Spellbook of sleep
| spellbook of + sleep 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 5% |
| Base price | 100 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Turns to read | 3 |
| Ink to write | 5–9 |
| Spell type | enchantment |
| Level | 1 |
| Power cost | 5 Pw |
| Direction | ray |
| Equivalent | wand of sleep |
In NetHack, the spellbook of sleep can be read to learn the spell of sleep. It is a level 1 enchantment spell, and the spellbook takes 3 actions to read.
Contents
Generation
Monks have a 1⁄3 chance of being given a spellbook of sleep as their starting spellbook.[1][2] Wizards may be given a spellbook of sleep as the secondary spellbook in their starting inventory.[3]
Spellbooks of sleep make up 1⁄20 (5%) of all randomly-generated spellbooks. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books stores can stock spellbooks of sleep.
An aligned priest can be generated with the spellbook of sleep as one of their spellbooks.[4]
Writing a spellbook of sleep with a magic marker uses up 5 to 9 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, non-pauper Wizards start each game with knowledge of the appearance for the spellbook of sleep due to starting with Basic skill in enchantment spells.
Per commit c73595cc, the spell of sleep has its level increased to 4, and the spellbook's probability is reduced to 3⁄100 (3%). This is further adjusted per commit d452242a so that the spell is level 3, and its slot as a starting spell book for Monks is additionally swapped with that of the spellbook of confuse monster. As a level 3 spell, the spellbook of sleep takes 15 to 29 charges with a magic marker to write, and takes 4 turns to read (2 from the level-based delay, plus 2 from fencepost issues). Wizards retain their knowledge of the book as described above.Description
When successfully cast at any skill level in enchantment spells, the spell of sleep has nearly the same effect as zapping a wand of sleep:[5][6] the spell prompts the player for a cardinal direction to fire the sleep ray in, and the ray will put any hero or monster it hits to sleep for (XL2 + 1)d25 turns unless they have sleep resistance, succeed a roll against their MR score, or else are already asleep or otherwise immobilized.[7][8][9] Sleep rays from the spell will bounce off the walls, ceiling and floor, are absorbed by doors, and are affected by reflection.[10][11]
A monster that has the hero stuck to them, or else is holding them, will let go if they are put to sleep by the ray.[12][13]
A hero that zaps themselves with the spell will fall asleep for up to 50 turns unless they have sleep resistance.[14]
Strategy
The spell of sleep is an absurdly powerful offensive and defensive tool, especially as a level 1 spell that is fairly easy for most heroes to learn even if they are restricted in enchantment spells: it can be used to immobilize most monsters that lack a sizable MR score and/or sleep resistance, whether to make killing them far easier or to facilitate a retreat or re-positioning, though a hero casting the spell should be wary of rebounds. A hero that is sleep resistant or has reflection can make the spell more effective by bouncing it off walls to hit monsters twice, in case the ray misses or else is resisted. The spell's low level makes it a very enticing book to write for Wizards or for any other hero with a magic marker, a spellbook of blank paper and high enough luck—Monks in particular that start with the spell will have a very powerful combat aid due to their own sleep resistance, especially if they opt to stick with martial arts in lieu of maximizing luck and using melee weapons.
The spell can be used to halt a particularly large monster on an altar if you plan to sacrifice its corpse (reducing the amount of time spent moving it into position), stop thieving monsters such as nymphs and leprechauns from escaping, and can also stop spheres from closing in on you to use their explosion attacks. It can additionally be used to stop pets from attacking peaceful monsters that you want to keep alive or else keep from killing them in retaliation: putting a pet to sleep this way is not counted as pet abuse and will not decrease their tameness. A spell of sleep can be useful to pair with scaring tools and other items such as a leather drum or tooled horn during group combat outside of special rooms, though the spell is best used after you have already scared the monster(s) in question.
The spell remains quite useful for these and other purposes well into the late game stages, due to the amount of strong or otherwise nasty monsters that do not significantly resist being put to sleep. While undead and elves will always be immune to the spell, and undead are especially frequent from below the Castle onwards if not much sooner, several later monsters such as some quest nemeses (e.g. Master Kaen and the Cyclops), most dragons (i.e., any other than silver dragons, orange dragons or the Chromatic Dragon), minotaurs, giant eels, and purple worms lack any resistance to the spell's rays and may also have relatively low MR scores. Some heroes looking to kill aligned priests in cross-aligned temples for their robe, spellbooks and other items will usually put them to sleep first to stop their clerical monster spells, though they must also contend with the priest's MR score of 50 and the temple's god retaliating with a ray of lightning; reflection is generally recommended to deal with the latter.
Attacking sleeping monsters in melee has a 1⁄10 chance of waking them up, so a hero using the spell to try and kill monsters will want to be attentive towards their target(s) in case they need to re-cast the spell—in particular, only use melee attacks on sleeping monsters you can reliably defeat with them, and do not ever rely on the spell to keep a floating eye or Medusa out cold long enough that you never meet their deadly gazes. A stethoscope can be used once per turn as a free action to check if a monster you are fighting is still asleep. In particular, be especially careful when using the spell against minotaurs: while their lack of MR score makes them relatively easy to immobilize with it, you should still be prepared to bring down the minotaur quickly before it can awaken and deal major damage, especially if you want their wand of digging.
The wand of sleep can be employed for similar purposes to those discussed above above, and in terms of duration it is technically stronger than the spell from a hero below experience level 12, but this difference is typically negligible in practice.[15] The spell also requires very little power investment to cast due to its level, especially if the hero can obtain a suitably low failure rate.
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.
The spell of sleep costs 15 power to cast due to its increased level, and as a result is much less accessible to heroes that are not primary casters or capable of training enchantment spells. The changes to writing spellbooks also makes the spellbook harder to create for heroes who do not know the spellbook's identity.History
The spellbook of sleep and its spell are introduced in NetHack 1.3d.
Messages
- The sleep ray hits <the monster>.
- A monster was hit by a sleep ray from the spell.
- You don't feel sleepy.
- You were hit by a sleep ray, but you have sleep resistance.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, two roles other than Monks are given the ability to start with a spellbook of sleep:[16]
- Priests have a 1⁄9 chance of starting with the spellbook of sleep as their secondary spellbook.[17]
- Wizards have a 1⁄2 chance of receiving a spellbook of sleep as their primary spellbook, with the other candidate being a spellbook of force bolt (which is normally guaranteed in NetHack).[18]
GruntHack
In GruntHack, some monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, including the sleep spell.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the sleep spell is the drow race's special spell. Male drow Healers (or hedrow Healers) can start the game having forgotten the spell of sleep.
Knowledge of the sleep spell is required to perform "Lullaby" via the musicalize spell skill, unless the hero is either a Troubadour or has the spirit Orthos bound.
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 sleep spell.
Barrow wights, Nazgul, the Minion of Huhetotl, Dispater, Thoth Amon, and the Dark One will always have knowledge of the sleep spell.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the sleep spell's level is increased to level 2.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, Acid Mages have a 1⁄2 chance of receiving the spellbook of sleep as their tertiary spellbook.
The sleep spell is the Bard's special spell, and they start the game with knowledge of its spellbook and other spellbooks for enchantment spells.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 88
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 713
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 169
- ↑ src/priest.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 264
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1088: case explicitly calls weffects()
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1137: all spells assigned wand equivalents fall through to this line
- ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1507
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3656
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3811
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4128
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4216
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4199
- ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1530
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2419
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 5175
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1111
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1137
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1260
