Helmet
- For head armor in general, see helm.
[ [ [ [ helmet | |
---|---|
Appearance | random |
Slot | helm |
AC | 1 |
Special | (none) |
Base price | 10 zm |
Weight | 30 |
Material | iron |
A helmet is a type of helm that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron and has a randomized appearance; the default one associated with it is a plumed helmet.[1] It appears as a kabuto for Samurai.
Contents
Generation
Knights start each game with a +0 helmet.[2] All other martial roles - Barbarians, Monks, Samurai, and Valkyries - begin the game with knowledge of its randomized appearance.[3][4][5][6][7]
In addition to random generation, helmets often appear in general, armor and weapon shops. Mercenaries are often generated with helmets.[8]
Description
When worn, a helmet grants 1 base AC plus any additional properties from its randomized appearance. As a metallic helm, it hinders spellcasting, but also protects from most damage inflicted by falling objects, such as a read scroll of earth or a triggered falling rock trap.
Strategy
Standard helmets are the most unremarkable of the randomized helms: they are sufficient as a basic source of AC and head protection, but players will often encounter the almost-identical orcish helm or the lighter dented pot first before they see a regular helmet. It may still provide a viable replacement for an existing helm if it is generated with a positive enchantment and/or has the appearance of a visored helmet, which offers eye protection.
Like most early helms, helmets are usually replaced by an elven leather helm or any of the other randomized helms due to the additional perks they offer - even a dwarvish iron helm is a suitable substitute due to offering more base AC.
Identification
Helmets can easily be distinguished from other randomized helms by price and weight: they are the only ones to have a base cost of 10 zm, making price identification in a shop trivial even without buying or selling one. Helmets also weigh 30 aum, while the other randomized helms weigh 50.
History
The helmet first appears in Hack 1.0.
Encyclopedia entry
Kabuto
The kabuto is the helmet worn by the samurai. It was characterized by a prominent beaked front which jutted out over the brow to protect the wearer's face; a feature that gives rise to their modern Japanese name of 'shokaku tsuki kabuto' (battering-ram helmet). Their main constructional element was an oval plate, the shokaku bo, slightly domed for the head with a narrow prolongation in front that curved forwards and downwards where it developed a pronounced central fold. Two horizontal strips encircling the head were riveted to this frontal strip: the lower one, the koshimaki (hip wrap), formed the lower edge of the helmet bowl; the other, the do maki (body wrap), was set at about the level of the temples. Filling the gaps between these strips and the shokaku bo were small plates, sometimes triangular but more commonly rectangular in shape. Because the front projected so far from the head, the triangular gap beneath was filled by a small plate, the shoshaku tei ita, whose rear edge bent downwards into a flange that rested against the forehead.
- ↑ src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 470
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 77
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 688
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 688
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 721
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 764
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 786
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 635