Scroll of enchant armor

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? Scroll.png
Name enchant armor
Appearance random
Base price 80 zm
Weight 5
Ink to write 8-15
Monster use Will not be used by monsters.

A scroll of enchant armor is a type of scroll that appears in NetHack.

Generation

Monks may be given a scroll of enchant armor as the random scroll in their starting inventory.[1] Wizards may be given a scroll of enchant armor as any of the three random scrolls in their starting inventory.[2]

Scrolls of enchant armor make up 631000 (6.3%) of all randomly-generated scrolls. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books shops can sell scrolls of enchant armor.

Writing a scroll of enchant armor with a magic marker takes up 8 to 15 charges.

Description

When read, the scroll alters the enchantment of a worn piece of armor at random[3]—the outermost layer of armor worn on the torso (i.e. cloak, body armor or shirt) is chosen, with a 14 chance per slot of swapping targets to worn armor in another slot.[4] An effect is then applied to the chosen piece of armor depending on the scroll's beatitude:

  • An uncursed scroll of enchant armor increases the target armor's enchantment by 1, and uncurses the armor if it is cursed[5][6]—worn dragon scales targeted this way will be converted to dragon scale mail of that color, though their enchantment is unchanged.[7][8]
  • A blessed scroll of enchant armor increases the target armor's enchantment by at least 1 (with details covered below), and blesses the armor if it is not currently blessed[9][10]—worn dragon scales targeted this way will be converted to dragon scale mail of that color, and their enchantment is increased by 1.[11]
  • A cursed scroll of enchant armor decreases the target armor's enchantment by 1, and curses the armor if it is not cursed.[12][13]

A hero that reads the scroll with no worn armor exercises strength and constitution, or abuses it if the scroll is cursed, and is prompted to type-name the scroll if it is unidentified.

Evaporating armor

Worn armor that is at an enchantment of at least +4 may evaporate and be destroyed when positively enchanted further, with a 1X chance of surviving where X represents the armor's current enchantment[14] —for example enchanting a +4 orcish helm has a 14 chance of the helm not being destroyed in the process. elven armor is considered "special" and must be enchanted from at least +6 to risk being destroyed, and the cornuthaum is similarly considered "special" and can be safely enchanted from +5 if the hero is a Wizard.[15]

This means that the maximum enchantment a piece of armor can be safely enchanted from with a scroll of enchant armor is +5 for elven armor and +3 for other armor, with the sole exception of the cornuthaum for Wizards as noted prior—phrased alternately, special armor can be enchanted safely to +7 (specifically if using a blessed scroll). Enchanting armor beyond those thresholds also prints a message, which always occurs for "special armor" and occurs with a 17 chance for 'normal' armor.[16]

Similarly, worn armor with a negative enchantment of -4 or lower may evaporate and be destroyed when negatively enchanted further with the cursed scroll:[17] this uses the same probabilities and the absolute value of the armor's enchantment, i.e. a -4 orcish helm has a 14 chance of not evaporating if targeted by a cursed scroll.

Blessed scrolls

For blessed scrolls of enchant armor, the enchantment gain is determined as follows:

  • If the current enchantment is +9 or higher and the armor is not vaporized as above, there is a subsequent 1-in-current-enchantment chance that the scroll has any effect on the armor at all, and grants one point of enchantment as with an uncursed scroll.[18]
  • Otherwise, if the target armor's current enchantment is below +9, the armor gains 1 point of enchantment plus a value equal to 9rnd(3) − current enchantment3), e.g. a +3 piece of armor has a 12 chance of being enchanted to +5 by a blessed scroll.[19]
    • If the current enchantment is negative, the integer division by 3 could result in platform-dependent behavior: the integer expression −1 / 3 may be rounded to −1 or 0. The former case makes it possible to gain 4 enchantments from a blessed scroll; however, gcc and C99-compliant compilers always treat the result of integer division as an arithmetic quotient, i.e. the quotient is truncated or "rounded towards zero". In the latter case, a −3 piece of armor is eligible for a 25% chance of gaining 4 enchantments from a blessed scroll, while a −2 to +2 piece gains 1 to 3 points.

The table below describes how many additional points of enchantment a piece of armor can gain from a blessed scroll of enchant armor:

Current enchantment −3 to −1 0 to +2 +3 to +5 +6 to +8 +9 or more
Additional possible 1 to 4 1 to 3 1 to 2 1 0 or 1

Confused enchantment

Reading a scroll of enchant armor while confused instead affects the erosion status of the targeted worn armor:[20] a non-cursed scroll will make the targeted armor erosion-proof and repair any erosion damage, while a cursed scroll removes erosion-proof status.[21] This has no effect on enchantment and thus cannot evaporate armor.

Strategy

Enchanting armor is generally a high priority in the early and mid-game stages as a hero develops their kit: as with scrolls of enchant weapon, some players might reserve a hero's scrolls of enchant armor for any armor that they know will remain in their kit long term—in the absence of such armor, it may be worth stashing some of the scrolls until they can be put to proper use. It is also worth prioritizing some types of armor over others depending on the hero's situation, e.g. enchanting armor other than torso-worn armor until they can find a way to protect it against polymorph traps.

Elven armor is popular for its ability to be enchanted higher than other armor, either to wear or to polypile into other types of armor that are more difficult to enchant to those same levels. T-shirts and Hawaiian shirts are also popular to load up with enchantments for a lightweight source of AC, though this is usually reserved for after the hero obtains magic resistance or a property such as unchanging or polymorph control to ensure that it is not destroyed by polymorphing. A spare scroll of enchant armor can also save a wish or two when making dragon scale mail, assuming the hero can find a dragon of their desired color or create them using a cursed scroll of genocide.

For purposes of erosion-proofing, reading a cursed scroll of destroy armor while confused can produce similar results, and the scroll itself takes less ink to write, so it is generally preferable especially if enchant armor scrolls are scarce. Unlike cursed destroy armor, reading non-cursed scrolls of enchant armor when confused repairs existing damage; uncursed scrolls also are naturally preferable to blessed ones for erosion repair.

While most players prefer to uncurse cursed scrolls of enchant weapon, there is a somewhat niche application for them in reducing the enchantment of armor so that it can be safely raised with a blessed scroll. In practice, it is usually better for heroes with some level of spellcasting capability to use the drain life spell when reducing armor enchantment.

History

The scroll of enchant armor first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0. The use of the scroll in creating dragon scale mail is introduced in NetHack 3.1.0.

In NetHack 3.6.0, cursed armor will not be made uncursed by a scroll of enchant armor due to a bug. The bug is fixed in NetHack 3.6.1.

Messages

Your <armor> glows <silver> for a <moment/while>.
You raised the enchantment of worn armor with a scroll of enchant armor, using "while" if multiple points of enchantment are gained—armor that is already silver-colored, such as silver dragon scale mail and the shield of reflection, will omit that word.[22]
Your <armor> glows <black> for a moment.
You lowered the enchantment of worn armor with a cursed scroll—armor that is already black-colored will omit that word.[23]
Your <armor> vibrates for a <moment/while>.
You altered the enchantment of worn armor with a scroll of enchant armor while blind, using "while" if multiple points of enchantment are gained.
Your set of <color> dragon scales merges and hardens!
You converted worn dragon scales into dragon scale mail with a scroll of enchant armor.
Your <armor> suddenly vibrates unexpectedly.
You enchanted a piece of armor beyond its 'safe' threshold with the scroll.[16]
Your <armor> suddenly vibrates again.
As above, while blind.[16]
Your <armor> violently glows <silver> for a while, then evaporates.
You destroyed worn armor by over-enchanting it with the non-cursed scroll.
Your <armor> violently glows <black> for a while, then evaporates.
You destroyed worn armor by lowering its enchantment with the non-cursed scroll.
Your <armor> violently vibrates for a while, then evaporates.
You destroyed worn armor with the scroll while blind.
Your <armor> violently glows silver for a moment.
You attempted to enchant worn armor with an enchantment of +9 or more, it was not destroyed in the attempt, and the scroll failed to enchant that armor.
Your <armor> violently vibrates for a moment.
As above, while blind.
Your <armor> is covered by a shimmering golden <shield/layer>
You made a worn piece of armor erosion-proof by reading the non-cursed scroll while confused—the word "layer" is used if this is applied to a worn shield.
Your <armor> <looks/feels> as good as new!
You repaired damage on a worn piece of armor as a result of the above, with "feels" used if you are blind at the time.
Your <armor> is covered by a mottled black glow!
You removed erosion-proofing from a worn piece of armor by reading the cursed scroll while confused.
Your <armor> feels warm for a moment.
You read the scroll while confused and blind, and it affected a worn piece of armor.
Your skin glows then fades.
You read a scroll of enchant armor while not wearing any armor.
Your skin feels warm for a moment.
As above, while blind.
You have a <strange/normal> feeling for a moment, then it passes.
As above, while you are a beginner—the bracket word changes depending on whether or not the hero is hallucinating.

Variants

Variants of NetHack may change how the scroll functions in certain instances, which commonly includes the ability to choose the armor targeted. As well, they may also add more types of armor that can be enchanted from higher safe thresholds, whether by any hero or by certain roles and starting races.

Dragon-scaled armor is a feature included in some variants as a replacement for dragon scale mail, and is created by reading a non-cursed scroll of enchant armor while wearing a suit of armor with dragon scales (which is moved to the cloak slot) over them, merging the scales into that armor.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Valkyries can safely enchant gauntlets of power from +5.[24]

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, Archeologists can safely enchant a worn fedora from a maximum of +5.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, reading a non-cursed scroll of enchant armor while confused and targeting worn dragon scales will convert them into a dragon scale shield instead of mail.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, reading an identified scroll of enchant armor allows the hero to manually select which armor to enchant—if they are riding a steed wearing barding, they can also enchant that barding as well.

EvilHack also utilizes dragon-scaled armor, with several related changes to the scroll's functions:

  • Reading a scroll of enchant armor while wearing body armor under dragon scales fuses them together, increasing that armor's base AC by 5 and causing it to grant the primary extrinsic property of the scales, along with additional secondary properties exclusive to the dragon-scaled armor. The armor's enchantment itself does not change normally, and any enchantment on the scales is discarded.
    • If the scroll is blessed, the body armor is also blessed and has its erosion repaired.
    • If the scroll is cursed, the body armor becomes cursed and loses a point of enchantment.
    • If the scroll is read while the hero is confused, the scales meld into the armor before the armor melds into the hero, polymorphing them into the corresponding dragon. Dragon-scaled armor is not destroyed or separated into its components from polymorphing this way, and reverts back to normal whenever the hero returns to normal form.
  • Reading the scroll while wearing dragon-scaled armor with a different color of dragon scales over it will remove the old scales in favor of the new set.
  • If the scroll is read while wearing dragon scales without body armor underneath, the hero will polymorph into the corresponding dragon unless they have polymorph control. Wearing a shirt does not affect this process. The scroll causes the polymorph to last longer if it is blessed, and shortens the duration if it is cursed.

The Hand of Vecna can be enchanted safely from +5, and attempts to enchant it further will not ever evaporate it: the enchantment instead has the same chance of simply failing without any further effect.

References