Wand of polymorph
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | polymorph |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 4.5% |
| Base price | 200 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | beam |
| Maximum charges | 8 |
| Spell | polymorph |
| Monster use | May be used by monsters as misc items. |
A wand of polymorph is a type of wand that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Wizards may be given a wand of polymorph as the random wand in their starting inventory, though they will never start with the wand and a ring of polymorph control simultaneously.[1][2]
Wands of polymorph make up 9⁄200 (4.5%) of all randomly-generated wands. General stores and "quality apparel and accessories" shops can sell wands of polymorph.
Randomly generated monsters with a monster difficulty of 5 or less have an effective 1⁄180 chance of being generated with a wand of polymorph as a miscellaneous item.[3]
Wands of polymorph are created with 4 to 8 charges.
Description
Zapping the wand of polymorph will polymorph any monsters or items hit by the beam: the effect is subject to each monster's MR score, is blocked if the monster has magic resistance, has a 1⁄25 chance of inducing system shock, and ignores any inventory dropped by monsters that are polymorphed or else die of system shock.[4][5][6][7] A hero zapping the wand at themselves will polymorph, ignoring any sources of magic resistance.[8] The wand of polymorph is auto-identified if it polymorphs the hero, a monster or an item.
A shapeshifter hit by the beam is not subject to system shock unless the hero has protection from shape changers, and vampires will shift into their alternate forms under the same conditions. Long worms that are polymorphed and monsters that are polymorphed into long worms have special cases applied so that they are not repeatedly polymorphed by the beam coming into contact with their segments.[9] Artifacts resist beams from the wand 19⁄20 of the time, other items resist 1⁄20 of the time, and wands of polymorph, spellbooks of polymorph, potions of polymorph, the invocation items and the Amulet of Yendor are completely immune.[10][11]
Monsters can zap this wand at themselves, but will only do so if their difficulty is 6 or less, and this will not turn them into an out-of-depth monster unless they are wearing dragon scales or dragon scale mail, which creates the corresponding dragon.[12][13][14]
Zapping the wand downward or engraving with it while an engraving is present will change it to a random engraving.[15]
Applying a charged wand of polymorph to break it causes an explosion that deals anywhere between 1 and (4×<charges>) damage, and also polymorphs items on the ground and monsters within the range of the explosion (behaving as a self-zap for the hero).[16]
Strategy
The advantage of using a wand of polymorph over other methods is that you do not need to use up a potion or be able to cast the polymorph spell; charging can also be used to extend the wand's lifespan. Wands are commonly used for polypiling and trying to polymorph your pet into something high-level; however, the latter carries the risk of system shock, unlike a polymorph trap.
Polymorphing hostile monsters is generally a last-ditch attempt, as it can create even more dangerous out-of-level monster types, but it may be useful in specific situations, such as killing shopkeepers and fighting minotaurs.
With polymorph control, you can zap the wand and choose what monster to become; see the section on polyself for details. If you have polymorph control or unchanging and are surrounded by hordes of nasty monsters, breaking this wand may be a fairly effective last resort to get out of such a jam, but it is entirely dependent on if the new forms are easier to deal with. You can also use this technique to polymorph hordes of pets into stronger ones, though be warned that you do not want to attempt this with pets that are too weak to survive the blast to begin with (such as jackals); a mass pet die-off can leave you with very low alignment.
History
The wand of polymorph appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are both based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, polymorphing from the wand and other sources is temporary for monsters and items as well as the hero.
Doctor Frankenstein is always generated with a wand of polymorph.[17]
GruntHack
In GruntHack, monsters will use the wand of polymorph offensively and zap it at the hero, which polymorphs them unless they have unchanging or magic resistance. This makes sources of each property much more important to find as soon as possible.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, polymorphing an engraving by zapping the wand or attempting to engrave with it has a low chance of creating a random ward.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, a wand of polymorph can be combined with a wand of nothing at a furnace to create a wand of create monster.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, monsters will zap the wand of polymorph at the hero, which behaves as in GruntHack—they will refrain from further attempts to polymorph the hero if they see that it has no effect.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, doppelgangers start the game with knowledge of items that can polymorph monsters, including the wand of polymorph.
Monsters will zap the wand of polymorph at the hero, which behaves as in EvilHack.
References
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 164
- ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1039
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2024
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 224
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 231
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 244
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 251
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2361
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 227
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1890: obj_resists for wand and spell of poly
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1892: cases for immunity to wand and spell
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1741
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1761: muse_newcham_mon
- ↑ src/muse.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1875
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2958
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3389
- ↑ makemon.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 1129
