Locksmith

The Locksmith is a role in the variant SlashTHEM.

It can be played as a neutral human, elf, gnome, hobbit, or clockwork automaton.

The Locksmith first appeared in an early version of SLASH'EM (NetHack-- 3.0.10) but was dropped from the code at the time the quest branch was ported into that variant. The role was later revived and given a quest in SlashTHEM.

In SlashTHEM the Locksmith gets a bonus to picking locks, similar to the Rogue role.

Skills

NetHack-- 3.0.10 was based on NetHack 3.0.10, which predated the skill system, so Locksmiths could use any weapons.

SLASHTHEM gives the Locksmith a skill set closer to the Rogue's:

Locksmith skills
Max	Skills
Basic	Weapons: two handed sword, morning star, flail, hammer, polearms, spear Combat: riding
Skilled	Weapons: broadsword, long sword, scimitar, saber, club, paddle, mace, shuriken Spells: divination, body, matter
Expert	Weapons: dagger, knife, short sword, firearm, crossbow, dart Combat: two weapon combat, bare hands

The Locksmith's special spell, fittingly enough, is knock. Spell success is determined by intelligence.

• SlashTHEM u_init.c line 2055 in v. 0.8

Intrinsics

• XL 1: Searching

Starting equipment

• Wand of opening
• Wand of locking
• A skeleton key
• A lock pick
• A sack
• 5 +0 daggers (SlashTHEM)

Rank titles

SLASHTHEM has a slightly different set of rank titles:

• XL 1-2: Listener
• XL 3-5: Lockpicker
• XL 6-9: Lock Breaker
• XL 10-13: Lock Trickster
• XL 14-17: Safecracker
• XL 18-21: Keymaster
• XL 22-25: Slim Jim/Slim Jane
• XL 26-29: Keymaker
• XL 30: Supreme Locksmith

SlashTHEM role.c line 860

Quest

@ Burglar Ed File:Burglar Ed.png
Difficulty	unknown
Attacks	Weapon 4d6, Kick 6d4 steal item

@ Burglar Ed File:Burglar Ed.png
Difficulty
Attacks	Weapon 4d6, Kick 6d4 steal item
Base level	15
Base experience
Speed	13
Base AC	-4
Base MR	0
Alignment	-15 (chaotic)
Frequency (by normal means)	unique
Genocidable	no
Weight	1450
Nutritional value	400
Size	medium
Resistances	stoning
Resistances conveyed	none
Burglar Ed: has a head, a couple of arms, and a torso. is omnivorous. is not a valid polymorphable form. is a human. is male. is normally generated hostile. can follow you to other levels. is nasty. is strong. can pick up weapons and food.
Reference	monst.c, line 6882

The quest sees the Locksmith fighting Burglar Ed for the Lockpick of Arsene Lupin, a neutral lockpick. When carried, it grants telepathy, stealth, warning, and magic resistance, and functions as a luckstone. When used, it gives a random rumor, and it can be invoked to untrap a door or container with 100% success. The maps are copies from the Rogue quest, but with muggers and street thugs.

• SlashTHEM artilist.h line 824

Gods

The Locksmith's gods are taken from Celtic mythology:

• Lawful: Nuada
• Neutral: Dagda
• Chaotic: Morrigan

History

The Locksmith's first appearance was in SLASH'EM precursor NetHack-- 3.0.10, as one of nine new roles in addition to the twelve in the contemporary version of NetHack. The discussion thread in which the authors first announced the variant suggests that some of the new roles were taken from a list proposing a role for every letter of the alphabet. See here for the relevant post.

After the release of NetHack 3.1.3 in 1993, NetHack-- was updated to NetHack-- 3.1.3 by porting some of the changes from NetHack-- 3.0.10 into a patch for the newest version. Due to some changes in the vanilla code, however, some content was removed to improve compatibility with NetHack. Most significantly, NetHack 3.1 had seen the addition of the Quest branch. To avoid the challenge of fitting full-length quests for the roles that had been added in NetHack-- 3.0.10 into the patch code, those roles were simply left out of the patch.

The Locksmith role, along with the other eight new roles in NetHack-- 3.0.10, made its reappearance in the variant SlashTHEM.

References

• NetHack-- 3.0.10 attrib.c line 74
• NetHack-- 3.0.10 u_init.c line 230