Difference between revisions of "Player Myths"

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== Myth: The player should never wear a single piece of metal armor if intending to cast. ==
 
== Myth: The player should never wear a single piece of metal armor if intending to cast. ==
Fact: Metal generally does tend to hinder casting, but some types of armor made of metal has much less effect than many players may think. For example, a Wizard with 18 Int can wear a metal helmet or metal boots and can still cast low-level spells with 0% failure, and will only see a small increase in fail rate for higher-level spells.
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Fact: Metal generally does tend to hinder casting, but some types of armor made of metal have much less effect than many players may think. For example, a Wizard with 18 Int can wear a metal helmet or metal boots and can still cast low-level spells with 0% failure, and will only see a small increase in fail rate for higher-level spells.
  
 
== Myth: A Chaotic character can kill anything without penalties of any kind. ==
 
== Myth: A Chaotic character can kill anything without penalties of any kind. ==

Revision as of 04:22, 26 June 2016

This page will attempt to dispel common assumptions and misconceptions that many new players (and even some experienced players) may have about NetHack.

Myth: Gauntlets of power are required to maximize carrying capacity.

Fact: Carry capacity is based on more than just Strength, and also has a limit. Specifically, the formula is:

((Str + Con) * 25) + 50

Further, the result is capped at 1000. Therefore, if (Str + Con) >= 38, carry capacity is maxed, and all races other than elf can reach this without gauntlets of power or any other additional equipment.

Myth: The player should never wear a single piece of metal armor if intending to cast.

Fact: Metal generally does tend to hinder casting, but some types of armor made of metal have much less effect than many players may think. For example, a Wizard with 18 Int can wear a metal helmet or metal boots and can still cast low-level spells with 0% failure, and will only see a small increase in fail rate for higher-level spells.

Myth: A Chaotic character can kill anything without penalties of any kind.

Fact: Chaotics get alignment penalties for most of the same things that characters of other alignments do, such as killing coaligned peaceful monsters, or killing always-peaceful humans.

Myth: Wizards are better at reading spellbooks.

Fact: The formula which determines the chance of successfully reading a spellbook is the same for all roles (and just for completeness, all races and alignments). The chance of reading a book is dependent on:

  • The spellbook's BUC
  • Player Int
  • Player XL
  • Level of the book

The only advantage Wizards have in reading books is that, when attempting to read an uncursed book with less than 100% chance of success, they are given a warning and prompted whether to continue reading. However, the actual success chance is the same as for all other roles.

Myth: Eating pet corpses is bad.

Fact: There is no specific penalty for eating pet corpses. Eating a domestic cat or dog corpse will give you Aggravate monster, but this applies whether it was a pet or not.

Myth: Offering a human corpse is bad.

Fact: There is no specific penalty (or, for that matter, bonus) for offering human corpses - they are just standard sacrifices. The player does need to be careful when offering their own race, so offering a human corpse is only an issue if the player is also human.