BUC

BUC is an acronym meaning blessed/uncursed/cursed. It is usually used in phrases such as "BUC identified", meaning an item whose "BUC status" is known. A more elegant term is beatitude (blessedness).

Noncursed

Noncursed (or !C) is a shorthand way of saying not cursed, i.e. blessed or uncursed. For many items, the blessed and uncursed usage are very similar, but very different from the cursed usage. For example, noncursed potions of gain level increase your experience level, blessed potions increase your level and get you well on the way to the next level too, but cursed potions of gain level will move you up through the ceiling, moving you up one dungeon level.

Similarly, noncursed armor may be put on and removed at will, while cursed armor is reluctant to be taken off.

B/U/C identification

An altar can be used to detect the beatitude of an item by means of the coloured flashes when the item is dropped on it.

For some items, such as gold pieces or scrolls of mail, the beatitude has no meaning and is always omitted. For some other items, such as weapons or rings with charges, it is not shown if the object is uncursed, even if you have fully identified the item. Also, priests never see the uncursed-status, and can automatically tell the beatitude of any item they see, even if it has yet to be identified.

A scroll of identify will also show you the B/U/C status of an item.

Changing the B/U/C status of an item

There are quite a few ways to change the B/U/C status from items:

• Dipping an object into a potion of holy water will change the B/U/C status from cursed to uncursed, and from uncursed to blessed, using one potion of holy water each time you dip it.
• Dipping an object into a potion of unholy water will do the exact oposite, changing the B/U/C status from blessed to uncursed, and then to cursed.
• A scroll of remove curse will remove the cursed status from a randomly worn item. A blessed scroll of remove curse will remove the cursed status from every object in your inventory.
• Your deity may uncurse/bless items in your pack when you pray on an altar, depending on luck (not sure about the odds).
• High-level spellcasting monsters (notably liches and the Wizard of Yendor) can randomly curse items in your inventory during combat.
• Quaffing from fountains can have a cursing effect on every item in your inventory (see fountain for details).
• #dipping items in fountains can curse and uncurse items (4/30 chance of uncursing, 1/30 chance of cursing).
• Some items (like the dunce cap and the helm of opposite alignment) are generated uncursed, but once you wear them they will change to cursed, preventing you from removing them by normal means.

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"There are many other ways to change the B/U/C status of items."

Game messages

In-game, the phrase "Items of unknown B/C/U status" appears in the drop menu, but the "BUC" ordering is more common in discussions.