Spellbook

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A spellbook + is a book containing runes describing some spell. To attempt to memorise the spell, you must read the spellbook. (This obviously breaks the illiterate conduct.)

In tty mode, both brown books and closed doors share the + symbol. E.g. in bones files, the ; far look command can identify the '+' on doorways.

Spellbooks have a weight of 50.

Usage

If the spellbook is cursed, or uncursed and too difficult, you will not learn the spell, but suffer harmful effects instead. A blessed spellbook will always be read successfully. A pair of lenses increases the chance of successfully reading an uncursed spellbook by 10 percentage points, and reduces the amount of time needed to read the book by about one third.

In general, you should never read a cursed spellbook since it will never teach you a spell and always causes a harmful effect. Uncurse the spellbook before reading it. There is an exception to every rule, however: one negative effect is teleportation, which is occasionally useful – although that is accompanied by helplessness, which is not.

If you have a blank spellbook and a magic marker, then you can try to write the spellbook of any spell that you know. Dipping a spellbook into water (or a fountain) will blank it. Spellbooks made blank this way will retain their BUC status.

You will forget spells 20,000 turns after you read the respective spellbook the last time. A spellbook will fade[1] after refreshing the spell from it if it has been read four[2] times, making spellbook-management quite important. Re-reading a spellbook "early" – that is, while you still know the spell and are more than 2,000 turns from forgetting it[3] – has no effect beyond exercising wisdom.

If there are any spellbooks in your initial inventory, you start the game knowing the pertinent spell, as if you had read the book successfully one time. The book is nonetheless brand-new, that is, it is counted as never having been read.[4]

If you polymorph a spellbook, it will count as read one more time. In 3.4.3, due to a bug, a polymorphed spellbook would never fade if the spell was not already in your spellcasting menu Z, allowing you to read it (once) to learn the spell (which you could then rewrite with a magic marker for future reference). This was fixed in NetHack 3.6.0.[5] In fact, learning a new spell from a book will now fail even if it is counted as read only 3 times.

Reading a spellbook in a shop and in the presence of a shopkeeper before you pay for it incurs a usage fee ("This is no free library, cad!")

As of Nethack 3.6.0, dull spellbooks are special. Attempting to read one may cause you to fall asleep for a number of turns, based on your wisdom and the spellbook level. "This book is so dull that you can't keep your (eyes) open." This ignores sleep resistance in 3.6.0, but respects it as of 3.6.1.

Spellbooks cannot be read while blind.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

You can now apply a spellbook to flip through the pages and appraise how fresh it is. See #Messages below.

Strategy

Learning spells

Do not attempt to read a spellbook unless you know it isn't cursed (easily determined with a pet or at an altar). Unless you are a wizard, do not attempt to read a non-blessed spellbook unless you know which level it is (easily determined at the appropriate shop).

Blessed spellbooks can always be read successfully, regardless of the spell's level, your level, or your intelligence score.

Whenever you successfully read a spellbook:

  • Type-name it with the current turn number, so that you will know when you need to rememorize it. You can review the type-names of identified items with the \ key.
  • Individual-name it '1', or increment the existing number, so you know how many times you have read it.

When studying a forgotten spell, read the book again immediately afterwards to make sure it won't turn blank (and fail to refresh the spell) the next time you need to read it - as noted above, if the spellbook is still viable, nothing bad will happen to it.

Cursed spellbooks

Occasionally, if you have teleport control, don't need the book, and power is at a premium, you might want to (write and) read cursed spellbooks of detect monsters, light, sleep, or knock for their teleport effect since these books will paralyze you only for one turn and are cheap to write.

Selling

Roles that start with spellbooks will probably want to sell them at the first shop that takes them. This frees up substantial encumbrance (each spellbook weighs as much as five daggers), and gives a little extra money to purchase items of more immediate use. By the time you need your books back on turn 20,000, you should easily be able to afford them. Likewise, if you find and read a spellbook in an early shop, you should probably sell it right back. Note that buying and reselling a spellbook is usually cheaper than reading it unbought and paying the usage fee.

Stashing

If you can't find a suitable shop, you should still stash your books somewhere early on to protect them from destruction by fire; few early monsters pick up spellbooks, and only gelatinous cubes can destroy them.

Pricing

The base price of a spellbook is 100 per level.

List of spellbooks

The following is a list of all spellbooks, listed alphabetically by the school of magic they represent and by difficulty inside the schools.

Directional spells behave just like zapping a wand, with the same range.

The "Probability conditional on price" column is for use with price identification. If you know the price of the book, this column tells you how likely it is to be a given spell. (For instance, a spellbook with a base price of 700 zm is 75% likely to be cancellation, and 25% likely to be finger of death.)

The "Actions to read" column tells you how many player actions are needed to read the spellbook. This is equal to the number of game turns for a hero whose speed is 12; a faster hero will take fewer turns to read the book. Lenses reduce this number of actions by approximately one third.

The "Skill changes" column denotes spells that behave differently if the player has a higher skill level in that spell's school. "B" indicates that the spell behaves differently at a skill level of basic or greater, "S" indicates that the spell behaves differently at skilled or greater, and "E" indicates that the spell behaves differently at expert. Note that most ray spells have a higher hit chance when cast at a higher level.

Attack

Spellbook Spell level Direction Relative probability Probability conditional on price Actions to read Skill changes
Spellbook of force bolt 1 beam 3.56% 12.2% 4
Spellbook of drain life 2 beam 1.01% 4.3% 4
Spellbook of magic missile 2 ray 4.58% 19.1% 4
Spellbook of cone of cold 4 ray (distant if skilled) 1.01% 8.3% 23 S
Spellbook of fireball 4 ray (distant if skilled) 2.03% 16.7% 14 S
Spellbook of finger of death 7 ray 0.5% 25.0% 82

Clerical

Spellbook Spell level Direction Relative probability Probability conditional on price Actions to read Skill changes
Spellbook of protection 1 non-directional 1.83% 6.3% 5 E
Spellbook of create monster 2 non-directional 3.56% 14.9% 5
Spellbook of remove curse 3 non-directional 2.54% 10.8% 12 S
Spellbook of create familiar 6 non-directional 1.01% 19.6% 44
Spellbook of turn undead 6 beam 1.62% 31.4% 50

Divination

Spellbook Spell level Direction Relative probability Probability conditional on price Actions to read Skill changes
Spellbook of detect monsters 1 non-directional 4.37% 15.0% 3 S
Spellbook of light 1 non-directional 4.58% 15.7% 3
Spellbook of detect food 2 non-directional 3.05% 12.8% 5 S
Spellbook of clairvoyance 3 non-directional 1.52% 16.5% 8 S
Spellbook of detect unseen 3 non-directional 2.03% 8.6% 10
Spellbook of identify 3 non-directional 2.03% 8.6% 14 S
Spellbook of detect treasure 4 non-directional 2.03% 16.7% 17 S
Spellbook of magic mapping 5 non-directional 1.83% 47.4% 37

Enchantment

Spellbook Spell level Direction Relative probability Probability conditional on price Actions to read Skill changes
Spellbook of sleep 1 ray 5.09% 17.5% 3
Spellbook of confuse monster 2 non-directional 3.05% 12.8% 4 S
Spellbook of slow monster 2 beam 3.05% 12.8% 4
Spellbook of cause fear 3 non-directional 2.54% 10.8% 8
Spellbook of charm monster 3 non-directional 2.03% 8.6% 8

Escape

Spellbook Spell level Direction Relative probability Probability conditional on price Actions to read Skill changes
Spellbook of jumping 1 non-directional 2.03% 7.0% 5 BSE
Spellbook of haste self 3 non-directional 3.36% 14.2% 10 S
Spellbook of invisibility 4 non-directional 2.54% 20.8% 17
Spellbook of levitation 4 non-directional 2.03% 16.7% 14 S
Spellbook of teleport away 6 beam 1.52% 29.4% 38

Healing

Spellbook Spell level Direction Relative probability Probability conditional on price Actions to read Skill changes
Spellbook of healing 1 beam 4.07% 14.0% 4 S
Spellbook of cure blindness 2 non-directional 2.54% 10.6% 4
Spellbook of cure sickness 3 non-directional 3.25% 13.8% 8
Spellbook of extra healing 3 beam 2.74% 11.6% 12
Spellbook of stone to flesh 3 beam 1.52% 6.5% 4
Spellbook of restore ability 4 non-directional 2.54% 20.8% 17 S

Matter

Spellbook Spell level Direction Relative probability Probability conditional on price Actions to read Skill changes
Spellbook of knock 1 beam 3.56% 12.2% 3
Spellbook of wizard lock 2 beam 3.05% 12.8% 5
Spellbook of dig 5 ray 2.03% 52.6% 32
Spellbook of polymorph 6 beam 1.01% 19.6% 50
Spellbook of cancellation 7 beam 1.52% 75.0% 66

Other

Generation

Spellbooks comprise 4% of all randomly-generated items in the main dungeon and 12% in containers.

All spellbook types have randomized appearance except the spellbook of blank paper and the Book of the Dead. Spelbooks normally have a 1/34 (3%) chance of being generated blessed and equal chance of being cursed; the remaining 16/17 (94%) are uncursed.[6]

Randomly generated statues on dungeon level 4 or deeper (such as on the Oracle's level) have a chance of containing a spellbook.

Success rate of spellbook reading

The probability of successfully reading an uncursed book is:[7]

\frac{Int + 4 + \lfloor \frac{XPLevel}{2} \rfloor - (BookLevel \times 2)}{20}

Lenses add 10 percentage points to the success rate.

In other words; a hypothetical level 0 character needs 16 INT to read a hypothetical level 0 spellbook safely. For every spell level, increase the required INT by two. For every two experience levels (odd ones count as the level below), decrease it by one. If wearing lenses, decrease it by two.

A Wizard will be warned when reading an uncursed spellbook if this chance is below 100%: "This spellbook is difficult to comprehend. Continue?". This is changed to "very difficult" if the chance is below 60%. A cursed spellbook will never prompt a warning.

The numbers are tabulated in the NetHack Spellbook Reading Spoiler.

Failure effects of spellbook reading

Failing to read a spellbook (or reading a cursed spellbook) paralyses the player for a number of turns equal to the number of player actions needed to read the book, minus two. Thus, the minimum duration of the paralysis is one turn (detect monsters, light, sleep, knock) and the maximum duration is 80 turns (finger of death). A ring of free action will not protect the player from this effect.

A random bad effect is chosen in addition to the paralysis. The list below is numbered to match the minimum spellbook level needed to reach that effect:[8][9]

  1. You are teleported to somewhere else on the level: "You feel a wrenching sensation." This takes effect immediately, i.e. you are paralyzed somewhere else.
  2. All monsters on the level are woken up and unparalysed: "You feel threatened."
  3. You are blinded for 250–349 turns.
  4. All your visible gold vanishes: "You notice you have no gold!" ("You notice you have no money!" in 3.6.0) or "You feel a strange sensation.", if you had no gold.
  5. You are confused for 16–22 turns: "These runes were just too much to comprehend."
  6. You lose 1–10 HP and 3–6 strength (1-6 HP and 1–2 strength if poison resistant): "The book was coated with contact poison!" Gloves protect you from this effect, though gauntlets of power will corrode in the process.
  7. The book explodes, dealing 7–25 points of damage unless you have magic resistance. The book will always be destroyed by the explosion.
    • "As you read the book, it radiates explosive energy in your <face>!"
    • "The book radiates explosive energy, but you are unharmed!" (if magic resistant)

You have a 1/3 chance of destroying the spellbook every time you fail to read it (in addition to the chance of explosion, which always destroys it). This produces the message spellbook crumbles to dust!. You will then be prompted to name the spellbook if it was not identified or already type named.

Safely reading non-blessed spellbooks

In practice, the biggest dangers when reading non-blessed spellbooks are losing the book and getting teleported to a random location on the level while paralysed. Teleport control allows you to choose where you will teleport, rendering this effect mostly harmless. A unicorn horn will cure blindness, confusion and strength loss; wearing gloves will prevent strength loss and damage from poison in the first place, while blindness and confusion will wear off eventually. Bagging your gold when reading spellbooks will prevent it from being lost, and magic resistance will protect you from the damage inflicted by a book exploding.

Reading such spellbooks while carrying unpaid goods in shops is especially perilous, as the shopkeeper will become angry and call the Keystone Kops while you are paralyzed.

You can read spellbooks of up to level 5 in relative safety if you have teleport control, lock yourself in a closet with Elbereth engraved on the floor and drop your gold. To safely read level 6 and higher spellbooks, you also need gloves and/or a unicorn horn and, for level 7 books, magic resistance or at least 26 HP. If you don't have teleport control, you can instead read them on a non-teleport level, such as inside the closets on the top level of Sokoban.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Unicorn horns can no longer restore reduced attributes. Alternatives include potions of restore ability, the restore ability spell, prayer, or gain ability.

Teleporting

The guaranteed teleport effect of cursed level 1 spellbooks may be useful as an escape item to teleport if other resources are scarce but books plentiful. A speed runner might even write cursed books to conserve power and scrolls of charging.

Messages

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.


The [magical] ink in this spellbook is fresh.
You are flipping through a spellbook that has been affected 0 times.
The [magical] ink in this spellbook is slightly faded.
You are flipping through a spellbook that has been affected 1 time.
The [magical] ink in this spellbook is very faded.
You are flipping through a spellbook that has been affected 2 times.
The [magical] ink in this spellbook is extremely faded.
You are flipping through a spellbook that has been affected 3 times. It can no longer be used to learn a new spell.
The [magical] ink in this spellbook is barely visible.
You are flipping through a spellbook that has been affected 4 times. It can no longer be studied at all.
You hear the pages make an unpleasant rustling sound.
You are flipping through the Book of the Dead.
You see the pages glow faintly red.
You are flipping through the Book of the Dead while deaf.

Variants

SLASH'EM

Spellbooks have charges now. When reading a non-cursed charged spellbook, one charge is consumed, and "The words on the page seem to glow faintly." This allows you to read the spelbook normally should you fail the reading roll, and triples the reading speed otherwise.

FIQHack

FIQHack has numerous changes regarding spellbooks:

Encyclopedia entry

The Book of Three lay closed on the table. Taran had never
been allowed to read the volume for himself; now he was sure
it held more than Dallben chose to tell him. In the sun-
filled room, with Dallben still meditating and showing no
sign of stopping, Taran rose and moved through the shimmering
beams. From the forest came the monotonous tick of a beetle.
His hands reached for the cover. Taran gasped in pain and
snatched them away. They smarted as if each of his fingers
had been stung by hornets. He jumped back, stumbled against
the bench, and dropped to the floor, where he put his fingers
woefully into his mouth.
Dallben's eyes blinked open. He peered at Taran and yawned
slowly. "You had better see Coll about a lotion for those
hands," he advised. "Otherwise, I shouldn't be surprised if
they blistered."

[ The Book of Three, by Lloyd Alexander ]

See also

References

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.1. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-361}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.