Wand of light
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | light |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 9.5% |
| Base price | 100 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | non-directional |
| Maximum charges | 15 |
| Spell | light |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A wand of light is a type of wand that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Wizards may be given a wand of light as the random wand in their starting inventory.[1]
Wands of light are the most common type of wand, and make up 19⁄200 (9.5%) of all randomly-generated wands. General stores and "quality apparel and accessories" shops can sell wands of light.
Wands of light are created with 8 to 15 charges.
Description
A hero zapping a wand of light will permanently light the area within a 5-square radius around them, as displayed below:[2]
...xxxxx...
..xxxxxxx..
.xxxxxxxxx.
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xxxxx@xxxxx
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.xxxxxxxxx.
..xxxxxxx..
...xxxxx...
Gremlins in the illuminated area will take d5 damage, and the wand will auto-identify if the hero sees the light or hears a gremlin react to it. Monsters will not use this wand.
Engraving with a wand of light will light the surrounding area and auto-identify the wand, as with zapping it normally.[3] Engraving or zapping with the wand while within a dark room on the Rogue level will light the entire room.
Breaking a charged wand of light by applying it–or else wresting one last charge from an applied wand–will cause an explosion that deals anywhere between 1 and (4×<charges>) damage, lights the same area as zapping the wand, deals up to 20 damage to gremlins, and blinds the hero and other monsters caught in the explosion for (<charges>+1)d25 turns.[4][5][6][7] This auto-identifies the wand.
Strategy
A wand of light is useful in the early game to make unlit rooms easier to navigate, as well as mapping unlit floors of the Gnomish Mines, especially if the hero is a human and lacks infravision. Once a hero learns the light spell, they can reserve the wand for times when they are low on power—this is somewhat dependent on their overall energy stores, general spellcasting prowess, spell school access, and their ability to cast it reliably. Lighting areas can make jumping more useful as a general escape for heroes without a light source like an oil lamp or candle.
Some players zap the wand to mark locations where they have been in otherwise unlit areas, and may even do so to mark the location of the vibrating square and light paths between staircases in Gehennom; this is a great boon if you happen to get amnesia, but is probably not necessary in most cases.
A hero that can reliably maintain energy and cast the light spell, or else has a suitable long-term light source like a spare magic lamp, can use the wand of light as polyfodder due to their higher amount of charges.
Identification
Identifying the wand of light is incredibly trivial even without the wand identifying: for price identification, only the wand of nothing and wand of light share their base price of 100zm.
History
The wand of light first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are both based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.
Messages
- A lit field surrounds you!
- You zapped or engraved with a wand of light.
Variants
SporkHack
In SporkHack, wands of light blind nearby monsters when engraving or zapping with them. Be wary of using them close to pets in order to avoid pet abuse, and be especially careful around peaceful monsters, particularly aligned priests and/or the Minetown watch.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the wand of light always has the appearance of a "glass wand".
The treasure piles generated in the Grue's Cavern at level creation will contain a wand of light.
NetHack Fourk
In NetHack Fourk, which implements the Wands Balance Patch, the wand of light's effects depend on the user's wand skill: at Unskilled, the wand lights a small radius equal to a lit lamp, while at Basic it behaves as in vanilla NetHack; at Skilled, it lights a 9-square radius as a blessed scroll of light does in Fourk, at Expert it lights a 15-square radius, and at Master it lights the entire level. This also applies to FIQHack.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, a wand of light can be combined with a wand of opening at a furnace to create a wand of enlightenment.
The wand of light is one of the wand whose effects can be replicated by a wand of wonder.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the non-cursed wand behaves as in SporkHack, and angering peacefuls and abusing pets contributes to alignment abuse, making it imperative for a hero to pay attention to their surroundings. A cursed wand of light will instead darken the same radius around the hero, and can be of great use to a drow hero.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, the wand of light is one of the wand whose effects can be replicated by a wand of wonder.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, a cursed wand of light behaves as in EvilHack.
The wand of light is one of the wand whose effects can be replicated by a wand of wonder.
References
- Jump up ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 164
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2156
- Jump up ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 657
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3353
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2481
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2614
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2623
