Scroll of amnesia
? 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | amnesia |
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 5 |
| Ink to write | 4–7 |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A scroll of amnesia is a type of scroll that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Scrolls of amnesia make up 7⁄200 (3.5%) of all randomly-generated scrolls, and are excluded from random scroll selection when generating a hero's starting inventory.[1] General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books shops can sell scrolls of amnesia.
Writing a scroll of amnesia with a magic marker takes up 4 to 7 charges.
Description
A hero reading a scroll of amnesia subjects themselves to amnesia and forgets several pieces of knowledge, with the exact effects dependent on the scroll's beatitude and whether or not they were confused:[2]
- The hero forgets the identities of monsters on the current level, and will not recognize them by the sounds they make until seeing them again.
- The hero loses a number of levels in their skills, three if the scroll is blessed or five otherwise. Each chosen skill loses one level, and the number of practices is set to a random value between the new threshold and the previous one.[3] The skill slots formerly used by these skills are refunded and available for reuse.
- If the scroll is not blessed, the hero may forget some or all of their spells.[4] A number is chosen between zero and the number of known spells, inclusive. If the hero is confused, two numbers are chosen and the lower of the two discarded. There's a luck-based chance of this number being rerolled to a value between one and itself, 1⁄7 at zero luck and 7⁄10 at 11 luck. That many spells are set to zero remaining turns, as though they had been forgotten naturally. Wisdom is abused for each spell forgotten this way.
Strategy
Reading a scroll of amnesia is generally undesirable; you may lose a critical spell or a skill that you had painstakingly developed, leaving your character that much weaker until you can remedy the situation. In the late game, however, the scroll can be used to "respec" skills you no longer need and spend the skill slots elsewhere. For example, a Wizard who had developed thrown daggers as a backup for their meager energy reserves could reclaim those slots once they'd learned enough attack spells to replace them. A Ranger who decided to respecialize in darts could use slots formerly taken by their bow or crossbow skill. For a spellcaster, it's best to use blessed scrolls for this purpose, to avoid having to relearn your spells; for a non-caster, uncursed or cursed scrolls are more efficient. The scroll has a very low ink cost to write, so it's not always necessary to stockpile them in advance.
Identification
If price identification reveals a scroll's base price as 200zm, avoid reading it unless scrolls of amnesia are already identified.
History
The scroll of amnesia first appears in Hack 1.0.
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"Presumably the scroll's effects changed somewhat between H1.0 and NH3.4.3. Document them to contrast with the 5.0.0 behavior."
In NetHack 3.4.3, it is possible for a hero to forget only one spell as a result of a bug caused by how the mechanic is coded—confusion is meant to add one spell to the list of spells that the hero forgets (with a maximum of all learned spells), but instead sets the number of spells to forget to 1. This bug is fixed in NetHack 3.6.0.
Additionally, spell loss begins starting from the bottom of the known spell list, allowing a hero to manage what spellbooks they are given from prayer on an altar: this is done by using + to sort the spellcasting menu so that any forgotten spells or spells the player wants a book for appear last, so that they have a higher chance of being selected; this can also be used to avoid blanking spellbooks, which can be read without incrementing their counters as long as the spell it teaches is not already in the spell casting menu. This is fixed in NetHack 3.6.1 so that amnesia removes memory of the spell but does not remove it from the list.
NetHack 5.0.0 changes the effects of the scroll of amnesia. It no longer causes loss of level maps and item identities, and can now cause the loss of weapon and spell skills, in addition to spells.
Messages
- Thinking of Maud you forget everything else.
- Who was that Maud person anyway?
- You read a scroll of amnesia.
- As your mind turns inward on itself, you forget everything else.
- As a hero named Maud, you read a scroll of amnesia.
- Your mind releases itself from mundane concerns.
- You read a scroll of amnesia while hallucinating.
Variants
UnNetHack
UnNetHack removes scrolls of amnesia.
Encyclopedia entry
Get thee hence, nor come again,
Mix not memory with doubt,
Pass, thou deathlike type of pain,
Pass and cease to move about!
'Tis the blot upon the brain
That will show itself without.
...
For, Maud, so tender and true,
As long as my life endures
I feel I shall owe you a debt,
That I never can hope to pay;
And if ever I should forget
That I owe this debt to you
And for your sweet sake to yours;
O then, what then shall I say? -
If ever I should forget,
May God make me more wretched
Than ever I have been yet!
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1005: list of ineligible starting items
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1020
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1476
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1763
This page is based on a spoiler by Dylan O'Donnell. The original license is:
Redistribution, copying, and editing of these spoilers, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
- The original contributors to any spoiler must continue to be credited.
- Any modifications to the spoiler must be acknowledged and credited.
