Forum:Why is spell retention a range?

< Forum:Watercooler

I've come back to vanilla Nethack after several years away. In version 3.6.6, when I list spells with the '+' key, there's a column named "Retention" that shows a range, like "51%-60%", rather than a single number like it was in the past. Can someone explain why there is a range? Does the chance of casting successfully decrease as these numbers get lower?

--LarryFluckiger (talk) 18:51, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

It is merely a "guess" at how well you know the spell before needing to read it again. It is does not affect spell failure rate, which is listed in the column to the left of "Retention." --User (talk) 06:56, 23 November 2021 (UTC)