Large box
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | large box |
| Appearance | large box |
| Base price | 8 zm |
| Weight | 350 |
| Material | wood |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A large box is a type of tool that appears in NetHack. The large box is a lockable container that is made of wood, and it is similar to the chest.
Contents
Generation
Large boxes make up 1⁄25 (4%) of all tools randomly generated on the floor (in the dungeon and Gehennom), in general shops or as death drops. Hardware stores can also stock large boxes, and any chests normally generated in shops have their contents generated as normal. Large boxes always generated uncursed outside of bones levels and trap "bones".
Each level of the Dungeons of Doom has a chance of placing a single large box in a room that is dependent on the number of rooms created on that floor, with a roughly 20% chance of placing at least one large box per level.[1] Graveyards have a 1⁄15 chance of placing a large box on each square, while barracks have a 1⁄30 chance of placing a large box on each square.[2][3]
Normally-created large boxes have a 4⁄5 chance of generating as locked, and a separate 1⁄10 chance of generating with a container trap.[4] Large boxes that are created locked can generate with up to 5 random items inside, and otherwise can generate with up to 3 random items inside.[5][6]
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 ae3e5d28, there are "supply containers" that have a 2⁄3 chance of being generated on each dungeon level above the Oracle level—they have a 1⁄3 chance of being large boxes, and contain an item intended to encourage the hero to press forward in the early game alongside other mechanical changes. This item has a roughly 1⁄2 chance of being a potion of healing, with a further roughly 1⁄2 chance of a stack of two healing potions, and will otherwise be one of the following: a potion of extra healing, speed or gain energy, a scroll of enchant weapon, enchant armor, confuse monster, or scare monster, a wand of digging, or a spellbook of healing.Schrodinger's Cat
A quantum mechanic has a 1⁄20 chance of being generated with a large box:[7] the large box has a 1⁄2 chance of generating a peaceful housecat with the name "Schroedinger's Cat" if there is room to place it on the level, and will otherwise contain a housecat corpse named "Schroedinger's Cat". The state of the cat within the box is not determined until the box is opened—see the article on Schroedinger's Cat for more specific information.
Description
Large boxes store items like other containers and cannot be placed into other containers, and they protect their contents from certain types of external damage while also preventing them becoming wet. A large box will rot away if buried underground.[8] A bug prevents the hero from using the open command to open a large box if they are in a pit trap or spiked pit, even if the box is also in that pit.
A locked large box must be unlocked or have its lock forced open before a hero can store items within it, and a broken lock can be repaired with the wand of locking, the wand of opening, the spell of wizard lock, or the spell of knock.[9]
Monsters can pick up large boxes, but will not open them or interact with their contents: the gelatinous cube is an exception, and hostile ones will eat large boxes that they move across, engulfing the contents afterward without also eating them.[10] A tame gelatinous cube will instead drop the contents, while hero in the form of a gelatinous cube cannot eat large boxes at all unless they are empty.[11]
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 b12ea03d, monsters can open large boxes and take out their contents—if they have an unlocking tool, they can also unlock a locked large box. Per commit 4b270099, they will properly avoid large boxes that are on the same square as a scroll of scare monster.
Per commit f90bb4fb, the contents of large boxes are not waterproof if the box is cursed.
Per commit 4e6d3aba, the bug that prevents the open command from working on a large box in a pit while the hero is also in that pit is fixed.
Per commit 2108abd3 and commit dafd8549, gelatinous cubes will eat containers even while tame, and if a cube eats a chest and engulfs its contents, it will silently digest one organic item from its new inventory on each of its subsequent moves—digesting an item uses up its move, so it will remain motionless as it eats unless the hero is in melee range. A tame gelatinous cube will prefer eating items over dropping them.Strategy
Large boxes can serve as stash locations and a means of dealing with troll corpses (by locking one in to prevent reviving). Random large boxes are somewhat more commonplace while containing fewer items on average.
Untrapping large boxes that you come across is generally wise to avoid YASD, especially in the early game, but you can leave a trap that you discover on a box for later if you are not confident in successfully disarming it.
Large boxes are lighter in weight than chests, making them the more practical of the two to carry for keeping their inventory somewhat shielded in games where a hero is unable to find even a sack.
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 87694e1a, a hero will remember if they discover a container trap on a large box, and large boxes can also generate as 'obviously' trapped.
The changes to the gelatinous cube's item-eating habits made in commit 2108abd3 and commit dafd8549 mean that preventing them from getting onto a stash's square in the first place is much more urgent if you plan on spending significant amounts of time on that level. Additionally, if a pet gelatinous cube drops its inventory due to carrying capacity limitations, it will then eat the organic objects in the resulting pile all at once.History
The large box first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Messages
- You succeed in unlocking the <container>.
- You successfully unlocked a locked large box with an unlocking tool.
- Klick!
- You unlocked a locked large box with the spell of knock or a wand of opening.
- You break open the lock!
- You kicked a locked large box open.
- THUD!
- As above, but the large box was not opened.
- THUD! The lid slams open, then falls shut.
- As above, but the large box is not locked.
- You hear a muffled shatter.
- You kicked or threw a large box and broke at least one item inside it.
- You hear a muffled cracking.
- As above, and at least one egg inside was destroyed.
Variants
Some NetHack variants may change how large boxes function—a common quality-of-life addition is to allow placing a container on an altar to identify the beatitude of both the box and its contents. Variants that implement object materials may alter a large box's properties based on its material.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, upgrading a large box will produce a chest.
Five large boxes are located on the southern end of the Yeoman quest home level.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, the large box's capacity is set to 3000 aum.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, some large boxes are flagged to behave as "coffins" that generate a vampire monster upon opening them—these replace the chests on the top floor of Vlad's Tower and the large boxes normally found in graveyards.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the item is known simply as a "box", as objects can generate in particular sizes (e.g. "a large long sword)" and can also have their sizes changed. Pirates know the box as a foot locker.
The top floor of the Windowless Tower features boxes flavored as coffins in place of the chests from NetHack, which contain vampire monsters that will awaken upon opening them.
Maids that pick up boxes with broken locks will mend those locks.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, Cartomancers know the large box as a deck box.
Encyclopedia entry
Dantes rapidly cleared away the earth around the chest. Soon the center lock appeared, then the handles at each end, all delicately wrought in the manner of that period when art made precious even the basest of metals. He took the chest by the two handles and tried to lift it, but it was impossible. He tried to open it; it was locked. He inserted the sharp end of his pickaxe between the chest and the lid and pushed down on the handle. The lid creaked, then flew open.
Dantes was seized with a sort of giddy fever. He cocked his gun and placed it beside him. The he closed his eyes like a child, opened them and stood dumbfounded.
The chest was divided into three compartments. In the first were shining gold coins. In the second, unpolished gold ingots packed in orderly stacks. From the third compartment, which was half full, Dantes picked up handfuls of diamonds, pearls and rubies. As they fell through his fingers in a glittering cascade, they gave forth the sound of hail beating against the windowpanes.
References
- ↑ src/mklev.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 850
- ↑ src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 369
- ↑ src/mkroom.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 381
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 921
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 290
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 309
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 744: this applies to the entire monster class, but the quantum mechanic is currently the sole monster
- ↑ src/pickup.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1974
- ↑ src/lock.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 875
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1029
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 106: containers must be empty for cube hero
