Gloves
Gloves are one portion of a player's armor. They provide a small bonus to armor class, and can be enchanted further reducing your armor class. Furthermore, all gloves protect the player from the stoning effects of touching cockatrice corpses.
Types
They come in four forms: simple leather gloves (yugake), gauntlets of power (often abbreviated GoP), gauntlets of dexterity (GoD), and gauntlets of fumbling (GoF):
| Name | Cost | Weight | AC | Material | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gauntlets of dexterity | 50 | 10 | 1 | Leather | Dexterity bonus (+/− enchantment) |
| Gauntlets of fumbling | 50 | 10 | 1 | Leather | Fumbling, usually generated cursed |
| Gauntlets of power | 50 | 30 | 1 | Iron | Strength 25, interfere with spellcasting |
| Leather gloves | 8 | 10 | 1 | Leather | None |
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
As of this commit, wearing non-metallic gloves (all but gauntlets of power) will protect worn rings from electrical damage.Wearing a cursed pair of gloves prevents you from putting on or removing any rings. However, if you are wearing an uncursed pair of gloves, you can still put on or remove rings without removing your gloves, and wearing gloves does not increase the number of in-game turns required to switch rings.
Gloves can be generated with the following appearances: old gloves, padded gloves, riding gloves, fencing gloves.
Strategy
Gauntlets of power are the best choice for most characters. Even though they inhibit spellcasting, roles like Wizard, Priest, or Monk are often able to cast spells anyway, and benefit significantly from the damage boost and increased carrying capacity. Valkyries can throw Mjollnir when wearing gauntlets of power. However, they are somewhat rare, and often not worth considering for a wish over other ascension kit items.
The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
Gauntlets of power being metal, and thus lacking protection of worn rings from electrical damage, may change the above.Gauntlets of dexterity are somewhat less useful, since to-hit is rarely an issue, especially after obtaining a luckstone. The exceptions are attacks that do not involve luck, such as throwing a potion or casting magic missile at a monster. Min-maxed human or dwarf characters with 18/** strength would receive almost no benefits from gauntlets of power, and would favor gauntlets of dexterity when putting together an ascension kit, though this rarely occurs in practice.
Leather gloves have no special properties but do not inhibit spellcasting and are perfectly suitable for an ascension kit. They are readily available from watchmen or members of the Yendorian Army.
Since fumbling is fairly crippling, putting on unknown magical gloves without curse testing is ill-advised.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds one new pair of gloves, the gauntlets of swimming, and black gloves as a new possible randomized appearance for all types of magical gloves. SLASH'EM also adds the Gauntlets of Defense, a neutral pair of artifact gauntlets of dexterity that are the guaranteed first sacrifice gift for a Monk.
SLASH'EM additionally changes the behavior of gauntlets of power; instead of automatically increasing your strength to 25, your strength is set to 18/** if it was lower, and then increased by the enchantment of the gloves, much like gauntlets of dexterity. Valkyries alone are able to safely enchant the gauntlets of power to +7, while other roles are limited to +5; thus only Valkyries can reliably obtain 25 strength through the gauntlets of power.
SLASH'EM does not change the effect of gauntlets of dexterity directly, but since dexterity bonuses will also decrease AC, a highly enchanted pair of gauntlets of dexterity will greatly decrease your AC once your race's maximum dexterity is reached.
