Towel
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | towel |
| Appearance | towel |
| Base price | 50 zm |
| Weight | 2 |
| Material | cloth |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A towel is a type of tool that appears in NetHack. It is made of cloth.
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 04756b5d, towels have a weight of 5.Contents
Generation
Tourists have a 1⁄25 chance of being given a towel in their starting inventory if they are not given a tin opener or leash.[1]
Towels make up 1⁄20 (5%) of all tools that are randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Hardware stores can also stock towels.
Towels are generated uncursed, with the possible exceptions of bones levels and the items generated on some early traps.
Description
A hero can utilize towels for multiple purposes:
- Applying a non-cursed towel while the hero either has slippery fingers or else has gunk on their face (e.g. from a cream pie or blinding venom) will wipe their hands or face clean[2][3]—if both their hands and face are dirty, the hero will always wipe their hands off first. Unlike the #wipe extended command, this action will always succeed if possible and takes one turn to clean the hero's face. A hero cannot use a towel this way if their hands are both welded to a cursed item, or if are polymorphed into a form that lacks hands.[4][5] A hero cannot wipe their hands or face with a towel they are currently wearing.[6]
- Applying a cursed towel instead has a 1⁄3 chance of making the hero's hands slippery and a 1⁄3 chance of applying gunk to their face if they are not wearing anything on their face, with both effects lasting for 3–12 (more) turns.[7][8][9][10] A hero wiping their face with a cursed towel while wearing a blindfold, pair of lenses or another towel on their face will push it off their face and onto the ground, unless the worn item is also cursed.[11]
- The hero can "engrave" with a towel to fully erase any current engraving on their square if the engraving is written in the dust, or if it is written with blood or magic marker ink.[12]
- The hero can put on a towel to render themselves blind similar to a blindfold, and removing the towel will let them see again if it was the only thing blinding them.[13][14] A hero cannot wear a towel if they already have a blindfold, pair of lenses or another towel on their face.[15] A worn cursed towel cannot be removed manually, and is considered a major trouble the same way a cursed blindfold is[16][17]—successful prayer that solves this trouble will uncurse the worn towel.[18]
Monsters will not use this item, though some monsters will still pick them up.
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 a13d6c03, the hero cannot wear a towel if they are in a form that is headless.Wet towels
A towel that is made wet, e.g. from the carrier walking into a moat or pool, will absorb and retain some of the water[19][20]—if a towel is subjected to water and is not already at maximum wetness, it will gain anywhere between 1 and 7 levels of wetness. The exact wetness of a towel is represented by an integer between 0 and 7, which is only visible in wizard mode and will otherwise be alluded to by the towel's appearance:[21][22]
| Wetness | Appearance |
|---|---|
| 0 | A towel |
| 1-2 | A moist towel |
| 3-7 | A wet towel |
A wet or moist towel will lose one level of wetness when it is thrown, used to wipe engravings or used to clean the hero's face and/or hands, even if that towel is also cursed.[23][24][25][26][27][28] A wet or moist towel that is carried in a hero or monster's open inventory will lose at least 1 level of wetness if they are subjected to fire damage that would burn any of their armor[29]—only one such wet towel will be affected at a time.[30]
A wet or moist towel can be wielded and used as an improvised "weapon" that deals base damage between 1 and its current wetness value, which is capped at 6 base damage like other non-weapon objects.[31] Each hit with a wet or moist towel has a xx+1 chance of the towel losing one level of wetness (where x represents its current wetness).[32]
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 3e188043, wearing a wet towel halves damage from poison clouds and poison gas breath, and blocks the effects of potion vapors.
Per commit 182abe6b, iron golems take extra wetness damage from being hit with a wielded wet towel.Strategy
Towels are nifty multi-purpose tools that are often employed as substitutes for blindfolds (e.g. when utilizing intrinsic telepathy to find monsters), though they are just as often kept unworn so that players can have the hero clean off their face or hands at a moment's notice.
Wet towels are not frequently used as weapons, though they may have some niche applications for weaponless conduct play.
History
The towel first appears in NetHack 3.1.0.
The ability to wet towels is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.
Origin
A towel is a piece of absorbent cloth or paper that draws moisture through direct contact, and is used for drying or wiping a surface. There are various types of towels for various purposes, such as baby towels, bath towels, foot towels, hand towels, poncho towels, and sports towels. The invention of the towel is commonly associated with the city of Bursa, Turkey, in the 17th century, though Middle Ages archaeological studies have found evidence of towels used as personal items.
The Turkish towel began as a flat, woven piece of cotton or linen called a peshtamal that was often hand-embroidered, and they were used in Turkish baths as they were very absorbent and stayed light when wet. Long enough to wrap around the body, peshtamal were originally fairly narrow, but are now wider and commonly measure 90 by 170 centimetres (35 in × 67 in). As the Ottoman Empire grew, so did towel usage: weavers were asked to embroider more elaborate designs, and by the 18th century, towels began to feature loops sticking up from the pile of the material. These looped towels became known as havly, a word which over time changed to havlu, the Turkish word for a towel that means "with loops". Towels did not become affordable until the cotton trade and industrialization of the the 19th century, and with mechanization, toweling became available pre-made and by the yard. Today, towels come in a variety of sizes, materials and designs.
In Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, there is an in-world emphasis on towels and their importance to hitchhikers as usable in practically any situation or environment: if a hitchhiker has a towel, it can be inferred by a non-hitchhiker that they also have a toothbrush, soap, washcloth, raincoat, and related things, and non-hitchhikers would also be happy to lend the hitchhiker any of those items if they have "lost" them. This is the basis for most of the towel's uses in NetHack and its encyclopedia entry (which is an excerpt from the 1979 series-naming novel).
Messages
- You have no free <hand>!
- You tried to apply a towel with no free hand available.
- You cannot use it while you're wearing it!
- You tried to apply a towel you are currently wearing.
- You've got the glop off.
- You successfully wiped gunk off your face.
- Your <face> feels clean now.
- As above, but you are also blinded by other means.
- You wipe off your <hands/gloves>.
- You successfully wiped your hands clean, with "gloves" used if you are wearing them.
- Your <face> and <hands> are already clean.
- You applied a towel with no grease or gunk to wipe off.
- Yecch! Your <face> <now has/has more> gunk on it!
- You applied a cursed towel and spread gunk on your face, with the alternate phrasing used if you already had gunk on your face.
- Your <hands> <get slimy/are filthier than ever>!
- You applied a cursed towel and gave yourself slippery fingers, with the alternate phrasing used if you already had slippery fingers.
- You push your <facewear> off.
- You pushed off a worn towel, blindfold or pair of lenses by applying a cursed towel.
- You push your <facewear> <cock-eyed/crooked>.
- As above, but the item worn on your face is also cursed and does not come off—there is an equal probability for each descriptor.
- Your towel gets <damp/damper>.
- Your towel absorbed some water and now has a wetness value of at most 2—"damper" is used if it was already slightly damp (i.e. at 1).
- Your towel gets <wet/wetter>.
- Your towel absorbed some water and now has a wetness value of at least 3—"wetter" is used if it was already slightly wet (i.e. at least 1).
- Your towel gets dusty.
- You 'engraved' with a towel while there was no message to wipe off the floor.
- Your towel gets frosty.
- As above, but you were standing on ice.
- You are now wearing a towel around your head.
- You put on a towel.
- You were wearing a towel.
- You removed a worn towel.
- You <are/were> deliberately blind because of your towel.
- You are wearing a towel on your face, as noted in your base attributes screen, e.g. from enlightenment—the past tense is used for end-of-game reporting.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, towels function as they do in NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions.
Archeologists have a 1⁄4 chance of starting the game with a towel if they are not given a blindfold.[33]
Upgrading a towel successfully will produce a blindfold and vice versa.[34][35]
NetHack brass
In NetHack brass, towels function as they do in NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions.
Applying scissors to a towel may produce anywhere from 0-5 bandages—a Healer or a female hero wearing a nurse cap or nurse uniform will always produce the maximum amount of bandages this way.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, every game started on Towel Day (25th of May) will add a towel to the hero's starting inventory. Tourists that start with a towel this way will not be given a second towel.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, towels function as they do in NetHack 3.4.3, and Tourists will always start with a towel.
Spa shops in Elshava can stock towels.
Four towels are generated on the Anachrononaut quest home level at level creation, where they are placed in the left-most chest within the lower right room of the home base. In the Android quest, this chest contains a single towel.
A worn towel can prevent attacks that spread gray mold spores from affecting the hero's respiratory system, and can disguise the marks of bound spirits such as Astaroth.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, a towel can be combined with a crystal ball at a furnace to create a pair of lenses.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, Chefs start each game with an uncursed towel, and Divers start each game with a blessed towel.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, towels function as they do in NetHack 3.6.7.
Gun stores can stock towels, with a 1⁄100 chance of one being generated on each applicable square.
Upgrading a towel successfully will produce a blindfold and vice versa, as in SLASH'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a brush, but very very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 775: effective ~3.69% chance or 576⁄15625
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 92: use_towel() function
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 147-L153
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 97: checks against freehand()
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 431: freehand() function
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 100
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 103-L106
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 107-L114
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 115-L121
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 142
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 122-L141
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 841-L861
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1865
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1877
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1965-L1984
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 227: checks for blindfolded
- ↑ include/youprop.h in NetHack 3.6.7, line 86: blindfolded define
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 463-:465
- ↑ include/obj.h in NetHack 3.6.7, line 193: definition of is_wet_towel(o)
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3538: case for towels in water_damage()
- ↑ src/objnam.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 513-L514: appearances for wet towel in normal play
- ↑ src/objnam.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 531-L534: wizard mode displays exact wetness value
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 101
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 848
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 112
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 139
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 151
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 167
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 69-L78: case for drying wet towels in burnarmor()
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 74-L75
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1064-L1077
- ↑ src/uhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1069-L1070
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1027: effective 3⁄16 chance or 18.75%
- ↑ potion.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 2408
- ↑ potion.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 2411
