Beartrap
( 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | beartrap |
| Appearance | beartrap |
| Base price | 60 zm |
| Weight | 200 |
| Material | iron |
| Monster use | Will not be used by monsters. |
A beartrap (or bear trap) is a type of tool that appears in NetHack and can be set as a trap. A primed bear trap appears as a cyan caret glyph (^ 
) upon being revealed. It is made of iron.
Generation
Bear traps can be generated in most rooms on almost any floor of the dungeon, but cannot be placed on a stair or ladder, in a pool or moat, in lava, within a wall, under a closed door, on a spot occupied by another trap or a solid dungeon feature (e.g. a throne or altar), or anywhere on the Plane of Air or Plane of Water.
A hero that successfully untraps a live bear trap will generate an uncursed beartrap item on the former trap's square, even that trap was created by applying a beartrap item with a different beatitude.[1]
Description
Bear traps have a chance of activating when a hero or monster that is on the ground walks onto their square.[2] A hero that is not fumbling will avoid a bear trap 1⁄5 of the time, or 4⁄5 of the time if they know the trap's location.[3] A bear trap will be revealed if the hero sees a monster trapped in it, becomes trapped in it themselves, moves over its square without being trapped, or uncovers it via searching (including automatic searching).[4][5]
A hero or monster that is caught in a bear trap takes 2d4 physical damage from it closing on their foot (subject to half physical damage) unless they are wearing iron shoes:[6] a hero that is caught in the trap and not killed by it will abuse dexterity and be stuck itself for 4-7 turns, during which they cannot kick or levitate, and a hero without iron shoes will also suffer a wounded leg that lasts 10-19 turns—a monster will be trapped for a random amount of turns, and a trapped monster that was peaceful will become hostile if the bear trap that caught them was set by the hero.[7] If the hero moves onto a bear trap square while riding, the steed will be caught in the trap instead unless they are levitating or flying, and the hero will not trigger the trap if they 'land' on it as a result of that trap killing the steed.[8] A hero that is caught in a bear trap while chained to a heavy iron ball buried in the ground will be immediately freed from that iron ball, due to the code disallowing multiple "trapped" states from occurring on the same square.[9][10] Unique messages are printed if a bugbear or owlbear (including a hero polymorphed into either monster) is caught in a bear trap.[11][12]
A hero or monster that is flying (or floating), levitating, amorphous, whirly, unsolid, or at most small in physical size will not be caught in a bear trap if they walk on its square.[13][14][15][16] A metallivore that moves onto a bear trap will eat the bear trap immediately, while a hero that is polymorphed into a metallivore must move onto the bear trap's square first.[17]
Disarming
A hero can untrap a bear trap to try and disarm it, and failing an attempt has a luck-based chance of causing the hero to be caught in the trap (even if they are currently flying).[18] A Ranger that attempts to disarm a bear trap will always succeed if they are not impaired (i.e. confused, hallucinating, blind, stunned, or fumbling).[19] A hero that fails an untrapping attempt with a bear trap that a monster is current caught in has a chance of inflicting up to 4 points of damage to that monster, which also constitutes pet abuse if the trapped monster is tame, and the hero will be responsible for a monster that is killed by this damage.[20] Successfully freeing a monster from a bear trap they are stuck in has a 1⁄2 chance of making that monster peaceful if they were hostile previously.[21][22]
A hero or monster escaping from a bear trap they were caught in will not disarm it. A hero cannot untrap a bear trap while they are caught within it.[23] Once disarmed, a beartrap can be polymorphed like any other item.
Digging down by zapping a wand of digging or casting the dig spell while on a beartrap's square will disarm that beartrap and attempts to bury it on that square, though it is immediately uncovered by the process of creating a hole or pit in the floor.[24]
Escaping
The most common way to escape a bear trap is to try to move out of it. For some reason, trying to move diagonally is most effective, allowing a hero to escape in 4–7 moves even if a wall is in the way[25]—attempting to escape in an orthogonal direction requires about five times as many moves to succeed. Zapping a wand of opening or casting the knock spell downward will instantly release a trapped hero, while zapping either in the direction of a monster trapped in one will free them.[26][27]
Teleportation, including level teleporting and branchporting, can safely get the hero out of a bear trap. Polymorphing into a monster that cannot be held by a bear trap will also instantly free the hero, and polymorph into a metallivore allows the hero to eat it without taking further damage, even while caught in it. Jumping out of a bear trap is possible, but inflicts d10 damage (subject to half physical damage) and results in a wounded leg that lasts for 500–1499 turns.[28]
A hero digging down with a pick-axe or dwarvish mattock while caught in a bear trap has a luck-based chance of destroying the trap and freeing themselves, and failing will inflict at least one point of damage from hitting themselves in the foot, which is subject to half physical damage and is also halved if the hero is wearing boots.[29] Digging down using a wand of digging or the dig spell while caught in a bear trap will also disarm the bear trap.
Setting a beartrap
Applying a beartrap item will arm the beartrap and create a bear trap square, which is an occupation that can be interrupted:[30] the duration required to successfully arm a beartrap is based on the hero's strength and dexterity, and is doubled if the hero is blind;[31] the hero cannot set a beartrap if they are stunned, levitating, flying, engulfed, or in a form that lacks hands, and cannot set a bear trap on a square where it is invalid to generate.[32]
A hero trying to set a beartrap while they are fumbling or the beartrap is cursed has a luck-dependent chance of becoming stuck in the set bear trap.[33] A hero riding a steed while they are unskilled in riding has the same chance of failure, along with an even worse chance if they are also fumbling or setting a cursed beartrap[34][35]—however, failing to set one while riding will cause it to fall harmlessly to the floor, rather than setting and triggering the trap.[36]
A bear trap set by the hero behaves as normal, with the addition of angering peaceful monsters that are caught in a hero's bear trap; a hero can still be caught in their own bear trap if they move into it normally and fail to avoid the trap, or else move into it as a result of failing to disarm it.
Strategy
A beartrap can be applied in a narrow corridor to slow down pursuers, including preventing a shopkeeper from blocking the door of their shop while stealing from them—a monster stuck in a beartrap is also an easy target for ranged attacks. However, the time it takes to set one makes it very hard to utilize for emergency getaways, and at 200 aum they are also quite heavy to carry around.
History
The bear trap first appears in Hack 1.0, while the beartrap object is introduced in NetHack 3.2.0.
The encyclopedia entry is added in NetHack 3.6.0.
The Ranger's ability to reliably disarm beartraps while they are not impaired is added in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit e4cb3f08.
Messages
- A bear trap closes on your <foot>!
- You triggered a bear trap.
- You are released from the bear trap.
- The bear trap is no longer holding you.
- You howl in anger!
- You triggered a bear trap while polymorphed into an owlbear or bugbear.
- <The monster> is caught in a bear trap!
- A monster triggered a bear trap.
- You hear the roaring of an angry bear!
- An unseen owlbear or bugbear triggered a bear trap.
- <The monster> eats a bear trap!
- A metallivore ate a bear trap.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the liquid leap technique can be used to escape from bear traps.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, 2-8 bear traps are generated on the forest level of the Ruins of Moria at level creation.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, the beartrap's weight is reduced to 100 aum.
A hero or monster trapped in a bear trap is potentially vulnerable to sneak attacks.
Worn boots that have the randomized appearance of jungle boots grant immunity to wounded legs from being caught in a bear trap—damage taken from being forced out of a bear trap (e.g. by a thrown iron ball) is also reduced, though the boots will be damaged in that instance and lose up to 10 points of enchantment, destroying them if the enchantment is low enough as a result.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, beartraps have their weight reduced to 50 aum.
Rangers start each game with two beartraps.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, a bear trap is always placed on a set square within each map of Goblin Town at level creation.
Five bear traps are randomly placed around the top floor of the Ice Queen's Realm at level creation, and a bear trap is placed on a set square within the middle floor of the branch at level creation.
Encyclopedia entry
Probably most commonly associated with trapping, the leghold
trap is a rather simple mechanical trap. It is made up of two
jaws, a spring of some sort, and a trigger in the middle. When
the animal steps on the trigger the trap closes around the leg,
holding the animal in place. Usually some kind of lure is used
to position the animal, or the trap is set on an animal trail.
Traditionally, leghold traps had tightly closing "teeth" to make
sure the animal stayed in place. The teeth also made sure the
animal could not move the leg in the trap and ruin their fur.
However, this resulted in many animals gnawing off legs in order
to escape. More modern traps have a gap called an "offset jaw"
and work more like a handcuff. They grip above the paw, making
sure the animal cannot pull out but does not destroy the leg.
This also allows the trapper to release unwanted catches.
References
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5571-L5573
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1068
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3035-L3044
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1537
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1550
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1478-L1560: trapeffect_bear_trap()
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1536
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1506-L1511
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1039
- ↑ src/hack.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2830-L2836
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1515-L1516
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1538-L1544
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1124-L1128
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1492-L1500
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 1530-L1531
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 2803-L2808
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 3773-L3780
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5512-L5517
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 5314-L5326
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4095
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4135
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4700
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4460
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 878
- ↑ src/hack.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1221
- ↑ src/zap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2852
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 4687
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1763
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 326
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2497
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2547-L2554
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2506-L2532
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2560
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2557
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2564
- ↑ src/trap.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2575
