Potion of acid
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|---|---|
| Name | acid |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 250 zm |
| Weight | 20 |
| Monster use | May be used offensively by monsters. |
A potion of acid is a type of potion that appears in NetHack.
Generation
In addition to random generation, monsters may generate with the potion of acid as an offensive item.
Applying a horn of plenty can generate a potion of acid 0.3% of the time.[2]
Description
The potion of acid has various effects depending on how it is used.
Quaffing
Quaffing a potion of acid without acid resistance abuses constitution, cures stoning and deals damage to the hero depending on the potion's beatitude: the potion causes 1d4 points of damage if blessed, 1d8 points of damage if uncursed, and 2d8 points of damage if cursed.[3][4] Quaffing the potion while the hero has acid resistance will have no effect.
After quaffing the potion, the player is prompted to type-name the potion if it is not already named.
Throwing and wielding
Hitting a monster with a wielded or thrown potion deals the same amount of damage to them as quaffing based on beatitude: 1d4 points of damage if blessed, 1d8 points of damage if uncursed, and 2d8 points of damage if cursed, with no effect on a target that has acid resistance.[5][6] Monsters will throw this potion at the hero with the same effects, abusing constitution. A monster hit with acid will shriek in pain if they can vocalize, waking nearby monsters that are asleep.
The player will be prompted to type-name the potion in all of these cases if the potion is not already named and the hero is not blind.
Vapors
Inhaling the vapors from a shattered potion of acid abuses constitution, but has no other effect.
Dipping
Dipping items into a potion of acid that are vulnerable to corrosion (such as iron or copper) will corrode those items, and dipping a greased item of any type will cause the grease to wear off. Both these cases use up the potion and prompt the player to type-name it if the potion is not already named.[7] Dipping a lichen corpse into a potion of acid will print a unique message without consuming either object and prompt the player to type-name the potion.[8]
Acid and water
Acid boils on contact with water of any kind: dipping any potions of acid into a pool or fountain, or else walking into deeper water with a potion of acid in the open inventory, will cause them to explode and deal d10 damage for each potion.[9] Acid inside containers such as sacks, a bag of holding or a cursed oilskin sack will explode if water gets inside them, though the hero will not take damage from this. A potion of acid can not be diluted normally as a result of the above, though it is possible for diluted acid to occur, usually as the result of random alchemy. Dipping acid into any other potion will also cause the mixture to explode.[10]
Canceling acid will turn it into a potion of water.
Iron bars
Iron bars can be dissolved with a wielded or thrown potion of acid, unless they are on a level that is undiggable.
Strategy
Though several monsters lack acid resistance, the potion of acid is generally too rare to be of frequent use as a weapon against them even in the early game, and there are various means of working around iron bars that are not on undiggable levels. Overall, acid that is not used to gain a bit of extra damage in encounters is usually kept to cancel and turn into water.
The potion is more often relevant as a stoning cure: though it is fragile, damaging and weighs twice as much as the standard lizard corpse while being more rare, it does not break any conducts, making it an option for characters maintaining vegan or vegetarian diets. Even then, unless they are unburdened and can guarantee access to a potion stashed in a waterproofed bag in time, it may be preferable to break the conduct and eat a lizard corpse instead. Milky potions of acid are unsafe to use as a stoning cure, as a ghost generating from the potion will paralyze the hero long enough to fully render them a statue. Smoky potions of acid are only safe to use on the first turn of stoning: even a wish from a djinni won't save a hero if their limbs are already stiffening.
Though smoky acid allows a horn of plenty to be used with the Platinum Yendorian Express Card for a slow wish engine, the potion of acid is the second-rarest output after the potion of sickness.
Identification
Dipping a lichen corpse is the most reliable way of informally identifying a suspected potion of acid, and does not use up the potion.
If a monster hit by a potion "shrieks" or "writhes in pain", that potion is a potion of acid, and the player is prompted to type-name it if the hero was not blind at the time. While holy water can give the same message as acid in some circumstances (e.g. quaffing holy water as a chaotic character), monsters will not throw them.
History
The potion of acid first appears in NetHack 3.3.0.
In NetHack 3.4.3 and some earlier versions, including some variants based on these versions, the potion of acid is subject to several bugs that are fixed in later versions and most variants, including a pair of bugs that semi-reliably crash the game:
- If a monster carrying acid is crushed with a drawbridge, or a force bolt or zapped wand of striking blows up the drawbridge underneath it, the game may panic. This is bug C343-179.
- Throwing a potion of acid into water or at iron bars will reliably crash the game. This is bug C343-394.
The ability to melt iron bars with acid and identify acid using lichens is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.
Origin
An acid refers to any substance with a pH below 7 that can donate hydrogen ions (generally in the form of protons) to other substances. Various acids can have different strengths, and possess several different properties depending on their molecular structure. The following are among the most common acidic properties, which are reflected in NetHack:
- Tasting sour when eaten
- Stinging or burning on contact with skin
- Corroding metals and skin
- Turning blue litmus paper red
- Turning red or orange on a universal indicator
Both the litmus paper and universal indicator tests are the basis for the effect of dipping a lichen corpse into a potion of acid: Litmus is a dye extracted from various species of lichen, particularly Roccella tinctoria, while a universal indicator solution also changes color to red to indicate strong acids (pH of less than 3), and orange or even yellow for weaker acids (pH of 3-6).
Messages
- This burns a lot!
- You quaffed or were hit by a cursed potion of acid.
- This burns <like acid>!
- You quaffed or were hit by a uncursed potion of acid.
- This burns a little!
- You quaffed or were hit by a blessed potion of acid.
- This tastes <tangy/sour>.
- You quaffed any potion of acid while you have acid resistance; the former occurs if hallucinating.
- <foo> <withers/shrieks> in pain!
- A monster was hit by a potion of acid; the monster "withers" if it cannot vocalize.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, valuable gems can be dipped into potion of acid to make new potions via gem alchemy.
A cursed potion of acid can be found within the Chamber of Junk in the Lawful Quest.
ZAPM
In ZAPM, the equivalent to the potion of acid is the canister of universal solvent.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, potions of acid dissolve iron bars when they hit them.[11] Dipping a lichen corpse into a potion of acid will identify it.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the potion of acid has additional messages when thrown or when wielded and smashed, and will auto-identify itself when it hits the hero or a monster.
The cell by the forge in Goblin Town has a 1⁄2 chance of containing a potion of acid. On the last level of the Ice Queen's Realm, the lower-right crystal chest in the central room of the castle has 3 potions of acid.
The potion of acid is made more useful for burning through iron bars, and unlike force bolts from a spell or a wand of striking they will not affect peaceful monsters on the other side of a set of bars; EvilHack also makes avoiding alignment abuse much more important compared to NetHack, especially if the hero has not yet finished their quest. Using acid to melt bars is the safest method of gaining access to the trap door that leads into Gollum's dwelling, as well as freeing the pegasus and gaining access to the Bag of the Hesperides after defeating Kathryn the Ice Queen.
References
- ↑ src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 813
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2212: The code chooses a random potion, discarding magical potions;
rnd_class(POT_BOOZE, POT_WATER)chooses the non-magical potions.[1] - ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1131
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1763
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1383
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1550
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2134
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2094
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1935
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2027
- ↑ src/mthrowu.c in UnNetHack revision 1499, line 856
