Wand of create monster
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | create monster |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 4.5% |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | non-directional |
| Maximum charges | 15 |
| Spell | create monster |
| Monster use | May be used defensively by monsters. |
The wand of create monster is a wand that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Monsters may be generated with a wand of create monster in their inventory as a defensive item.
Effects
Zapping or engraving with it creates one monster (22/23 chance) or 2-9 monsters (1/23 chance); the monster level of each will be consistent with what is normally created.[1][2] Even in the former case, a group of monsters may be created if that monster often appears in large groups, such as hill orcs. In wizard mode, you will be asked what kind of monster to create.
The wand is automatically identified if you are not blind when zapping or engraving.
Applying a wand with charges will break it, causing a damaging explosion and creating a horde of monsters around the player.[3] See breaking wands for details.
Strategy
A wand of create monster is often a terrible thing to discover in a monster's inventory; while not as immediately perilous as a cursed scroll of create monster, a monster at low health will begin zapping the wand with impunity. While this auto-identifies the wand, it also means that you will have to face down several more monsters unless you can kill its owner quickly, especially if they were fought at a distance. Autopickup exceptions are often set to pick up wands of create monster, if only to keep them out of monsters' hands and reduce the risk of being overwhelmed and killed.
Recharging this wand is worthwhile if you have the Platinum Yendorian Express Card, allowing you to produce multiple corpses for sacrifices at altars, especially in an aligned temple. The monsters you create and kill can also be used as an alternate food source, especially in the later stages of the game; in some cases, it can also be used to farm for specific monsters if done in the quest level.
Maximizing monsters created
If you want to maximize the number of monsters created from a wand, you should break it with one charge left, so long as you are able to survive the onslaught and the damage from the magical blast. Many of the usual tactics apply: stand on a burned Elbereth, have a source of magic resistance for attack wands, and be prepared with escape items in case you get particularly dangerous monsters. In a temple, don't catch the aligned priest in the blast, or you will anger them.
Breaking generates 18.8 monsters per wand on average if you can identify the number of charges. If you don't know the number of charges, the optimal strategy is to zap it 9 times, then break it for an expected 14.0 monsters. Zapping and wresting the last charge produces only 13.2 monsters on average in comparison.
History
In Rogue, there was no wand of create monster, per se, but the scroll of the same name did exist; it would produce the message "You hear the cries of anguish in the distance" when a monster read the scroll if the player was already surrounded.[4]
The wand of create monster made its debut in Jay Fenlason's Hack.
FIQHack
In FIQHack, the wand of create monster has been replaced by the wand of summoning.
