Crystal ball
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | crystal ball |
| Appearance | glass orb |
| Base price | 60 zm |
| Weight | 150 |
| Material | glass |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A crystal ball is a type of magical tool that appears in NetHack. It is made of glass, and appears as a glass orb when unidentified.
The crystal ball is the base item for the artifacts The Orb of Fate and The Orb of Detection, as well as the defunct artifact The Palantir of Westernesse.
Contents
Generation
Crystal balls make up 3⁄200 of all randomly-generated tools. General stores and hardware stores can stock crystal balls.
Elvenkings have a 1⁄50 chance of being generated with a crystal ball.[1]
The fourth variant of Medusa's Island always generates a crystal ball at level creation, where it is placed underwater in the kraken's dwelling on the square just outside its door.[2]
A randomly generated crystal ball will have 1-5 charges and has a 1⁄4 chance of being blessed, a 1⁄2 chance of being uncursed, and a 1⁄4 chance of being cursed.[3]
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.
As part of commit 28fb6fc6, crystal balls are generated with 3-7 charges.Description
A hero applying or invoking a charged crystal ball while they are not blind is subjected to an intelligence check:[4][5] the intelligence check will always fail if the crystal ball is cursed, and will also fail if the hero's intelligence is less than the result of a d20 roll[6]—otherwise, the hero can search for an item, monster or trap on the current level by its glyph.[7] This consumes a single charge from the item regardless of the intelligence check's outcome.[8][9][10]
If the hero fails the intelligence check, one of the following effects occurs with an equal probability of each and an accompanying message:[6]
- No further effect occurs.[11]
- You are confused for up to 100 turns.[12]
- You are blinded for up to 100 turns.[13]
- You hallucinate for up to 100 turns.[14]
- If the crystal ball is not an artifact, it explodes, destroying it and dealing up to 30 points of damage—this can be halved by half physical damage.[15]
If the hero passes the check and selects something to scry for, they will be entranced and rendered immobile for up to 10 turns.[16] Using an uncharged crystal ball will always "pass" the check and entrance the hero, but produces no other effect beyond printing a message regardless of what they search for.[6][17] Using a crystal ball while blind will fail harmlessly without consuming a charge or producing any other effects.[5] Using a charged crystal ball while hallucinating uses up a charge and has the usual effects for failing the intelligence check, while passing the check simply prints one of six messages with no other effect.[18]
If a hero that applies a charged crystal ball and passes the intelligence check attempts to search for anything other than an item, monster or trap, such as stairs or other dungeon features, they will instead receive a random message hinting at the location of Delphi, Medusa's Lair, the Castle, or the Wizard's Tower, with the exact message and dungeon level determined based on the current dungeon branch and the information in the following table:[19][20][21]
| Dlvl difference | Message (in the same branch) | Message (not in the same branch) |
|---|---|---|
| greater than 8-10[20] | "You see <location>, far <below/above>." | "You see <location>, far away." |
| greater than 1 but no greater than the above number | "You see <location>, <below/above> you." | "You see <location>, away <below/above> you." |
| 1 | "You see <location>, just <below/above>." | "You see <location>, in the distance." |
| 0 | "You see <location>, near you." | "You see <location>, in the distance." This particular message is possible when e.g. the hero is in Sokoban and the target level is the Oracle level.[22][23] |
Using a crystal ball successfully and not revealing anything has a 1⁄100 chance of printing a message about the Wizard of Yendor gazing at them, which has no other effect and is deliberately intended to unnerve.[24]
Reading an uncursed scroll of charging and selecting a crystal ball will add one charge up to a maximum of 5, while a blessed scroll will always set the crystal ball to 6 charges.[25]
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 28fb6fc6:
- The hero can now search for dungeon features by entering any of < > _ \ # { - doing so will display all of these features, regardless of the one they entered.
- The intelligence check when applying a crystal ball uses a d8 instead of d20 if it is the quest artifact of the hero's role, or a d16 if it is blessed.
- Uncursed charging adds 1-2 charges, up to a maximum of 7. Blessed charging sets the number of charges to 7 and blesses the crystal ball. Cursed charging removes all charges and curses the crystal ball.
- Applying a cancelled crystal ball destroys it, regardless of whether or not it is an artifact.
Strategy
The crystal ball is characterized by its shortcomings as much as its strengths: it is quite heavy, and successful use leaves the hero helpless for a period of time. Only elves can raise their intelligence to 20 naturally without aid from a worn helm of brilliance, and heroes of other races at their maximum intelligence have a non-trivial chance of failure without the helm: 1⁄5 for orcs and dwarves, 1⁄10 for humans and 1⁄20 for gnomes. When it does work, it only allows the user to search for a single class of monster or object; most searching items are completely reliable, non-incapacitating, and will reveal all monsters, objects or traps on a level.
Generally, do not use a crystal ball if you are in a position where you could be attacked in the next 10 turns, have less than 31 HP, or lack a quick cure for impairments—failure can prove deadly, especially for low-level characters. As glass is fragile, non-artifact crystal balls can also easily shatter and must be handled with care, especially if they are in open inventory or within a non-magical container, and this all the more true if you are punished.[26]
The crystal ball can still be used effectively beyond polyfodder for a magic marker: the most relevant of these uses is for finding the vibrating square or magic portals. Though reading a scroll of gold detection while confused is usually preferable and much lighter in terms of resources, crystal balls may be more ideal for conduct players (e.g., illiterate and/or pacifist) or very cautious players that do not yet know the scroll of gold detection, or else lack any other means of object detection. In addition to use on the Elemental Planes, it can also be used to detect traps and search for vaults to clear them out, including seeking out the magic portal to Fort Ludios.
Tourists are in a somewhat unique position to employ a crystal ball once they maximize intelligence—The Platinum Yendorian Express Card grants almost-unlimited access to charging, and crystal balls do not explode from overcharging.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (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.
As the intelligence check for your own quest artifact crystal ball uses a d8, Valkyries and Archeologists can reliably use their quest artifacts to find the vibrating square and/or spot magic portals on the Planes. A blessed crystal ball can also be reliably used with a minimum of 16 intelligence, making them much easier for non-elves to apply.History
The crystal ball first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Origin
The crystal ball is typically associated with the art of scrying (known in this form as "crystal gazing" or "crystallomancy"), with a history of such going back to the writings of Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE; crystal gazing was a particular popular pastime in the Victorian era as well. The crystal ball served as a medium through which thoughts were focused, with the intent of detecting significant messages or visions for various purposes: personal guidance, prophecy, revelation, inspiration, or even divination and fortune-telling.
The small chance that Elvenkings will be generated with a crystal ball is based on the palantír, a fictional magical artifact from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth novels that appears as an indestructible ball of crystal, and is used for communicating and viewing the past and future. This serves as the inspiration for the Palantir of Westernesse, the quest artifact for the defunct elf role.
The crystal ball in Medusa's domain may be an allusion to the Graeae, three daughters of the sea-deities Phorcys and Ceto and sisters to the Gorgons. The Graeae shared a single eye and tooth, and Perseus stole their shared eye in order to ransom it for information—depending on the telling, this information entailed the whereabouts of either Medusa herself or the three objects needed to slay her.
Messages
- You may look for an object or monster symbol.
- You successfully peered into a crystal ball, and may select a symbol to search for.
- Too bad you can't see the crystal ball.
- You applied a crystal ball while blind.
- The vision is unclear.
- You applied a crystal ball without any charges, or else successfully peered into one but did not reveal anything.
- You see the Wizard of Yendor gazing out at you.
- This has a 1% chance of occurring on a successful peer that does not reveal anything.[24]
- All you see is funky <color> haze.
- You applied an uncharged crystal ball while hallucinating.
- Whoa! Psychedelic colors, <dude/babe>!
- You grok some groovy globs of incandescent lava.
- The crystal pulses with sinister <color> light!
- You see goldfish swimming above fluorescent rocks.
- You see tiny snowflakes spinning around a miniature farmhouse.
- Oh wow... like a kaleidoscope!
- One of these six messages is printed if you "successfully" peered into a charged crystal ball while hallucinating.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, crystal balls are notably the only type of tool that is not affected by the amnesia-inducing waters of the Castle's moat.
Crystal balls can be upgraded to magic markers and vice versa, and a magic marker that is upgraded into a crystal ball will have 10-12 charges. This makes crystal balls a useful source of markers for heroes that either have spare potions of gain level, or are gnomish heroes with access to the tinker technique. Though a crystal ball's low initial charges mean that a hero will get at most one low-value scroll out of the resulting marker before recharging back to 50 charges, this is still more than useful enough for most purposes. A once-charged marker that does not have enough ink for additional scrolls or even engraving Elbereth can be upgraded into a crystal ball in order to get some use out of its remaining charges.
SLASH'EM's precursors, NetHack Plus and SLASH 6, have additional items that share the same appearance as the crystal ball: the orb of charging, orb of destruction and orb of enchantment. These glass orbs have a base price of 750 zm and weigh 75 aum, making it somewhat easy to tell an actual crystal ball apart from them via weight testing or price identification—they remain in the code of SLASH'EM as deferred features.[27][28]
NetHack brass
NetHack brass adds the glass orbs from NetHack Plus and SLASH 6, but replaces the orb of destruction with the orb of maintenance. Additionally, the crystal ball now weighs 75 aum like the other glass orbs, meaning that price identification is the most reliable method to informally identify a glass orb.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, crystal balls have their weight significantly reduced to 50 aum.
The Palantir of Westernesse is re-introduced and can be obtained from the Elvish Racial Quest by elven characters in certain roles, and a set of five artifact crystal balls appear in the Temple of Chaos variant of the Chaos Quest.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, crystal balls are generated with up to 25 charges and weigh only 100 aum. Gazing into them no longer immobilizes the hero you, and a blessed or cursed ball counts as +5 or −5 toward the intelligence check to successfully use one; a crystal ball will also never explode on failure unless cursed, and entering an invalid character to search for in a crystal ball will prompt the hero again rather than wasting the charge. Uncursed charging of a crystal ball will add 6-10 charges.
One of Itlachiayaque's invocation effects allows the holder to gaze into it for the same effect as a crystal ball of the same beatitude, akin to The Orb of Detection (which it replaces as the Archeologist quest artifact).
notdNetHack
In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, crystal balls can be resized with an upgrade kit.
Encyclopedia entry
You look into one of these and see _vapours swirling like
clouds_. These shortly clear away to show a sort of video
without sound of something that is going to happen to you
soon. It is seldom good news.
[ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones ]
References
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 256
- ↑ dat/medusa.des in NetHack 3.6.7, line 371
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 940
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1095: use_crystal_ball function
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1102
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1106
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1179
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1142
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1173
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1199
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1109
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1112
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1116
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1127
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1132
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1189
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1192
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1146
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1219
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1042: level_distance function—the level difference is compared with the random roll (8 + rn2(3))
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1087: level_detects[]
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1059
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1074
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1228
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 651
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2054:
breaktestfunction - ↑ apply.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 3570
- ↑ objects.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 858
