Bow
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | bow |
| Appearance | bow |
| Damage vs. small | 1d2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d2 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | bow |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 60 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 30 |
| Material | wood |
A bow is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a one-handed launcher designed for arrows that is made of wood.
In addition to the regular bow, there are elven, orcish, and Japanese bows. The Longbow of Diana is an artifact bow.
Contents
Generation
Human Rangers start the game with a +1 bow and two separate stacks of +0 and +2 arrows.[1]
Forest centaurs have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a bow and a stack of arrows.[2] Hunters are always generated with a bow and arrows, and chieftains, pages, roshi, and warriors have a 1⁄3 chance of generating with a bow and arrows.[3][4]
A humanoid monster with a weapon attack, the ability to wield weapons and no other ruleset governing its monster starting inventory has a chance of generating with a bow and a stack of 3-14 arrows, unless they are being generated on the Rogue level: the base odds are 1⁄14 for normal monsters, 1⁄12 for a monster that is a lord or nasty, 1⁄10 for a monster that is an overlord or both a lord and nasty, and 1⁄8 for a monster that is both nasty and an overlord.[5]
One of the weapons guarded by the ghost on the Rogue level is a +1 bow with an accompanying stack of arrows, each of which have a 3⁄4 chance of being cursed.[6]
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
The themed room containing the ghost of an adventurer and their "bones" pile has an independent 9⁄20 chance of including a bow and arrows in the pile.Bow skill
| Bow | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Basic | |
| Skilled | |
| Expert | |
The bow skill is only exercised when firing arrows from a wielded bow.
The following launchers use the bow skill:
- bow
- elven bow
- orcish bow
- yumi
The following types of ammo use the bow skill:
Description
Bows are used by wielding them and then using t or f to shoot arrows. The enchantment of a bow contributes to its to-hit (accuracy), but not to damage; the arrows' enchantment contributes to both accuracy and damage. Wearing gauntlets of power and firing a bow gives a -2 to-hit penalty.
Strategy
As bows are one-handed, a character can switch to one without removing their shield, and wielding a cursed bow will still leave one hand free. Their enchantment is generally not important compared to that of the arrows fired from it.
History
The bow first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0. From Hack 1.0 to NetHack 3.2.3, Cavemen start with a +1 bow and a stack of +0 arrows as their secondary weapon[7] - NetHack 3.3.0 replaces this with the modern sling and a stack each of flint stones and rocks.[8]
The defunct Elf role starts with a +1 bow and a stack of +0 arrows as their secondary weapon from NetHack 1.3d to NetHack 2.3e[9][10] - from NetHack 3.0.0 to 3.0.10, these are replaced with an elven bow and elven arrows if TOLKIEN is defined at compile-time.[11]
Variants
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM makes bows two-handed weapons and adds a new type in the dark elven bow. The missile flurry technique only works with bow weapons, and grants a bonus shot with them for several turns depending on the technique's level.
In the Yeoman quest, several bows can be found in a 2x2 room at the north of the inner ward, each with one silver arrow.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, The Fire Crystal increases a character's skill cap for bows by 1 while carried.
Eve is a spirit that grants skill in bows while bound.
dNetHack adds several artifact bows:
- Plague is a chaotic-aligned bone bow that confers poison resistance and sickness resistance while wielded; it grants +1d5 to-hit and +1d7 poison damage to arrows fired from it, and those arrows are treated as poisoned (similar to dipping in a potion of sickness). When invoked, arrows fired from Plague are treated as filth-crusted instead for the next 13 turns, with the filth having a 1⁄5 chance of instantly killing non-resistant monsters: the instakill causes a virulent explosion that deals 6d6 damage to surrounding monsters, with its size loosely dependent on the killed monster's size.
- Epoch's Curve is an unaligned wooden bow that appears as a "white ash longbow" when unidentified; it grants +5 to-hit and +1d6 to damage, and conveys teleport control while wielded. Invoking Epoch's Curve causes it to teleport: if not wielded, it teleports away on its own; if on a no-teleport level, it first tries to warp the character one level above, and warps them to the level below if that fails. Arrows fired from it that do not break return to the character after five turns.
- The Bow of Skadi is a lawful bow that Valkyries receive as their crowning gift; it grants +1 to-hit and +1d24 cold damage to arrows fired from it, and the arrows cause a 6d6 freezing explosion centered on any target they hit, using up the arrow. The bow can also be read to learn the cone of cold spell.
notdNetHack
In notdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, Eve is generated with a bow and arrows when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, centaur Rangers start with the same bow and arrows as human Rangers. All centaur characters start with knowledge of all bow-related weaponry, and gain a multishot bonus when firing with any type of bow.
Gnoll hunters always generate with a bow and arrows, and player monster rangers that are humans or centaurs will generate with two stacks of arrows for their bows. Sergeants and lieutenants that are dwarven or human and generated in the Castle at level creation will each have a bow and arrows.
SlashTHEM
In addition to SLASH'EM changes, SlashTHEM adds Straightshot, an artifact bow with +10 to-hit and +3 damage bonuses that serves as the first sacrifice gift for Rangers.
Encyclopaedia entry
"Stand to it, my hearts of gold," said the old bowman as he passed from knot to knot. "By my hilt! we are in luck this journey. Bear in mind the old saying of the Company."
"What is that, Aylward?" cried several, leaning on their bows and laughing at him.
"'Tis the master-bowyer's rede: 'Every bow well bent. Every shaft well sent. Every stave well nocked. Every string well locked.' There, with that jingle in his head, a bracer on his left hand, a shooting glove on his right, and a farthing's-worth of wax in his girdle, what more doth a bowman need?"
"It would not be amiss," said Hordle John, "if under his girdle he had four farthings'-worth of wine."
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 115
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 464
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 298
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 308
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 534: Case for bow and arrows in "default" monster weapon generation
- ↑ src/extralev.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 334
- ↑ u_init.c in NetHack 1.3d, line 53
- ↑ u_init.c in NetHack 3.3.0, line 50
- ↑ u_init.c in NetHack 1.3d, line 78
- ↑ u_init.c in NetHack 2.3e, line 83
- ↑ u_init.c in NetHack 3.0.0, line 65
