Ring
| Item classes | ||
|---|---|---|
| " Amulets | [ Armor | |
| % Comestibles | $ Coins | |
| * Gems | ! Potions | |
| = Rings | ? Scrolls | |
| + Spellbooks | ` Statues | |
| ( Tools | ` Boulders | |
| ) Weapons | / Wands | |
A ring, represented by =, is a type of magical item that appears in NetHack. Rings produce a variety of effects when worn, and each ring always has a randomized appearance.
Contents
Generation
Rings comprise 3% of all randomly-generated items in the main dungeon, 5% each in containers and on the Rogue level, and 8% in Gehennom. All types of rings are equally likely to be generated: this means a 0.179% chance each in containers and on the Rogue level, a 0.286% chance in Gehennom, and a 0.107% chance elsewhere.
Of the rings marked as 90% cursed below, the remaining 10% are uncursed. The beatitude of chargeable rings is determined by the following table:[1]
| ≥ +1 | +0 | ≤ −1 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| blessed | 15.1% | 0.4% | 0.2% | 15.7% |
| uncursed | 33.3% | 1.7% | 6.3% | 41.3% |
| cursed | 1.6% | 0.4% | 40.9% | 42.9% |
All other rings are generated 10% cursed, 90% uncursed, and 0% blessed. Rings of invisibility carried by Nazgul are always cursed.
The initial enchantment of a chargeable ring has an exponentially-weighted probability, but tends to be in the range of −3 to +3.
Description
Rings are worn by using P to put them on, and removed using R; one ring can be worn on each hand. While there is no difference between the dominant or nondominant hands in terms of the ring's effects, a cursed wielded weapon may prevent access to the finger on the dominant hand.
All rings have a weight of 3, except for the meat ring (which has a weight of 1). All rings except for the ring of shock resistance have a 1-in-3 chance of exploding when subjected to shock damage, however for the chargeable rings there is a 2⁄3 chance of being charged by one point of enchantment instead, though normal charging limits (and explosion from over-charging) still apply. Wearing non-metallic gloves (all but gauntlets of power) protect worn rings from electrical damage.[2] Extrinsic sources of shock resistance have a 99⁄100 chance of protecting the wearer's carried rings (and other open inventory) from shock damage.[3]
Ring hunger
Furthermore, with the exception of the meat ring and chargeable rings at +0 charge, worn rings have a 5% chance to cause losing an additional nutrition point every turn. This is cumulative—a player wearing two rings will lose 2 additional hunger points every 20 turns on average. This sense of "ring hunger" is distinct from the additional hunger-causing effects of rings of regeneration, conflict, and hunger, all of which cause a nutrition point to be lost every other turn. The ring of slow digestion prevents ordinary nutrition consumption, but still causes ring hunger. A hero with slow digestion from a non-ring source (i.e. white dragon scales or white dragon scale mail) will still incur ring hunger, even if they are not wearing any rings or amulet.[4]
A worn +0 ring of protection causes ring hunger if it is the hero's only source of extrinsic protection—if the hero is wearing two rings of protection and the one on their left hand is +0, ring hunger applies to that left-hand ring even if the right hand's ring is charged.[5]
For a full list of hunger causes and amounts, see the articles on nutrition and foodless.
Table of rings
Charging
Chargeable rings modify one of your attributes by n, where n is the value of the ring's charge, which can be positive or negative. The enchantment of a chargeable ring (i.e., adornment, gain constitution, gain strength, increase accuracy, increase damage, or protection - may be altered by charging, for example with a scroll of charging or the PYEC.
In contrast to most chargeable items, a ring retains its enchantment much like weapons and armor. Blessed charging adds 1 to 3 points of enchantment; cursed charging removes 1 to 2 points; and uncursed charging always adds 1. When a ring with a positive enchantment is charged, it has an x⁄7 chance of exploding (where x is the enchantment prior to charging); rings with enchantments of ≤ −5 or ≥ +7 will always explode when charged. Therefore, the highest possible enchantment is +9 by charging (and +10 by random generation).
Below are the odds of using blessed scrolls of charging to achieve the enchantment on the top row starting from the enchantment listed in the left column without the ring exploding.
| ≥ +1 | ≥ +2 | ≥ +3 | ≥ +4 | ≥ +5 | ≥ +6 | ≥ +7 | ≥ +8 | +9 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From +0 | 100% | 95% | 83% | 60% | 43% | 26% | 11% | 3.9% | 0.8% |
| From +1 | N/A | 86% | 78% | 62% | 38% | 24% | 12% | 3.3% | 0.7% |
| From +2 | N/A | N/A | 71% | 61% | 45% | 22% | 12% | 4.2% | 0.6% |
| From +3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 57% | 46% | 31% | 10% | 4.3% | 1.1% |
| From +4 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 43% | 33% | 19% | 2.9% | 0.8% |
| From +5 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 29% | 20% | 10% | 0.5% |
| From +6 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 14% | 9.5% | 4.8% |
Strategy
Rings have various applications beyond simply wearing them. For example, topaz, sapphire, ruby, steel, diamond, and emerald rings can be used to make slow but semi-permanent engravings. Since this is dependent on the appearance rather than the function of the ring, it can be done even if the ring isn't identified.
Eating rings
Eating rings is a way to permanently obtain the effects granted by wearing some rings - however, this is only possible for rings of metal or wood. See that article for more information.
Identification
When a ring is dropped on top of a sink, you will get a message that can help you identify the ring. Since the ring is usually lost in the process, this is best done with rings that you have multiples of. If you are on the brink of starvation and have several unidentified rings, you may consider giving up all of them to a sink - the ring of slow digestion is not lost when dropped down the drain.
FIQHack
In FIQHack monsters can wear rings. Also, you can retrieve rings from sinks by destroying the sink and digging a pit beneath it.
Encyclopedia entry
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
References
This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:
Redistribution, copying, and editing of these spoilers, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
- The original contributors to any spoiler must continue to be credited.
- Any modifications to the spoiler must be acknowledged and credited.
