Spellbook of detect treasure
| spellbook of + detect treasure 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 2% |
| Base price | 400 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Turns to read | 17 |
| Ink to write | 20–39 |
| Spell type | divination |
| Level | 4 |
| Power cost | 20 Pw |
| Direction | non-directional |
| Equivalent | potion of object detection |
| Special for | Rogue |
In NetHack, the spellbook of detect treasure can be read to learn the spell of detect treasure. It is a level 4 divination spell, and the spellbook takes 17 actions to read. It is the special spell for Rogues.
Generation
Spellbooks of detect treasure make up 1⁄50 (2%) of all randomly-generated spellbooks. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books stores can stock spellbooks of detect treasure.
Writing a spellbook of detect treasure with a magic marker uses up 20 to 39 charges.
Description
When cast, the spell duplicates the functions of quaffing a potion of object detection and displays all objects on the current level, which exercises wisdom if at least one objected is detected, and the exact effects are dependent on the hero's skill level in divination spells:[1][2][3][4]
- At Basic level or lower, the spell emulates the uncursed potion and displays the current position of all objects on the level using a blank map, including buried and underwater objects[5][6][7]—objects not known to the hero will be displayed as their object type. Floor items are mapped over buried items, items on the top of piles are mapped over the rest of the pile, and the first item in a monster's inventory is mapped over any items they are standing on.[8][9][10][11][12][13] The hero can navigate this screen by moving their cursor to highlight particular objects, and any other key that does not perform a navigation action will exit this screen[14][15]—the locations of those objects are recorded when returning to normal play.
- At Skilled or higher level, the spell emulates the blessed potion and will display and marks objects as above, but items that are not in a monster's inventory are treated as though the hero handled them up close, and so will have their full object appearance shown (including identified ones where possible).[16][17][18][19][20] The hero also learns the appearance of all items in their inventory, if applicable.
Stale object markings are always cleared when mapping the level from this effect. Casting the spell while hallucinating will have the same effects as described above, but will print different messages and display items as their hallucinated glyphs. As with the potion, if the symbol of a detected object suddenly disappears upon the hero moving onto an adjacent square to it, the item(s) in question are buried.
Strategy
The spell of detect treasure is somewhat difficult to cast for most roles without training in divination spells, and the potion is quite commonplace and accessible due to the presence of nymphs—once a hero can reliably cast the spell, however, it may become preferable to the potion, since they are vulnerable to destruction like other potions, and the weight of multiple potions can add up. Excess potions of object detection are usually diluted into water for other purposes, even if they are not necessarily supplanted by a caster opting for the spell.
A hero with the training and energy to cast the spell will rarely need to utilize it more than once on a given floor–e.g., hunting for gold in vaults, checking for potential bones and finding the Castle chest with the wand of wishing–and can take their time to remove armor in a safe spot if necessary; a more minor advantage the spell has over the potion for this is that it will not detect uncloaked mimics as objects, which can occur with a cursed potion. The spell is also quite useful when combined with a means of magic mapping to scope out the level and prioritize specific locations, e.g. when navigating Gehennom and mapping stair locations.
Remember that buried objects will have their glyphs vanish when you move adjacent to them, and digging down with a pick-axe on their formerly-marked square will reveal them—items sitting on or embedded in the same tile may obscure further buried treasure. Also, since tiles ports show unique tiles for unique object descriptions, you can determine the appearance of an object in tiles mode using an uncursed potion; once you've detected it, compare the tile to a list to see what appearance it has.
History
The spellbook of detect treasure and its spell first appear in NetHack 1.3d.
Messages
References
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 850
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1160
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1165: all spells with potion effects fall through to this line
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 853
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 851: calls object_detect() in detect.c
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 582: object_detect() function
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 589
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 608
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 648
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 683
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 702
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 719
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 744
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 679
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 762: temporary map navigation
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 591
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 619
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 630
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 641
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 655
