Pick-axe (skill)
The pick-axe is a weapon skill that appears in NetHack.[1]
Available roles
The following roles can reach the listed skill levels in pick-axes:
| Pick-axe | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Basic | |
| Skilled | |
| Expert | |
List of weapons
Both the pick-axe and the dwarvish mattock use the pick-axe skill: the pick-axe is considered a weapon-tool, while the mattock is classified as a weapon.
Description
Pick-axe weapons have +2 to-hit bonuses against xorns and earth elementals.[2]
Digging with picks
A hero can apply a pick-axe or dwarvish mattock to tunnel through solid rock walls, dig downward into the floor to create a pit or turn a pit into a hole, dig through doors to break them open, and smash apart boulders and statues. Applying a pick-axe downward on a square with a sink will turn it into a fountain, while doing so with a headstone will create a pit and destroy the headstone, possibly summoning an undead monster. If a hero applies a pick upward, a rock will fall from the ceiling and hit them on the head for physical damage, which is reduced by wearing a hard helm.
If the autodig option is enabled, a hero wielding a pick-axe can dig into walls by walking into them or dig into the ground using >—this does not work for boulders, statues or doors.
The process of a hero digging with a pick is an occupation that can be interrupted, and losing the pick by some means or else being teleported away from the digging area will cause the hero to stop.[3] Traits such as the enchantment of a pick and the hero's own strength determines how fast a hero can dig with a pick, and dwarven heroes are faster at digging compared to other races—somewhat unusually, the hero's skill level in pick-axe has no bearing on digging speed at all. The digging article's section on speed covers these mechanics in detail.
The watch will warn a hero that they see trying to dig through doors or walls with a pick, and continuing immediately after being warned will cause the watch to become hostile.
Shopkeepers and picks
A hero attempting to dig through a shop's door or wall with a pick will produce a message and cause the hero to abort the attempt, though if the player constantly resumes the digging action, they will eventually succeed in destroying the door and thus anger the shopkeeper.[4][5]
Shopkeepers will attempt to block off the entrance of their shops if the hero has a pick in their open inventory: trying to throw the pick in past the shopkeeper will cause them to swiftly catch it and keep it in their inventory. Pulling out a pick from a container while already inside a shop will cause the shopkeeper to yell at the hero, but has no actual effect. Digging a pit in the floor will have them warn the hero about falling through, while digging a hole while in a pit may cause adjacent items to fall through with the hero—the shopkeeper will run to try and grab the hero's pack if this occurs and items fall through or the hero has unpaid items in their inventory.
Tunneling monsters
A tunneling monster that requires a pick, e.g. a dwarf, can dig through walls if they have one they can wield: they will automatically do so when moving into a wall or through a door or tree, and they will favor using a dwarvish mattock over a pick-axe if they have both items.[6][7][8][9] For cases such as chopping through doors where pick-axe weapons and axe-type weapons can both be used, monsters will favor picks over axes to minimize weapon switching, and they will prioritize the dwarvish mattock, battle-axe, pick-axe, and regular axe in that given order.[10]
A hero digging through the Plane of Earth with a non-blessed pick has an independent 1⁄6 chance of causing a 3x3 area around them to cave in and create walls, which is increased to 1⁄4 for a cursed pick, while digging with a blessed pick instead has a 1⁄3 chance of immediately clearing the same area of rock around them.[11] Each digging attempt also has a 1⁄3 chance of creating monsters on each square adjacent to the hero, and those monsters will be either earth elementals or xorns with roughly equal probability.[12]
Messages
Variants
Some NetHack variants may give dwarven heroes the ability to train skill in pick-axe further than other races.
UnNetHack
UnNetHack adds the crystal pick as a tool that uses the pick-axe skill, and it is the only pick that can be used to dig through crystal ice walls.
dNetHack
dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack add the hook as a weapon that uses the pick-axe skill.
Maegera is a spirit that grants skill in pick-axes while bound.
There are two artifacts that use the pick-axe skill:
- The Rogue Gear-spirits, an artifact crossbow that acts as a double damage pick-axe when used as a melee weapon, and can also be used to dig like one.
- Slave to Armok, an artifact dwarvish mattock.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, dwarven heroes can always reach a minimum of skilled in pick-axes.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, dwarven heroes can reach a minimum of Skilled in pick-axes.
References
- ↑ include/skills.h in NetHack 5.0.0, line 26
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 178-L180
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 309-L315
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 507-L516
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 546-L556: The check occurs after the digging effort has been applied, and if enough effort has been put in, the door will break as usual
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 824-L830
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1420-L1422
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1424-L1455
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1486-L1491
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 831-L842
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 467-L476
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 528-L533
