Scroll of food detection

?
Name	food detection
Appearance	random
Base price	100 zm
Weight	5
Ink to write	4-7
Monster use	Will not be used by monsters.

The scroll of food detection reveals the location of all comestibles on the level.

Effects

Reading an uncursed scroll of food detection detects and reveals the location of all comestibles on the level, including those on the ground and in monster inventories; if blessed, you additionally acquire the food appraisal intrinsic. If the scroll is cursed, or you are confused regardless of the BUC-status of the scroll, you will detect potions instead. Detecting either food or potions using this scroll will auto-identify it.

Strategy

The most obvious use is to efficiently track down food if you are hungry and/or short on comestibles; remember that the scroll will display all comestibles, including corpses that are tainted from age, poisoned, or otherwise harmful (e.g. petrification from a footrice corpse). Unless you have food appraisal (e.g. from a blessed scroll), you will not get any warning before eating such a corpse, so do not chow down carelessly. The food appraisal intrinsic from the scroll is also useful to prevent breaking conducts; however, it will only warn you once before the intrinsic is lost and will need to be reapplied.

The potion-detecting capability of cursed and/or confused readings of the scroll have a niche application for finding useful potions, such as smoky potions or a potion of gain level, before a monster can grab it, or else kill a monster before they can use it; this functionality can be duplicated by other means, however.

Once you learn the spell of detect food or are at a point where food is not much of a concern anymore, this scroll is a good candidate for blanking.

Messages

A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:

"These are the messages for the spell. Where are the messages for the scroll?"

Replace <nose> in the messages with the appropriate equivalent based on your current form.

Your <nose> starts to tingle.

You cast the spell at skilled or expert level and gained the food appraisal intrinsic. This is printed following any of the other messages when casting the spell at skilled level or higher, with exceptions noted below.

Your <nose> starts to tingle and you smell food.

You cast the spell at skilled or expert level, there are comestibles on the level, and you gain the food appraisal intrinsic.

Your <nose> continues to tingle and you smell food.

As above, but you already have the food appraisal intrinsic.

Your <nose> twitches then starts to tingle.

You cast the spell at skilled level or higher, but there were no comestibles on the level, and you gain the food appraisal intrinsic.

Your <nose> twitches.

You cast the spell at any level, and there were no comestibles on the level; additionally, you cast the spell at skilled level or higher, and already have the food appraisal intrinsic.

You smell food nearby.

You cast the spell, and the only comestibles on the level are on your square.

You sense a lack of food nearby.

You cast the spell after previously detecting comestibles on the level, but they are gone now. The additional message for gaining the food appraisal intrinsic at skilled level or higher is not included.

You have a strange feeling for a moment, then it passes.

You cast the spell as a beginner, and there are no comestibles on the level.

You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes.

As above while hallucinating.

This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:

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