Crowning

You may be crowned as a result of prayer if you are at least piously aligned and extremely lucky. Crowning involves receiving a title, an additional skill slot, several intrinsic resistances, and possibly a gift, at the cost of a greatly increased prayer timeout.

Title

Which title you receive depends on your current alignment:

Alignment	Title
Lawful	Hand of Elbereth
Neutral	Envoy of Balance
Chaotic	Glory of Arioch

Intrinsics

The following intrinsics are granted:

• cold resistance
• fire resistance
• poison resistance
• sleep resistance
• shock resistance
• see invisible

As of NetHack 3.6.0, an additional skill slot is also granted, as if the player gained an experience level.

Alignment gift

A gift is given, based on the following algorithm:

• Wizard
  • If not wielding Vorpal Blade or Stormbringer, and not carrying a spellbook of finger of death, the gift is a blessed spellbook of finger of death.
  • If you received the book but already know the spell, see Exceptions
  • Otherwise, see Others
• Monk
  • If not wielding an artifact or carrying a spellbook of restore ability, the gift is a blessed spellbook of restore ability.
  • If you received the book but already know the spell, see Exceptions
  • Otherwise, see Others
• Others
  • Lawful
    • If wielding a non-artifact long sword (as a primary weapon if using two-weaponing) and Excalibur does not exist in the game, the long sword is changed into Excalibur. The long sword skill is unrestricted whether or not you received Excalibur.
  • Neutral
    • If Vorpal Blade does not exist in the game, it is given as a gift. Long sword skill is unrestricted regardless.
  • Chaotic
    • If Stormbringer does not exist in the game, it is given as a gift. Broadsword skill is unrestricted regardless.

• Afterwards, the gift (if a weapon) is blessed, increased to +1 if below that, and made unrusted and rustproof, and its corresponding skill class is unrestricted. If no gift is given, these bonuses are applied to your wielded weapon instead.

Exceptions

If you already have the crowning gift or it was an artifact that has already been generated in your game, then you do not receive a gift object. The message depends on what you are wielding: "You feel unworthy" if nothing, "Your Vorpal Blade goes snicker-snack!" for neutrals wielding Vorpal Blade, or your weapon "hums ominously!" for chaotics wielding Stormbringer.

For characters who already have the crowning weapon and that proficiency, crowning is usually a bad deal. But firstly, foodless heroes might want the intrinsics. Secondly, you can unrestrict any weapon of your choice if you are wielding it and arrange not to get a crowning gift (or already know the spellbook). Elven non-wizards don't need the gift because they can force Stormbringer to be their first sacrifice gift.

There are three ways to avoid being crowned. You can pray only when in trouble and not at an altar, or you can make sure your Luck is at most nine (see that page for ways to do so), or you can make sure that your alignment record is at most 19 (ie. not piously aligned), which you can easily check if you have a stethoscope.

Prayer timeout

The downside of getting crowned is that the player's prayer timeout is greatly increased permanently. Players that depend heavily on prayer may find themselves crowned earlier than those that do not, by sheer statistics. Unfortunately, it is these players that are hurt by being crowned, as the increased prayer timeout means they must go longer without praying. If the player does not need the benefits listed above, being crowned is not necessary, though ascending with a title is a nice aesthetic bonus.

It is possible to compensate for the increased prayer timeout by making a large number of sacrifices.

Messages

"I crown thee... The Hand of Elbereth!"

You, a lawful character, were crowned.

"Thou shalt be my Envoy of Balance!"

You, a neutral character, were crowned.

"Thou art chosen to steal souls for My Glory!"

You, a chaotic character, were crowned.

Variants

Prior to NetHack 3.6.0, no additional skill slot was granted upon crowning. By extension, this is also the case in most variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, if a lawful character is crowned, their wielded weapon is enchanted to +3 instead of +1, or given additional +1 if already at +3 or above. The item is not at risk of being destroyed.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, the player's Luck stat needs to be at least 11 for crowning to happen. Because this requires a non-cursed luckstone in open inventory, players can avoid crowning by putting the luckstone away before praying. Also, crowning will happen as soon as the player has fulfilled all of the requirements and has completed the quest by presenting the artifact to the quest leader. There are also quite a few more titles the player may receive.

FIQhack

Crowning also grants intrinsic acid resistance, and permanent knowledge of your role's special spell. Since this would make the crowning gift redundant for a monk, their crowning gift is now a magic marker.