Wand of polymorph
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | polymorph |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 4.5% |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | beam |
| Maximum charges | 8 |
| Spell | polymorph |
| Monster use | May be used by monsters as misc items. |
A wand of polymorph is a type of wand that appears in NetHack.
Generation
Wizards may be given a wand of polymorph as the random wand in their starting inventory, though they will never start with the wand and a ring of polymorph control simultaneously.[1][2]
Wands of polymorph make up 9⁄200 (4.5%) of all randomly-generated wands.
Randomly generated monsters with a monster difficulty of 5 or less have an effective 1⁄180 chance of being generated with a wand of polymorph as a miscellaneous item.[3]
Description
Zapping the wand will polymorph any monsters or items hit by the beam: the effect is subject to each monster's MR score, is blocked if the monster has magic resistance, has a 1⁄25 chance of inducing system shock, and ignores any inventory dropped by monsters that are polymorphed or else die of system shock.[4][5][6][7]
A shapeshifter hit by the beam is not subject to system shock unless the hero has protection from shape changers, and vampires will shift into their alternate forms under the same conditions. Long worms that are polymorphed and monsters that are polymorphed into long worms have special cases applies so that they are not repeatedly polymorphed by the beam coming into contact with their segments. Artifacts resist beams from the wand 19⁄20 of the time, other items resist 1⁄20 of the time, and the invocation items are completely immune.[8]
A hero zapping the wand at themselves will polymorph, ignoring any sources of magic resistance.[9] Monsters can zap this wand at themselves, but will only do so if their difficulty is 6 or less, and this will not turn them into an out-of-depth monster unless they are wearing dragon scales or dragon scale mail, which creates the corresponding dragon.[10][11][12]
Zapping the wand downward or engraving with it while an engraving is present will change it to a random engraving.[13]
Applying a charged wand of polymorph to break it causes an explosion that deals anywhere between 1 and (4×<charges>) damage, and also polymorphs items on the ground and monsters within the range of the explosion (behaving as a self-zap for the hero).[14]
Wands of polymorph are immune to being polymorphed by any means.[15]
Strategy
The advantage of using a wand of polymorph over other methods is that you do not need to use up a potion or be able to cast the polymorph spell; charging can also be used to extend the wand's lifespan. Wands are commonly used for polypiling and trying to polymorph your pet into something high-level; however, the latter carries the risk of system shock, unlike a polymorph trap.
Polymorphing hostile monsters is generally a last-ditch attempt, as it can create even more dangerous out-of-level monster types, but it may be useful in specific situations, such as killing shopkeepers and fighting minotaurs.
With polymorph control, you can zap the wand and choose what monster to become; see the section on polyself for details. If you have polymorph control or unchanging and are surrounded by hordes of nasty monsters, breaking this wand may be a fairly effective last resort to get out of such a jam, but it is entirely dependent on if the new forms are easier to deal with. You can also use this technique to polymorph hordes of pets into stronger ones, though be warned that you do not want to attempt this with pets that are too weak to survive the blast to begin with (such as jackals); a mass pet die-off can leave you with very low alignment.
Variants
GruntHack
In GruntHack, monsters will zap the wand of polymorph at the hero, making the amulet of unchanging and sources of magic resistance much more important to find among other deterrents.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, monsters will zap the wand of polymorph at the hero, which behaves as in GruntHack, though they will also refrain from further attempts to polymorph them if they see that it has no effect.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 65
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1039
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2024
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 224
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 231
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 244
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 251
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1890
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2361
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1741
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1761: muse_newcham_mon
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1875
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2958
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3389
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1892
