Difference between revisions of "Altar"

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{{features}}
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{{Wikipedia|Altar}}
 
{{religion}}
 
{{religion}}
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{{Wikipedia|Altar}}
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An '''altar''', represented by an underscore ({{lightgray|_}}), is a place where you may worship [[god]]s. [[Temple]]s contain an altar and an [[aligned priest]].
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An '''altar''', represented by an underscore ({{Lightgray|_}}), is a place where you may worship [[god]]s. An altar with a [[priest]] in the same room is a [[temple]].
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Altars are '''co-aligned''' if they are of the same [[alignment]] as you and '''cross-aligned''' if they are of a different alignment. To determine if an altar is co-aligned, either use [[far look]] or stand on it and use close look. Altars of Moloch are '''unaligned'''. Unaligned altars appear only in Gehennom, one variant of [[Minetown]] and some quests (except as [[mimic]]s).
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Altars are scattered randomly throughout the dungeons. [[Minetown]] has a randomly aligned altar and unaligned altars can be found in the [[Valley of the Dead]] (in the temple of [[Moloch]]), Orcus-town and Moloch's Sanctum unless they were destroyed in a [[bones]] file. [[Orcish Town]], the variant of Minetown that has been overrun by [[Orc (monster class)|orcs]], has an unaligned altar.
  
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Altars and priests are '''co-aligned''' if they are of the same alignment as you, '''cross-aligned''' if they are of a different alignment. An altar is '''aligned''' if it has lawful, neutral or chaotic status. Altars of Moloch are '''unaligned'''. Unaligned altars do not appear in the main dungeon, only in Gehennom and some quests.
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Altars can be used to detect the [[beatitude]] of items. This is done by dropping the item onto the altar. A black flash marks a cursed item, and an amber flash marks a blessed one. You cannot detect an item's beatitude if you are [[blind]]. You cannot detect whether an item is blessed or cursed if you are [[hallucination|hallucinating]], as you will not be able to distinguish between amber flashes and black flashes; you can, however, identify uncursed items, as there will not be a flash at all.{{reffunc|do.c|doaltarobj|name=doaltar}}
  
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Altars not located in [[temple]]s are scattered randomly throughout the dungeons. The [[Valley of the Dead]] has an unaligned altar located in the temple of [[Moloch]]. [[Minetown]] is also guaranteed to have a temple altar.
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If you #[[sit]] on, [[engrave]] on, or [[kick]] an altar, you will experience negative effects depending on the altar alignment and your [[alignment record]].{{refsrc|src/sit.c|137|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/engrave.c|576|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/dokick.c|1061|nethack=3.6.7}} If the altar is co-aligned and your alignment record is greater than -[[rn2]](4), you lose one point of wisdom and one point of alignment record; otherwise, you lose 0-2 points of Luck, if your Luck is greater than -5.{{refsrc|src/pray.c|2232|nethack=3.6.7}} This can be used to deliberately lower your [[Luck]] or [[alignment record]] to prevent [[crowning]], and does not break [[atheist]] conduct.
  
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Altars can be used to detect the [[BUC]] status of items. This is done by dropping the item onto the altar. A black flash marks a cursed item and an amber flash a blessed one. You can not detect the BUC status if you are [[blindness|blind]] or [[hallucination|hallucinating]].
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If you (or a monster) zap a [[wand of digging]] downwards, you get the message ''"The digging ray is ineffective"'' and nothing further happens. However, if you break a [[wand of digging]] or [[apply]] a [[drum of earthquake]] while standing on an altar, it will be destroyed (unless it is a high altar).
  
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==Sacrificing corpses==
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Standing on any altar [[scare]]s [[vampire]]s as if you were standing on [[Elbereth]] or a [[scroll of scare monster]].{{refsrc|monmove.c|129}}
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You can '''#offer''' fresh [[corpse]]s to your god by sacrificing them on an altar. The greater the monster's [[difficulty]], the more your god will appreciate it. Since you have to touch the offering you must be wearing gloves when sacrificing [[cockatrice]] corpses. Additionally, sacrificing will give you an indication of your current [[prayer]] timeout. You can offer partially eaten corpses but they are worth less.
 
  
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If you are [[luck]]y, sacrificing on an altar of any alignment other than your own converts the altar and the power of your god increases. If you are unlucky, the altar may resist, or you might be converted to the altar's [[alignment]] yourself. Trying to convert the altar in a temple will anger the [[Aligned_priest|priest]]. Altars in [[Gehennom]] are unaligned and cannot be converted. Other unaligned altars in the game, found on some [[quest]]s, however, ''can'' be converted.
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Randomly generated altars appear in ordinary room and corridor levels in the [[Dungeons of Doom]]. There is an independent 1 in 60 chance of each [[special room|non-special]] room containing an altar,{{refsrc|mklev.c|785}} which gives a 93% chance of at least one. The altar has an equal probability of each of the three alignments. Altars will not be generated adjacent to doors (diagonal is okay), but otherwise can occupy any spot in the room not already occupied by something else.{{refsrc|mklev.c|1353}} The chance of an empty room containing an altar does not change with dungeon level.
  
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===Danger in sacrificing===
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==Sacrificing corpses==
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Sacrificing can be dangerous in the following circumstances:
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{{main|Sacrifice}}
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* Sacrificing at an altar of Moloch.
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Sacrificing fresh corpses is a useful way to reduce your prayer timeout, increase your luck, gain powerful [[artifact weapon]]s, and improve your [[alignment]] (particularly if your god is unhappy with you). In [[SLASH'EM]], you can also have wielded and worn items [[blessed]] and gain powerful [[minion]]s through sacrifice. [[Sacrifice|Sacrificing]] at the altar of another god has a chance of converting that altar to your alignment, potentially angering that god. Note that it also has a chance of converting ''you'' to that altar's alignment, angering your god and making it difficult or impossible to complete the [[quest]] if you haven't already done so.
−
** You gain 3 anger, lose 5 [[alignment]], lose 2 [[wisdom]], lose 5 [[luck]], and get a negative effect.
 
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* Sacrificing at an altar not of your alignment type (ie. Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic) when your alignment is negative.
 
−
** This may convert you to the altar's alignment, you lose 3 luck, and your prayer timeout increases by 300.  Note that if this happens before you have been admitted to the quest, the game will be [[unwinnable]].
 
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* Sacrificing at an altar not of your alignment type (ie. Lawful, Neutral, Chaotic) when your alignment is high and you are at least level 7.
 
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** This will convert the altar but may summon a [[minion]] of the altar's original god. The probability varies, but is never greater than 1/4. The probability is higher in [[NetHack brass]] and [[SLASH'EM]], see [[#Variants]].
 
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** Additionally, if you do this to convert an altar in a [[Special_room#Temples|temple]] with attending priest, the priest will become angry at you.
 
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* Sacrificing former pets.
 
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** You lose 3 [[alignment]] and gain the aggravate monster [[intrinsic]].
 
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* Sacrificing your own race if you are not chaotic.
 
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** You lose 5 alignment and 5 luck, and your god's anger increases by 3. On a chaotic altar, this will summon a hostile [[demon lord]] or other major [[demon]]. Other altars are converted to chaotic.
 
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* Sacrificing a unicorn on an altar of its own alignment.
 
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* Sacrificing a unicorn of your alignment.
 
  
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===Sacrificing your own race===
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==Making holy/unholy water==
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If you are not [[chaotic]], it is very bad to sacrifice corpses of your own race. Doing so will cause [[wisdom]], [[luck]], and [[alignment]] to be abused, and will anger your deity. However, chaotic characters can do this safely. It's a guaranteed method of converting a [[lawful]] or [[neutral]] altar to chaotic; if the altar is already chaotic, it will cause a peaceful [[demon lord]] to be summoned while luck and alignment are exercised.
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If you drop one or more [[potions of water]] onto an altar and #[[pray]], the potions become [[potion of holy water|blessed]] if the altar was aligned with you and become [[potion of unholy water|cursed]] if the altar was not aligned with you. This occurs regardless of whether the water was blessed or cursed before. Be aware that water praying on a cross-aligned altar will anger your god, decrease your luck, and possibly cause you to be punished in some other way.
  
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===Sacrificing unicorns===
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Normal prayer timeouts apply when praying on altars.
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Sacrificing [[Unicorn]]s is tricky because the altar's alignment, your alignment, and the unicorn's alignment all factor into the outcome. A unicorn's alignment is represented by its color. The white is lawful, grey neutral, and black chaotic. The points to remember are:
 
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* Never sacrifice a unicorn on an altar of its own alignment.
 
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* Never sacrifice a unicorn of your alignment.
 
  
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The rest of the effects are summarized in the following table:
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==Altar camping==
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It is generally possible to survive indefinitely on a level with an altar. Under normal circumstances, the need for food drives you to deeper unexplored levels. However, you can instead pray when weak, and sacrifice to reduce your prayer timeout back to zero. Doing this for extended periods of time can net you many [[death drop]]s, as well as a collection of gifts from your god if your luck is substantially high. This is considered by some to be [[cheating|degenerate]].
  
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{| Class="wikitable"
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In older versions, this was most effectively done with [[black pudding]]s or [[brown pudding]]s, which was known as "[[pudding farming]]"; [[brown pudding]]s were less suitable for farming due to a lower sacrifice value, the inability to be summoned by kicking a sink, and their tendency to not leave a corpse (meaning more work and fewer death drops), but this was offset by their lack of a damaging attack, allowing them to be farmed more safely by physically weak or low level characters. As of Nethack 3.6.0, however, puddings no longer leave corpses at all, rendering this strategy totally ineffective.
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!width="20%"| You
 
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!width="20%"| Unicorn
 
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!width="20%"| Altar
 
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!width="40%"| Effect
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| Bad
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || You become neutral
 
−
|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || You become chaotic
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| Good
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || Bad
 
−
|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || Altar becomes lawful
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| Good
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || Altar becomes lawful
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || Bad
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| Bad
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || Good
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || Altar becomes neutral
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| You become lawful
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || Bad
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || You become chaotic
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| Altar becomes neutral
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || Good
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || Bad
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| Bad
 
−
|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || Altar becomes chaotic
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]White || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || Good
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| Altar becomes chaotic
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || Bad
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Grey || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || Good
 
−
|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Lawful.png|20px]]Lawful|| You become lawful
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Neutral.png|20px]]Neutral || You become neutral
 
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|-
 
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| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Black|| [[Image:Chaotic.png|20px]]Chaotic || Bad
 
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|}
 
  
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===Prayer timeouts and sacrifice===
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==High altars==
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Sacrificing on an altar reduces your prayer timeout and you get a message indicating the status of your prayer timeout.
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The three altars on the [[Astral Plane]] and the altar in [[Moloch's Sanctum]] are considered to be '''high altars'''. They act largely as normal altars, but cannot be converted under any circumstances; doing so will cause the god in question to attempt to zap you and, failing this, will summon three minions to protect the altar. In addition, it is not possible to sacrifice monsters unless you are holding them (to prevent sacrificing the [[Riders]]).
  
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;"You have a hopeful feeling."
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To correctly ascend, one must #offer the real [[Amulet of Yendor]] (held in main inventory, not dropped on the altar) at the altar of your [[alignment]]. Determining the alignment of the altar requires standing on its location and using the {{kbd|:}} (look) command. The {{kbd|;}} (farlook) command does not give information about a high altar's alignment (it merely calls it "aligned," which does not mean "coaligned with you," [[Lessons learned the hard way|as a number of new players learn the hard way]]). Other methods to detect the correct altar are to zap a [[wand of probing|probing]] at the [[high priest]], or to note if you are given [[sanctuary]] (that is, all monsters other than the [[Riders]], [[aligned priest]], and [[angelic being]]s, will not be allowed to enter and cannot attack you with melee attacks). If the version of NetHack you are playing on has not fixed the [[Astral call bug]], that is also a possibility.
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:You may not pray yet because your prayer timeout hasn't expired.
 
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;"You have a feeling of reconciliation."
 
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:You may pray because your sacrifice reduced your prayer timeout to zero.
 
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;"An object appears at your feet!"
 
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:You may not pray because you received a gift and your prayer timeout has been increased.
 
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;"You have a feeling of inadequacy."
 
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:You may not pray. Your god is still angry at you.
 
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;"<Deity> seems slightly mollified."
 
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:You may not pray. Your god's anger has been reduced but it is not yet zero.
 
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;"<Deity> seems mollified."
 
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:You may pray because your god's anger has been reduced to zero.
 
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;"You feel partially absolved."
 
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:You may not pray because your alignment was negative, and has been increased by the level of the corpse, to a maximum of zero. Sacrifice again to find if it's safe to pray.
 
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;"You glimpse a four-leaf clover at your feet."
 
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:Your luck was increased; you may pray.
 
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;"You think something brushed your foot."
 
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:Your luck was increased while blind; you may pray.
 
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;"You see crabgrass at your feet.  A funny thing in a dungeon."
 
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:Your luck was increased while hallucinating; you may pray.
 
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;"Your sacrifice is consumed..." and no further message
 
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:You may pray
 
  
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==Making water holy/unholy==
+
You can destroy the [[chaotic]] altar with non-chaotic same-[[race]] [[sacrifice]], but you cannot convert the others.
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If you drop a [[potion of water]] or several potions of water onto an altar and #[[pray]], the potions become [[holy water|blessed]] if the altar was aligned with you and become [[unholy water|cursed]] if the altar was not aligned with you. This occurs regardless of whether the water was blessed or cursed before. Be aware that praying on a cross-aligned altar will anger your god, decrease your luck, and you might be punished in some other way.
 
  
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Normal prayer timeouts apply when praying on altars.
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==Hallucinating colors==
 +
If you drop a blessed or cursed item on an altar while [[hallucination|hallucinating]] you will see a <color> flash, where <color> is randomly selected from: "ultraviolet", "infrared", "bluish-orange", "reddish-green", "dark white", "light black", "sky blue-pink", "salty", "sweet", "sour", "bitter", "striped", "spiral", "swirly", "plaid", "checkered", "argyle", "paisley", "blotchy", "guernsey-spotted", "polka-dotted", "square", "round", "triangular", "cabernet", "sangria", "fuchsia", "wisteria", "lemon-lime", "strawberry-banana", "peppermint", "romantic", "incandescent".<ref name=doaltar />{{reffunc|do_name.c|hcolor}}
  
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==Camping/scumming==
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==Encyclopedia entry==
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It is possible to survive indefinitely on a level with an altar. Under normal circumstances, the need for food drives you to deeper unexplored levels. However, you can instead pray when weak, and sacrifice to reduce your prayer timeout back to zero. Doing this for extended periods of time can net you many death drops, and a collection of gifts from your god if your luck is substantially high. This is considered by some as [[cheating|degenerate]]. It is most effectively done with [[black pudding]]s, which is known as "[[pudding farming]]".
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{{encyclopedia|
 +
Altars are of three types:
 +
1.  In Temples. These are for Sacrifices [...]. The stone top will have grooves for blood, and the whole will be covered with _dry brown stains of a troubling kind_ from former Sacrifices.
 +
{{right-align|[ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones ]}}
  
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==High altars==
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To every man upon this earth
−
The three altars on the [[Astral Plane]] and the altar in [[Moloch's Sanctum]] are considered to be '''high altars'''. They act largely as normal altars, but cannot be converted under any circumstances; doing so will cause the god in question to attempt to zap you and, failing this, will summon three minions to protect the altar.
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Death cometh soon or late;
 +
And how can man die better
 +
Than facing fearful odds
 +
For the ashes of his fathers
 +
And the temples of his gods?
 +
|[ Lays of Ancient Rome, by Thomas B. Macaulay ]
 +
}}
  
 
==Variants==
 
==Variants==
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Players of [[NetHack brass]] and [[SLASH'EM]] need to be wary when converting altars, because of the increased chance that the altar's original god will dispatch a [[minion]] against you. At [[experience level]] 7 or above with high [[alignment]], the chance of a minion appearing after converting the altar is the same as vanilla.<ref>[[pray.c#line1396]] in 3.4.3, {{semsrc|src/pray.c|1.13.2.1|line=1606}} in S 0.0.7E7F2</ref> As in vanilla, the god will yell, "Thou shalt pay for thy indiscretion!"<ref>[[minion.c#line128]]</ref> You'll see less minions with high [[luck]].
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Players of [[NetHack brass]] and [[SLASH'EM]] need to be wary when converting altars, because of the increased chance that the altar's original god will dispatch a [[minion]] against you. At [[experience level]] 7 or above with high [[alignment]], the chance of a minion appearing after converting the altar is the same as vanilla.{{refsrc|pray.c|1606|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}}{{refsrc|pray.c|1396}} As in vanilla, the god will yell, "Thou shalt pay for thy indiscretion!"{{refsrc|minion.c|128}} Players with a high [[luck]] will have fewer minions dispatched against them.
  
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Even worse, there's an additional chance of one or more minions appearing post-conversion. In SLASH'EM, if you are at experience level 4 or above, there is a chance that "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" and the god dispatches two minions.<ref>{{semsrc|src/pray.c|1.13.2.1|line1583}} in S 0.0.7E7F2</ref> Afterwards, you still have the original chance of another minion, as above. Again, [[luck]] is a factor.
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Even worse, there's an additional chance of one or more minions appearing post-conversion. In SLASH'EM, if you are at experience level 4 or above, there is a chance that "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" and the god dispatches two minions.{{refsrc|pray.c|1583|version=SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2}} Afterwards, you still have the original chance of another minion, as above. Again, [[luck]] is a factor.
  
 
In [[NetHack brass]], you will always receive "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" For all experience levels, at least one minion will appear. Two rolls are made: the first from 0 to 9, the second from 0 to 19.  For each roll, if your level is less than the generated random number, a post-conversion minion is summoned.  [[Luck]] is not a factor. Thus in brass it is very dangerous to convert altars. You might convert an altar at experience level one and have to flee to another level from one minion, or three minions if the game rolled 0 twice, thus giving you no use of the converted altar. If converting an altar at experience level 7 or above, you might still get the pre-conversion minion, forcing you to fight as many as four summoned minions.<ref>src/pray.c in brass 040923</ref>
 
In [[NetHack brass]], you will always receive "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" For all experience levels, at least one minion will appear. Two rolls are made: the first from 0 to 9, the second from 0 to 19.  For each roll, if your level is less than the generated random number, a post-conversion minion is summoned.  [[Luck]] is not a factor. Thus in brass it is very dangerous to convert altars. You might convert an altar at experience level one and have to flee to another level from one minion, or three minions if the game rolled 0 twice, thus giving you no use of the converted altar. If converting an altar at experience level 7 or above, you might still get the pre-conversion minion, forcing you to fight as many as four summoned minions.<ref>src/pray.c in brass 040923</ref>
  
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==Source code references==
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Also, there seems to be a possibility in SLASH'EM to have equipment being worn blessed if you sacrifice enough.
 +
 
 +
==See also==
 +
[[Prayer]] is closely related to sacrifice. See that page for altar-related [[intrinsic]]s, [[crowning]], etc.
 +
 
 +
==References==
 
<references />
 
<references />
  
 +
{{nethack-343|offset=1}}
 
{{featured}}
 
{{featured}}
  
 
[[Category:Dungeon features]]
 
[[Category:Dungeon features]]
 
[[Category:Religion]]
 
[[Category:Religion]]
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[[Category:Extended commands]]
 

Latest revision as of 16:11, 3 August 2023

Dungeon features
  Air _ Altar
# Corridor # Cloud
#. Drawbridge +-| Door
. Doorway { Fountain
| Headstone .  Floor
>< Ladder . Ice
# Iron bars } Lava
} Moat # Sink
  Solid rock >< Staircase
\ Throne ^" Trap
# Tree - | Wall
~ Vibrating square
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an article about:
Religion in NetHack

An altar, represented by an underscore (_), is a place where you may worship gods. Temples contain an altar and an aligned priest.

Altars are co-aligned if they are of the same alignment as you and cross-aligned if they are of a different alignment. To determine if an altar is co-aligned, either use far look or stand on it and use close look. Altars of Moloch are unaligned. Unaligned altars appear only in Gehennom, one variant of Minetown and some quests (except as mimics).

Altars are scattered randomly throughout the dungeons. Minetown has a randomly aligned altar and unaligned altars can be found in the Valley of the Dead (in the temple of Moloch), Orcus-town and Moloch's Sanctum unless they were destroyed in a bones file. Orcish Town, the variant of Minetown that has been overrun by orcs, has an unaligned altar.

Altars can be used to detect the beatitude of items. This is done by dropping the item onto the altar. A black flash marks a cursed item, and an amber flash marks a blessed one. You cannot detect an item's beatitude if you are blind. You cannot detect whether an item is blessed or cursed if you are hallucinating, as you will not be able to distinguish between amber flashes and black flashes; you can, however, identify uncursed items, as there will not be a flash at all.[1]

If you #sit on, engrave on, or kick an altar, you will experience negative effects depending on the altar alignment and your alignment record.[2][3][4] If the altar is co-aligned and your alignment record is greater than -rn2(4), you lose one point of wisdom and one point of alignment record; otherwise, you lose 0-2 points of Luck, if your Luck is greater than -5.[5] This can be used to deliberately lower your Luck or alignment record to prevent crowning, and does not break atheist conduct.

If you (or a monster) zap a wand of digging downwards, you get the message "The digging ray is ineffective" and nothing further happens. However, if you break a wand of digging or apply a drum of earthquake while standing on an altar, it will be destroyed (unless it is a high altar).

Standing on any altar scares vampires as if you were standing on Elbereth or a scroll of scare monster.[6]

Randomly generated altars appear in ordinary room and corridor levels in the Dungeons of Doom. There is an independent 1 in 60 chance of each non-special room containing an altar,[7] which gives a 93% chance of at least one. The altar has an equal probability of each of the three alignments. Altars will not be generated adjacent to doors (diagonal is okay), but otherwise can occupy any spot in the room not already occupied by something else.[8] The chance of an empty room containing an altar does not change with dungeon level.

Sacrificing corpses

Main article: Sacrifice

Sacrificing fresh corpses is a useful way to reduce your prayer timeout, increase your luck, gain powerful artifact weapons, and improve your alignment (particularly if your god is unhappy with you). In SLASH'EM, you can also have wielded and worn items blessed and gain powerful minions through sacrifice. Sacrificing at the altar of another god has a chance of converting that altar to your alignment, potentially angering that god. Note that it also has a chance of converting you to that altar's alignment, angering your god and making it difficult or impossible to complete the quest if you haven't already done so.

Making holy/unholy water

If you drop one or more potions of water onto an altar and #pray, the potions become blessed if the altar was aligned with you and become cursed if the altar was not aligned with you. This occurs regardless of whether the water was blessed or cursed before. Be aware that water praying on a cross-aligned altar will anger your god, decrease your luck, and possibly cause you to be punished in some other way.

Normal prayer timeouts apply when praying on altars.

Altar camping

It is generally possible to survive indefinitely on a level with an altar. Under normal circumstances, the need for food drives you to deeper unexplored levels. However, you can instead pray when weak, and sacrifice to reduce your prayer timeout back to zero. Doing this for extended periods of time can net you many death drops, as well as a collection of gifts from your god if your luck is substantially high. This is considered by some to be degenerate.

In older versions, this was most effectively done with black puddings or brown puddings, which was known as "pudding farming"; brown puddings were less suitable for farming due to a lower sacrifice value, the inability to be summoned by kicking a sink, and their tendency to not leave a corpse (meaning more work and fewer death drops), but this was offset by their lack of a damaging attack, allowing them to be farmed more safely by physically weak or low level characters. As of Nethack 3.6.0, however, puddings no longer leave corpses at all, rendering this strategy totally ineffective.

High altars

The three altars on the Astral Plane and the altar in Moloch's Sanctum are considered to be high altars. They act largely as normal altars, but cannot be converted under any circumstances; doing so will cause the god in question to attempt to zap you and, failing this, will summon three minions to protect the altar. In addition, it is not possible to sacrifice monsters unless you are holding them (to prevent sacrificing the Riders).

To correctly ascend, one must #offer the real Amulet of Yendor (held in main inventory, not dropped on the altar) at the altar of your alignment. Determining the alignment of the altar requires standing on its location and using the : (look) command. The ; (farlook) command does not give information about a high altar's alignment (it merely calls it "aligned," which does not mean "coaligned with you," as a number of new players learn the hard way). Other methods to detect the correct altar are to zap a probing at the high priest, or to note if you are given sanctuary (that is, all monsters other than the Riders, aligned priest, and angelic beings, will not be allowed to enter and cannot attack you with melee attacks). If the version of NetHack you are playing on has not fixed the Astral call bug, that is also a possibility.

You can destroy the chaotic altar with non-chaotic same-race sacrifice, but you cannot convert the others.

Hallucinating colors

If you drop a blessed or cursed item on an altar while hallucinating you will see a <color> flash, where <color> is randomly selected from: "ultraviolet", "infrared", "bluish-orange", "reddish-green", "dark white", "light black", "sky blue-pink", "salty", "sweet", "sour", "bitter", "striped", "spiral", "swirly", "plaid", "checkered", "argyle", "paisley", "blotchy", "guernsey-spotted", "polka-dotted", "square", "round", "triangular", "cabernet", "sangria", "fuchsia", "wisteria", "lemon-lime", "strawberry-banana", "peppermint", "romantic", "incandescent".[1][9]

Encyclopedia entry

Altars are of three types:
1. In Temples. These are for Sacrifices [...]. The stone top will have grooves for blood, and the whole will be covered with _dry brown stains of a troubling kind_ from former Sacrifices.

[ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones ]


To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his gods?

[ Lays of Ancient Rome, by Thomas B. Macaulay ]

Variants

Players of NetHack brass and SLASH'EM need to be wary when converting altars, because of the increased chance that the altar's original god will dispatch a minion against you. At experience level 7 or above with high alignment, the chance of a minion appearing after converting the altar is the same as vanilla.[10][11] As in vanilla, the god will yell, "Thou shalt pay for thy indiscretion!"[12] Players with a high luck will have fewer minions dispatched against them.

Even worse, there's an additional chance of one or more minions appearing post-conversion. In SLASH'EM, if you are at experience level 4 or above, there is a chance that "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" and the god dispatches two minions.[13] Afterwards, you still have the original chance of another minion, as above. Again, luck is a factor.

In NetHack brass, you will always receive "You feel (god) is very angry at you!" For all experience levels, at least one minion will appear. Two rolls are made: the first from 0 to 9, the second from 0 to 19. For each roll, if your level is less than the generated random number, a post-conversion minion is summoned. Luck is not a factor. Thus in brass it is very dangerous to convert altars. You might convert an altar at experience level one and have to flee to another level from one minion, or three minions if the game rolled 0 twice, thus giving you no use of the converted altar. If converting an altar at experience level 7 or above, you might still get the pre-conversion minion, forcing you to fight as many as four summoned minions.[14]

Also, there seems to be a possibility in SLASH'EM to have equipment being worn blessed if you sacrifice enough.

See also

Prayer is closely related to sacrifice. See that page for altar-related intrinsics, crowning, etc.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 doaltarobj in do.c
  2. ↑ src/sit.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 137
  3. ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 576
  4. ↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1061
  5. ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2232
  6. ↑ monmove.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 129
  7. ↑ mklev.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 785
  8. ↑ mklev.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 1353
  9. ↑ hcolor in do_name.c
  10. ↑ pray.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1606
  11. ↑ pray.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 1396
  12. ↑ minion.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 128
  13. ↑ pray.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1583
  14. ↑ src/pray.c in brass 040923


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