Crossbow
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | crossbow |
| Appearance | crossbow |
| Damage vs. small | 1d2 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d2 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | crossbow |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 40 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 50 |
| Material | wood |
A crossbow is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a one-handed launcher that is designed for shooting crossbow bolts, and uses the crossbow skill. it is made of wood.
Generation
Gnomish heroes in roles that start the game with a bow and arrows will instead receive a crossbow and crossbow bolts.[1] This substitution applies for gnomish Rangers, who start with a +1 crossbow and stacks of +0 and +2 crossbow bolts as their ranged weaponry.[2]
Crossbows make up 9⁄200 (4.5%) of all weapons that are randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapons outlets can also stock crossbows.
Plains centaurs and mountain centaurs have a 1⁄2 chance of generating with a crossbow and 3–14 bolts as ammunition.[3]
A humanoid monster that has a weapon attack, the ability to wield weapons and no other ruleset governing its monster starting inventory has a chance of generating with a crossbow and a set of bolts, unless they are being created on the Rogue level:[4] the base odds are 1⁄14 for normal monsters, 1⁄12 for a monster that is a lord or is nasty, 1⁄10 for a monster that is either an overlord or else is both a lord and nasty, and 1⁄8 for a monster that is both nasty and an overlord.
Crossbow skill
| Crossbow | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Basic | |
| Skilled | |
| Expert | |
The crossbow is the only launcher to use crossbow skill, and crossbow bolts are the only ammo to use this launcher. There are no artifacts that use the crossbow skill.
Description
A hero must use a crossbow by wielding it and then using t or f to shoot crossbow bolts, which is the only way to train the skill: attempting to use the crossbow in melee will simply deal a minimal 1d2 damage. The enchantment of a crossbow contributes to the to-hit value that determines the accuracy of bolts fired from it, but does not impact the damage they inflict, while the bolts' own enchantments contributes to both their accuracy and damage.
When using the firing or quiver command while wielding a crossbow, the game will prioritize crossbow bolts if the autoquiver option is enabled[5]—similarly, if the hero attempts to shoot or throw crossbow bolts with no crossbow wielded, the game will similarly attempt to find a crossbow that is not identified as cursed for the hero to automatically wield.[6]
Crossbows always fire at their maximum range of 8 squares, rather than basing their range on strength as most other missile weapons do.[7][8][9] Instead, crossbows apply a multishot penalty if their user is below a certain strength threshold:[10] gnomish heroes must have at least 16 strength to obtain full multishot bonuses from firing crossbows, while other races require 18 strength. Gnomish heroes gain a +1 racial multishot bonus when firing bolts from a crossbow, and any hero that can reach Skilled in crossbows gains a +1 multishot bonus, as can any hero that reaches Expert skill.[11][13]
Strategy
High-strength heroes lacking a ranged weapon may choose to retrieve a crossbow from the Gnomish Mines, though ammo for the crossbow is somewhat scarce compared to the various types of arrows and the presence of arrow traps. Monks looking to maintain weaponless conduct may elect to carry a crossbow and bolts on hand—Rogues can also reach Expert in crossbow, making a crossbow and a set of (possibly poisoned bolts) an option for their long-term ranged weapon.
Gnomish Rangers may get additional crossbow bolts in the early game from gnomes, but will want to let a pet do the killing to avoid alignment record and alignment abuse penalties. The centaurs in the Ranger quest provide a plentiful source during the midgame, but dealing with attack wands in the branch is likely to be a problem for a hero without reflection or the relevant resistances. The Ranger's quest artifact, The Longbow of Diana, also uses a different skill and ammunition that is incompatible with crossbows: a gnomish Ranger may prefer to keep their crossbow and a large stack of enchanted crossbow bolts as their primary ranged attack, and carry the Longbow only for the extrinsic telepathy.
History
Crossbows and their ammo first appear in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and both are included in the initial weapon list for Hack 1.0. Their special behaviors with regards to range and multishot are introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, crossbows are two-handed weapons. Undead Slayers have a chance of starting the game with a crossbow and bolts.
SLASH'EM also introduces an artifact crossbow, Hellfire, that is chaotic-aligned and provides fire resistance when wielded; bolts fired from it that hit monsters create a fiery explosion in a 3x3 square centered on that monster.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, crossbows fire at a set range regardless of strength, and require high strength to fire multiple shots.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack all gnomish heroes in roles that start with a bow and arrows are given a crossbow and bolts instead, and gnomish heroes can also reach Expert skill in crossbows. All gnomes (including gnomish heroes) get an extra die of weapon damage when firing bolts from crossbows.
Each shot from a crossbow applies a 3x damage bonus based on current skill level: -5 at Restricted, -2 at Unskilled, +0 at Basic, +2 at Skilled and +5 at Expert. Higher skill levels also apply damage increases for each fired bolt instead of multishot:
- Basic or lower: 1x(bolt+enchantment) damage
- Skilled: 2x(bolt+enchantment) damage
- Expert: 3x(bolt+enchantment) damage
The extra damage is precision-based and does not apply against monsters that are amorphous, stationary or noncorporeal (as they are assumed to lack discernible weak-points).
There are three artifact crossbows:
- The Rogue Gear-Spirits, which replaces The Longbow of Diana as the quest artifact for the Gnomish Ranger quest.
- Hellfire, which is similar to its SLASH'EM incarnation and grants fire resistance alongside firing explosive bolts.
- The Unstoppable, which causes fired bolts to pierce through hostile monsters on hit, and bolts that miss will continue flying until they hit a wall.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, merfolk heroes in roles that would start the game with a bow and arrows receive a crossbow and bolts instead.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, centaur heroes gain a +1 multishot bonus when using crossbows—centaur Monks can still fire 2 crossbow bolts per shot, despite the skill being otherwise restricted for the role.
Gnomish Rangers have their quest artifact changed to The Crossbow of Carl, which is an artifact crossbow that mirrors The Longbow of Diana given to other Rangers. This allows them to preserve their multishot bonuses while also giving access to an unlimited source of crossbow bolts.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, Warriors start each game with a +1 crossbow and a stack of +0 crossbow bolts, while Undead Slayers have a 1⁄2 chance of starting with a crossbow and some bolts. All other details applied to SLASH'EM are unchanged.
Player monster undead slayers and gnomish non-Cavemen are likely to generate with a crossbow and some bolts.
Encyclopaedia entry
"God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus! -
Why look'st thou so?" - With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 252-L253
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 126-L128
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 474-L484
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 540-L547
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 409-L411
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 454-L464: game avoids "handing" the hero a known-cursed item to shoot with
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1520
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1613-L1616
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1637-L1638
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 225-L231
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 205-L209
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 170-L174
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 176-L188: weakmultishot has no roles that can reach Skilled or better in crossbows[12]
