Orcish helm

[   orcish helm
Appearance	iron skull cap
Slot	helm
AC	1
Special	(none)
Base price	10 zm
Weight	30
Material	iron

An orcish helm is a type of helm that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron, and appears as an iron skull cap when unidentified.

Generation

Orcs have a ¹⁄₂ chance of being generated with an orcish helm among their armor.

Description

When worn, an orcish helm provides 1 base AC plus any enchantment it has.

Strategy

Orcish helms are usually the first type of helm encountered, and can provide a small source of early AC for a starting character along with protection from early falling rock traps. With luck, you may happen across orcish helms at +3 or higher enchantment; orcish helms also make decent fodder for polypiling.

History

The orcish helm first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Variants

In variants with object materials, orcish helms may appear as simply skull caps. Some variants may give orcs (including the player) an AC bonus for wearing an orcish helm.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, you can upgrade a dented pot into an orcish helm, and orcish helms can be upgraded into dwarvish iron helms.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, orcish helms grant +1 AC to orcish monsters that wear them.

You can create an orcish helm at a forge by combining a dented pot and an orcish dagger. Orcish helms can be combined with orcish boots to create an orcish shield, and can be combined with an orcish shield to create orcish ring mail.