Scroll of blank paper
? 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | blank paper |
| Appearance | unlabeled scroll |
| Base price | 60 zm |
| Weight | 5 |
| Ink to write | 0 |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A scroll of blank paper is a type of scroll that appears in NetHack. It is the only scroll to not be a magical item, and appears as an unlabeled scroll when unidentified.
Contents
Generation
Scrolls of blank paper make up 7⁄250 (2.8%) of all scrolls randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops, and they are excluded from random scroll selection when generating a hero's starting inventory.[1] Second-hand bookstores and rare books shops can also stock scrolls of blank paper.
Scrolls of blank paper can be created by getting other scrolls wet, or by zapping them with a wand or spell of cancellation.
Two scrolls of blank paper can be found next to a throne hidden in the locate level of the Tourist quest, and two scrolls of blank paper can be found outside the southern-most island's dwelling on the third raven-filled variant of Medusa's Island.
Paper golems leave behind one or more scrolls of blank paper as a special death drop instead of a corpse.[2]
Description
A hero "reading" a scroll of blank paper simply auto-identifies it without using up the scroll or breaking the illiterate conduct. Attempting to read a previously-seen scroll of blank paper while blind will print a specific message. Monsters will not use this scroll.
Scrolls of blank paper can be used to write other scrolls by applying a magic marker to them, and the beatitude of the resulting scroll is affected by the beatitude of both the scroll of blank paper and the magic marker:
| Marker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blessed | Uncursed | Cursed | ||
| Blank document |
Blessed | Blessed | Blessed | Uncursed |
| Uncursed | Blessed | Uncursed | Cursed | |
| Cursed | Uncursed | Cursed | Cursed | |
Strategy
Scrolls of blank paper are generally carried around by heroes that also have a magic marker on hand in order to write scrolls with at a moment's notice—both the scrolls and marker are ideally best kept in a bag to avoid damage and reduce the odds of theft.
A common method of blanking scrolls is to intentionally walk into a moat while carrying them&mdasah;this is much more difficult if you have high luck, and care should be taken not to blank, dilute or rust any valuable items in your inventory at the same time. Another common and somewhat-easier method is to drop them all on a square, then zap a wand of cancellation at that square.
The scroll of blank paper and the scroll of enchant weapon are the only scrolls with a base cost of 60 zm, making price identification of the latter trivial.
History
The scroll of blank paper first appears in Hack 1.0.
Messages
- This scroll seems to be blank.
- You "read" a scroll of blank paper.
- You don't remember there being any magic words on this scroll.
- As above, while blind.
- You can't write that! It's obscene!
- You attempted to "write" a scroll of blank paper.
Variants
In NetHack variants that add a scroll of flood or scroll of water, those scrolls cannot be made into blank paper by wetting them.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, writing on a scroll of blank paper with a felt marker will always fail, but does not use up the scroll in the process.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, some scrolls of blank paper may be placed on the Neutral Quest level containing the head of the River Lethe during level creation.
The Rite of Detestation is an artifact scroll of blank paper that is associated with the Madperson role—it cannot be written on and transformed into another scroll, and doing so will simply waste magic marker charges.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, attempting to wish for a scroll of acquirement will only produce a blank scroll.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, the hero always start with the scroll of blank paper identified.
As in SlashTHEM, attempting to wish for a scroll of acquirement will only produce a blank scroll.
Polymorphing a scroll of blank paper only has a 1⁄100 chance of producing a magical scroll.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1006: list of ineligible starting items
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 418
