Ring mail

From NetHackWiki
Revision as of 13:25, 13 March 2024 by Umbire the Phantom (talk | contribs) (dNetHack: word choice)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
[   ring mail   Ring mail.png
Appearance ring mail
Slot body armor
AC 3
Special
Base price 100 zm
Weight 250
Material iron

Ring mail is a type of body armor that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron.

Generation

Knights start each game with +1 ring mail.[1] human Barbarians start each game with +0 ring mail; orcish Barbarians receive orcish ring mail instead.[2][3]

Lower-ranked mercenaries may be generated with ring mail, depending on the monster's specific target AC.[4]

A set of ring mail may appear in the fake "bones" pile of the ghost generated on the Rogue level.[5]

Description

When worn, ring mail grants 3 base AC and MC1.

Strategy

Studded leather armor is generally preferred to ring mail: it is cheaper, weighs 50 aum less, and does not interfere with spellcasting for magic-focused roles. The starting set of ring mail for Barbarians and Knights is generally passable, but will typically be replaced with better armor as soon as it becomes available.

History

Ring mail first appears in hack121, a port of Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial list of armor for Hack 1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, ring mail does not grant any MC.

Origin

Ring armour (or ring mail) is a type of personal armour believed to be constructed as a series of metallic rings sewn or tied directly to a fabric or leather item of clothing such as a jacket or trousers - this would make it more similar to studded leather armor. Unlike chain mail and similar armor, ring armour does not have the rings physically interlocked with each other.

Though ring mail is a standard type of armor in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, as well as other games and media inspired by it, no historic examples of ring armour are known to exist in European collections or archaeological excavations in Europe. The term "mail" was used in the Victorian era for any form of metallic body armour; "ring mail" as a term does not occur until around the 19th century. Most examples of ring mail are based on speculative interpretations of medieval artwork and historical accounts.

Variants

In variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions, worn ring mail may not grant any MC.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, ring mail grants 1 AC and 2 DR when worn, and its weight is reduced to 125 aum (half of its weight in vanilla NetHack).

Incantifier Barbarians have their ring mail replaced with a robe.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, giant Barbarians receive a simple helmet in place of ring mail. Aligned champions have a 23 chance of generating with ring mail.

Ring mail can be created at a forge by combining a large shield and a helmet. Ring mail can be used to forge a few items:

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, incantifier Barbarians also have their ring mail replaced with a robe.

References