Glass

This article is about the material. For the specific item type, see worthless piece of glass.

Glass is a form of material that occurs in NetHack.

Description

Glass is a non-organic material that cannot normally be eaten, and is fragile in nature: a glass item that is not an artifact or a gem will be damaged if it is thrown, kicked or dropped from a height (e.g. while levitating). Fragile glass items within a container that is not magical in nature may also be damaged if the container is kicked, thrown, dropped from a height, or has its lock forced open with a blunt wielded weapon.

A force bolt spell or a zapped wand of striking will damage any fragile glass items on the ground in the path of the beam, including items left behind as part of a death drop from a monster killed by the beam. Breaking a charged wand of striking by applying it, or wresting one last charge from an applied wand, will cause a damaging explosion that affects all glass items and other fragile objects within the explosion's range in the same manner.

Glass armor has a ¹⁄₁₀ chance of becoming cracked and increasing their erosion level by one when subjected to damage by any of the means described above, unless they are erosion-proofed—a thoroughly cracked piece of glass armor that is cracked further will be destroyed. Any other glass items that are damaged will always be destroyed outright.

Of note is that glass piercers are not made of glass, but have a shell that looks glassy in appearance.

List of glass items

The following items are made of glass:

• helm of brilliance
  • The Mitre of Holiness, the Cleric quest artifact
• crystal plate mail
• all potions
• mirror
  • The Magic Mirror of Merlin, the Knight quest artifact
• crystal ball
  • The Orb of Detection, the Archeologist quest artifact
  • The Orb of Fate, the Valkyrie quest artifact
• pair of lenses
  • The Eyes of the Overworld, the Monk quest artifact
• wands with the randomized appearance of "glass wand" or "crystal wand"
• all colors of worthless glass

Potions will always be shattered when subjected to damage, and may release vapors from their spilled liquid contents depending on the circumstances.

Wands that are made of glass have a minimum of 5 strength required in order to apply and break them, compared to a minimum of 10 strength for all wand appearances other than the "balsa wand".

Polypiling enough glass objects has a chance of creating a glass golem.

History

Glass items technically first appear in Hack 1.0 with the presence of potions, worthless glass and wands with the appearance of a "glass wand"—the material and its behavior is formally defined in NetHack 3.0.0.

In versions up to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the helm of brilliance is made of iron rather than glass, leaving crystal plate mail as the only glass armor—crystal plate mail is also not subject to erosion when damaged, instead being immediately destroyed. NetHack 5.0.0 establishes the current behavior for glass armor, and changes helms of brilliance to be made of glass via commit f9a35132.

Origin

Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid that is most often formed by the rapid cooling (or quenching) of a mineral material's molten form. Some types of glass such as volcanic glass are naturally occurring: silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals that comprise approximately 90 percent of Earth's crust, and is likely to be the "source" of the worthless glass that can appear embedded within the walls of the dungeon in NetHack.

Archaeological evidence suggests glassmaking dates back to at least 3600 BC in Mesopotamia, Egypt, or Syria—obsidian in particular has been used to make arrowheads and knives since the Stone Age, and some of the earliest known glass objects were beads, perhaps created accidentally during metalworking or the production of faience (a form of pottery using lead glazes).

Because it is often transparent and chemically inert, and can be easily formed into any shape, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use: the refractive, reflective and transmissive properties of glass make glass suitable for manufacturing optical lenses, prisms, and optoelectronics materials; extruded glass fibres have applications as optical fibres in communications networks, thermal insulating material when matted as glass wool to trap air, or in glass-fibre reinforced plastic (fibreglass); and glass has also been traditionally used for vessels, such as bowls, vases, bottles, jars and drinking glasses.

In addition to the color occurring naturally, glass can be colored by adding metal salts or painted and printed with vitreous enamels, leading to its use in stained glass windows and other glass art objects. Soda–lime glass, containing around 70% silica, accounts for around 90% of modern manufactured glass.

Variants

Some NetHack variants add new items made of glass, while others that implement an object materials system make it possible for certain items–usually metallic ones–to be made of glass. NetHack variants created prior to NetHack 5.0.0 may or may not change the helm of brilliance to have a default material of glass.

As an object material, glass is usually far lighter than iron but notably less durable, and glass armor and weapons are subject to shattering in many of the same circumstances as other glass items—glass objects may additionally be given vulnerability to sonic attacks and similar sources of intense sound. However, glass weapons may also gain bonuses to slashing damage, making them especially useful if they are shatter-proofed.

NetHack: The Next Generation

NetHack: The Next Generation retains all glass items from NetHack 3.1.3 and adds three items made of glass: the chemistry set, the bottle and the "glass ring" randomized appearance.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM retains all glass items from NetHack 3.4.3—the only new glass item added is the phial, which only exists inside medical kits.

NetHack Plus and SLASH 6, which are ancestor variants of SLASH'EM, add the orb of charging, orb of destruction and orb of enchantment as items made of glass, and all three items are retained in the code of SLASH'EM as defunct objects.

NetHack brass

NetHack brass adds the orb of maintenance as an item that is made of glass.

dNetHack

dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack retain all glass items from NetHack 3.4.3, and add the following items that have a base object material of glass:

• crystal sword
• crystal helm
• crystal shield
• crystal gauntlets
• crystal boots
• misotheistic fragment
• R'lyehian faceplate
• pair of sunglasses
• soul-lens (made of gemstone in practice)
• crystal skull
• glass eye
• subethaic component

Obsidian is a material that is very similar to glass in nature, including being fragile and prone to breaking when thrown, kicked or otherwise significantly impacted.

Frost Brand is an artifact that is made of a special glass in these variants, and can be reshaped into various items by dipping the artifact into a fountain. Several other artifacts are also made of glass:

• Ansermee (glass mirrorblade)
• Callandor (crystal sword)
• Apotheosis Veil (crystal helm)
• The Crystals:
  • The Earth Crystal
  • The Fire Crystal
  • The Water Crystal
  • The Air Crystal
  • The Black Crystal
• The Hand-Mirror of Cthylla
• Arcor Kerym (crystal sword)
• The Palantir of Westernesse

The library structures on the Sum of All have a ¹⁄₄ chance of containing a rod of force, which will be made of glass with a ²⁄₃ chance.

Some monsters are generated with glass items:

• Glass golems are always generated with a melee weapon that is made of glass.
• The Mad Grazi is always generated with a glass trephination kit.
• Intoners are always given a bright cyan +4 glass war hat that is axiomatic and reflective, along with a glass set of dragon scale mail.
• The Avatar of Lolth is always generated with a blessed and erosion-proofed +5 glass droven helm.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, glass as an object material behaves somewhat similarly to how the material does in NetHack:

• Glass items are twice as expensive as iron items, and they are generally ³⁄₄ the weight of iron.
• Though glass weapons and armor provide similar damage and AC to their iron counterparts, and bladed glass weapons have a +3 bonus to damage, they also have a 10% chance of cracking per light impact and will always crack when subjected to heavy impact—glass equipment can become cracked when they are used in combat, are used to force open locked containers (with higher odds of breaking for edged weapons compared to blunt ones), or are hit by heavy thrown objects (e.g. rocks and boulders falling onto the head of a hero or monster wearing a glass helm).
• A glass item that is made erosion-proof will appear as "tempered" and is protected from cracking.
• Glass chests and large boxes are referred to as "crystal" in-game, and will always be generated as locked—they cannot be forced open, and can only be un-locked or re-locked by magical means. "Crystal" containers are also transparent: a hero that walks over one for the first time will automatically look at its contents, and can do so at any time by using the near look command while on its square. Crystal containers that are generated with random contents will contain 1 additional random item in comparison to containers of other materials.
• Glass piercers can instantly shatter a non-tempered glass helm if they land on a monster or hero wearing one.

Mirror Brand is an unaligned artifact whose base item is a short sword made of glass.

Glass golems that are destroyed may leave behind items made of glass (excluding potions) as well as worthless pieces of glass.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, glass as an object material behaves similarly to how it does in xNetHack: as with that variant, glass items are twice as expensive as iron items, and they are generally ³⁄₄ the weight of iron. Though glass weapons and armor provide similar damage and AC to their iron counterparts, and sharp glass weapons have a +3 damage bonus, they are also capable of fracturing when used in combat—A glass item that is made erosion-proof will appear as "tempered" and is protected from cracking.

Items with iron or steel base materials have a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance (1%) of generating as made of glass. "Shiny" items–the shield of reflection, resonant shield, ornate mace, chakram, and most amulets–all have a ³⁄₂₅ chance (12%) of generating as made of glass. Pick-axes cannot be made of glass, and any such picks that are created will be made of iron instead.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, glass as an object material behaves similarly to how it does in xNetHack and SpliceHack: like in those variants, glass items are twice as expensive as iron items, and they are generally ³⁄₄ the weight of iron. Though glass weapons and armor provide similar damage and AC to their iron counterparts, and glass weapons have a +3 bonus for slashing and piercing damage, they are also capable of fracturing when used in combat—A glass item that is made erosion-proof will appear as "tempered" and is protected from cracking.

Items with iron or steel base materials have a ¹⁄₁₀₀ chance of generating as made of glass. Pick-axes and dwarvish mattocks cannot be made of glass, and any such picks that are created will be made of iron instead.

SlashTHEM

SlashTHEM retains the phials found in medical kits and the three defunct orb items from SLASH'EM, and adds the chemistry set and bottle from NetHack: The Next Generation as glass items.

Lithivores are capable of eating items made of glass.