Skill
NetHack's skill system allows different roles to attain different proficiencies in the use of different weapons and spells. Skills can be advanced using the #enhance command. When you become able to advance a skill, you will see the message "You feel more confident in your (weapon/fighting/spell casting) skills."
Contents
List of skills
Weapon skills
- dagger
- knife
- axe
- pick-axe
- short sword
- broad sword
- long sword
- two-handed sword
- scimitar
- saber
- club
- mace
- morning star
- flail
- hammer
- quarterstaff
- polearms
- spear
- javelin
- trident
- lance
- bow
- sling
- crossbow
- dart
- shuriken
- boomerang
- whip
- unicorn horn
Other combat skills
- bare hands
- martial arts
- two weapon combat
- riding
Spell skills
- attack spells
- healing spells
- divination spells
- enchantment spells
- clerical spells
- escape spells
- matter spells
Training skills
Introduction
Most skills in NetHack have four possible levels: unskilled, basic, skilled and expert. Martial arts has two levels beyond expert: master and grand master. Generally speaking, characters start at basic skill with the weapons and spells with which they begin their adventure and unskilled in all others.
Use the #enhance command at any time to get a list of skills which you can train. If a skill does not appear on this list, your role is said to be restricted in this skill, meaning that no amount of training will enable it to advance beyond unskilled. #enhance will also indicate which of the listed skills have been trained up to their maximum levels.
As a general rule, skills are trained by using them successfully. There is a trick to training spell skills - practise with a low-level spell in the school you want to train until your skill improves enough that you can cast high-level spells in that school. For example, train up divination spells by casting light so that you can cast magic mapping and identify more reliably.
Technical details
To advance a skill, you need to have enough free skill slots and to have practised it enough. You begin the game with no free skill slots and gain one each time you gain an experience level. It costs one skill slot to advance a weapon skill from Unskilled to Basic, two to go from Basic to Skilled, and three to go from Skilled to Expert. Other skills take one skill slot to go from Unskilled to Basic, one to go from Basic to Skilled, two to go from Skilled to Expert, two to go from Expert to Master and three to go from Master to Grand Master. If you lose an experience level, you will also lose a skill slot, which may result in losing your most recently earned skill.
The table below shows the total number of successful uses of a skill required to reach each level. If you start with a skill at Basic, you are also precredited with 20 successful uses of that skill.
| Skill Level | Successful Uses |
|---|---|
| Unskilled | 0 |
| Basic | 20 |
| Skilled | 80 |
| Expert | 180 |
| Master | 320 |
| Grand Master | 500 |
Hitting a monster for more than one point of damage counts as a successful use of a weapon skill, bare-handed combat or martial arts. Riding continuously for 100 turns counts as a successful use of the riding skill. Successfully casting a level n spell counts as n successful uses of the relevant spell casting skill.
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