Scroll of gold detection

?
Name	gold detection
Appearance	random
Base price	100 zm
Weight	5
Ink to write	4-7
Monster use	Will not be used by monsters.

The scroll of gold detection finds all gold on the current level. It can also be used to find traps.

Effects

Reading an uncursed scroll will reveal gold pieces, gold golems and any gold hidden in containers (including containers in your inventory), buried, or embedded in rock. A blessed scroll will also detect objects made of gold; currently the only objects that can be made of gold are the gold ring and the Candelabrum of Invocation.

Reading scrolls of gold detection while confused will instead detect traps. If the scroll was non-cursed, all traps on the level will be revealed to the player with the ^ or " symbols (of the appropriate color). If the scroll was cursed, regardless if you are confused or not, all traps on the level will be marked with a $ as if the scroll was detecting gold.

Messages

You feel very greedy, and sense gold!

You read an uncursed or blessed scroll and found gold (or a gold object, if blessed) on the level.

You notice some gold between your feet.

You read an uncursed or blessed scroll and there is gold on the level (or a gold object if blessed), but only on your square.

You feel worried about your future financial situation.

You read an uncursed or blessed scroll and there was no gold anywhere on the level except in your inventory.

You feel materially poor.

You read an uncursed or blessed scroll, and there is no gold in the level or in your inventory.

You feel like a million zorkmids!

You read an uncursed or blessed scroll, you are currently polymorphed into a gold golem, and there is no gold (or gold objects if blessed) on the level.

You feel very greedy.

You read a cursed scroll, confused or not, and there are traps on the level.

You feel entrapped.

You read a blessed or uncursed scroll while confused, and there are traps on the level.

Your <toes> itch.

The scroll is cursed, or you read any beatitude while confused, and detected a trap on the level but only on your square. Replace "toes" with the appropriate body part extremity if polymorphed.

Your <toes> stop itching.

The scroll is cursed, or you read any beatitude while confused, but detected no traps on the level. Replace "toes" with the appropriate body part if polymorphed.

You have a strange feeling for a moment, then it passes.

You are a beginner, and have not detected any gold or gold objects (if blessed), or traps on the level (if cursed and/or confused). Replace "strange" with "normal" if hallucinating.

Strategy

You can use this scroll to ascertain the location of vaults quickly. In addition, the presence of large rectangular or square concentrations of gold usually means there is a leprechaun hall or a treasure zoo on the level. However, usually there is more than enough gold in the game, large collections of gold are heavier than collections of gems, and finding vaults is not particularly difficult anyway, so trap detection is this scroll's key benefit.

This special ability of the scroll of gold detection — trap detection — comes in especially handy on the Elemental Planes, as a quick way to find the portal to the next plane. (Crystal balls are another method of doing this, albeit a heavy one). A non-illiterate character can bring four of these scrolls and a source of confusion to make the elemental planes as painless as possible.

In the early game or as a low-level pacifist, you might want to use this scroll to quickly detect polymorph traps to preempt high level monsters by securing the trap, or to improve your pets. This goes especially for the lower mines levels, any place you hear typical sounds, and some quests. For example, the six random traps on the Wizard quest home add up to a slightly less than 60% chance of a polymorph trap. (There is also a guaranteed one in the locate level.)

Variants

In UnNetHack and DynaHack, reading a non-cursed scroll of gold detection while confused detects a random object class (glyph). This makes it useless for portal detection, which in turn makes the Elemental Planes more difficult to navigate.

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.