Orcish helm

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[   orcish helm   Orcish helm.png
Appearance iron skull cap
Slot helm
AC 1
Special (none)
Base price 10 zm
Weight 30
Material iron

An orcish helm is a type of helm that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron, and appears as an iron skull cap when unidentified.

Generation

Any orcish player character that would start the game with a helmet will start with an orcish helm instead - currently, there are no applicable roles where this substitution would occur.[1]

In addition to random generation, non-undead orcs have a 12 chance of being generated with an orcish helm among their armor.[2]

Description

While worn, an orcish helm grants 1 base AC.

Strategy

Orcish helms are usually the first type of helm encountered, since orcish monsters such as goblins are commonplace in the early game. They can provide a small source of early AC for a starting character, along with protection from falling rock traps - fortunate heroes may happen across early orcish helms at +3 or higher enchantment. Orcish helms are eventually replaced towards the end of the early game; in later stages, they make decent fodder for polypiling.

History

The orcish helm first appears in NetHack 3.0.0.

Variants

In variants with object materials, unidentified orcish helms may appear as simply skull caps. Some variants may give orcs (including the player) an AC bonus for wearing an orcish helm.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, orcish Undead Slayers that start the game with a helmet will instead have an orcish helm, using the existing vanilla code for player race-role substitutions.

Gnolls have a 13 chance of generating with an orcish helm, while gnoll warriors have a 12 chance, and gnoll cheftians will always generate with one. Upgrading a dented pot will produce an orcish helm, and upgrading an orcish helm produces a dwarvish iron helm.

All of the above is also applicable to SlashTHEM.

SporkHack

In SporkHack, orcish helms grant +3 AC to orcish monsters that wear them, including orcish characters.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, orcish helms grant +1 AC to orcish monsters that wear them, including orcish characters.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, an orcish helm grants 1 AC and 0 DR while worn.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, orcish helms have their weight increased to 50 aum.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, orcish helms grant +1 AC to orcish monsters that wear them, including orcish characters.

Orcish Knights will start with an orcish helm in place of the role's standard helmet. Orcish mercenaries will often generate with orcish helms.

An orcish helm can be created at a forge by combining a dented pot and an orcish dagger. An orcish helm can be combined with orcish boots to create an orcish shield, and can be combined with an orcish shield to create orcish ring mail.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, orcish helms grant +1 AC to orcish monsters that wear them, including orcish characters.

In addition to SLASH'EM and EvilHack details, upgrading an orcish helm will produce a dwarvish helm as in SLASH'EM, but only "upgrading" a dwarvish helm will produce an orcish helm.

References

  1. src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 218: Race-based substitutions for initial inventory
  2. src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 397: default orcish armor