Scroll of amnesia

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Revision as of 23:07, 27 May 2009 by Tjr (talk | contribs) (Strategy: use it to manage which books your god gifts you.)
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? Scroll.png
Name amnesia
Appearance random
Base price 200 zm
Weight 5
Ink to write 4-7
Monster use Will not be used by monsters.

The scroll of amnesia is the only indisputably bad scroll (even the scroll of punishment gives you a heavy ball to use as a weapon). Reading one makes you forget things and abuses your wisdom.

Reading effects

You have a 1/3 chance of forgetting up to 25% of all known level maps and a separate 1/3 chance of forgetting up to 25% of object identities. You forget all traps on your current level (except any in which you are stuck), forget whether you are punished, and abuse your wisdom. If this causes you to forget the identity of scrolls of amnesia themselves, they are re-identified.

Additionally, the BUC status of the scroll and whether or not you are confused imposes extra effects:

Case Effect
cursed or not confused You forget all of the current level.
non-cursed and confused You forget 6/7 of the current level.
non-blessed You forget any number of spells.

N.B.: Sokoban maps are not forgotten.

Messages

Message Reason
"Who was that Maud person anyway?" You read a scroll of amnesia
"Thinking of Maud you forget everything else."
"As your mind turns inward on itself, you forget everything else." You, a character named Maud, read a scroll of amnesia.

This is a prime example of TDTTOE.

"Your mind releases itself from mundane concerns." You read a scroll of amnesia while hallucinating

Identification

Reading the scroll identifies it with devastating consequences, so you are well-advised to ID this and all other 200zm scrolls by elimination or by a scroll or spell of identification.

Monsters will not read this scroll.

Strategy

Scrolls of amnesia are a perfect candidate for blanking.

Playing devil's advocate, this scroll could be used to manage which spellbooks you get gifted. A non-blessed scroll will cause you to forget 1d(known) spells from the bottom of the list presented by the [Z] command (1d(known+1) if confused). Before you read this scroll, you should sort the list so that forgotten spells or spells you want a book for appear last. Altar farming then will more likely select these spellbooks over ones still present in the spellcasting menu.

Encyclopedia entry for amnesia

                    Get thee hence, nor come again,
                    Mix not memory with doubt,
                    Pass, thou deathlike type of pain,
                    Pass and cease to move about!
                    'Tis the blot upon the brain
                    That will show itself without.
                            ...
                    For, Maud, so tender and true,
                    As long as my life endures
                    I feel I shall owe you a debt,
                    That I never can hope to pay;
                    And if ever I should forget
                    That I owe this debt to you
                    And for your sweet sake to yours;
                    O then, what then shall I say? -
                    If ever I should forget,
                    May God make me more wretched
                    Than ever I have been yet!
                            [ Maud, And Other Poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson ]

This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:

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