Spellbook of resist sleep
| spellbook of + resist sleep 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Base price | 100 zm |
| Weight | 50 |
| Turns to read | 3 |
| Ink to write | 5–9 |
| Spell type | protection |
| Level | 1 |
| Power cost | 5 Pw |
| Direction | non-directional |
In SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM, the spellbook of resist sleep allows the hero to learn the spell of resist sleep. It is a level 1 protection spell, and the spellbook takes 3 actions to read.
Generation
Priests have a 1⁄9 chance of starting the game with a spellbook of resist sleep.[1] Wizards have a 1⁄2 chance of starting the game with a spellbook of resist sleep, and will otherwise start with a spellbook of resist poison.[2]
Spellbooks of resist sleep comprise approximately 2.03% of all spellbooks randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops.[3] Second-hand bookstores and rare books stores can also stock spellbooks of resist sleep.
Writing a spellbook of resist sleep with a magic marker uses up 5 to 9 charges.
Description
Successfully casting the spell gives the hero temporary sleep resistance for 500 to 1499 (more) turns—this does not interfere with gaining sleep resistance normally, such as through eating corpses or reaching experience level 4 as an elf or drow. It has no effect if the hero casts it while they already have intrinsic sleep resistance.
Strategy
Heroes who start with this spell are advised to cast it as soon as possible since its power cost is minimal, and its effects last long enough for a hero to potentially encounter a source of intrinsic sleep resistance at random, while elven or drow heroes in particular can acquire sleep resistance naturally by the time the spell wears off. This especially applies for Wizards that start with a spellbook of sleep (which is a 1⁄2 chance)[4] alongside the spellbook, since they can then exploit their resistance to more readily cast the sleep spell against hostile monsters in certain positions—watch carefully for the timeout message, as the rebounding sleep ray can otherwise result in a quick death. Once the hero has intrinsic sleep resistance, the spell is relatively useless, making its spellbook a prime candidate for blanking.
Heroes following conducts that restrict certain foods will find the spell to be useful for a long time: as in vanilla NetHack, the only vegan or vegetarian source of sleep resistance in SLASH'EM is the corpse or tin of a gelatinous cubes (with a 1⁄10 or 10% chance), meaning that vegan and vegetarian heroes may go a while before acquiring the intrinsic. Foodless heroes will appreciate the resistance spells more than most heroes, since it is one of the few remaining sources of resistance properties they can access outside of crowning (unless they are also observing atheist conduct).
History
The spellbook of resist sleep first appears in NetHack Plus and SLASH 6, ancestors of SLASH'EM.
Messages
- You no longer feel tired.
- You gained temporary sleep resistance from the spell.
- Too much coffee!
- As above, while hallucinating.
- You feel a little sleepy.
- Your sleep resistance timed out.
