Identification

Identification is by some considered the heart of NetHack. Most items in the game start as unidentified things only described by their appearance. There are numerous methods to identify them.

Straightforward identification

All these methods don't base on the item behavior, are universal, and result in identification by the game engine (don't require naming).

Initial knowledge

You will always know the identity of all stuff that you carried with yourself to the dungeon. This is particullary useful for wizards, which will have 2 spellbooks, 3 scrolls, 2 rings and 1 wand ID-ed from the beggining. Besides, depending on your role you will have some knowledge in weapons and armors.

Magical identification

Scroll of identify

When reading a scroll of identify, you will be allowed to ID one or more of your possessions depending on it's beatitude. The odds are:

Beatitude	1 item	2 items	3 items	4 items	everything
Blessed	1/5*	1/5	1/5	1/5	1/5
Uncursed	21/25	1/25	1/25	1/25	1/25
Cursed	always	never	never	never	never

• If your luck is positive, you would identify 2 items instead of one.

Spell of identify

Main article Spellbook of identify

Casting this divination spells has the same effect as the blessed scroll of identify.

Sitting on a throne

One of the posiible throne effects is acting as if read a blessed scroll of identify.

Indirect identification

These methods require some knowledge (aquired from spoilers or experience), they often lack universality and not always result in formal identification of an item, sometimes giving an ambigous information.

Price identification

Although the price is based on your charisma and slightly randomised, you can get some information about an item by the price a shopkeeper demands for it. This method is useless for gems, as they would try to fool you selling you glass for a high price. The simplest and most commonly used is price identification of the scroll of identify (the cheapest of the scrolls). For other - consult spoilers about different classes of items.

Behaviour identification

Wand engrave identification

Here is a wand identification procedure:

1. Engrave the name of the wand (for example, balsa), with your fingers.
2. Engrave "Elbereth" with the wand on the same square.

The possible results can be found in the wan1-343.txt spoiler. Remember, that they are often ambigous.

If the balsa wand was a wand of teleport, then the word "balsa" will disappear. Use the '\' command to see your discoveries. Actually, a wand of make invisible has the same effect. If the balsa wand was instead a wand of fire, you will identify the wand, and have Elbereth burned into the floor as a bonus. This is why so many NetHack players write Elbereth when testing their wands; it might be a wand of fire or wand of digging. However, you have to write something else on the square before you engrave with the wand; this is to avoid confusing a wand of make invisible with a wand of nothing.

Hopefully, with your wands identified, when that soldier ant appears and you need to flee to the staircase, but the fast ant will kill you first, then you can use a wand of slow monster or wand of sleep to slow the ant. All you know is that those bugs on the floor stopped moving, so maybe it is a wand of death. Be careful not to zap yourself by bouncing the bolt off a wall.

Also check

At Yet Another NetHack Site, they have The NetHack Object Identification Spoiler, written by David Damerell and converted to HTML by Kate Nepveu.

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