Cloak of magic resistance

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[    [    [    [  cloak of magic resistance
Appearance	random
Slot	cloak
AC	1
Special	MC1 magic resistance
Base price	60 zm
Weight	10
Material	cloth

A cloak of magic resistance (commonly abbreviated CoMR) is a type of magical cloak that appears in NetHack. It is made of cloth, and has a randomized appearance when unidentified—the default one associated with it is an ornamental cope.

Generation

All Wizards start the game with a +0 cloak of magic resistance.

Cloaks of magic resistance are quite rare, and make up ¹⁄₅₀₀ (0.2%) of all armor randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapon outlets can also stock cloaks of magic resistance.

Aligned priests, high priests and the Arch Priest have a ¹⁄₂₁ chance of being generated with a cloak of magic resistance. Master Kaen, the Monk quest nemesis, has a ¹⁄₁₁ chance of being generated with a cloak of magic resistance, and will otherwise have a robe.

Non-monk player monsters, including those generated on the Astral Plane, have an effective ⁷⁄₆₄ chance (roughly ~10.94%) of generating with a cloak of magic resistance as their initial cloak. Priests have a further ³⁄₄ chance of the cloak being made into a robe instead, reducing this effective chance to ~2.73%. Wizards have a ¹⁄₂ chance of forcing a cloak of magic resistance, resulting in an effective chance of 43.75% for them.

Description

While worn, the cloak of magic resistance grants 1 AC, MC1 and magic resistance.

Strategy

The cloak of magic resistance is an important part of the ascension kit for several heroes and is naturally a common wish candidate: it is frequently paired with silver dragon scale mail (or another source of reflection) for combined protection from most attacks, weakening certain melee-range spells such as curse items while outright nullifying several others. The pairing of SDSM/CoMR is also one of the more conducive combinations for certain late-game playstyles that require certain slots free for other purposes—examples include a worn amulet of life saving, as well as having a hand free for twoweaponing, two-handed weapons or a lightweight small shield (for spellcasting heroes without a robe or cloak of protection). The cloak also serves as a backup source of magic resistance if a quest artifact with the property is stolen.

Monks may consider seeking out a cloak of magic resistance if they are going wishless, avoiding artifacts, or are committed to not using body armor.

Identification

The cloak of magic resistance is the only randomized cloak that does not auto-identify upon wearing it or when taking effect, though this makes it relatively trivial to informally identify. Bones left behind by a dead Wizard very frequently have their old cloak of magic resistance somewhere in the item pile.

For price identification, the cloak shares a base price of 60zm with the cloak of invisibility—invisible heroes testing for one will want to remove their invisibility source if possible, since the cloak of invisibility will not auto-identify if you are already invisible.

Some riskier methods of informally identifying this cloak involve removing, stashing or disabling all other sources of magic resistance, then stepping onto an anti-magic field or teleportation trap; unless you currently have poor AC, giving a hostile monster a wand of striking can also work. If you have magic resistance from your worn cloak, the effect of the trap or wand will be nullified. Using a potion or wand of enlightenment is far safer, but may not be as available due to the items' rarity.

Combat

The chance of a hostile aligned priest spawning with this cloak poses a potentially aggravating threat to heroes trying to avoid their spells, as it reduces the amount of effective ranged options (though pets and thrown potions are still useful). Similarly, Master Kaen can generate with this cloak, which will prove a major inconvenience to many Monks since it nullifies the wand of death—this does not stop the wand of sleep from immobilizing him, however, and also does not stop elemental attacks or disintegration breath (from a black dragon pet or polyself).

For many players, the high priest(ess) of Moloch generating with one is a worst-case scenario: most heroes will save a wand of death charge to use as soon as they turn hostile, and being forced to fight them (especially in melee) is very risky, especially for speed ascensions where the hero may otherwise be under-equipped for this level of combat.

History

The cloak of magic resistance first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, the cloak of magic resistance is one of several pieces of armor that provide MC3, and it is the most popular choice for long-term use and ascension kits in those versions due to providing both magic cancellation and magic resistance. NetHack 3.6.0 gives the cloak of magic resistance its current MC value and makes the cloak of protection the only worn source of MC3, so that a cloak of magic resistance is nearly as ubiquitous in character builds as it was previously.

Variants

Many NetHack variants based on NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions retain the cloak of magic resistance's MC3.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the cloak of magic resistance grants MC3 while worn.

A cloak of magic resistance can be created by upgrading an elven cloak or oilskin cloak, with a ¹⁄₄ chance: this makes it less common as a wish candidate, especially for gnomish heroes (who always have access to the tinker technique).

Undead vampires are often generated with opera cloaks—while this can provide a reliable source of backup cloaks if their appearance is randomized to this, it will also give spellcasting-reliant characters significant trouble with killing vampires, especially in the case of the already-powerful vampire mages.

GruntHack

In GruntHack, Sokoban offers a cloak of magic resistance as one of three possible prizes.

An ideal wish for a cloak of magic resistance in GruntHack is "blessed greased fixed +3 dragonhide cloak of magic resistance and reflection", which covers MC3 alongside two of the most essential properties in a single slot. Monsters are also capable of making wishes, and may wish for a cloak of magic resistance unless they already possess magic resistance.

NetHack brass

In NetHack brass, a cloak of magic resistance is one of the three possible Sokoban prize items.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, Sokoban offers a cloak as one of the three prize types, which has a ¹⁄₂ chance of being a cloak of magic resistance.

The Executioner will always be generated with a cloak of magic resistance.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, the cloak of magic resistance grants 0 base AC, 0 DR, magic resistance, and MC3 while worn. The Mantle of Heaven and The Vestment of Hell are artifact cloaks that always have a specific randomized appearance, making it possible for them to be cloaks of displacement.

Human Anachrononauts start each game with a cloak of magic resistance. Drow Wizards have their role's cloak of magic resistance replaced with droven chain mail—incantifier Wizards have the cloak replaced with a robe, both to match the starting kit of most other incantifier heroes and to avoid redundancy with their intrinsic magic resistance.

A cloak of magic resistance has a ³⁄₅ chance of being placed randomly on the Anachrononaut quest locate level during level creation, and another has a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of being placed randomly on each of the quest's lower filler levels during level creation. This also applies for the Android quest, but the cloak on the locate level only has a ³⁄₁₀ chance of generating.

Several monsters can generate with a cloak of magic resistance:

• Doctor Archer, the Madman quest nemesis, will always generate with a cloak of magic resistance.
• Xorn monks have a ¹⁄₅₀ chance of generating with a cloak of magic resistance size to fit their body.
• Alhoons are always generated with a cursed and partially eroded +4 cloak of magic resistance.
• The elder priest is always generated with a blessed +3 cloak of magic resistance.

A cloak of magic resistance can be used to repair the dispersive underlayer of imperial elven body armor, granting that armor half spell damage while it is worn.

DynaHack

In DynaHack, Sokoban offers a cloak as one of the three prize types, which has a ¹⁄₂ chance of being a cloak of magic resistance similar to UnNetHack.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, the cloak of magic resistance grants MC2 while worn.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, Anaraxis the Black (renamed from The Dark One, the Wizard quest nemesis) always generates with a worn cloak of magic resistance.

notdNetHack

In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, Ymir always generates with a +7 cloak of magic resistance sized to fit his body when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, giant and tortle Wizards are given an amulet of magic resistance in place of the cloak of magic resistance, which they are too large to wear.

The Dark One will always generate wearing a cloak of magic resistance. Kathryn the Ice Queen has a ¹⁄₂ chance of generating with a cloak of magic resistance. Cloaks of magic resistance will occasionally generate in the initial kits of level 20 player monsters, minus giants and tortles.

Dragonhide cloaks of magic resistance are a popular wish for characters that can wear them, since it grants high AC and resists almost all forms of erosion—the revamped destroy armor monster spell can still deteriorate it, but will only do so by one stage at a time due to the magic resistance property.

SlashTHEM

In addition to SLASH'EM details, incantifier Wizards in SlashTHEM have their starting cloak of magic resistance replaced with robes, as in dNetHack and its derivatives.

SlashTHEM also adds The Mantle of Heaven and The Vestment of Hell as Noble quest artifacts, which have a chance of their randomized appearance being a cloak of magic resistance.

NerfHack

In NerfHack, a cloak of magic resistance can appear as the Sokoban prize.