Heavy iron ball
A heavy iron ball is a type of item that appears in NetHack. It is naturally made of iron.
Heavy iron balls are classified under the "iron balls" object type in the hero's inventory.
Contents
Generation
Heavy iron balls are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
Heavy iron balls are normally created as a form of punishment:
- Reading a scroll of punishment that is cursed or uncursed will chain a heavy iron ball to the hero's leg, unless they read the scroll while confused.[1][2]
- Prayer to an angry god may cause them to smite the hero by chaining a heavy iron ball to them.[3]
Description
Most of a heavy iron ball's effects are only active and apparent while the ball is chained to the hero—reading a scroll of punishment while already punished increases the current iron ball's already-cumbersome weight if the scroll is cursed or uncuraed.[4][5][6] It is an unremarkable item on its own, save for its immense weight and a few somewhat unique traits:
- The iron ball deals d25 damage against all monsters when wielded or thrown as a weapon, which is biased towards higher numbers if the ball has been made heavier.[7]
- Throwing an iron ball has a +2 to-hit bonus[8]—doing so exercises strength and may also exercise dexterity.[9]
- Using the iron ball as a weapon does not break the weaponless conduct.
Strategy
The majority of times a hero encounters an iron ball is from becoming punished through either of the methods described further above. Very rarely, a hero may opt to utilize the heavy iron ball as an improvised weapon, even after ending their punishment—otherwise, it is best left behind.
History
The heavy iron ball first appears in Hack 1.0 alongside the scroll of punishment.
Variants
Many variants of NetHack incorporate the Convict Role patch: a hero in the Convict role starts the game punished and with very little inventory, leaving them to rely on a starting pile of rocks, the iron ball and/or their bare hands as their primary offense—the original quest artifact in the patch is The Iron Ball of Liberation, an artifact heavy iron ball that is somewhat lighter than a normal one.
The Convict patch also makes it so that the heavy iron ball trains the flail skill when used as a weapon by a Convict, who can reach high skill levels in flail. Several heavy iron balls can also generate as prison debris on the Convict quest: there is a 1⁄2 chance each for a pair of heavy iron balls to generate on both the home level and the upper filler level, and the locate level has a supply room with ten heavy iron balls.
Variants of NetHack may also add alternate means of punishment, which naturally increases the ways in which heavy iron balls can be generated.
UnNetHack
UnNetHack adds the Convict role and gives them the ability to train the flail skill with a heavy iron ball as described above. UnNetHack also generates heavy iron balls in the Convict quest as described above, and retains The Iron Ball of Liberation as the Convict quest artifact.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the item is simply known as a ball and will always have its current object material shown in the inventory. These variants also add the Convict role from incorporating the patch, and grant heroes the ability to train the flail skill with a heavy iron ball as described above—all three variants also generate heavy iron balls in the Convict quest.
A chiropteran Convict's starting ball will weigh 1600 aum.
A hero that has the spirit Ahazu bound can train their skill in flails by attacking with a wielded heavy iron ball as Convicts can.
The Iron Ball of Liberation is replaced as the Convict quest artifact by The Iron Spoon of Liberation—a Convict that qualifies for their quest is given a similar artifact in The Iron Ball of Levitation by their quest leader Robert the Lifer.
DynaHack
DynaHack adds the Convict role and gives them the ability to train the flail skill with a heavy iron ball as described above. DynaHack also generates heavy iron balls in the Convict quest as described above, and retains The Iron Ball of Liberation as the Convict quest artifact.
SpliceHack
SpliceHack adds the Convict role, and gives them the ability to train the flail skill with a heavy iron ball as described above.
A heavy iron ball can be created by combining an iron chain and a boulder.
SpliceHack also generates heavy iron balls in the Convict quest as described above, and retains The Iron Ball of Liberation as the Convict quest artifact.
Encyclopedia entry
The heavy iron ball and iron chain share an encyclopedia entry:
"You are fettered, " said Scrooge, trembling. "Tell me why?"
"I wear the chain I forged in life," replied the Ghost. "I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?"
Scrooge trembled more and more.
"Or would you know," pursued the Ghost, "the weight and length of the strong coil you bear yourself? It was full as heavy and as long as this, seven Christmas Eves ago. You have laboured on it, since. It is a ponderous chain!"
References
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1689
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2345: punish() function
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 711
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1694: calls punish() function
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2345: punish() function
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2352
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 304: it adds 1d(extra weight/40) to base 1d25 damage, which is then capped at 25
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1473
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1735
