Cancellation

Cancellation is the term for removing magic from an object or disabling the special attack of a monster. The most common source of cancellation is the wand of cancellation. A few are able to use the spellbook of cancellation. Those wielding Magicbane can sometimes cancel monsters that way. Foocubi can spontaneously become cancelled.

Cancellation of objects

Cancellation typically removes all charges from an object, removes enchantment (resetting weapons and armor to +0), and removes blessings and cursings. Scrolls and spellbooks are blanked, and most potions are converted to uncursed water (booze, fruit juice and oil are just made uncursed, while see invisible and sickness become uncursed fruit juice). In short, cancellation is quite thorough. However, cancelling a bag of holding does not turn it into a sack and has no effect whatsoever on the contents. Similarly, cancelling a magic lamp uncurses it but does not turn it into an oil lamp. Irina Rempt has written an excellent spoiler on cancelling objects.

Cancelled wands end up with (x:-1) charges, where x is its value prior to being cancelled. Cancelled wands can be recharged subject to normal restrictions on wand charging, but cannot be wrested; if they are zapped or engraved with, they will turn to dust. Wands of cancellation cannot be cancelled (though cancelling them will uncurse them, like it would a bag of holding).

Cancelling yourself

If you zap a wand of cancellation at yourself, every item in your inventory will become cancelled. All equipment will revert to uncursed and +0, all spellbooks and scrolls will turn blank, etc. Do not do this with a wand that you think is a wand of make invisible. Self-cancellation is one means of removing cursed gear; just be sure to drop everything else before zapping.

Cancellation of monsters

Cancelling monsters eliminates most forms of attack they have (except inflicting physical damage). In particular, cancelled monsters cannot blind with light, cast spells, charm, confuse, disenchant, divide, drain stats, explode, heal, mimic, paralyse, prick, poison, put to sleep, rust, rot, seduce, slime, spit, steal items (except the Wizard of Yendor) and intrinsics, stick, stun, summon, teleport, wrap around or use any breath weapon, cold, fire or electricity attack, whether as an offensive or defensive ability, with respect to you or any other monster.

Cancelling clay golems causes them to be destroyed immediately (this is because they, according to legend, are animated by an inscription on their forehead, which the wand erases).

Cancelling a cockatrice or chickatrice prevents it from stiffening you with its hissing, but direct physical contact with it or its corpse can still cause stoning.

Cancelling Medusa removes her stoning gaze, which also means that she cannot be stoned with a reflecting item. Similarly, cancelling a floating eye means it cannot be paralyzed with the same.

Some attacks which are not magical in nature cannot be cancelled, these include:

• the special attacks of the Riders (disease for Pestilence, hunger for Famine and touch of death for Death)
• the blinding attack of ravens
• a mind flayer's brain attack
• the attacks of the Oracle
• defensive acid splashing

Breaking the wand

If you break a wand of cancellation, there is an explosion from 1 to (4*charges) damage. Monsters and objects in the affected squares are cancelled.

Considering when to cancel

Suppose you need some blank scrolls and spellbooks and some potions of water, because you plan to use your magic marker and make holy water. If you have a wand of cancellation, one strategy is to put all your junk scrolls, spellbooks, and potions into one pile, then zap it with only one charge. However, it is usually easier to wet those kinds of items rather than cancelling them. The advantage of cancelling in the early game is that you do not need to use fountains, which are sometimes rare, and can cause nasty side effects. Once you find a pool or moat, or break a fountain to make a pool, you can save cancellation for use against monsters.

A few items can be rendered useful by cancelling them: a perfectly useless cursed -5 pair of levitation boots, for example, will cancel to a perfectly good uncursed +0 pair.

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