Potion of acid
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|---|---|
| Name | acid |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 250 zm |
| Weight | 20 |
| Monster use | May be used offensively by monsters. |
A potion of acid is a type of non-magical potion that appears in NetHack. The default randomized appearance associated with the potion is a "white potion".[1]
Generation
Wizards will never be given a potion of acid as any of the three random potions in their starting inventory.[2][3]
Potions of acid make up 1⁄100 (1%) of all randomly-generated potions. General stores and liquor emporiums can sell potions of acid.
Mixing a set of potions without a recipe may randomly produce a diluted potion of acid.[4]
Randomly created monsters may be generated with a potion of acid as a offensive item.[5]
Applying a horn of plenty has a 3⁄1000 chance (0.3%) of generating 1-2 potions of acid.Applying a horn of plenty has a 7⁄500 chance (1.4%) of generating 1-2 potions of fruit juice.[7]
Description
The potion of acid has various effects depending on how it is used.
Quaffing
Quaffing a potion of acid without acid resistance abuses constitution, cures stoning and deals damage to the hero depending on the potion's beatitude: the potion causes 1d4 points of damage if blessed, 1d8 points of damage if uncursed, and 2d8 points of damage if cursed.[8] Quaffing the potion while the hero has acid resistance will have no effect. After quaffing the potion, the player is prompted to type-name the potion if it is not already named.[9]
Inhaling the vapors from a shattered potion of acid abuses constitution.[10]
Throwing and wielding
Hitting a monster with a wielded or thrown potion deals the same amount of damage to them as quaffing based on beatitude: 1d4 points of damage if blessed, 1d8 points of damage if uncursed, and 2d8 points of damage if cursed, with no effect on a target that has acid resistance.[11][12] Monsters will throw this potion at the hero with the same effects, abusing constitution. A monster hit with acid will shriek in pain if they can vocalize, waking nearby monsters that are asleep. Iron bars can be dissolved with a wielded or thrown potion of acid, unless they are on a level that is undiggable.[13]
The player will be prompted to type-name the potion in all of these cases, if the potion is not already named and the hero is not blind.
Dipping
Dipping items into a potion of acid that are vulnerable to corrosion (such as iron or copper) will corrode those items, and dipping a greased item of any type will cause the grease to wear off, using up the potion in either case and prompting the player to type-name it.[14] Dipping a lichen corpse into a potion of acid will print a unique message without consuming either object and prompt the player to type-name the potion.[15]
Acid and water
Acid boils on contact with water of any kind: dipping any potions of acid into a pool, moat, fountain, or even a potion of water, or else walking into deeper water with a potion of acid in the open inventory, will cause them to explode and deal d10 damage for each potion.[16] Acid inside containers such as sacks, a bag of holding or a cursed oilskin sack will explode if water gets inside them, though the hero will not take damage from this. A potion of acid can not be diluted normally as a result of the above, though it is possible for diluted acid to occur as the result of random alchemy. Mixing acid with any other potion will cause the mixture to explode.[17]
Canceling acid will turn it into an uncursed potion of water.
Strategy
Though several monsters lack acid resistance, the potion of acid is generally too rare to be of frequent use as a weapon against them even in the early game, and there are various means of working around iron bars that are not on undiggable levels. Overall, acid that is not used to gain a bit of extra damage in encounters is usually kept to cancel and turn into water.
The potion is more often relevant as a stoning cure: though it is fragile, damaging and weighs twice as much as the standard lizard corpse while being more rare, it does not break any conducts, making it an option for characters maintaining vegan or vegetarian diets. Even then, unless they are unburdened and can guarantee access to a potion stashed in a waterproofed bag in time, it is not guaranteed to be faster, and in certain cases it may be preferable to survive and eat a lizard corpse. Milky potions of acid are unsafe to use as a stoning cure, as a ghost generating from the potion will paralyze the hero long enough to fully render them a statue, while smoky potions of acid are only safe to use on the first turn of stoning: even a wish from a djinni won't save a hero if their limbs are already stiffening.
Though smoky acid allows a horn of plenty to be used with the Platinum Yendorian Express Card for a slow wish engine, the potion of acid is the second-rarest output from the horn after the potion of sickness.
Identification
Dipping a lichen corpse is the most reliable way of informally identifying a suspected potion of acid, and does not use up the potion. If a monster hit by a potion "shrieks" or "writhes in pain", that potion is also a potion of acid. While holy water and unholy water can give the same message as acid in some circumstances, monsters will not throw them.
History
The potion of acid first appears in NetHack 3.3.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on these versions, the potion of acid is subject to several bugs that are fixed in later versions and most variants, including a pair of bugs that semi-reliably crash the game:
- If a monster carrying acid is crushed with a drawbridge, or a force bolt or zapped wand of striking blows up the drawbridge underneath it, the game may panic. This is bug C343-179.
- Throwing a potion of acid into water or at iron bars will reliably crash the game. This is bug C343-394.
The ability to melt iron bars with acid and identify acid using lichens is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0 via commit 237c4a27, and both are added from UnNetHack.
Origin
An acid refers to any substance with a pH below 7 that can donate hydrogen ions (generally in the form of protons) to other substances. Various acids can have different strengths, and possess several different properties depending on their molecular structure. The following are among the most common acidic properties, which are reflected in NetHack:
- Tasting sour when eaten
- Stinging or burning on contact with skin
- Corroding metals and skin
- Turning blue litmus paper red
- Turning red or orange on a universal indicator
Both the litmus paper and universal indicator tests are the basis for the effect of dipping a lichen corpse into a potion of acid: Litmus is a dye extracted from various species of lichen, particularly Roccella tinctoria, while a universal indicator solution also changes color to red to indicate strong acids (pH of less than 3), and orange or even yellow for weaker acids (pH of 3-6).
Messages
- This burns a lot!
- You quaffed or were hit by a cursed potion of acid.
- This burns <like acid>!
- You quaffed or were hit by a uncursed potion of acid.
- This burns a little!
- You quaffed or were hit by a blessed potion of acid.
- This tastes <tangy/sour>.
- You quaffed any potion of acid while you have acid resistance; the former occurs if hallucinating.
- <foo> <withers/shrieks> in pain!
- A monster was hit by a potion of acid; the monster "withers" if it cannot vocalize.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, roles that receive random potions will never start with a potion of acid.[18]
Valuable gems can be dipped into potion of acid to make new potions via gem alchemy.
A cursed potion of acid can be found within the Chamber of Junk in the Lawful Quest.
ZAPM
In ZAPM, the equivalent to the potion of acid is the canister of universal solvent.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, potions of acid dissolve iron bars when they hit them, and dipping a lichen corpse into a potion of acid will identify it.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the potion of acid has additional messages when thrown or when wielded and smashed, and will auto-identify itself when it hits the hero or a monster.
The cell by the forge in Goblin Town has a 1⁄2 chance of containing a potion of acid in the chest at level creation. On the last level of the Ice Queen's Realm, the lower-right crystal chest in the central room of the castle has 3 potions of acid.
The potion of acid is more useful for burning through iron bars: EvilHack makes avoiding alignment abuse much more important compared to NetHack, especially if the hero has not yet finished their quest, and using force bolts may require an angle to zap them without hitting peaceful monsters on the other side of a set of bars. This makes using acid to melt bars the safest method for gaining access to the trap door that leads into Gollum's dwelling in Goblin Town, as well as for freeing the pegasus and gaining access to the Bag of the Hesperides after defeating Kathryn the Ice Queen.
References
- ↑ src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 816
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 166
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1003
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2061
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1594
- ↑ src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 813-L820
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2212: The code chooses a random potion, discarding magical potions;
rnd_class(POT_BOOZE, POT_WATER)chooses the non-magical potions.[6] - ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1131
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1147: acid does not auto-identify since (un)holy water can also produce a burning effect
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1763
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1383
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1550
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4567
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2134
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2094
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1935
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2027
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1539
