reasons - half physical damage is particularly appreciated for more fragile roles such as Wizards and Priests. A hero that is intent on obtaining the Key via artifact wish may want to hold off on sacrificing, as they can obtain one other artifact at most before the odds of a successful artifact wish begin decreasing - they will also not be able to use it as an unlocking tool or untrapping tool consistently due to the artifact blasts, so they should hold on to any key or lock pick they have already obtained.
History
The Master Key of Thievery is introduced along with most of the other quest artifacts in NetHack 3.1.0.
The artifact's special effects when blessed were added in NetHack 3.6.1.
Encyclopedia entry
This skeleton key was fashioned in ages past and imbued with a powerful magic which allows it to open any lock. When carried, it grants its owner warning, teleport control, and reduces all physical damage by half. Finally, when invoked, it has the ability to disarm any trap.
References
- ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2175: is_magic_key() function
- ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2180: beatitude requirements
- ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 111
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4399
- ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2107: count_surround_traps; known traps are not counted unless something covers their glyph
- ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2153: mkot_trap_warn() function calls count_surround_traps
- ↑ src/monmove.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1313
- ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1495: UNTRAP case
