Rest

For the amulet that causes the hero to fall asleep, see amulet of restful sleep.

Resting is a type of command available to the hero in NetHack, and is used to skip through turns while doing nothing.

Description

The hero can rest for one turn by pressing the . key, or by using the space key if the rest_on_space option is enabled: the command is compatible with numeric prefixes, and when used with one it will wait the specified amount of turns until the hero is interrupted. Waiting with the rest command increments the turn counter using the rate of the hero's base speed without encumbrance, including applicable hit point and energy regeneration.

Events that can interrupt a hero's waiting state include the following:

• A hostile monster appears in the hero's sight.
• A monster attacks the hero.
• The hero's hit points reach their maximum value from regeneration.
• The hero's power reaches their maximum value from energy regeneration.

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Strategy

Many players will favor manually searching over resting when they need to pass turns and can reliably become unburdened—though searching also takes an amount of actions proportional to the hero's encumbrance unlike resting, the hero can exercise wisdom by potentially uncovering nearby traps and secret doors. If the situation is not currently dire, they can also push a nearby boulder to exercise low strength. In either case, use numeric prefixes when waiting for multiple turns: holding down the key to wait is generally a Bad Idea, and the rest_on_space option is often turned off to avoid accidents involving the space key.

Resting is more ideal for situations where a hero cannot readily become unburdened while waiting to restore HP, or else is not especially concerned with stat growth; a hero transporting very heavy items and/or waiting for a pet to move will want to rest rather than search. Resting is also safer for restoring health and/or energy in shops, where searching carries the risk of uncovering a mimic and possibly becoming stuck if it is a larger one and attacks the hero.

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