Wand of undead turning
| / | |
|---|---|
| Name | undead turning |
| Appearance | random |
| Abundance | 5% |
| Base price | 150 zm |
| Weight | 7 |
| Type | beam |
| Maximum charges | 8 |
| Spell | turn undead |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A wand of undead turning is a type of wand that appears in NetHack.
Contents
Generation
Wizards may be given a wand of undead turning as the random wand in their starting inventory.[1]
Wands of undead turning make up 1⁄20 (5%) of all randomly-generated wands. General stores and "quality apparel and accessories" shops can sell wands of undead turning.
Wands of undead turning are created with 4 to 8 charges.
Description
A hero zapping a wand of undead turning in a given direction will emit a beam in that direction that deals 1d8 damage to undead monsters, including shapeshifted vampires, and scares them subject to a roll versus their MR score.[2] Most corpses and eggs in the direct path of the beam or the inventory of a monster in that path will also be revived, with stacks of corpses having only one revived at a time.[3][4] If the ghost of a former hero is zapped with the wand while still over their former body, they will be drawn into it, removing that ghost and reviving the corpse as their confused former self.[5] Reviving any corpse with the wand will auto-identify it, and a Healer that revives a corpse they cannot see will be given a message and also auto-identify the wand.[6] Monsters will not use this wand.
A hero zapping the wand at themselves will auto-identify the wand, revive corpses in their inventory as above and print a message—if they are polymorphed into an undead monster, they will become stunned for up to 30 more turns.[7][8]
Breaking a charged wand of undead turning by applying it, or wresting one last charge from an applied wand, will cause an explosion that deals anywhere between 1 and (4×<charges>) damage, and also inflicts further damage to undead monsters within the explosion range and scares them while also reviving corpses within the explosion range.[9][10]
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 dc6b2f5d and commit d83f1c17, intelligent monsters with hands that have a wand of undead turning will zap the hero with it if they are carrying any corpses, reviving one corpse from each stack as normal. Per commit ea93c17f, they will also zap corpses lying on the floor if both the hero and the corpses are in range of the wand's beam.Strategy
One of the most common uses for this wand is to revive the corpse of a killed pet, though it may need to be re-tamed depending on their previous tameness and any pet abuse; another somewhat common use is to revive corpses that are too old to eat or else #offer as sacrifices. In both cases, be mindful of corpse generation odds - there's no guarantee that the monster will leave a corpse a second time unless they are of sufficient physical size (i.e. large or bigger).
Though it may be tempting to farm unicorns and dragons for unicorn horn and dragon scales, this is not as useful as it sounds: revived unicorns have a 1⁄2 chance of not dropping a horn upon death, and the horns that do drop will count as non-magical tools for polypiling purposes, while revived dragons will only drop scales 1⁄20 of the time.[11]
Identification
Engraving with a wand of undead turning generates no message or effect. If you zap a wand that has no message or effect at yourself and reanimate a corpse in your inventory, stun yourself while undead, or else get a specific message, the wand is unambiguously undead turning.
History
The wand of undead turning first appears in Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.
The additional auto-identification of the wand for Healers is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.[12]
Messages
- You shudder in dread.
- You zapped a wand of undead turning at yourself, and there were no corpses in your inventory.
- <The corpse> glows iridescently.
- You zapped a wand of undead turning at a corpse.
Variants
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, engraving with a wand of undead turning will give the following message and auto-identify the wand:
- The dead bugs on the floor start moving!
Additionally, trying to revive a corpse drained of blood (e.g. by a vampire hero) will fail and give the following message:
- The drained bite-covered <foo> corpse stirs with life, but doesn't have enough blood to survive.
NetHack Fourk
In NetHack Fourk, which incorporates the Wands Balance Patch, a wand of undead turning zapped at Skilled level or higher will destroy undead monsters that fail to resist its effects, scaring them otherwise. This also applies to FIQHack.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, Undertakers start each game with a wand of undead turning.
References
- Jump up ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 164
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 209
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 207
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 961: unturn_dead function
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 884
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2032
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2463
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2467
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3353
- Jump up ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3388
- Jump up ↑ src/mon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 325
- Jump up ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 1890
