Splint mail
[ splint mail 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | splint mail |
| Slot | body armor |
| AC | 6 |
| Special | |
| Base price | 80 zm |
| Weight | 400 |
| Material | iron |
Splint mail is a form of body armor that appears in NetHack, and is the second-heaviest type of armor after the various forms of plate mail.
Contents
Effect
When worn, splint provides MC1 and a base AC bonus of 6.
Generation
Samurai start with a rustproof splint mail, and splint mail generated on the Samurai quest will also be rustproof. As an odd side effect, when the player is a Samurai, any random splint mails generated on level 1 at the start of the game will also be rustproof.
Strategy
Splint mail compares poorly with either mithril-coat, which offers comparable AC with only half the weight; as such, it is usually abandoned for lighter armor by Samurai at the first opportunity, and most other players will only consider it for a lack of other options.
Origin
Splint mail is a standard type of body armor in Dungeons & Dragons and other derived games and media; it is made of metal "splints". Historically, "splint armor" can mean either armor made of long parallel strips (a common design for armor for the arms and legs, but not the torso), or "plated mail" made of small rectangular plates attached to a chain mail backing. Compare banded mail, which is sometimes described as made of strips of metal arranged horizontally on the body. The splint mail worn by NetHack's samurai is likely tatami, made of plates embedded in chain mail.
A comment in the source code indicates that the rustproofing for Samurai represents the historical use of lacquer to protect Japanese armor in a wet climate.[1]
References
This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.4. Information on this page may be out of date.
Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-364}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.
