Multishot
Multishot refers to the ability to sometimes throw or fire more than one projectile of certain types in a single move.
The multishot counter starts at 1, and is modified as follows:
- +1 if you are Skilled or higher at your weapon
- +1 if you are Expert at your weapon
- +1 for your racial bonus, if you are:
- an elf firing elven arrows from an elven bow
- an orc firing orcish arrows from an orcish bow
- +1 for your role bonus, if you are:
- reduced to 1 if you are confused, stunned, or the missile requires a launcher which you aren't wielding
Racial bonuses are based on your starting race, not your current race. For example, a human polymorphed into an orc will not fire an extra orcish arrow from his orcish bow, but an orc polymorphed into a mountain centaur will get the bonus.
The actual number of missiles fired is d(multishot), or 1 to your multishot counter, inclusive, but no higher than the number of missiles in the stack.
You may cap the number of missiles fired or thrown with the n command, e.g. "n1f4" ("1fh" in vi-mode) to fire one missile to the left. You will fire the lesser of the number of missiles you chose and the number you would otherwise have fired, i.e. this will not allow you to fire more missiles, only fewer.
You can fire or throw multiple:
(Crossbow bolts and arrows only if wielding the appropriate launcher.)
You cannot fire or throw multiple:
- spears
- javelins
- boomerangs
- knives
- or any other weapon or object.
This makes these weapons less attractive for ranged combat.
Throwing, with t, and firing, with f, are equivalent, except that t does not trigger the autoquiver option.
Throwing gold is an exception: You can throw t an arbitrary amount, but fire f only one piece. The gold will always miss monsters, but has a chance of angering priests and shopkeepers. (This does not break atheist conduct.) Throwing gold down dark corridors can substitute for a way to detect monsters.