Autocursing

In NetHack, certain nasty items will instantly become cursed in response to player actions - these autocursed items will require you to exercise caution with unknown items, even if they do not appear to be cursed.

Description

An item that autocurses itself will become cursed regardless of beatitude. The following items will autocurse themselves:

• Loadstones (appearance: gray stone)
• Helms of opposite alignment (randomized appearance)
• Dunce caps (appearance: conical hat)

The helm and the dunce cap will become cursed when worn by a player, while the loadstone only becomes cursed when dropped - that is, picking up an uncursed loadstone is perfectly safe. However, since all loadstones are generated cursed (except possibly those in containers), they are still best left alone. If you are not playing as a Wizard and do not have a large-sized pet(s) that you want to give magic cancellation, you can safely ignore all conical hats - the only other hat that shares that appearance is the cornuthaum, which is only of use to a Wizard or any player with such a pet.

See also

• Scroll of scare monster, which also changes beatitude when dropped by players