Anachrononaut

The Anachrononaut (roughly, 'sailor against time') is a role added in dNetHack version 3.11.0. The Anachrononaut character comes from an apocalyptic future, and has been sent on a mission to prevent the end of the world, through means initially unknown to them. To aid them in this task, they have been equipped with a variety of future tech, and can obtain more from their quest home level. Humans, Incantifiers, Elves, and Drow can be Anachrononauts. Each race receives a different set of starting equipment.

Starting Packages

Human Anachrononaut

The human Anachrononaut recieves a full set of plasteel armor (helm, armor, gauntlets, and boots), as well as a cloak of magic resistance, giving them a starting AC of -4 and protection from magical monsters and traps. Offensively, they are equipped with a force pike, an arm blaster, and a hand blaster. They also begin with 5 power packs and around 10 protein pills.

Future Tech

Future tech, with the exception of lightsabers, cannot be wished for, not even by Anachrononauts. Some types future tech will degrade if left in a bones pile, possibly even becoming nonfunctional.

Force pike

Force pikes are powerful melee weapons that can also be used like polearms. Force pikes are one-handed and use the lance skill (and can therefor also be used to joust, though they are just as likely to break as a normal lance). They are a powered weapon, consuming 1 charge per successful hit. A a hit from a charged force pike deals 3d6+6 damage to a small target, and 3d8+8 damage to a large target. An uncharged force pike deals 1d6 and 1d8 damage, respectively. A force pike can be recharged an unlimited number of times. Blessed charging sets the force pike's charge to 100, uncursed to 80-99, and cursed to 10.

Arm blaster

An arm blaster is a high-damage directed energy weapon. It is used by wielding it and then firing. Arm blasters do not use quivered ammunition, instead consuming charges. A heavy blaster bolt deals 3d10+10 damage to a small target, or 3d12+12 damage to a large one. Whether a heavy blaster bolt strikes a target or reaches its maximum range of 15 squares, it releases a 3x3 explosion of nuclear energy dealing a further 3d10 damage, for a potential total of 3d12+12+3d10 damage to the primary target and 3d10 damage to adjacent targets. An arm blaster can be set to single shot, burst fire, or full auto by applying it.

Unlike most ranged weapons, a heavy blaster bolt continues traveling if it misses its first target, so you must always keep in mind what you're using to backstop your shots. Additionally, a heavy blaster bolt has a 20% chance to blow apart rock walls, potentially angering shopkeepers. Blasters are also quite noisy, waking sleeping monsters on the level. Arm blasters ("hard white bracers") are arm-mounted weapons, and incompatible with metal gauntlets, such as gauntlets of power and orihalcyon gauntlets. Blaster bolts reflect from targets with reflection.

An arm blaster can only be recharged 4 times, and there is only a single fresh arm blaster to be found on the Anachrononaut home level. There are therefore only two fresh arm blasters in a human Anachrononaut game, and only one in other Anachrononaut games. The Anachrononaut quest guardians also carry arm blasters, but theirs are mostly drained and already 4x recharged. Blessed charging sets the blaster's charge to 100, uncursed to 80-99, and cursed to 10 (essentially wasting one of the 4 recharges). Therefore, to get the most shots out of your arm blaster, you will need a source of blessed charging.

Due to neglect, arm blasters found in bones files will be 4x recharged and loose half their remaining shots.

Hand blaster

The hand blaster is a smaller, handheld version of the arm blaster. A blaster bolt from a hand blaster deals 3d6+6 damage to a small target, or 3d8+8 to a large target, in addition to a 3d6 damage explosion. Hand blasters can't be set to burst fire or automatic mode.

A hand blaster has only a 5% chance to blow apart rock walls, and being handheld can be used in conjunction with any handwear.

Hand blasters can also be recharged only 4 times; however, there are several fresh hand blasters on the Anachrononaut home level, and 10% of the changed spawn wielding hand blasters.

Power pack

A power pack recharges items in the same manner that a scroll of charging does (though using a power pack while confused does not result in the character recharging themselves). As the future tech of the Anachrononaut is explicitly magical in nature, power packs can be used to recharge normal items, and scrolls of charging can be used to recharge future tech.

Protein pill

A protein pill is an extremely light, compact food ration. Like the food ration, it gives 800 points of nutrition. Unlike the food ration, it weighs only 1 unit, takes only 1 action to eat, and never rots.

Sources

The Anachrononaut role draws inspiration from a number of different fantasy and sci-fi franchises, including Terminator, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dungeons and Dragons (most notably the classic D&D adventure Expedition to the Barrier Peaks). The Firearms module for Slash'Em provided a lot of the foundational code for the future tech.

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