Talk:Unlocking tool

What are the disadvantages to simply kicking down doors? DemonDoll 19:10, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

* You wake up nearby monsters. This includes the fabled invisible nymph.

* You cannot close and/or lock them to partition out spawned monsters.

* It takes longer, unless wearing kicking boots or come corner cases.

* The door might be attached to a shop closed for inventory. -Tjr 22:20, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for responding and I see the logic behind each of those but I'm too lazy for now to be closing doors behind me and I want them to come to me so I can kill them all. The last point is the most salient as I have had a shopkeeper try to pull my nose-ring out through my ass for barging in on him... any way to check that before coming in? A sign or something? DemonDoll 22:36, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes, there should be an inscription written in the dust outside the door saying "Closed for Inventory". This can be erased by a pet, monster or yourself, may have been removed previously if the level is a bones level and doesn't protect against tunnelling in, but it should be there. -- Kalon 22:50, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

True, but long ago I have kicked in a door diagonally because it was at the end of the corridor, only to be surprised by an angry shopkeeper. The engraving was there, I just hadn't been on that square. -Tjr 10:04, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Oh my god this sucks. Last game I played I was walking along kicking doors to train strength and kicked one in like a third of the level away from any wall and it was the biggest shop I've ever seen - about 10x10 - with rings. More rings than I have ever seen. And then the shopkeeper killed my lvl 2 ass. Very sad. I'll be opening doors to check behind them before closing and kicking now... *Sigh. DemonDoll 22:49, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Breakage

Anybody know how often the different tools break? A small table with percentages would be nice. AileTheAlien 00:30, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Tools never break in vanilla nethack, only SLASH'EM. Tools will never break if they are an artifact (the alignment key for your alignment works well) or are blessed. Credit cards have a 1-in-20 chance of breaking (1-in-30 for a tourist on a door), keys have a 1-in-15 chance of breaking, picks have a 1-in-40 chance of breaking if you are a rogue, 1-in-30 chance for all other roles. Pretty sure that's all the chances. Ref is lock.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 416 for boxes/chests, lock.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 518 for doors. -- Qazmlpok 00:47, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Why don't you put that in the article? --Tjr 11:15, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Done. AileTheAlien 01:14, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

What? What is your source for this? I haven't read HHGG in years, but I don't recall credit cards playing such a role. There's nothing in the source code to suggest the reference either. -- Qazmlpok 01:46, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

Monsters unlocking doors in 3.6

I've noticed that monsters can unlock doors as of 3.6, but I'm not sure from the code if they can do it with all unlocking tools (keys/lock picks/credit cards). Also not sure how to specify this in the item tables, as unlocking doesn't necessarily qualify as either "offensive" and "defensive" monster use. Funcrunch (talk) 22:36, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Skeleton Key = Key?

I'd like to get clarification if the "Key" that you encounter is the same item as the Skeleton Key said in the page, just renamed. NotAJumbleOfNumbers (talk) 02:05, 7 June 2019 (UTC)

Keys are just 'unidentified' skeleton keys, so I feel the answer would be yes. --Umbire the Phantom (talk) 10:36, 7 June 2019 (UTC)

Cursed unlocking tools

It says on the page: "All unlocking tools are generated uncursed unless found on a Bones level." However, in 3.6 I sometimes find a cursed key or lock pick sitting on a trap on the first few (non-Bones) levels. Is this perhaps new in 3.6? --Mobileuser (talk) 14:11, 22 September 2019 (UTC)

Yeah, that's a 3.6.1 feature that occasionally makes fake bones piles by putting random objects on traps, and naturally the items in the pile get cursed. While I think it's a cool feature, it means that a lot of wiki pages are suddenly incorrect about tools always being uncursed. There have been cursed bag of holding gotchas from these, too. --Phol ende wodan (talk) 14:14, 22 September 2019 (UTC)

Ah, good to know, thanks! I have added this to at least this page... --Mobileuser (talk) 14:49, 22 September 2019 (UTC)

Mention and links to the artifacts missing

I.e. to the Key of Whatever and the PYEC. Netzhack (talk) 11:43, 4 April 2020 (UTC)