Spellbook of force bolt

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spellbook of
+   force bolt   Light green spellbook.png
Appearance random
Abundance 3.5%
Base price 100 zm
Weight 50
Turns to read 4
Ink to write 5–9
Spell type attack
Level 1
Power cost 5 Pw
Direction beam
Equivalent wand of striking

In NetHack, the spellbook of force bolt can be read to learn the spell of force bolt. It is a level 1 attack spell, and the spellbook takes 4 actions to read.

Generation

Wizards start every game with a blessed spellbook of force bolt and, and so cannot receive a second one as their secondary spellbook.[1][2][3]

Spellbooks of force bolt make up 7⁄200 (3.5%) of all randomly-generated spellbooks. General stores, second-hand bookstores and rare books stores can stock spellbooks of force bolt.

Writing a spellbook of force bolt with a magic marker uses up 5 to 9 charges.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that the information below is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate it.

Per commit 96787441, pauper Wizards start with knowledge of the spellbook's appearance.

Description

Successfully casting the spell prompts the player for a cardinal direction to shoot the force bolt in, and behaves similarly to the wand of striking:[4] the bolt rolls a d20 against any monster in its path, skipping this check if the hero is engulfed, and if the roll is lower than the target's AC plus 10, it hits and deals 2d12 damage (subject to resistance from MR score, half spell damage and spell damage bonuses).[5][6] Magic resistance completely blocks the effects of being hit by the spell.[7] A Knight carrying the Magic Mirror of Merlin in open inventory deals double damage to monsters when casting the spell.[8][9]

Boulders and statues in the spell's path will crumble into rocks, while doors, drawbridges (on either square that they occupy) and fragile items are destroyed[10][11][12][13][14]—this includes any inventory from monsters killed by the spell. Statue traps hit by the spell will instead activate.[15]

A hero zapping the spell at themselves will take 2d12 damage and abuse strength unless they have magic resistance.[16]

Zapping the spell upward has a 2⁄3 chance of dislodging a rock from the ceiling and cause it to fall on the hero's head, dealing up to 6 damage (or up to 2 if they are wearing a hard helm), and has no effect in areas without a ceiling.[17][18] Zapping the spell downward wipes 2-8 letters from any engraving on that square, and doing so over a trap door will shatter the door and turn it into a hole that the hero may then fall into, unless they are levitating or flying.[19][20] Zapping the spell downward while riding will affect the steed as with any other monster.[21]

Strategy

Force bolt is a great low-power spell option for both offensive and utility purposes, especially for Wizards and other dedicated casters: its 2d12 damage can generally deal with a majority of early-game hostiles with good enough rolls, and its low level and energy cost often means that characters with solid casting attributes have a solid base chance of successfully casting the spell. As with the wand, its beam cannot be stopped by reflection, though magic resistance still nullifies it. When using the spell, be careful that there are no peacefuls in the spell's path! Additionally, make sure to refrain from blasting through shop doors or using the spell within shops themselves where possible, especially if you cannot afford to pay off damage or handle an angered shopkeeper, and avoid smashing down any doors within eyesight of the Watch in Minetown. Knights in particular can use it to avoid caitiff penalties against immobile or fleeing hostiles.

In particular, force bolts can dispatch floating eyes and other slow or sessile hostiles that block your path, and can also kill multiple monsters in quick succession if they are funneled within a hallway. Monsters with 0 or better AC, such as killer bees and giant ants, will prove to be much harder targets—conversely, nymphs are a particular concern despite their own poor AC, since they often generate with mirrors and breaking them causes a -2 penalty to the hero's luck; the spell may still be employed as a desperation measure if the nymph has stolen an especially dangerous item that it can use, e.g. a wand of lightning, or else if you have gained enough good luck to offset the penalty. The spell of force bolt also falls off as a source of damage once the hero starts regularly encountering hostiles with good AC, and the magic missile spell becomes much more damaging and reliable at range upon the hero reaching experience level 6.

Outside of combat, the spell is also useful for blasting through boulders that block the hero's path or quickly break open statues to access their contents: in addition to minding peacefuls, remember that breaking boulders this way in Sokoban carries a -1 luck penalty. The spell also allows quick entry to the Castle for heroes who do not care about the passtune, by destroying its drawbridge: this also eliminates the risk of a wand of striking being zapped at you when crossing any drawbridge (e.g. on the Valkyrie quest), which often results in an unceremonious instant death—a daring hero can inflict the same fate upon other monsters using the spell if they so choose, though they can only utilize this once per drawbridge. The spell can also be used in combination with the stone-to-flesh spell to easily create a supply of meatballs from broken statues and boulders, which are useful for raising pets' apport.

History

The spellbook of force bolt and its spell are introduced in NetHack 1.3d.

Messages

The spell hits <the monster>!
You zapped a monster with a spell of force bolt.
The spell misses <the monster>.
As above, but the zap missed.
Boing!
The spell was resisted with a source of magic resistance.
You bash yourself!
You zapped the spell at yourself and were hit by it.

Variants

Variants of NetHack may further improve the force bolt spell.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Necromancers have a 1⁄5 chance of starting with the spellbook of force bolt as their fourth spellbook, while Priests have a 1⁄9 chance of starting with the spellbook of force bolt as their secondary spellbook.[22][23] Wizards have their starting inventory changed in SLASH'EM, and have a 1⁄2 chance of receiving the spellbook of force bolt as their primary spellbook (with the other candidate being the spellbook of sleep).[24]

GruntHack

In GruntHack, some monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, including force bolt.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, female drow Anachrononauts always start the game with a spellbook of force bolt. Incantifier heroes always start the game with a spellbook of force bolt, unless they are Wizards: the Wizard starts with the spellbook by default as in NetHack, so incantifier Wizards will have their race's force bolt spellbook replaced with another eligible spellbook for the role. Male drow Healers (or hedrow Healers) start the game having forgotten the spell of force bolt.

Iron bars can be broken by zapping the force bolt spell at them, producing one or more iron bar items.

One of the invoke effects for the Rod of Seven Parts casts both the force bolt and slow monster spells simultaneously in a prompted direction followed by casting the cause fear spell, which uses up 2 points from the artifact's current enchantment and requires a minimum enchantment of +2.

A hero wielding the Annulus in chakram form can cast force bolt with a 0% chance of failure, and the spell deals +1d12 bonus damage for each two experience levels they have (i.e., XL2 rounded up).

While the "work of patience" zerth mantra is active, a hero at experience level 30 deals +10d12 damage with force bolts.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, monsters can use the same set of spells as the hero, with skill levels to match, and can learn and utilize the force bolt spell: monsters with at least Basic in attack spells will always generate knowing the spell of force bolt.

Shopkeepers will have force bolt 2⁄3 of the time, while Dispater, Thoth Amon and the Dark One will always have force bolt.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the spell of force bolt is heavily improved:

  • The spell's damage scales with the hero's skill in attack spells—2d6 at Unskilled/Restricted, 2d12 at Basic, 2d16 at Skilled, and 2d20 at Expert.
  • The chance for the spell to hit also scales with skill in attack spells—at Basic the odds are the same as in NetHack, while Skilled raises the odds significantly, and at Expert the spell will always hit monsters with an AC no better than -10.
  • Wizards casting force bolt expend much less energy per casting, again dependent on skill in attack spells—the power usage is 1 at Basic skill, 2 at Skilled, and 3 at Expert.
  • The spell will knock any monster it hits one space back if it deals 16 or more damage, and iron bars can also be broken with the spell.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, the spell of force bolt will knock any monster it hits one space back if it deals 16 or more damage as it does in EvilHack, and iron bars can also be broken with the spell.

References

  1. ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 168
  2. ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1016
  3. ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1050
  4. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 160
  5. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 172
  6. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 5160: resist() function
  7. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 164
  8. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 142
  9. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 170
  10. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1951
  11. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2867
  12. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3316
  13. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3452
  14. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4656
  15. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2099
  16. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2280
  17. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2861
  18. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2876
  19. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2893
  20. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2982
  21. ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2703
  22. ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1121
  23. ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1136
  24. ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1259
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