Stethoscope

(
Name	stethoscope
Appearance	stethoscope
Base price	75 zm
Weight	4
Material	iron
Monster use	Will not be used by monsters.

A stethoscope is a type of tool that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron.

Generation

In addition to random generation, stethoscopes can be found in tool shops.

Healers start each game with a stethoscope.

Description

Applying a stethoscope will prompt you for a direction, and displays the status of your character or an adjacent monster in the selected direction; applying a stethoscope towards an adjacent wall tile with a secret door or passage reveals it. Applying a stethoscope in certain other scenarios may produce YAFM - see the Messages section below.

A stethoscope requires a free hand to use and cannot be applied while deaf. The stethoscope is free to use once per action; applying one twice in a row will increment the turn counter, and this does not stack with multiple stethoscopes. A cursed stethoscope has a ¹⁄₂ of failure, which prints a specific message.

Monsters

Applying the stethoscope to another monster will show you their name, alignment, experience level, hit points, armor class, and miscellaneous attributes of the target. Such attributes generally consist of impairments, but can be any of the following:

• tame
• peaceful
• eating
• cancelled
• confused
• blind
• stunned
• asleep
• can't move
• meditating
• scared
• trapped
• fast/slow
• concealed
• invisible
• held by you/holding you
• digesting you
• engulfing you
• carrying you
• shapeshifter

Mimics that are disguised as other objects will be revealed and uncloaked; the 'shapeshifter' attribute is only displayed for monsters in a different form from their "innate" one, and as such is not displayed for werecreatures.

In wizard mode, applying a stethoscope to a pet displays its tameness, hunger, and apport.

You

Applying the stethoscope to your character displays your experience level, HP, and AC, an accurate appraisal of your alignment record, and any of the following properties:

• dying from food poisoning
• dying from illness
• solidifying
• becoming slimy
• being strangled
• nauseated
• confused
• blind/blinded by sticky goop/covered by sticky goop
• stunned
• injured leg(s)
• slippery hands
• trapped
• fast/very fast
• concealed
• invisible
• holding <monster>
• held by <monster>

Strategy

Although a stethoscope is not essential for survival, it is an excellent source of tactical data when used early and often, and is thus one of the most frequently used tools. It may be a good idea to #adjust the stethoscope's inventory letter to something memorable, such as s.

Unlike Magicbane and the wand of probing, a stethoscope does not show items in the monster's inventory; however, the stethoscope has an unlimited amount of uses, and the monster's AC may provide a vague hint as to what armor they are wearing, depending on how different it is from their base AC. This is particularly useful for early characters that are lawful, gnomish or dwarvish: a stethoscope will help reveal which peaceful dwarves and hobbits are carrying armor worth using a pet to kill them for or even take the alignment record hit yourself, in particular mithril-coats.

An important use of the stethoscope is monitoring your pet's health. Consistently using the stethoscope allows you to gauge their experience level, which is invaluable when attempting the protection racket. The stethoscope will also indicate when its hit points are critically low, and you can then heal it or else escort it away from danger. A stethoscope is also valuable when altar farming in order to properly appraise your alignment and avoid accidental crowning.

The stethoscope is fine for revealing hidden passageways and doors; manually searching via s is preferable if you wish to exercise Wisdom, but using the stethoscope is often much faster. It can also be used to safely decloak mimics, especially in shops.

Blind heroes (or those without see invisible) can use it to remove I symbols without using up an action by searching or running into one normally.

History

The stethoscope first appears in NetHack 1.3d.

In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions, including some variants based on those versions, applying a stethoscope to a disguised mimic will reveal its identity, but would not uncloak it—this is part of bug C343-366, and is fixed in NetHack 3.6.0 via commit 0def692d, with the related bug SC343-17 fixed via commit b8a51d36.

Additionally, applying a stethoscope to an unaligned monster reports it as chaotic: their alignment is −128, which is a magic number for unaligned, and the code checks specifically for this number for other purposes (e.g., your alignment record), but for the stethoscope it is just a negative number—this is fixed in NetHack 3.6.0.

Origin

The stethoscope is a real life medical instrument used by doctors to examine a patient's heartbeat, hence its primary usage and appearance in the Healer's starting inventory. Its other uses, especially in SporkHack and UnNetHack, are inspired by the pop cultural trope of stethoscopes being used as a safe-cracking aid.

Messages

You hear your heart beat.

You applied a cursed stethoscope; this replaces the normal message half the time.

You can't hear anything!

You applied a stethoscope while deaf.

The <floor> seems healthy enough.

You applied a stethoscope down.

You barely hear faint splashing.

You applied a stethoscope up or down while underwater.

You hear the crackling of hellfire.

You applied a stethoscope to the floor of the castle, beneath which lies Gehennom.

You hear a faint typing noise.

You applied a stethoscope to the edge of the map.

You hear a hollow sound. This must be a secret <door/passage>!

You applied a stethoscope to a wall concealing a secret door or passage, instantly revealing it.

The <monster> interferes.

You applied a stethoscope to yourself while engulfed by a whirly monster, which is examined instead. This happens ¹⁄₃ of the time, or ¹⁄₁₀ if you are a Healer.

The invisible monster must have moved.

You applied a stethoscope to an I which represented a monster that is no longer there.

You determine that <this/that> unfortunate being is dead.

You applied a stethoscope to a corpse; the message will use "this" if the corpse is at your feet, and "that" if it is on an adjacent square.)

You hear a voice say, "It's dead, Jim."

As above, while hallucinating.

You determine that <this/that> unfortunate being is mostly dead.

As a Healer, you examined a corpse that will revive.

The <monster> appears to be in fine health for a statue.

You applied a stethoscope to a statue.

The <monster> appears to be in remarkable health for a statue.

As above, but you are a Healer and the statue contains items.

The <monster> appears to be in extraordinary health for a statue.

As above, but you are a Healer and the statue is on a statue trap.

You hear a voice say, "You're both stoned, Jim."

You applied a stethoscope to a statue while hallucinating.

You hear nothing special.

You applied a stethoscope to something else (such as a boulder).

Variants

In variants that incorporate the advent calendar branch, a stethoscope is one of the possible "Christmas present" tools.

Some variants feature an iron safe, which can be opened with a stethoscope.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM additionally displays the traitor attribute if used on a formerly tame monster that has turned on you.

ZAPM

In ZAPM, the tricorder is the game's analogue to the stethoscope, and functions similarly.

SporkHack

In SporkHack, the iron safe appears and can be opened with a stethoscope.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, the advent calendar branch appears early in the dungeon, and can contain a stethoscope in the Christmas present room. The iron safe also appears, and can be opened with a stethoscope.

xNetHack

In xNetHack, a stethoscope can be used to identify an egg.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, a stethoscope can be used to open an iron safe and identify eggs.