Metal

This article is about the individual "generic" material. For materials that are considered metals or are metal-like in nature, see metallic.

Metal is a form of material that occurs in NetHack, and represents metals such as tin that are not covered by other materials.

Description

Metal is a rigid and non-organic material that is immune to erosion. Metal items are naturally metallic, and are usually made of a metal that is not one of iron, mithril, copper, platinum, silver, or gold.

Metallivores that are not restricted to rustable metals (i.e. rock moles and xorns) are capable of eating metal items.

List of metal items

The following objects are made of metal:

• ya
• scalpel
• tsurugi
• tin whistle
• magic whistle
• tin
• any wand with the randomized appearance of "tin", "iridium", "zinc", "aluminum", or "uranium"

Polypiling enough metal objects has a chance of creating an iron golem.

History

The metal material is formally defined in NetHack 3.0.0: in this version, it is the only metallic material (with other metals being added in later versions within the series), and metal objects have a boolean determining if they are subject to erosion or not, which consists of their enchantment being lowered rather than the item itself being damaged. NetHack 3.1.0 introduces the current erosion system, and metal is rendered immune to erosion.

Variants

Some NetHack variants add new items made of metal, while others that implement an object materials system make it possible for certain metallic items to be made of metal—in these variants, metal is sometimes referred to as steel.

As an object material, metal (or steel) is at least as durable as iron while being lighter in weight, and is sometimes not as easily eroded.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM adds the following metal items:

• great dagger
• rapier
• heavy hammer
• fishing pole

UnNetHack

UnNetHack adds the following metal items:

• crystal pick
• tinfoil hat

GruntHack

GruntHack retains all metal items from NetHack 3.4.3.

Metal as an object material weighs the same as iron and provides the same AC when used for armor.

SporkHack

SporkHack retains all metal items from NetHack 3.4.3 and gives the sink (or "kitchen sink") a material of metal.

dNetHack

dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack retain all metal items from NetHack 3.4.3, and the "shiny ring" randomized appearance is also made out of metal unlike NetHack. These variants also add various items made of metal:

• ancient arrow
• set of crow talons
• diskos
• church pick in both forms
• blade of mercy and its components
• rapier
• crow quill
• soldier's rapier in both forms
• rakuyo and its components
• isamusei
• chikage
• cane in both forms
• nagamaki
• shanta-pata in both forms
• blaster bolt
• heavy blaster bolt
• carcosan bolt
• laser beam
• harmonium helm
• harmonium plate
• harmonium scale mail
• harmonium gauntlets
• orihalcyon gauntlets
• harmonium boots
• stilettos
• magic chest
• preservative engine
• trephination kit
• Hyperborean dial
• mist projector
• seismic hammer
• hellfire component
• broken android
• broken gynoid
• razor wire

xNetHack

In xNetHack, metal items are referred to as made of steel. As an object material, steel has ⁷⁄₈ of the weight of iron, and does not adversely affect elven heroes and elven monsters like iron objects do.

The athame and rings with the randomized appearance of "twisted", "wire", "engagement", or "shiny" are all normally made of steel, in contrast to NetHack—xNetHack retains all other NetHack items that are made of steel/metal. Despite their names, steel wands and steel rings are still made of iron.

Items have the following probabilities of generating as steel:

• Most items (weapons, armor and tools) with a steel base material have a ³⁄₄ chance (75%) of retaining that material when generated.
• Items with an iron base material have a ³⁄₅₀ chance (6%) of generating as made of steel.
• Items with a wood base material have a ¹⁄₅₀ chance (2%) of generating as made of steel.
• Items that give reflection, such as the shield of reflection and amulet of reflection, have a ¹⁄₂₀ chance (5%) of being made of steel.
• Bells, musical instruments and other tools that are normally made of steel have a ¹¹⁄₂₀ chance (55%) of retaining that material, while ones made of copper have a ¹⁄₂₀ chance (5%) of generating as made of steel.
• Amulets other than the amulet of reflection have a ¹⁄₁₀ chance (10%) of being made of steel.
• Figurines have a ¹⁄₂₀ (5%) chance of being made of steel.

Steel armor is just as durable as iron in terms of AC while being lighter, and steel weapons perform similarly to their iron counterparts.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, metal as an object material functions similarly to xNetHack: it is 12.5% lighter than iron while being just as durable. The parazonium is a new item with a base material of metal, and all other metal items are retained from development versions of NetHack 5.0.0.

Items have the following probabilities of generating as metal:

• Items with a metal base material have a ³⁷⁄₅₀ chance (74%) of retaining that material when generated. This oddly includes skeleton keys, which have a base material of bone in SpliceHack.
• Amulets, along with items that give reflection such as the shield of reflection, have a ¹⁄₂₀ chance (5%) of being made of metal.
• Bells, musical instruments and other tools that are normally made of metal have a 54.3% chance of retaining that material when generated.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, steel as an object material functions similarly to xNetHack and SpliceHack, having ¹⁵⁄₁₆ of the weight of iron while being about as durable.

The following items are given a base material of steel, with all other retained steel/metal items from NetHack keeping their base material:

• katana
• lance
• helm of speed
• shield of mobility
• rings with the randomized appearance of "twisted", "steel" or "wire"
• all amulets
• lock picks
• runed barding
• wand with the randomized appearance of "steel"

Items have the following probabilities of generating as steel:

• Most items (weapons, armor and tools) with iron base materials have a ³⁄₅ chance (60%) of generating as made of steel.
• Items with steel base materials have a ¹³⁄₂₀ chance (65%) of retaining that material when generated.
• Items with wood base materials have a ¹⁄₅₀ chance (2%) of generating as made of steel.
• Dwarven items other than the dwarvish cloak that are worn as armor have a ¹⁄₅ chance (20%) of generating as made of steel.
• Dwarven weapons have a ¹⁄₄ chance (25%) of generating as made of steel.
• Amulets have a ⁵³⁄₁₀₀ chance (53%) of being made of steel.
• Items other than amulets that give reflection, such as the shield of reflection, have a ³⁄₁₀₀ chance (3%) of being made of steel.
• Bells, musical instruments and other tools that are normally made of steel have a ³⁄₅ chance (60%) of retaining that material, while ones made of copper have a ¹⁄₂₀ chance (5%) of generating as made of steel.
• Sling bullets have a ³⁄₂₀ chance (15%) of being made of steel.
• Bracers have a ¹⁄₂₅ chance (4%) of generating as made of steel.
• Barding that generates randomly has a ¹³⁄₂₀₀ chance (6.5%) of generating as made of steel.

Steel armor grants the same AC as their iron counterparts and is intrinsically erosion-proof, but can be corroded by the destroy armor monster spell. Steel weapons that deal slashing and/or piercing damage gain a +1 damage bonus, with a ¹⁄₃ chance of +2 bonus damage on each hit. Steel helms will also offer protection from falling objects.