Robe
[ robe | |
---|---|
Appearance | robe |
Slot | cloak |
AC | 2 |
Special |
|
Base price | 50 zm |
Weight | 15 |
Material | cloth |
A robe is a type of cloak that appears in NetHack. It is made of cloth.
Contents
Generation
Monks and Priests each start the game with a +0 robe.
Aligned priests and high priests each have a 6⁄7 chance of generating with a robe.[1]
Description
When worn, a robe grants 2 base AC and MC2, and decreases the spellcasting penalty for any worn metal body armor by 1⁄2;[2] if none is being worn, the robe decrease spellcasting difficulty by the full penalty amount for that role.[3]
Strategy
As robes tend to generate fairly rarely, one of the easier methods to obtain one is to sic a sufficiently strong pet on an aligned priest you do not plan on donating to - you can also kill the priest yourself if you are willing to accept the murder penalties. Wishless and/or polypileless conduct players may favor these methods in particular.
Characters planning to dabble in lower-level spells - particularly utility spells like identify, remove curse, and drain life - may want to stash a spare robe for that purpose; when paired with a helm of brilliance, they may even gain access to spells in restricted schools depending on the role in question. Such utility casting typically requires a temporary swap of the robe for your primary cloak (e.g., a cloak of magic resistance).
Wizards in particular may want a robe to offset the spellcasting penalty from gauntlets of power, which many builds wear to offset low strength and constitution (and thus carrying capacity) - robe-clad wizards generally use Magicbane and/or The Eye of the Aethiopica as their source of magic resistance.
For ascension kit-level character builds that do not rely on the cloak slot for magic resistance, a robe is usually a solid choice for long-term casters.
History
The robe first appears in NetHack Plus, a variant of the NetHack 3.1.0 series of releases and an ancestor of SLASH'EM. It makes its vanilla NetHack debut in NetHack 3.3.0.
The robe that originates in NetHack Plus and its descended variants (particularly SLASH'EM) has significant differences in function from the later NetHack robe: it acts as body armor that provides 1 AC rather than a cloak, and does not block spellcasting - it also does not impede a Monk's martial arts, and is the only suitable type of body armor for the role.
From NetHack 3.3.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants that use the vanilla-style robe and are based on those versions, the robe grants MC3 when worn.
Variants
As explained above, the robe that appears in SLASH'EM, as well as its variants and descendants, is body armor that works very different from the robe of NetHack. With the exception of SLASH'EM, the sections below cover NetHack-style robes.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, there are four types of body armor robe available:
- A standard robe.
- A robe of power, which enhances your spellcasting ability much like the robe introduced in NetHack would.
- A robe of weakness, which sets your base strength to 3 unless you are wearing gauntlets of power simultaneously.
- A robe of protection, which offers 5 base AC.
Robes are not randomly generated, but the various types can be found on wraiths, aligned priests and mind flayers.[4] Upgrading a regular robe will yield either a robe of power or a robe of protection.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, a robe grants 0 base AC, 2 DR and MC3 when worn, and is always made of cloth. Incantifiers of many role will have that role's standard body armor replaced with a robe.
Uvuudaums will always generate with a robe, as will the adventuring wizard of the rebel leader party that serves as the default quest nemesis for Nobles. Xorn monks have a 49⁄50 chance of generating with an orange-colored robe, which will have its enchantment increased by 1-4 points after creation.
Encyclopedia entry
Robes are the only garments, apart from Shirts, ever to have sleeves. They have three uses:
1. As the official uniform of Priests, Priestesses, Monks, Nuns (see Nunnery), and Wizards. The OMT [ Official Management Term ] prescribed for the Robes of Priests and Nuns is that they _fall in severe folds_; of Priestesses that they _float_; and of Wizards that they _swirl_. You can thus see who you are dealing with.
2. For Kings. The OMT here is _falling in stately folds_.
3. As the garb of Desert Nomads. [...]
References
- ↑ makemon.c#line568 (aligned/high priest starting armor)
- ↑ spell.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 1150
- ↑ spell.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 1152
- ↑ http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~eva/slashem/armor.html
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