Spellbook of drain life
| spellbook of + drain life 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 1% |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Turns to read | 4 |
| Ink to write | 10–19 |
| Spell type | attack |
| Level | 2 |
| Power cost | 10 Pw |
| Direction | beam |
In NetHack, the spellbook of drain life can be read to learn the spell of drain life. It is a level 2 attack spell, and the spellbook takes 4 actions to read.
Contents
Generation
Wizards may be given a spellbook of drain life as the secondary spellbook in their starting inventory.[1]
Spellbooks of drain life make up 1⁄100 (1%) of all spellbooks randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Second-hand bookstores and rare books stores can also stock spellbooks of drain life.
Writing a spellbook of drain life with a magic marker uses up 10 to 19 charges.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 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.
Per commit 319dfbda and commit 495a1a9b, Wizards start each game with knowledge of the spellbook of drain life's appearance.Description
Successfully casting the spell prompts the player for a cardinal direction to fire the beam in:[2] monsters in the path of the beam that do not have drain resistance must pass a roll against their MR score[3][4]—a monster that fails the roll has one level drained and loses an amount of HP corresponding to that level, with the default being 1d8 maximum HP and twice that much in current HP;[5][6][7][8][9] a monster that successfully resists via MR score will not lose a level, and the damage they take is halved rounded up.[6][10] Spell damage bonuses apply to the spell's damage in both cases, and a Knight carrying the Magic Mirror of Merlin in open inventory deals double damage to monsters when casting the spell.[11][12][13]
A cloaked mimic hit by the spell of drain life will uncloak and take damage as normal.[14] Golems lose maximum HP equal to the quotient of the HP that type of golem is normally generated with divided by that individual golem's level.[15] Monsters at level 50 or higher lose 4-8 maximum HP, though in practice monsters with a level that high (i.e. demon lords and princes) cannot be subjected to level drain.[16] Adult dragons outside of the Elemental Planes and Astral Plane lose 4-9 maximum HP.[17] Though the function called by the level draining code has an HP amount defined for level 0 monsters, any monster that has its level drained by the spell while at level 0 or has their maximum HP drained to 0 by the spell will always suffer an instadeath as a result.[18][19]
Objects in the path of a beam from the drain life spell will have their charges or enchantment reduced by 1 to a minimum of 0, with no effect on negatively-enchanted items.[20][21][22] A hero draining charges or enchantments from items owned by a shop will be billed for those items.[23] Items will resist this effect 9⁄10 of the time if they are artifacts and 1⁄10 of the time otherwise, and will always resist the effect if they grant drain resistance while carried or wielded.[24]
A hero casting the spell at themselves will drain one experience level unless they have drain resistance, which reduces their current and maximum HP by 1d8 and will cause instant death if they are drained below level 1.[25] Casting the spell downward while riding will affect the steed as with any other monster.[26]
Strategy
The spell of drain life is more unusual compared to most other attack spells: it does not deal much in the way of direct damage, and monsters drained of levels will naturally grant less experience, but the level drain it inflicts makes it much better for extended battles against spellcasters, covetous monsters and other persistent hostiles such as trolls that lack drain resistance—monsters have no means of regaining lost levels, and monster spell damage often relies on the caster's level. The spell can also kill monsters from behind boulders as with other beam-style spells, making it useful for clearing monsters out of your path in Sokoban if you lack the magic missile spell or any projectiles.
The spell is also employed as a utility to intentionally drain the enchantment from weapons and armor in order to use scrolls of enchant armor or enchant weapon on them, e.g. to safely enchant a +5 weapon to +7, or to used a blessed scroll of enchant armor on a +3 piece of armor (+5 for elven armor). Some players will occasionally use this to lower the enchantment of Magicbane and alter the odds of its additional effects, since as an athame it cannot be made dull by engraving—as an artifact, it will usually require several tries.
A player looking to gain high amounts of intrinsic protection from an aligned priest will consider using the spell to "drain for gain" and reduce their hero's experience level in a controlled manner, making said protection cheaper to purchase, though throwing Stormbringer upward is generally preferable for this purpose.
History
The spellbook of drain life and its spell are introduced in NetHack 3.3.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, "drain for gain" strategies involving the spell are also used to obtain massive amounts of maximum HP and energy as well as protection.
Messages
- <Monster> suddenly seems weaker!
- A monster was hit with a drain life spell and did not resist.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the spell of drain life is re-categorized to a level 3 attack spell.
Necromancers always start the game with a blessed spellbook of drain life as their third spellbook.[27] Wizards have their starting inventory changed so that their spellbooks are given from four different pre-determined sets, and so cannot receive the spellbook of drain life this way.[28][29]
The wand of draining is an item that has the same effect as the spell when zapped.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, some monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, including drain life. The spell is especially dangerous in the hands of hostile monsters, making drain resistance even more valuable to seek out or wish for.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, female drow Healers start the game having forgotten the spell of drain life.
These variants also include the wand of draining, which behaves as in SLASH'EM.
FIQHack
In FIQHack, monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, with skill levels to match, and can learn and utilize the drain life spell.
Orcus and Dispater will always generate knowing the drain life spell.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, Infidels always start the game with a spellbook of drain life.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, Infidels always start the game with a spellbook of drain life, as in EvilHack. Necromancers start the game with a blessed spellbook of drain life as in SLASH'EM, and can both cast the spell for 4 power and do so without inducing the standard nutrition burn.
Hack'EM also includes the wand of draining, which behaves as in SLASH'EM.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 169
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 428
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 436
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 5160: resist() function
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 431: calls monhp_per_level() in makemon.c
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 438: level drain does not occur if monster resists via MR score
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 445
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 956: monhp_per_level() function
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 960
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 5204
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 142
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 432
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 434
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 429
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 963
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 966
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 969
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 443
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 973
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1992: calls drain_item() function
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1102: drain_item() function
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1109
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1119
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1114
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2374
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2709
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 141
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 248
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1257
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