Glib
Glib is a property in NetHack that occurs as a result of using certain items, leaving you with slippery fingers.
Description
Your fingers can become slippery for 11-15 turns through any of the following actions:
- Eating any tin that contains fried monster (i.e. deep fried, french fried or stir fried).
- Applying a cursed towel or cursed can of grease.
- Applying or dipping a cursed potion of oil.
While your fingers (or gloves if you are wearing them) are slippery, you will drop any items you are wielding, and non-cursed rings may slip from your fingers;[1] putting on or removing gloves does not affect this property. You cannot open tins or write while glib, and items dropped in a shop as a result of slippery fingers automatically become the property of the shopkeeper.
Slippery fingers can be cleaned by applying a non-cursed towel.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
As of commit fe39a2b, a tethered aklys will not slip from your hand.Strategy
Losing your weapon due to slippery fingers can range from a mild annoyance, to a major inconvenience in the case of shops and artifact weapons, to potentially fatal should it occur in the middle of combat. Be mindful of where you eat tins, and make sure to uncurse cans of grease and towels before using them - a non-cursed towel is worth keeping around for this purpose.
