Alignment abuse

In NetHack, alignment record abuse or simply alignment abuse is a value that tracks the amount of times a hero has transgressed over the course of a game.

Description

Alignment abuse represents how much the hero has gone against the moral path outlined for them by their role, alignment and/or other moral codes—this is distinct from the hero's alignment record, which both describes whether or not a hero has strayed from their path or adhered to it, and further measures to what extent they have sinned or remained aligned.

Erinyes

The erinyes are a trio of monsters that actively become more hostile and powerful the more that a hero has abused their alignment: As the hero's alignment abuses increase, an erinys will gain more monster levels and difficulty, along with additional properties and attacks such as monster spells and teleport control.

An erinys can be summoned with an abuse-dependent chance if the hero shifts alignment as well, such as when they put on a helm of opposite alignment (which increments the hero's alignment abuse prior to the hero's record being cleared), and will always occur if they do so on the Astral Plane.

Strategy

The erinyes and their ability to become more threatening in response to the hero's alignment abuse makes it a much riskier prospect to both put on unidentified helms in the early game and to use helms of opposite alignment for an "easier" time during the endgame stages.

History

Alignment abuse is introduced in NetHack 5.0.0.

Variants

Several NetHack variants prior to NetHack 5.0.0 introduce an alignment abuse system or a similar mechanic that differs heavily from the alignment abuse system established in that version of NetHack.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, alignment abuse plays a much more significant role in several mechanics, such as the caliber of the hero's sacrifice gifts and the outcome of the hero completing their Quest. Any alignment record penalties the hero takes raises their alignment abuse by the same amount, and the last five chronological events that resulted in alignment abuse can be viewed using the #conduct extended command. The levels of alignment abuse are listed below alongside their #conduct statements:

Alignment abuse statement	Alignment abuse range
"You have never abused your alignment."	0
"You have slightly abused your alignment."	1 to 4
"You have moderately abused your alignment."	5 to 14
"You have seriously abused your alignment."	15 to 29
"You have severely abused your alignment."	30 to 49
"You have gravely abused your alignment."	50 or higher

Alignment abuse and its effects are most pronounced on the Quest, whose mechanics for completion are also significantly changed from NetHack: if the hero successfully defeats their quest nemesis and retrieves the quest artifact, they must chat to their quest leader to enable the Bell of Opening for use in the invocation and officially complete the Quest. Upon speaking to the quest leader, there is an alignment-abuse-in-50 chance that the hero will be asked by the quest leader to return their quest artifact to them—this means that a hero with no alignment abuse will never have to return their quest artifact, while one that has gravely abused their alignment will almost be guaranteed to have their leader request it back from them.

Handing over the quest artifact peacefully will transfer it to the leader's inventory, while declining will cause them to become hostile and forces the hero to kill them to complete the Quest: evading the quest leader after defeating the nemesis will only postpone this decision, with either outcome being necessary to eventually perform the invocation using the Bell of Opening. Other scenarios are accounted for with these mechanics as well—heroes that killed their quest leader before proceeding further into the branch only need to kill their nemesis to complete the Quest, while a hero that has killed their quest nemesis but somehow angers their quest leader before speaking to them with the artifact can still complete the quest by killing them. The only exception to the above is the Archbishop of Moloch for Infidels, who will always become hostile so that the Idol of Moloch is not lost since it is required for Infidels to complete the game.

Alignment abuse is thankfully not permanent, although repairing it can be difficult: an aligned priest tending to a co-aligned temple will offer "cleansing" services that correct one or more levels of alignment abuse. Chatting with a co-aligned temple priest and donating at least 50,000 zm will correct one level of alignment abuse for every 50,000 gold pieces donated, and will bring the hero down to the highest point value of the next tier of alignment abuse (e.g. going from severely abused to seriously abused will put you at 29 alignment abuse points)—it costs 250,000 zm to go from gravely abused alignment to none in a single donation, and to compensate for the possibility that not enough gold is generated in a game, the cap on the amount of gold that a hero can wish for is increased to 25,000 per wish. Conduct tracking for alignment abuse will display different output for a hero that has fully atoned versus one that has never sinned in the first place, and cleansing services will not reset this conduct.

Each level of alignment abuse has the following effects on the hero's standing with their god and priests, the quality, beatitude and enchantment of their mundane and artifact gifts from sacrifice (which will always be erosion-proofed regardless of alignment abuse), and more general effects on gameplay:

• A hero that has never abused their alignment will have slightly increased odds of a sacrifice gift. Their sacrifice gifts will be blessed and have an enchantment ranging from +3 to +5, with a decently high chance of a good object property and good build quality (i.e. being superior or exceptional).
• A hero that has slightly abused their alignment will experience a price increase of 25% for temple services. Their sacrifice gifts will be blessed and have an enchantment ranging from +2 to +3, with a lesser chance of a good object property or good build quality than the previous abuse level.
• A hero that has moderately abused their alignment will experience a price increase of 50% for temple services. Their sacrifice gifts will be blessed and have an enchantment ranging from +1 to +2, with a lesser-still chance of a good object property or good build quality than the previous abuse level.
• A hero that has seriously abused their alignment will experience a price increase of 75% for temple services. Their sacrifice gifts will be blessed and have no enchantment, with a lesser-still chance of a good object property or good build quality than the previous abuse level.
• A hero that has severely abused their alignment will experience a price increase of 100% for temple services. Their sacrifice gifts will be uncursed unless they are an Infidel, and the gift will have an enchantment ranging from +0 to -1 with a much lesser chance of a good object property or good build quality than the previous abuse level. If the hero reaches the Astral Plane with severely abused alignment or worse, they will not be given the Red Horse.
• A hero that has gravely abused their alignment will experience a price increase of 100% for temple services, and will also be denied the opportunity to buy divine protection. Their sacrifice gifts will be uncursed unless they are an Infidel, and the gift will have an enchantment ranging from -1 to -3 with a low chance of a good object property or good build quality.