Naming artifacts

This page concerns a bug which you can exploit to identify certain items by naming artifacts. Note that this is different from the method for creating the artifacts Sting and Orcrist (and in SLASH'EM also Elfrist and Sword of Balance).

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The naming artifacts trick is a bug exploitation that lets you identify certain item types.

The way NetHack keeps track of which items are artifacts is through their names; this saves memory and allows a flexible artifact set (i.e. multiple artifacts can be of the same item type). So if you try to name a non-artifact with the name of an artifact of the same base type, the game will prevent you and you will mis-engrave. ("Your hand slips...")

For example, naming a helmet "The Mitre of Holiness" will fail if and only if the helmet is a helm of brilliance. The key is that this only works on the same item type, even if appearances are randomized. And you must name, not call, the object in question (answer yes when it asks you to "Name an individual object?").

Some players disapprove of this exploit as an abuse of unintentional behavior.

By this exploit, you could identify (or rule out) the following items:

Appearance	Item type	Artifact name
amulet	amulet of ESP	The Eye of the Aethiopica
gray stone	luckstone	The Heart of Ahriman
magic helmet*	helm of brilliance	The Mitre of Holiness

*: The appearances of magic helmets are: plumed helmet, etched helmet, crested helmet, and visored helmet.

A possible fix is to prevent the naming of any item with the name of an artifact (so no items period could be named "The Eye of the Aethiopica"), or perhaps just those with the same appearance as the artifact (so no gray stones could be named "The Heart of Ahriman", but, say, frost horns could). We have more info on how this bug might be fixed on our talk page, Talk:Naming artifacts.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the artifact naming trick is even more effective due to the many new artifacts.

Appearance	Item type	Artifact name
amulet	amulet of ESP	The Eye of the Aethiopica
bag	bag of holding	Wallet of Perseus
candle	magic candle	The Candle of Eternal Flame
gray stone	luckstone	The Heart of Ahriman
magic boots	speed boots	Whisperfeet
magic cloak	cloak of displacement	Deluder
magic gloves	gauntlets of dexterity	Gauntlets of Defense
magic helmet	helm of brilliance	The Mitre of Holiness
magic helmet	helm of telepathy	The Crown of Saint Edward
whistle	magic whistle	The Storm Whistle
white gem	diamond	The Arkenstone (defunct Dwarf quest artifact)
ring	ring of invisibility	The One Ring (defunct Hobbit quest artifact)