Base attributes

Keyboard commands
~	!		@		#		$		%		^		&		*	(	)	_	=	+
	Q		W		E		R		T		Y		U	I		O	P	{	}	|
	q		w		e		r		t		y		u	i		o	p	[	]	\
		A		S		D		F		G		H		J		K	L	:	"
		a		s		d		f		g		h		j		k	l	;	'
			Z		X		C		V		B		N	M		<	>	?
			z		x		c		v		b		n	m		,	.	/
	q		w		e		r		t				u	i		o	p	Alt
		a		s		d		f						j			l	Alt
							c		v				n	m			?	Alt
		A			C		R		T				O					Alt
a		c		d		o		p		r		t		x		[		Ctrl

In NetHack, a player can view the base attributes of their hero, such as their alignment, HP and ability scores (sometimes also known as "attributes"), by pressing ctrl + x or using the #attributes extended command.

A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:

"Detail further where possible + expand on history and variants."

Description

Using the command to view the hero's base attributes will display a window with five sections of information: "Background", "Basics", "Characteristics", "Status", and "Miscellaneous". The window is similar to the one produced whenever the hero attains enlightenment or when the player is viewing their hero's attributes and qualities at the end of a game: like those windows, it can be navigated with Space, <, >, and/or the left and right arrow keys, while almost any other key will return to the game.

• "Background" details the hero's current rank, role, alignment (which includes the deity they serve), experience level, gender, and dominant hand. It also lists the current dungeon branch and level, the current turn count, the current phase of the moon, and the hero's experience point count.
• "Basics" lists the state of the hero's hit points, spell power, and armor class, along with the amount of gold currently being carried (both in their wallet and within their inventory) and whether or not the autopickup option is enabled.
• "Characteristics" lists all six of the hero's current ability scores: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligent, wisdom, and charisma. This listing will also include the base ability score for any attribute that is currently modified by a worn item, the peak ability score for any attribute that is currently below the highest value it has reached, and the limit for that attribute if it is different from the standard peak of that ability score for a human hero. Base and peak ability scores are not shown if the hero is currently polymorphed, is wielding or wearing a cursed item that alters their attributes, or else is wearing a cursed ring of sustain ability.
• "Status" describes the hero's current nutrition level, their encumbrance (or lack thereof), whether or not they have wounded legs, their currently wielded item, and their skill level in the weapon they are wielding (if applicable). It will also show if the hero is currently engulfed or caught in a trap.
• "Miscellaneous" displays the total amount of time spent playing the current game.

In wizard mode, the base attributes command displays more specific information and there is a sixth section, "Attributes", placed after "Status":

• In "Background", the experience point total shows the exact amount needed for the hero to reach their next experience level.
• In "Characteristics", the player can always view the hero's base and peak ability scores, regardless of any worn or wielded cursed items that alter those ability scores or suppress changes to them.
• In "Status", the hero's exact nutrition level is shown along with how many aum (arbitrary units of measure) they are above or below their current carrying capacity.
• In "Attributes", the player is shown the hero's numeric and described alignment record, the hero's properties and their sources (e.g. "intrinsically", "innately", "because of your <worn item>"), their level of magic cancellation, their luck value, and their prayer timeout.
• In "Miscellaneous", the game explicitly states that it is "running in debug mode", and the amount of bones levels that the player has loaded is shown.

History

In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions, including some variants based on those versions, the base attributes window only shows the hero's current and starting race, role, gender, alignment, and deities, with their current deity marked by (c) and their starting deity marked by (s)—the example below displays how this appears in a typical game:

Base Attributes

Starting
name           : player
race           : gnome
role           : Archeologist
gender         : male
alignment      : neutral

Current
race           : gnome
role           : Archeologist
gender         : male
alignment      : neutral

Deities
Chaotic        : Huhetotl
Neutral        : Camaxtli          (s,c)
Lawful         : Quetzalcoatl
(end)

Variants

Some NetHack variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions may incorporate more detailed base attribute reports for the hero, with some imported from later versions of vanilla NetHack.

AceHack

In AceHack, the base attributes screen is extended from NetHack 3.4.3 with information about the hero's ability scores, encumbrance, current experience points and amount required for the next experience level|level up]], and also provides a lettered menu that can display the hero's inventory, intrinsic properties, vanquished creatures, conduct status, and a breakdown of the player's score. An example of how the window looks during gameplay is provided below:

Your Statistics

Stats
name      : player
race      : human        (originally human)
role      : Ranger
gender    : female       (originally female)
alignment : neutral      (originally neutral)
level     : 1 (exp: 0, 20 needed)
abilities : St:16 Dx:9 Co:13 In:14 Wi:13 Ch:8
naturally : St:16 Dx:9 Co:13 In:14 Wi:13 Ch:8
burden    : 201 (burdened at 776)
Deities
Chaotic   : Mars             
Neutral   : Venus             (s,c)
Lawful    : Mercury          
Other Information
i - Inventory
a - Intrinsic abilities
v - Vanquished creatures
c - Conducts followed
s - Score breakdown

This extended base attributes screen is also available in variants derived from AceHack, such as NetHack4, DynaHack, Fourk, and FIQHack.