Trouble

For the Wizard of Yendor's ability to clone himself, see Double Trouble.

A trouble is an unfortunate condition that might be fixed by a prayer to your god. There are two kinds: a major trouble is more serious and will usually be fixed by any successful prayer, whereas a minor trouble is less serious and will usually only be fixed when praying on a coaligned altar.

Major troubles

This table lists major troubles, from most to least urgent. If you have multiple troubles, and only one is fixed, it will be the first one in this table.

Trouble	Condition	Remedy
Stoning	You are turning to stone by some non-instantaneous means.	The stoning condition is cured.
Sliming	You are turning to slime.	The sliming condition is cured.
Strangulation	You are wearing an amulet of strangulation, of any BUC.	The amulet is destroyed.
Standing in lava	You are trapped in lava.	You are teleported to a safe position.
Sickness	You are afflicted by a disease attack or by food poisoning	Your sickness is cured.
Severe hunger	Your hunger status is weak or worse.	Your nutrition value is set to 900.
Low HP	Your current hit points are critically low. See below for specifics	Your max HP is increased 1d5 if below 5*level + 11, and your HP is restored to maximum.
Lycanthropy	You are afflicted by lycanthropy.	Your lycanthropy is cured.
Extreme encumbrance	Your encumbrance is overtaxed or worse, and your strength has been drained by at least 4.	Your strength is restored to its normal value.
Stuck in a wall	You are surrounded in all eight directions by solid rock, the edges of the map, or blocked boulders. Boulders are considered blocked by rock, map edges, and other boulders, but only if you are not a giant. Xorns and earth elementals are never considered stuck.	You are teleported to a safe position. In NetHack 3.6.1, if this fails, you are given phasing for 4d4+4 turns.
Cursed levitation	You are wearing a cursed ring of levitation or cursed levitation boots.	The item is made uncursed.
No free hands	You have no free hands. This can be caused by wielding a cursed two-handed weapon, wielding a cursed weapon and a cursed shield, or by being polymorphed into a form that has no hands.	Any curse on your wielded weapon is removed; this will not remove the curse on your shield. If your polymorphed form has no hands, you are reverted to your normal form, provided you are not wearing an amulet of unchanging. If you are, and the amulet is cursed, the curse is removed instead.
Cursed blindness	You are wearing a cursed blindfold or cursed towel.	The item is made uncursed.

Critical HP

In versions of NetHack prior to 3.6.0 and derived variants, your current HP is considered critically low when it is less than or equal to ¹⁄₇ of your maximum HP, or less than or equal to 5 HP.

NetHack 3.6.0 changes the calculation to take your experience level into account. If your maximum HP is greater than (level × 15), it will be treated as being (level × 15) for this purpose. Your level is also used to determine what fraction of your maximum HP is considered critically low:

Experience level	Threshold
1–5	1⁄5
6–13	1⁄6
14–21	1⁄7
22–29	1⁄8
30	1⁄9

If your current HP is less than or equal to the given fraction of your maximum HP, or less than or equal to 5, you are considered critically injured.

Minor troubles

This table lists minor troubles, from most to least urgent. If you have multiple minor troubles (and no major ones), but only one is fixed, it will be the first one in this table.

Trouble	Condition	Remedy
Punishment	You are attached to an iron ball and chain.	Your punishment is lifted.
Cursed fumbling	You are wearing cursed gauntlets of fumbling or fumble boots.	The item is made uncursed.
Cursed item	You have a cursed item worn or wielded, a cursed item in your alternate-weapon slot, or a cursed luckstone or loadstone in your open inventory. (The Tsurugi of Muramasa counts as a luckstone.) Since NetHack 3.6.1, a worn cursed helm of opposite alignment is not considered a problem.	The item is made uncursed.
Cursed saddle	You are riding a steed with a cursed saddle.	The item is made uncursed.
Blindness	You have been temporarily blinded.	Your blindness is cured.
Attribute loss	One or more of your attributes has been reduced from its normal value.	All of your attributes are restored.
Wounded legs	Your legs are wounded.	Your legs are cured.
Hunger	Your hunger status is hungry.	Your nutrition value is set to 900.
Stunning	You have been stunned.	The stun effect is removed.
Confusion	You are confused.	Your confusion is cured.
Hallucination	You are hallucinating.	Your hallucination is cured.

Uncursing items

If you have multiple cursed items causing you trouble, they will be uncursed in the following order:

Major troubles

1. Levitation boots
2. Ring of levitation (left hand)
3. Ring of levitation (right hand)
4. Two-handed weapon, or one-handed weapon while wearing a cursed shield
5. Blindfold or towel

Minor troubles

1. Gauntlets of fumbling
2. Fumble boots
3. Loadstone, if strained or worse
4. One-handed weapon, if wearing a ring on your right hand
5. Gloves
6. Shield
7. Cloak
8. Body armor
9. Helm
10. Boots
11. Shirt
12. Amulet
13. Left ring
14. Right ring
15. Lenses
16. Weapon
17. Alternate weapon (not wielded)
18. First item in your inventory that is a luckstone, loadstone, or the Tsurugi of Muramasa

References

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.

It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.4.3. Information on this page may be out of date.

Editors: After reviewing this page and making necessary edits, please change the {{nethack-343}} tag to the current version's tag or {{noversion}} as appropriate.