Beartrap
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | beartrap |
| Appearance | beartrap |
| Base price | 60 zm |
| Weight | 200 |
| Material | iron |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A beartrap is a type of tool that appears in NetHack, and is almost always seen in the form of a primed bear trap (^ 
) on the ground. It is made of iron.
Contents
Generation
Bear traps can be generated in most rooms on almost any floor of the dungeon, but cannot be placed on a stair or ladder, a pool or moat, lava, in a wall, on a closed door, on a spot occupied by another trap or a solid dungeon feature (e.g. a throne or altar), or anywhere on the Plane of Air or Plane of Water.
A hero that successfully untraps a live bear trap will generate an uncursed beartrap item on the former trap's square, even if it was a trap set by a hero that had a different beatitude at the time of setting.[1]
Description
Bear traps are activated by walking on to their square, including a hero moving onto their square as the result of a failed untrap attempt. A hero or monster that steps into a bear trap will take 2d4 damage from it closing on their foot (subject to half physical damage) and be prevented from moving for several turns, and a hero will also abuse dexterity, lose the ability to kick or levitate and suffer a wounded leg.[2][3][4][5] A bugbear or owlbear activating a bear trap prints a unique message, including a hero in the form of one.[6][7] If the hero moves onto a bear trap square while riding, the steed will be caught in the trap instead unless they are levitating or flying.[8] A hero that is caught in a bear trap while chained to a heavy iron ball buried in the ground will be immediately freed from that iron ball.
Heroes and monsters will always avoid a bear trap under the following circumstances:[9]
- They are levitating or flying over its square and have not moved down into the trap[10][11]—a hero that floats or flies over a hidden beartrap will reveal its location.
- They are amorphous, whirly or unsolid.[12]
- They are small in size at most.[13]
- They are metallivorous—for a monster, they will always eat the bear trap when moving into it, while the hero must move onto the trap's square before they can eat it.[14]
Otherwise, a hero that knows a beartrap's location and is not fumbling will avoid the trap 4⁄5 of the time.
Disarming
Untrapping a bear trap will disarm it and leave a beartrap item behind, and failing to manually untrap one may cause the hero to be caught in the trap, with a chance dependent on luck. A hero cannot untrap a bear trap while they are caught within it.[15] A hero that fails while manually untrapping a bear trap that a monster is caught in has a chance of inflicting up to 4 points of damage, which also constitutes pet abuse if the trapped monster is tame, and the hero will be responsible for a monster killed by this damage.[16] Successfully freeing a monster from a bear trap they are stuck in has a 1⁄2 chance of making that monster peaceful if the hero is nearby and that monster was hostile previously.[17][18]
A hero or monster escaping from a bear trap they were caught in will not disarm it. A beartrap can only be polymorphed while it is not armed.
Digging down using a wand of digging or the dig spell while on a beartrap's square disarms that beartrap and attempts to bury it, though it is immediately uncovered when creating a hole or pit in the floor.[19]
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.
Per commit e4cb3f08, Rangers always succeed in disarming bear traps unless they are impaired.Setting a beartrap
Applying a beartrap item will arm the beartrap and create a bear trap square, which is an occupation that can be interrupted:[20] the duration required to successfully arm a beartrap is based on the hero's strength and dexterity, and is doubled if the hero is blind;[21] the hero cannot set a beartrap if they are stunned, levitating, flying, engulfed, or in a form that lacks hands, and cannot set a bear trap on a square where it is invalid to generate.[22]
A hero trying to set a beartrap while they are fumbling or the beartrap is cursed has a luck-dependent chance of becoming stuck in the set bear trap.[23] A hero riding a steed while they are unskilled in riding has the same chance of failure, along with an even worse chance if they are also fumbling or setting a cursed beartrap[24][25]—however, failing to set one while riding will cause it to fall harmlessly to the floor, rather than setting and triggering the trap.[26]
A bear trap set by the hero behaves as normal, with the addition of angering peaceful monsters that are caught in a hero's bear trap; a hero can still be caught in their own bear trap if they move into it normally and fail to avoid the trap, or else move into it as a result of failing to disarm it.
Escaping
The most common way to escape a bear trap is to try to move out of it. For some reason, trying to move diagonally is most effective, allowing a hero to escape in 4–7 moves even if a wall is in the way[27]—attempting to escape in an orthogonal direction requires about five times as many moves to succeed. Zapping a wand of opening or casting the knock spell downward will instantly release a trapped hero, while zapping either in the direction of a monster trapped in one will free them.[28][29]
Teleportation, including level teleporting and branchporting, can safely get the hero out of a bear trap. Polymorphing into a monster that cannot be held by a bear trap will also instantly free the hero, and polymorph into a metallivore allows the hero to eat it without taking further damage, even while caught in it. Jumping out of a bear trap is possible, but inflicts d10 damage (subject to half physical damage) and results in a wounded leg that lasts for 500–1499 turns.[30]
A hero digging down with a pick-axe or dwarvish mattock while caught in a bear trap has a luck-based chance of destroying the trap and freeing themselves, and failing will inflict at least one point of damage from hitting themselves in the foot, which is subject to half physical damage and is also halved if the hero is wearing boots.[31] Digging down using a wand of digging or the dig spell while caught in a bear trap will also disarm the bear trap.
Strategy
A beartrap can be applied in a narrow corridor to slow down pursuers, including preventing a shopkeeper from blocking the door of their shop while stealing from them—a monster stuck in a beartrap is also an easy target for ranged attacks. However, the time it takes to set one makes it very hard to utilize for emergency getaways, and at 200 aum they are also quite heavy to carry around.
History
The bear trap first appears in Hack 1.0, while the beartrap object is introduced in NetHack 3.2.0.
The encyclopedia entry is added in NetHack 3.6.0.
Messages
- A bear trap closes on your <foot>!
- You triggered a bear trap.
- You are released from the bear trap.
- The bear trap is no longer holding you.
- <monster> is caught in a bear trap!
- A monster triggered a bear trap.
- You hear the roaring of an angry bear!
- An unseen owlbear or bugbear triggered a bear trap.
- You howl in anger!
- You triggered a bear trap while polymorphed into an owlbear or bugbear.
- <monster> eats a bear trap!
- A metallivore ate a bear trap.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the liquid leap technique can be used to escape from bear traps.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, 2-8 bear traps are generated on the forest level of the Ruins of Moria at level creation.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the beartrap's weight is reduced to 100 aum.
A hero or monster trapped in a bear trap is potentially vulnerable to sneak attacks.
Worn boots that have the randomized appearance of jungle boots grant immunity to wounded legs from the sting of xans or being caught in a bear trap—damage taken from being forced out of a bear trap (e.g. by a thrown iron ball) is also reduced, though the boots will be damaged in that instance and lose up to 10 points of enchantment, destroying them if the enchantment is low enough as a result.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, beartraps have their weight reduced to 50 aum.
Rangers start each game with two beartraps.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, a bear trap is always placed on a set square within each map of Goblin Town at level creation.
Five bear traps are randomly placed around the top floor of the Ice Queen's Realm at level creation, and a bear trap is placed on a set square within the middle floor of the branch at level creation.
Encyclopedia entry
Probably most commonly associated with trapping, the leghold
trap is a rather simple mechanical trap. It is made up of two
jaws, a spring of some sort, and a trigger in the middle. When
the animal steps on the trigger the trap closes around the leg,
holding the animal in place. Usually some kind of lure is used
to position the animal, or the trap is set on an animal trail.
Traditionally, leghold traps had tightly closing "teeth" to make
sure the animal stayed in place. The teeth also made sure the
animal could not move the leg in the trap and ruin their fur.
However, this resulted in many animals gnawing off legs in order
to escape. More modern traps have a gap called an "offset jaw"
and work more like a handcuff. They grip above the paw, making
sure the animal cannot pull out but does not destroy the leg.
This also allows the trapper to release unwanted catches.
References
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4177
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1072
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1096
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2288
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2870
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1099
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2297
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1090
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2289
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 932
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1075
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1078
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1084
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2168
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4460
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4095
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4135
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4700
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 878
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2497
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2547-L2554
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2506-L2532
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2560
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2557
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2564
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2575
- Jump up ↑ src/hack.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1221
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2852
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4687
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1763
- Jump up ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 326
