Morale

In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack morale, also referred to as encouragement, is a status effect that is not shown directly. For both monsters and the hero, the total amount of morale points possessed will boost to-hit and damage in the case of positive morale, or reduce them otherwise, and tame monsters that have been encouraged are more likely to attack monsters that are above their current level. Every turn, both positive and negative morale have a ¹⁄₈ chance of being set 1 point closer to 0. While the beast's embrace thought is active, morale instead decays with a ¹⁄₆ chance every turn instead. However, while it is active, having more than 0 morale will also reduce DR gained from armor by half of your current morale.

While under the 'walking nightmares' effect from wearing the War helm of the Dreaming and being afflicted by the rage madness a monsters' bonus damage from morale is fully negated.

Description

A monster's morale, as well as your own, can be verified by applying a stethoscope to either yourself or a monster. Enlightenment will also disclose your current morale level.

The following monsters have attacks that directly alter morale:

Monster	Monster Level	Attack Type	Chance on-hit	Morale Change	Maximum/Minimum	Notes
Chain devil	8	1d3 unnerving gaze	100%	-1d3	-3
Interlocutor devil	14	1d6 retaliatory unnerving attack 1d6 unnerving gaze	100%	-1d6	-6
Cuboid	5	1d3+2 unnerving beam	100%	-2–5	-5
Rhombohedroid	13	1d3+2 unnerving beam	100%	-2–5	-5
Ancient of blessings	15	Aura - inhales blessings	Last valid target	-7	-7	Only when no other valid targets are available
Apocalypse angel	15	Revelatory whispers - always-hits	1⁄9 (11.1%)	-100 - Sanity5
Elder brain	30	3d15 - mind blast	100%	+3d15⁄3 of damage		Only encourages hostile telepaths on the level

Song

Some monsters can lower morale through their singing:

Monster	Monster Level	Morale Change	Maximum/Minimum
Oona	20	-1d7	-7
Black flower	45	+1d15+1	+7
Treesinger	13	+1d4+1	+7
Lillend	14	+1d4+1	+7
Beauteous one	20	+1d6+1	+7
Parasitized doll	30	+1d10+1	+7
Chorister jelly	14	+1d4+1	+7
Singing sand	10	+1d3+1	+7
Dancing flame	10	+1d3+1	+7
Intoner	30	+1d10+1	+7
Aglaope	17	+1d5+1	+7
Secret-whisperer	0	+ ( 100 - Sanity5 )	+21 (at 0 sanity)
Truth-seer	7	+ ( 100 - Sanity5 )	+21 (at 0 sanity)
Dream-eater	14	+ ( 100 - Sanity5 )	+21 (at 0 sanity)
Veil-render	20	+ ( 100 - Sanity5 )	+21 (at 0 sanity)

Weapons

The following weapons or weapon object properties directly affect morale:

Weapon	Requirements	Morale Change	Maximum/Minimum	Notes
Bestial claw	Active beast's embrace	+1⁄10 of base damage	15 (0 insight)
Bestial claw	Active beast's embrace	+1⁄7 of bleed damage
Demon claw	Slotted wage of pride	+Experience Level6	-6
Blade of mercy	25 insight	Lesser of Charisma5 and (Enchantment + Charisma)
Stormbringer	Harvest fighting style	+3 (+1 on level drain)		For monsters of level 3 and above
Deep object property	Only encourages targets hit by the weapon's mind blast	Higher at low enchantment	+5d29 (-7 enchantment)
Crucifix of the Mad King	On invoke	+8 (Enchantment + Skill)		+1, +2, +5 for Basic, Skilled and Expert respectively
The Sky Reflected	Only on critical hits with the 'resonant' mental edge	+2–8 to pets, -2–8 to nearby enemies	8	Sanity scaling: 50–74 (+2), 75–89 (+5), 90–100 (+8). Always 8 for Githyanki Kensei who have learned the "Zerthimon's focus" mantra

Commanders

Commanders can encourage their underlings by an amount dependent on their level, given by the formula 1d(Monster Level6+1), for up to 1d11 at most (green pit fiend):

Commander	Level	Commander	Level
commander	3	captain	12
orc captain	5	myrmidon lochagos	12
Uruk-captain	5	ossifruge	12
sergeant	8	nazgul	13
myrmidon lochias	8	Mordor marshall	14
migo philosopher	9	centaur chieftain	14
stannumach rilmani	9	legionnaire	14
bolg	10	formian taskmaster	15
legion devil sergeant	10	alkilith	15
lieutenant	10	Croesus	20
watch captain	10	migo queen	25
myrmidon ypolochagos	10	orc of the ages of stars	30
marilith	11	green pit fiend	60
legion devil captain	12

Some unique monsters bolster morale by fixed amounts instead:

Monster	Morale Bonus to Underlings	Monster	Morale Bonus to Underlings
Sergeant	1d3	Myrmidon lochias	1d3
Pit fiend	1d9	Nessian pit fiend	1d9
Marilith	1d6	Necromancer	2d6
Shaktari	6	Asmodeus	9
Bael	2d9	Raziel	3d7

Other

The following other effects alter your morale:

• Being affected by a wage of pride reduces your morale by -9.
• Using the 'kiai' shout ability as a Samurai or Kensei, which lasts for the same amount of turns as the morale bonus. Starting at 3rd level, the base amount the kiai shout increases morale by is +1, and increases by 1 for every 4 levels after 6th (+2 at XL6, +3 at XL10, +4 at XL14) up to +8 at experience level 30. Additionally, for every point of Charisma above 13, morale is increased by another 1d(Cha-13), up to +1d12 at 25 charisma.
• Silverknights gain 1 point of encouragement when hitting an enemy in melee and can gain up to 10 points in this manner. Obtaining the 'Wings of ruin' rot mutation increases this to +2 per hit.
• Silvermen who are afflicted by any type of poison or disease, or who poison a monster, gain encouragement scaling with the poison's severity. Having a weapon coated in poison, dire poison, or paralysis poison trigger its effects all raise current morale to 8. Blindness poison instead raises it to 4, and filth-crust poison raises it to 16. Other attacks, from any source, that inflict disease will raise current morale to 16. Attacks that inflict regular poison instead raises it to 8.

The following other effects affect a monster's morale:

• Playing the 'inspire courage' song encourages nearby tame monsters. The morale gained for every turn the song is played, concluding at 3 turns, will be +6, +9 or +12 at Basic, Skilled and Expert, respectively. Tame monsters may only gain up to +7 encouragement from songs.
• Tieflings with the 'odd eyes' mutation that move or attack in the direction of a monster they can see will use a gaze attack that reduces the monster's morale, up to at most -6. (-1 monster morale)
• The mind blast ability of Madpeople who are either at least level 28, or who are at least level 21 and have the 'twin dreams' Yog-Sothoth mutation studies monsters on a hit, and reduces their morale by the amount of damage of the mind blast (at least 3d15, up to 5d15 at XL 28 with the twin dreams mutation).
• The Binder spirit power 'Golden dew of Laurelin', granted by the Mordor Ruins Quest alignment spirit Telperion and Laurelin, encourages pets by 5d(Spirit Die Size)
• The Shield bashing knightly stance lowers morale when hitting monsters by -1 per skill point (-1, -2, -3 at Basic, Skilled and Expert, respectively). The maximum discouragement also increases with skill, from -5 at Basic to -10 at Skilled and -15 Expert. With Unskilled or lower in Shield Bashing, morale cannot be lowered past 0.
• For Githyanki Kensei, using the 'repulse' move deals +1d15 for every 6 experience levels. Targets hit by the mind blast will suffer morale damage equal to the blast's damage.
• Cloudfaced Madpeople whose faces and shoulders are not covered may perform a morale-damaging wide gaze attack, reducing the morale of monsters who can see the hero by 1 point, up to ^Insight⁄₇.
• Monsters that become enraged have a ³⁄₄ chance of gaining morale points equal to their difficulty rating, up to 20 at most. Otherwise, they will go berserk.
• Byakhees summoned through the Necronomicon's 'summon byakhee' passage are generated with +5 morale.
• Killing the Coven Leader's familiar raises her morele by 8.

Messages

You feel calm again.

You were previously encouraged and the effect wore off.

You feel <depressed/inconsolable>!

You were discouraged by Oona's dirge.

You feel <wild/berserk>!

You were encouraged by a monster's song of courage.

The freshly spilled blood excites you!

You have more than 0 but less than 10 morale from receiving or dealing a bleeding wound with the beast's embrace rune active.

The freshly spilled blood whips you into a frenzy!

You have more than 10 morale from receiving or dealing a bleeding wound with the beast's embrace rune active.

<monster> sings a song of courage.

You saw a monster sing a song of courage.

<monster> looks <wild/wilder/berserk>!

A pet was encouraged by your 'inspire courage' song, or a hostile monster was encouraged by another monster's song of courage.

The <commander> gives an order to attack.

You saw a commander encourage its underlings.

The <mercenary> orders its <unit/forces/army> forwards.

You saw a mercenary encourage its underlings.

The apocalypse angel shares a prophecy of doom!

You were affected by an apocalypse angel's prophecy attack.