Headstone
- Not to be confused with the ASCII tombstone that the game prints when a character dies.
A headstone is a type of dungeon feature that appears in NetHack, and it is represented by the vertical bar or "pipe" symbol, |. Random headstones can be encountered in the dungeon and may also contain some treasure, but grave-robbing carries the risk of summoning an undead monster. If the hero dies and leaves a bones file, there is a chance of a headstone being created that bears an inscription describing their cause of death.
Contents
Generation
Headstones are generated in the following areas:[1]
- in a graveyard, with a 1⁄5 chance (20%) per floor tile[2]
- in a room on a maze-and-corridors level in the Dungeons of Doom, with a 180 - (2 * depth) chance per room[3]
- in a bones file, on the spot where the previous hero died[4]—see below for the details of how headstones for dead heroes are placed
Sinks have a 1⁄4 chance (25%) of turning into a headstone if a ring of polymorph is dropped on their square.[5]
Headstone squares will never contain traps.
Treasure
A randomly-generated headstone in a regular room will also have some treasure buried within:[6]
- A random grave has a 1⁄10 chance of a bell being placed on top, which is uncursed as normal.[7][8] The inscription on these always reads "Saved by the bell!"[9]
- There is a 1⁄3 chance of a pile of gold pieces being buried in the grave, with the amount equal to the sum of the current level difficulty times 5 and a random number from 1-20.[10]
- There will also be zero to four random items buried on that square with an equal probability for each value, and these items will always be cursed.[11]
Description
Headstones can be destroyed by either digging down on them or kicking them over from an adjacent square. Kicking a headstone while not levitating has one of three possible results:[12] a 3⁄4 chance of inflicting physical damage and briefly causing a wounded leg (regardless of whether the attempt was successful);[13] a 1⁄8 chance of summoning a ghoul, which can only occur once per grave regardless of the method;[14][15] and a 1⁄8 chance of destroying the headstone and leaving a normal floor square in its place (with any contents placed during initial creation left untouched).[16][17] Digging always creates a pit on the former grave's square, even if the source was something instantaneous like a wand of digging, and any items buried within will be at the bottom of the resulting pit.[18]
Destroying a headstone by kicking it abuses wisdom and also incurs a -1 penalty to alignment record for Archeologists, Samurai or any lawful hero with an alignment record above -10.[19] Destroying a grave by digging may result in a different penalty, similarly depending on the hero's alignment and role:[20]
| Samurai | -1 if lawful, +1 if chaotic | "You disturb the honorable dead!" |
| Archeologist | +3 if chaotic, -3 otherwise (±1 if kicked over) | "You feel like a despicable grave-robber!" |
| Other | -1 if lawful and alignment record > -10 | "You have violated the sanctity of this grave!" |
Additionally, digging up a grave may produce its "owner", with four different possibilities for what generates:[21]
| 2⁄5 | A very old corpse | "You unearth a corpse." |
| 1⁄5 | A zombie | "The grave's owner is very upset!" (if hallucinating: "Dude! The living dead!") |
| 1⁄5 | A mummy | "You've disturbed a tomb!" (if hallucinating: "I want my mummy!") |
| 1⁄5 | Nothing | "The grave seems unused. Strange...." |
A player that uses the pick up command while the hero is standing on a headstone's square with no items present on it will get YAFM:[22]
- You don't need a gravestone. Yet.
Engraving
Engraving on a headstone cannot be done without a form of hard engraving tool, and doing so will abuse wisdom and generate a ghoul if one has not been summoned yet by any means:[23][15]
- You disturb the undead!
Any instance of Elbereth being engraved on a headstone is ignored to prevent cheeky players from naming themselves Elbereth and leaving behind a permanently warded square when their hero dies.
Player headstones
A hero that dies and leaves bones will have a headstone placed on their location if they died on a regular floor tile within a room. Headstones created this way will be inscribed with the character's name and the manner of their demise[4]—and do not carry any additional buried items like random headstones do, as the hero's corpse (or other remains) will be on top of the headstone along with their former inventory. Digging up the grave of a player character will always produce an "empty" grave, though a ghoul may still appear when engraving on or kicking the headstone.[24][25][26]
Headstone epitaphs
The inscriptions of randomly-generated graves is selected from one of various epitaphs within a list in dat/epitaph.txt, which is much too long to present in its entirety here.[27] Using the far look command on a known headstone will display the engraving.[28][29]
A non-exhaustive list of epitaphs is given below:
- Saved by the bell![7][8]
- Go away!
- 1994-1995. The Longest-Lived Hacker Ever
- Be careful, or this could happen to you!
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- Beware of Electric Third Rail
- Caution! This grave contains toxic waste
- Here lies an Atheist, all dressed up and no place to go (Thurmont, Maryland)
- Here lies Ezekiel, age 102. The good die young. (East Dalhousie, Nova Scotia)
- Here lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon me for not rising. (Ruidoso, New Mexico)
- Here lies my wife: Here let her lie! Now she's at rest and so am I. (John Dryden's epitaph for his wife)
- Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake. Stepped on the gas instead of the brake. (Uniontown, Pennsylvania)
- I made an ash of myself (Julian Skaggs of West Virginia, who was cremated)
- Look out below!
- Made in Taiwan
- Note -- there are NO valuable items in this grave
- Og friend. Og good dude. Og died. Og now food. (possibly a reference to Internet Oracle lore, or to Cavemen's ability to commit cannibalism without penalty)
- He always lied while on the earth and now he's lying in it
- Please don't dig me up. I'm perfectly happy down here. -- Resident
- Postman, please note forwarding address: Gehennom, Asmodeus's Fortress, fifth lemure on the left
- Mary had a little lamb/Its fleece was white as snow/When Mary was in trouble/The lamb was first to go
- Rest in peace
- Rest In Pieces
- R.I.P.
- Soon ripe. Soon rotten. Soon gone. But not forgotten.
- Soon you'll join this fellow in hell! -- the Wizard of Yendor
- Sum quod eris (Latin: "I am what you will be"—dead.)
- The Grave of the Unknown Hacker
- We weren't sure who this was, but we buried him here anyway
- Don't be daft, they couldn't hit an elephant at this dist- (Alleged last words of General John Sedgwick, killed at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 9, 1864; in fact, he completed the sentence)
- Audi Partem Alteram (Latin: "Listen to the other side")
- Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori (Horace: "It is sweet and fitting to die for one's country"; quoted as "the old Lie" by Wilfred Owen in "Dulce et Decorum Est")
- Auri sacra fames (Latin: "Accursed hunger for gold"; from the Aeneid)
- Auribus teneo lupum (Latin: "I hold a wolf by the ears", or a tiger by the tail)
- Obesa Cantavit (Latin: "The fat lady has sung")
- I didn't mean it when I said 'Bite me'
- Curse god and die
- Dear wife of mine. Died of a broken heart, after I took it out of her.
- Check enclosed.
- Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.
- Anything for a change.
- What are you doing over there?
- I TOLD you I was sick!
- Don't tread on me!
- Come Monday, I'll be all right.
- De'Ath
- Forget about the dog, Beware of my wife.
- I have all the time in the world
- And sometimes the bear eats you.
- I have reached Mine's End (This is a pun on "reached my end")
History
NetHack 3.6.0 added some epitaphs from the custom epitaphs used on NAO.
In versions up to NetHack 3.6.7, a hero's headstone left as part of a bones file can be used to summon undead monsters by disturbing that grave, and ghouls are only summoned when engraving on a headstone. NetHack 5.0.0 adjusts the creation of undead from a hero's grave and adds the other condition for summoning a ghoul via commit c5aad9fe.
NetHack 5.0.0 also implements the following fixes and code adjustments:
- Several new epitaphs are added via commits such as commit 9821caf9.
- The ability to read a headstone using the far look command is added via commit 389f03e9.
- A long-standing bug in the distribution of randomly-chosen epitaphs is fixed via commit 03476a7c.
Variants
UnNetHack
UnNetHack includes a large number of new headstone messages, which are non-exhaustively listed below—some of these were added to UnNetHack first prior to their inclusion in later versions of NetHack:
- Apres moi, le deluge. ("After me, the flood"; attributed to Louis XV, also the motto of 617 Squadron, RAF "The Dam Busters"). This grave will always have a scroll of flood on top of it.
- It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
- If a man's deeds do not outlive him, of what value is a mark in stone?
- Nobody believed her when she said her feet were killing her.
- On the whole, I'd rather be in Minetown.
- Game over, man. Game over.
- Attempted suicide
- Always attack a floating eye from behind!
- Killed by a black dragon -- This grave is empty.
- This was actually just a pit, but since there was a corpse, we filled it.
- Confusion will be my epitaph.
- The reports of my demise are completely accurate.
- Do not open until Christmas.
- Go away! I'm trying to take a nap in here! Bloody adventurers...
- Sparky -- he was a very good dog.
- Tu quoque, Brute? (Latin - "You too, Brutus?" Allegedly Julius Caesar's last words)
- At last... a nice long sleep.
- I'd rather be sailing.
- I'm gonna make it!
- R2D2 -- Rest, Tin Piece.
- Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. (Latin - "It is sweet and honorable to die for your country").
- Go Team Ant!
- Brains... Brains... Fresh human brains…
- ...for famous men have the whole earth as their memorial.
- NetHack 1987-2003? (NetHack 3.4.3 was released in 2003, and was the current version for twelve years afterward)
- Et in Arcadia ego. (Latin - "And in Arcadia I am").
- And they said it couldn't be done!
- Don't let this happen to you!
- SOLD.
- Wish you were here!
- Lookin' good, Medusa.
- Taking a year dead for tax reasons.
- ...but the blood has stopped pumping and I am left to decay…
- Applaud, my friends, the comedy is finished. (Latin - Plaudite, amici, comedia finita est. famous last words of composer Ludwig van Beethoven)
- Beware the ...
- It wasn't a fair fight.
- You should see the other guy.
- ...and they made me engrave my own headstone too!
- Are we all being disintegrated, or is it just me?
- I'll be back!
- Don't forget to stop and smell the roses.
- VACANCY.
- Take my stuff, I don't need it anymore.
- Beware of Discordians bearing answers.
- Hodie mihi, cras tibi. (Latin - Today me, tomorrow for you).
- I took both pills!
- American Democracy 1776-2016.
- Burninated. (Pun on [[Wikipedia:Inundation_(disambiguation)|inundation, being overwhelmed).
- And so it ends?
- Hack 1984-1985.
- Adventure, hah! Excitement, hah!
- I was killed by <illegible scrawl>
- SLASH'EM 1997-2006.
- (This space for sale)
- This way to the crypt.
- Out to Lunch.
- All's well that end well
- Algernon
- <Expletive Deleted>
- Here lies a programmer. Killed by a fatal error.
- He farmed his way here
- One corpse, sans head
- Forget Disney World, I'm going to Hell!
- I will survive!
- SporkHack 2007-2010
- For sale: One soul, slightly used. Asking for 3 wishes.
- Res omnia mea culpa est (Latin: "Everything is my fault")
- Basil, assaulted by bears (The Gashlycrumb Tinies)
- Not again!
On one of the variations of the top level of the Ruins of Moria, there will be a grave with the message (Balin, Son of Fundin, Lord of Moria).
Encyclopedia entry
"Who'd care to dig 'em," said the old, old man,
"Those six feet marked in chalk?
Much I talk, more I walk;
Time I were buried," said the old, old man.
See also
- Annotated source code:
References
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1683-L1703: make_grave() function physically places the headstone in a given location
- ↑ src/mkroom.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 389-L390
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 996-L1000
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 src/end.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1304-L1319
- ↑ src/do.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 440-L446
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2352-L2391: mkgrave() function determines the contents within the grave and sometimes atop it
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 src/mklev.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2358: chance of bell + inscription
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 src/mklev.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2393-L2396: "Leave a bell, in case we accidentally buried someone alive"
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2367: calls make_grave() to place headstone, with bell handled first
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2370-L2382: chance of gold
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2383-L2391: filler items
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1098-L1130
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1101-L1103
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1104-L1107: calls disturb_grave()
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 src/engrave.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1705-L1720: disturb_grave() function
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1109-L1111
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1116-L1126
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1083-L1087
- ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1112-L1115
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1043-L1055
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1057-L1082
- ↑ src/hack.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3834-L3835
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1019-L1031
- ↑ src/end.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1318
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1058
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1078-L1081
- ↑ dat/epitaph.txt in NetHack 5.0.0, line 7: beginning of file entries
- ↑ src/pager.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1629-L1667
- ↑ src/pager.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2141-L2228
