Ring of free action
A ring of free action is a type of ring that appears in NetHack. gives you the free action extrinsic, which protects you from paralysis.
Contents
Description
When worn, the ring of free action confers the free action extrinsic property, which protects you from attacks and traps that induce paralysis, as well as the potion or paralysis or potion of sleeping. This includes the following:
- Paralayzing container traps
- Thrown or quaffed potions of paralysis or sleeping
- Paralyzing attacks from the following sources:
The ring does not protect you from:
- Being "paralyzed" by fear, e.g. when an enormous ghost appears in a deserted temple, or when you chat to a skeleton
- Incapacitation by lightning in clouds on the Plane of Air
Eating the ring and successfully absorbing its magic will grant intrinsic sleep resistance.
Strategy
A ring of free action can prove invaluable in endgame areas such as Moloch's Sanctum and the Astral Plane, which are always full of hostile aligned priests that can end your run with a single ill-timed paralyze spell - a thrown potion of paralysis is also not uncommon and is just as likely to result in your death if one hits you. Some players will wish or polypile for one if they have not found it before by the time they are ready to retrieve the Book of the Dead for the Invocation.
If you elect to enter the Sanctum or the Astral Plane without the ring of free action, avoid being surrounded if at all possible and have an amulet of life saving and/or some potions of full healing ready to use at a moment's notice.
Identification
Informally identifying a ring of free action without a sink is difficult, since most forms of paralysis can result in a helpless player's demise. For the paranoid player, one of the safest methods is to lock yourself in a closet and quaff a potion of paralysis while standing on a semi-permanent Elbereth engraving or a scroll of scare monster.
Paralysis from a gelatinous cube lasts for a much shorter duration compared to other forms, making it relatively safe to test a ring with, and especially cautious players can use this to set up similar circumstances for testing a ring - keep in mind that attacking any creature while on an Elbereth engraving will cause it to fade away.
Messages
- You momentarily stiffen.
- The ring of free action prevented a paralyzing attack or a chest trap from paralyzing you.
- You stiffen momentarily.
- The ring prevented a potion of paralysis or its vapors from paralyzing you.
- You momentarily stiffen under <monster>'s gaze.
- The ring prevented a floating eye's gaze from paralyzing you.
- You stiffen momentarily under your gaze.
- You were polymorphed into a floating eye and applied a mirror on yourself, and the ring prevented paraysis.
- You stiffen briefly.
- Free action prevented the paralyze monster spell from paralyzing you.
- You see the ring slide right down the drain!
- You dropped a ring of free action onto a sink.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the ring additionally protects against grabbing attacks, including those of both drowning monsters and mind flayers, with a chance dependent on your Luck - 50% at 0 Luck, 90% when maxed out. It gives the message "<foo> grabs you, but you quickly free yourself!"
References
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
