Leather drum
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | leather drum |
| Appearance | drum |
| Base price | 25 zm |
| Weight | 25 |
| Material | [[{{{material}}}]] |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A leather drum is an atonal musical instrument, so it cannot be used to play the passtune. It is one of the two drums. When played, you will "beat a deafening row!" Applying a leather drum (or a depleted drum of earthquake) will awaken and scare nearby monsters – including pets – and abuse your wisdom.[1][2] Monsters are affected if their distance to you is at most 6.3 times the square root of your level. They have the usual resistance roll against the scare effect. But even fleeing monsters are reluctant to retrace their steps.[3] In a corridor, they will often get stuck between you and the square they came from -- and continue attacking you.[4]
Strategy
The leather drum is not especially useful for most players, who will probably discard it or stash it for later polypiling, hoping for a more valuable tool.
One role that may find it worthwhile to carry is the Knight, as it can be used to awaken sleeping monsters and avoid an alignment penalty (it's still not the best tool for this job, as lighter and/or tonal instruments are also available). Since using it abuses wisdom, you might want to either restore stats lost to abuse with a unicorn horn, or engrave a few Elbereth to compensate the wisdom abuse (effective only if your stats are very low).
Rogues may also find it useful, as they get bonus damage against fleeing monsters.
Illiterate heros can use a drum or horn as an Elbereth replacement, at least in open rooms. The drum has a larger range and is heavier than the tooled horn.
The drum is a valuable item for pacifist players, as it can cause monsters that have engulfed you to spit you out. It will also scare monsters that do not respect Elbereth and unfreeze pets that have attacked a floating eye.
Encyclopaedia entry
Many travelers have seen the drums of the great apes, and
some have heard the sounds of their beating and the noise of
the wild, weird revelry of these first lords of the jungle,
but Tarzan, Lord Greystoke, is, doubtless, the only human
being who ever joined in the fierce, mad, intoxicating revel
of the Dum-Dum.
References
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