Oil lamp

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( Lamp.png
Name oil lamp
Appearance lamp
Base price 10 zm
Weight 20
Material copper
Monster use Will not be used by monsters.

An oil lamp is a kind of tool that appears in NetHack, and is one of the game's many light sources. It appears as a lamp when unidentified, and is made of copper.

Generation

When you release a djinni from a magic lamp, the lamp becomes an oil lamp.

The following roles have a chance of starting with an oil lamp:[1]

Characters that start the game with an oil lamp will possess knowledge of the potion of oil.[8]

Oil lamps may appear within the lighting shop run by Izchak in Minetown; in Orcish Town, an oil lamp can instead be found near one of the shopkeeper corpses.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

One themed room is a dark room that always contains a lit oil lamp.

Description

Applying a noncursed oil lamp in your inventory will turn it on, unless you are currently underwater or there is no oil; a cursed oil only has a 12 chance of lighting each time it is applied.[9] Applying an oil lamp that belongs to a shop will incur extra fees on top of that lamp's price.

While on, an oil lamp will light darkened tiles in a radius of three squares around it:

...........
...........
....xxx....
...xxxxx...
..xxxxxxx..
..xxx@xxx..
..xxxxxxx..
...xxxxx...
....xxx....
...........
...........

Oil lamps will remain on for for 1000 to 1499 turns; they can be refilled by reading a scroll of charging, invoking the Platinum Yendorian Express Card or #dipping the unlit lamp into a potion of oil. If you dip a lit oil lamp into a potion of oil, you are likely to cause a fireball.

Strategy

Oil lamps can be conserved by turning them off upon reaching a lit room or area. Cursed oil lamps are simply more tedious to turn on and provide just as much light, so they are not as urgent to bless or uncurse as other items.

Oil lamps can be distinguished from magic lamps by price identification; an oil lamp's base price is 10zm, while a magic lamp's is 50. Magic lamps also burn indefinitely, so any lamp that eventually flickers and goes out is an oil lamp. You can also #rub the lamp a few times to see if a puff of smoke or a djinni emerges, though doing this with a non-blessed magic lamp is likely to release the djinni without granting a wish. Once a lamp is indirectly identified as an oil lamp, it can be type-named to differentiate them from unidentified magic lamps.

History

The oil lamp first appears in NetHack 2.3e, where it is simply called a "lamp"; it was given its current name in NetHack 3.1.0.

Messages

The lamp flickers for a moment, then dies.
You attempted to light a cursed oil lamp and failed.
This oil lamp has no oil.
You attempted to light an oil lamp that is currently empty.
This is not a diving lamp.
You attempted to light an oil lamp while underwater.

As the lamp runs out of turns, you will receive the following messages in order:[10]

Your lamp flickers.
The lamp has a couple hundred turns left.
Your lamp flickers considerably.
The lamp has 50 or so turns left.
Your lamp seems about to go out.
The lamp has about ten or twenty turns left.
Your lamp has gone out.
The lamp will no longer provide light unless refilled or recharged.

See also

References