Heavy iron ball
A heavy iron ball is a type of item that appears in NetHack. It is naturally made of iron.
Heavy iron balls are classified under the "iron balls" object type in the hero's inventory, rather than tools or weapons.
Contents
Generation
Heavy iron balls are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
Heavy iron balls are only generated as a form of punishment:
- Reading a scroll of punishment that is cursed or uncursed will chain a heavy iron ball to the hero's leg, unless they read the scroll while confused.[1][2]
- Prayer to an angry god may cause them to smite the hero by chaining a heavy iron ball to them.[3]
Description
Most of a heavy iron ball's effects are only active and apparent while the ball is chained to the hero—reading a scroll of punishment while already punished increases the current iron ball's already-cumbersome weight if the scroll is cursed or uncuraed.[4][5][6] A detached iron ball is an unremarkable item, save for its immense weight and a couple of somewhat unique traits:
- The iron ball deals d25 damage against all monsters when wielded as a weapon, which is biased towards higher numbers if the ball has been made heavier.[7]
- Throwing an iron ball has a +2 to-hit bonus[8]— doing so exercises strength and may also exercise dexterity.[9]
- Using the iron ball as a weapon does not break the weaponless conduct.
Strategy
The majority of times a hero encounters an iron ball is from becoming punished through either of the methods described further above. Very rarely, once a hero ends their punishment, they may opt to carry around the heavy iron ball as an improvised weapon—otherwise, it is best left behind.
History
The heavy iron ball first appears in Hack 1.0 alongside the scroll of punishment.
Variants
Many variants of NetHack incorporate the Convict patch, a role that starts the game punished and with very little inventory minus some rocks, leaving them to rely on those rocks, the iron ball and/or their bare hands as their primary offense—the original quest artifact in the patch is The Iron Ball of Liberation, an artifact heavy iron ball. Some variants make it so that the heavy iron ball trains the flail skill when used as a weapon, and additionally make it so that Convicts can reach high skill levels in flail.
Encyclopedia entry
The heavy iron ball and iron chain share an encyclopedia entry:
"You are fettered, " said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"
Scrooge trembled more and more.
"Or would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!"
References
- Jump up ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1689
- Jump up ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2345: punish() function
- Jump up ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 711
- Jump up ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1694: calls punish() function
- Jump up ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2345: punish() function
- Jump up ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2352
- Jump up ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 304: it adds 1d(extra weight/40) to base 1d25 damage, which is then capped at 25
- Jump up ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1473
- Jump up ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1735
