Sack
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | sack |
| Appearance | bag |
| Base price | 2 zm |
| Weight | 15 |
| Material | cloth |
| Monster use | May be used by monsters as misc items. |
A sack is a type of tool that appears in NetHack. It is a container that is made of cloth, and appears as a bag when unidentified.
Generation
Archaeologists and Rogues start each game with an uncursed, empty sack.[1][2] [3]
Sacks make up 7⁄200 (3.5%) of all tools that are randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops, and hardware stores can also stock sacks. Sacks that are normally generated (i.e. outside of bones levels and trap "bones") are always created as uncursed and may contain a random item.[3][4]
The statue of Perseus on Medusa's Island has a 1⁄2 chance (50%) of containing a sack.[5][6][7][8]
Description
A sack can be applied or looted by a hero to store and remove items as with other containers. A sack protects its contents from the direct effects of fire, cold, shock, and cancellation.[9] Tipping a sack can deposit all of its contents on the floor or transfer them to another container, whether in the hero's inventory or on their current square. As a cloth container, a sack will gradually rot away if buried underground, and its organic contents will be not subjected to rotting until the sack is fully rotted away first.
A sack that is thrown, kicked, or dropped while levitating or on a down stair may have any fragile contents inside be damaged or broken. A sack that is submerged in water will become wet, with vulnerable contents subjected to water damage unless the sack is greased: the grease has a 1⁄2 chance of wearing off each time it prevents damage to the sack or its contents.[10]
Monsters that are hostile, intelligent, have hands, and collect items can pick up sacks and will sometimes rummage through them for items that interest them. A gelatinous cube that picks up and eats a sack will engulf the former sack's contents and add them to its inventory, and will then spend subsequent turns on digesting any organic items in that inventory (other than bone or dragon hide) unless a hero or monster that it can attack is close enough to it[11][12]—a hero polymorphed into a gelatinous cube can manually eat sacks using e, but only if the chosen sack is empty.[13]
Strategy
Sacks are the simplest and lightest form of container, and while they offer relatively minimal protection compared to an oilskin sack or bag of holding, they are still sufficient for managing inventory throughout the game, and can be greased to offer some additional protection against water damage. Even after obtaining a bag of holding, a sack can still be of use to store emergency items, such as holy water or a scroll of scare monster, separately from the rest of the character's items to #tip them out when needed—the most important of these uses is storing a wand of cancellation, bag of tricks or other bags of holding, which all cause an item-destroying explosion if placed into a bag of holding; the wand may also be used to uncurse a bag of holding if necessary.
A sack can also be used to contain a bag of holding and protect it against being cursed as well, and nested sacks with a bag of holding at the core also offer the possibility of reducing the weight of loot for extra points when you ascend: the risk of an explosion is still possible, albeit with a reduced chance. See the bag of holding article's section on nesting for more on this tactic.
History
The sack first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. The hero's ability to tip out the contents of a sack is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0 via commit d0e4d1e3.
NetHack 5.0.0 gives monsters the ability to rummage through sacks they pick up via commit b12ea03d, and grants the hero the ability to tip a sack's contents into another container via commit 0f132470.
Variants
NetHack variants may allow monsters to utilize sacks and other containers, and some of them may change how sacks function: a common quality-of-life addition is to allow placing a sack or other container on an altar to identify the beatitude of both the container and its contents. Variants that implement object materials may also alter a container's properties based on its material.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, upgrading a sack successfully has a 4⁄5 chance of producing an oilskin sack, and will otherwise produce a bag of holding[14]—this makes the other bags more obtainable for most heroes that can at least find a sack.
Player monster archeologists and rogues are generated with sacks.
All of the above information also applies to SlashTHEM.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Pirates know the sack as a ditty bag.
Andromalius is a spirit whose binding ritual can use a sack as one of the two items placed in his seal, and using two non-sack items in the binding ritual may generate a sack as the third item the character receives if they successfully bind him.
Hill giants that generate on the revamped Healer quest are always generated with a sack special-cased to contain various live victims of a plague that the Healer is sent to cure during the Quest.
The Grue's Cavern generates a sack containing a wrathful silver elven broadsword among the second pile of treasures placed at level creation.
FIQHack
In FIQHack, tame and hostile monsters alike will carry and utilize sacks.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, Cartomancers know the sack as a card bag.
A sack can be combined with a can of grease at a furnace to create an oilskin sack.
notdNetHack
In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, Andromalius generates with a sack when he is summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, tortle heroes in roles that start with a sack will receive an oilskin sack instead.
Monsters that are tame or hostile will carry and utilize sacks, similar to other variants.
Hobbit pickpockets have a 1⁄6 chance of generating with a sack. Low-level player monster archeologists and rogues that are not tortles are generated with sacks.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, upgrading a sack produces an oilskin sack, and upgrading a bag of holding will produce a sack; dipping a bag of rats or bag of tricks in a potion of amnesia will downgrade them to a sack.
Monsters can carry and utilize sacks as in EvilHack.
Encyclopedia entry
"Now, this third handkerchief," Mein Herr proceeded, "has also four edges, which you can trace continuously round and round: all you need do is to join its four edges to the four edges of the opening. The Purse is then complete, and its outer surface--"
"I see!" Lady Muriel eagerly interrupted. "Its outer surface will be continuous with its inner surface! But it will take time. I'll sew it up after tea." She laid aside the bag, and resumed her cup of tea. "But why do you call it Fortunatus's Purse, Mein Herr?"
The dear old man beamed upon her, with a jolly smile, looking more exactly like the Professor than ever. "Don't you see, my child--I should say Miladi? Whatever is inside that Purse, is outside it; and whatever is outside it, is inside it. So you have all the wealth of the world in that leetle Purse!"
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 51
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 139
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 src/mkobj.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 321-L328: starting sacks are always empty
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1018-L1022
- ↑ dat/medusa-1.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 72-L74
- ↑ dat/medusa-2.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 67-L69
- ↑ dat/medusa-3.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 94-L96
- ↑ dat/medusa-4.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 96-L98
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 4274-L4278
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 4736-L4743
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1400-L1401: eating a container in m_consume_obj() calls meatbox()
- ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1352-L1382: meatbox() function; engulf_contents is set if a cube is the one eating the container
- ↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 114-L118
- ↑ potion.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 2398
