Gauntlets of dexterity
[  [  [  [  gauntlets of dexterity | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Slot | gloves |
| AC | 1 |
| Special |
|
| Base price | 50 zm |
| Weight | 10 |
| Material | leather |
Gauntlets of dexterity, often abbreviated to GoD, are a type of gloves that appear in NetHack. They are made of leather, and wearing them provides 1 point of AC along and modifies the wearer's dexterity based on its enchantment. Wearing gauntlets of dexterity of any non-zero enchantment auto-identifies them.
Generation
Player monsters on the Astral Plane that do not generate with a war hammer have a 7⁄8 chance of generating wearing a random pair of gloves, with a 1⁄4 chance for those gloves to be gauntlets of dexterity - effectively, there is a 7⁄32 or ~21.9% chance for a player monster to carry these gauntlets.[1]
Strategy
Higher dexterity improves a player's chances of hitting with spells and attacks, but most players can maximize their chances to hit successfully through other means, particularly weapon skill and Luck. As such, gauntlets of dexterity are somewhat fairly uncommon, especially in ascension kits. Gauntlets of dexterity can still be of use to spellcasters seeking to improve their hit rates on attack spells such as magic missile and finger of death - Monks may prefer them both for general use with martial arts and to help offset the -20 to-hit penalty should they choose to wear body armor.
Other uses for these gauntlets include hitting with a thrown cockatrice egg or a potion of paralysis, whose odds to hit cannot be improved by anything but a high dexterity score - even with 23 Dexterity, however, there is a 12% chance of missing, and hitting with a wielded egg or potion in melee is still more reliable, if you can afford it.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds The Gauntlets of Defense, a pair of artifact gauntlets of dexterity that provide half physical damage and can be invoked for toggleable invisibility. SLASH'EM additionally modifies dexterity to improve your AC when at high values. This AC bonus makes gauntlets of dexterity much more attractive in SLASH'EM.
