Helm of telepathy
[  [  [  [  helm of telepathy | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Slot | helm |
| AC | 1 |
| Special | |
| Base price | 50 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Material | iron |
A helm of telepathy is a type of magical helm that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron and has a randomized appearance when unidentified; the default one associated with it is a visored helmet.[1]
Contents
Generation
In addition to random generation, general shops and used used armor dealerships can sell helms of telepathy.
Player monsters, including those on the Astral Plane, have a 7⁄200 chance (3.5%) of generating with a helm of telepathy as their initial helm before role-based replacements[2] - healers and priests each have a 3⁄8 chance of their initial helm being replaced with a helm of telepathy, raising their effective odds of generating with one to ~39.69%.[3][4]
Description
While worn, the helm grants 1 base AC and extrinsic telepathy. Though it is a mind-enhancing helm, it has the same adverse effects on spellcasting as most other metal helms.
Strategy
Extrinsic telepathy is a useful property for an ascension kit, though not an essential enough one to warrant a wish - the helm of telepathy is usually superseded for this purpose by quest artifacts such as The Platinum Yendorian Express Card or The Eye of the Aethiopica.
A non-chaotic character may consider wearing this helm in some unusual cases where they intend to murder peaceful humans such as shopkeepers or priests, depending on how much easier it is for them to recover Luck and alignment record than intrinsic telepathy.
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.
Per commit 28ed8e79, the range of extrinsic telepathy is 8*sqrt{n}, where n is the number of sources - per commit 969c87c0, sources of telepathy conferred by an artifact's non-base item properties are counted as one source.Identification
The helm of telepathy has the same base price of 50zm and base weight of 50 aum as the other two randomized magical helms, the helm of brilliance and the helm of opposite alignment.
While wearing the helm but does not auto-identify it, its effect may become obvious after a short while if you are not blind, and you can confirm if a freshly-worn helm is telepathy by far looking the next monster that becomes visible to you. If it is not mindless, and you have no other source of extrinsic telepathy such as an amulet of ESP, then your helm is a helm of telepathy. Long durations of intrinsic monster detection may interfere with this, though using far look on monsters will still make clear what methods they are being seen through.
History
The helm of telepathy first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, upgrading a helm of telepathy will produce a dwarvish iron helm, and upgrading a dwarvish iron helm has a 1⁄2 chance of producing a helm of telepathy.
The Crown of Saint Edward is an artifact helm of telepathy that serves as the Yeoman quest artifact, and also provides magic resistance and half spell damage. It is possible to informally identify a helm of telepathy by attempting to name a magical helm "The Crown of Saint Edward" and seeing if it succeeds.
Grund's Stronghold has a 1⁄3 chance of a blessed helm of telepathy generating within a chest in a hidden portion of the level's southwest corner.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, it is possible for the helm of telepathy to have the randomized appearance of a tin foil hat - tin foil hats protect you from the psychic blasts employed by mind flayers, but also block your own sources of telepathy, including the helm's telepathy should this occur.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, the helm of telepathy grants 1 AC, 1 DR and telepathy while worn, and its weight is reduced to 30 aum. It can appear in band form as a "tiara of telepathy".
The All-seeing Eye of the Fly is a lawful large-sized intelligent artifact helm of telepathy that Baalzebub will always generate with. While worn by a character, it grants passive monster detection, and using far look on monsters will show their DR breakdown as well as their current inventory. Invoking the artifact lets you cast an area-of-effect "death spell", which is flavored as a disintegration field and acts similarly to the effect of breaking a wand of death.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, a helm of telepathy can be created at a furnace by combining a plain helmet and an amulet of ESP.
notdNetHack
In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, Dantalion is generated with a helm of telepathy when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the telepathy object property cannot generate on helms due to the helm of telepathy existing.
Illithid characters that use their psionic wave ability while wearing a mithril or non-metallic helm of telepathy have a 1⁄4 chance of the helm focusing the attack and increasing its damage by d6+2.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, upgrading a tinfoil hat will produce a helm of telepathy and vice versa.
The Crown of Saint Edward is made of steel so that it can be safely worn by elven Yeomen.
Grund's Stronghold retains the chance of generating a blessed helm of telepathy in the chest within the hidden area in the southwest.
References
- ↑ src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 470
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 159: Default equipment; the helm is chosen from within the designated object classes inclusively in objects.c
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 193: Helm replacement for healers
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 219: Helm replacement for priests
