Crystal shield (dNetHack)
| [ crystal shield | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | shield |
| Slot | shield |
| Base size | large |
| AC | 1 |
| DR | 0 |
| MC | 0 |
| Magical item? | no |
| Properties |
|
| Base price | 150 zm |
| Default weight | 80 |
| Base material | glass |
- This article is about the item in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. For the item in NetHack Plus, see crystal shield (NetHack Plus).
A crystal shield is a type of shield that appears in dNetHack, notnotdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. It is a large item that has a default material of glass, and appears as a "shield" when unidentified.
Generation
Crystal shields are not randomly generated and cannot be duplicated by any form of smithing, but they can be wished for or found in bones.
A crystal shield is generated on the Mordor Fortress level of the Mordor Ruins Quest, where it is placed within the shield-filled chest in the room that lies beyond the throne room of the ogre emperor during level creation.
A blessed +0 crystal shield is placed within each of the 8 trapped Shiere Eladrin statues on the last level of the Law quest during level creation.
Crystal shields can be generated in the magic item vaults that appear within the Avatar of Lolth's lair during level creation if it appears as the second Abyss level.
Some monsters can be generated with crystal shields:
- Live elven monsters that are slated for "great equipment" and have no monster-specific rulesets governing their initial inventory have a 1⁄4 chance of receiving an equipment set that includes a crystal shield with an enchantment ranging from +4 to +7.
- Shiere Eladrin are always generated with shatterproof crystal shields.
- Brighid Eladrin are always generated with shatterproof obsidian 'crystal' shields.
- Player monster anachrononauts are always generated with crystal shields: the shield has a 1⁄3 chance of being shatterproof, and otherwise there is a 1⁄2 chance (effectively 1⁄3 total) of the shield being greased. The shield has a 1⁄3 chance of being cursed followed by a 1⁄3 chance of being blessed, and it will otherwise be uncursed. The shield's enchantment has a 3⁄5 chance of ranging from +0 to +4, a 3⁄10 chance of ranging from +4 to +7, and will otherwise range from -1 to -3.
- In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Ymir is always generated with a gigantic +7 crystal shield when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.
Description
While worn, a crystal shield grants 1 base AC and 0 base DR and only takes 1 turn to put on or remove. Like other shields, crystal shields gain no bonus to DR from their enchantment, but unlike other shields they gain a doubled bonus to AC from their enchantment, up to 15 at +7. They can also be safely enchanted from +5 to reach +7, similar to an elven shield.
Crystal shields are fragile and may shatter when thrown, kicked or dropped from a height (e.g. while levitating) unless they are made erosion-proof—a force bolt spell or a zapped wand of striking will destroy any crystal shields on the ground in the path of the beam.
A worn crystal shield's spellcasting penalty and AC bonus from the hero's shield skill depends on the crystal shield's weight relative to the hero's own physical size: the weight threshold for determining a small shield versus a large one is 25 for medium-sized and smaller heroes, 50 for large heroes, 75 for huge heroes, and 100 for gigantic ones. 'Small' crystal shields have a lower spellcasting penalty while worn but will only gain a +1 AC bonus at Skilled and +3 AC at Expert, and they also deal lower damage than other shields when used for the shield bashing style of knightly stance, which reduces the AC bonus granted by the hero's skill to +0 for Skilled and +2 for Expert—large crystal shields have a higher spellcasting penalty in comparison, but gain a higher bonus of +1 AC bonus at Basic, +3 at Skilled and +3 AC at Expert; they also deal more damage when shield-bashing, and their bonus is reduced to +0 for Basic, +2 for Skilled and +5 for Expert.
- This page is a stub. Should you wish to do so, you can contribute by expanding this page.
