Bone

This article is about the material. For the remains of a dead player character, see bones.

Bone is a form of material that occurs in NetHack.

Description

Bone is a rigid, non-organic material that is not normally subject to erosion, though it will burn up if submerged in lava.

A gelatinous cube cannot normally eat objects made of bone and will only engulf them, though a hero in the form of a gelatinous cube can eat bone items manually.

List of bone items

The following items are made of bone:

• worm tooth
• crysknife
• any ring with the randomized appearance of "pearl" or "ivory"
• all randomized horns:
  • tooled horn
  • fire horn
  • frost horn
  • horn of plenty
• unicorn horn

Polypiling enough bone objects has a chance of creating a skeleton (the closest monster available to a "bone golem").

History

The bone material is formally defined in NetHack 3.1.0, though both ivory and pearl rings predate the material and exist as far back as Hack 1.0. From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, the "pearl ring" is a randomized appearance made of iron rather than bone—NetHack 3.6.0 gives pearl rings their current material.

In versions up to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the crysknife is made of mineral instead of bone—NetHack 5.0.0 changes crysknives to be made of bone via commit 60ec7256.

Variants

Some NetHack variants add new items made of bone, while others that implement an object materials system make it possible for certain items–usually metallic ones–to be made of bone. Bone items are often made vulnerable to erosion through burning or rotting.

As an object material, bone is fairly common and is roughly as durable as iron (if not slightly more or slightly less so), but it is also much lighter in weight and does not block spellcasting as heavily. Bone weapons can often be used to hit insubstantial monsters such as ghosts and shades, though they do not get any bonus damage in those cases as silver would against shades.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, pearl rings, worm teeth and crysknives are not made of bone, and all items retain their materials from NetHack 3.4.3 and previous contemporary versions.

GruntHack

In GruntHack, pearl rings are made of bone, while all other bone items from NetHack 3.4.3 retain their base material.

As an object material, bone has less than half the weight of iron (specifically ⁵⁄₁₂). Items with wood and iron base materials can rarely be made of bone, with a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance for iron items and a ³⁄₁₀₀ chance for wooden items. Bone armor grants 1 more point of AC than standard iron armor.

SporkHack

SporkHack retains all bone items from NetHack 3.4.3 and adds one more item in the skull.

dNetHack

dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack retain all bone items from NetHack 3.4.3 and add various items with a base material of bone:

• spike
• fang of apep
• clawed hand
• bestial claw
• faceless helm
• gentlewoman's dress
• belt of carrying
• worm-gnawed skull
• magic torch
• glyphs
• Artifacts:
  • Staff of Necromancy
  • Plague
  • Helm of Undeath
  • Amhimitl
  • The Tecpatl of Huhetotl

Dragonbone is not a type of bone material, but is instead the "hard" material counterpart to dragonhide.

As an object material, armor and most shields that are made of bone do not incur spellcasting penalties.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, bone as an object material is rigid, rot-prone and flammable, and has less than one-third the weight of iron (specifically ⁵⁄₁₆). Items have the following probabilities of generating as bone:

• Items with wood, iron or steel base materials can rarely be made of bone, with a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance for iron or steel items and a ³⁄₁₀₀ chance for wooden items. Chests and large boxes can never be made of bone.
• Orcish items other than the orcish cloak have a ¹⁄₁₂₅ chance of being made of bone.
• The four horn 'instruments' that share an unidentified appearance and have a base material of bone will have a ⁷⁄₁₀ chance of retaining that material when being generated.
• Figurines and amulets other than the amulet of reflection have a ¹⁄₂₀ chance of being made of bone.
• Bows have a ¹⁄₂₅ chance of being made of bone.
• Skeletons may leave behind skeleton keys made of bone upon death.

Bone armor offers 1 less point of AC compared to its iron counterparts, but does not incur spellcasting penalties with the exception of shields—bone shields are light enough to have lower spellcasting penalties than other shields. Positively-enchanted bone armor will intercept a level drain effect that hits the hero while it is worn, instead draining a point of enchantment from the armor. Bone weapons can hit ghosts and shades, though they do not gain damage bonuses unlike silver weapons. Since bone is a rigid material, bone helms offer protection against falling objects.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, bone as an object material functions similarly to xNetHack: it is rigid, rot-prone and flammable, and has less than one-third the weight of iron (specifically ⁵⁄₁₆).

SpliceHack retains all bone items from the development versions of NetHack 5.0.0 (such as the worm tooth and crysknife), and gives the following new and retained items a base material of bone:

• sacrificial knife
• triple flail
• footbow
• skeleton key
• horn of blasting
• wands with the randomized appearance of "bone" or "dragonbone"
• The End, an artifact scythe

Items with wood, iron or steel base materials can rarely be made of bone, with a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance for iron or steel items and a ³⁄₁₀₀ chance for wooden items. The horn 'instruments' that share an unidentified appearance have a ¹³⁷⁄₂₀₀ chance (68.5%) of being made of their base material of bone. Bows have a ¹⁄₂₅ chance of being made of bone.

Bone armor offers 1 less AC compared to its iron counterparts similar to xNetHack, but incurs lighter spellcasting penalties, while bone weapons can hit ghosts and shades (though as with xNetHack there is no damage bonus).

EvilHack

In EvilHack, bone as an object material is rigid and susceptible to both burning and rotting.

EvilHack retains all bone items from the NetHack 3.6 series and adds two bone items in the staff of holiness and triple-headed flail—skeleton keys, worm teeth and crysknives have their base material changed to bone. Forging cannot utilize bone components or create bone items.

Items have the following probabilities of generating as bone:

• Items with iron or steel base materials have a ¹⁄₂₀ chance of generating as made of bone.
• Items with wood base materials have a ¹⁄₅₀ chance of generating as made of bone.
• Orcish items other than the orcish cloak have a ¹⁄₅ chance of generating as made of bone.
• The horn 'instruments' that share an unidentified appearance have a ³⁄₅ chance of being made of their base material of bone.
• Flute items have a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of generating as made of bone.
• Bows have a ⁷⁄₁₀₀ chance of generating as made of bone.
• Bracers have a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of generating as made of bone.
• Barding has a ¹⁄₂₀ chance of generating as made of bone.

The Goblin King is always generated with a bone quarterstaff.

Bone armor can be made 'fireproof' by reading a non-cursed scroll of enchant armor while confused, and any bone object can be made fireproof by wielding it and reading a scroll of enchant weapon while confused. Bone armor is rigid enough to prevent AC bonuses from high dexterity, and offers AC equal to that of its iron counterparts—orcs wearing bone body armor (including orcish heroes) are granted MC3. Bone helms will also offer protection from falling objects, while bone armor and bone weapons can be used to hit monsters such as ghosts and shades (though no bonus damage is applied).

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, lithivores can eat objects made of bone.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, bone as an object material behaves as it does in EvilHack.

The footbow is a new object made of bone.