Archeologist

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The Archeologist, also spelled as Archaeologist and abbreviated as Arc, is one of the roles available for a hero in NetHack. Their corresponding player monster is the @ archeologist. According to the guidebook:

Archeologists understand dungeons pretty well; this enables them to move quickly and sneak up on the local nasties. They start equipped with the tools for a proper scientific expedition.

Archeologists can be humans, dwarves, or gnomes, and can be either lawful or neutral.

Starting equipment

Each Archeologist starts with the following equipment:[1]

Archeologists start with knowledge of any applicable racial equipment.

The Archeologist's default starting pet is a little dog or kitten with equal probability.

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 9d910773, Archeologists have an increased 15 chance (13.5% overall) of starting with a magic marker that has 19–23 charges.

Intrinsics

Archeologists gain the following intrinsic properties upon reaching the given experience levels:[3]

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 075c2832, Archeologists start with searching, gain stealth at XL 5 and gain speed at XL 10.

Attributes

The Archeologist's starting attributes are distributed as follows:[4]

Attributes Strength Dexterity Constitution Intelligence Wisdom Charisma Remaining
Minimum attributes 7 7 7 10 10 7 27
Distribution percentages 20% 10% 20% 20% 20% 10%
Mean w/ standard deviation (human) 12.79±2.15 9.78±1.63 12.50±2.10 15.34±1.86 15.34±1.86 9.51±1.57

Skills

Archeologists have the following skills available to them:[5]

Archeologist skills
Max Skills
Basic
Skilled
Expert

Archeologists start with Basic skill level in whips and pick-axes. They use the intelligence stat to cast spells, and their special spell is magic mapping.[6]

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.

The scimitar skill is merged into the saber skill.

Special rules

Archeologists can apply an uncursed touchstone as if it was blessed to formally identify any gem.

Archeologists incur a -1 penalty to alignment record for breaking a historic statue.

Non-chaotic Archeologists incur a -3 penalty to alignment record for digging up a headstone, while chaotic Archeologists instead get a +3 bonus.

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 78289a7f, Archeologists get a +1 luck bonus while wearing a fedora.

Rank titles

The status line displays one of the following ranks for the corresponding experience levels:[7]

  • XL 1–2: Digger
  • XL 3–5: Field Worker
  • XL 6–9: Investigator
  • XL 10–13: Exhumer
  • XL 14–17: Excavator
  • XL 18–21: Spelunker
  • XL 22–25: Speleologist
  • XL 26–29: Collector
  • XL 30: Curator

Gods

Main article: Religion

The Archeologist pantheon is based on Central American mythology, specifically the Aztecs.[8]

Quest

Main article: Archeologist quest

The Archeologist's quest sees them fight The Minion of Huhetotl for The Orb of Detection, an artifact crystal ball. While carried, it confers magic resistance, telepathy and half spell damage, and can be invoked to toggle invisibility on or off.

Strategy

Archeologists are often considered one of the harder roles in NetHack, due to their low average of physical attributes as well as starting equipment that is less useful in combat than that of most other roles. However, smart use of their whip combined their starting speed and stealth can aid survival early on, and they can become strong in the late game with access to higher-level divination spells and other spellcasting combined with the ability to effectively use silver sabers.

Character creation

Human Archeologists are not as sturdy as dwarves, and face the hardest Gnomish Mines due to their lack of infravision and predominance of hostile inhabitants, but they are also not as fragile as gnomes. A dwarven Archeologist has a peaceful Mines and an HP bonus that makes their poor starting armor more bearable, though their energy growth penalty significantly weakens spellcasting in the late game; gnomish Archeologists also have a peaceful Mines and are easily the best spellcasters, but their poor HP makes them more prone to death in the early game. However, a dwarf's energy growth penalty can make spellcasting difficult or impossible in the late game.

Archeologists are restricted in most of the strong one-handed weapon skills, so the deterministic nature of lawful sacrifice gifts can be an advantage: a lawful Archeologist's first gift will be either Grayswandir, or an artifact long sword that unrestricts the skill and allows the use of Excalibur once another long sword is found. In either case, you are guaranteed a strong artifact weapon that can carry you through the game. Neutral sacrifice gifts are less reliable, and while several of them are viable in the long-term, each also has a disadvantage, e.g. Mjollnir and its combination of low base damage and large bonus damage die, or Vorpal Blade and its low damage bonuses on an otherwise-solid base item.

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.

The base item of Demonbane is a mace, meaning that a lawful Archeologist is not guaranteed to unrestrict the long sword skill with their first gift.

Per commit e8212743, there is only a 130 chance of a non-Knight receiving Excalibur by dipping.

Early game

The Archeologist's early game must be played cautiously, since they are more reliant on their starting speed and stealth to avoid or survive combat encounters, while their pet can help pick up slack against early-game threats. Seek out armor and other equipment as quickly as possible, using their starting sack to store vulnerable items, and use the tinning kit to tin low-nutrition corpses and intrinsic-granting ones, which makes properties such as poison resistance and sleep resistance safer to obtain. An Archeologist identifying gems with their touchstone should save at least one cheap gem to throw to a co-aligned unicorn, which gives a +5 boost to luck and may be worthwhile even without a luckstone. Early vaults are a good source of gold, and an Archeologist that knows where to dig can quickly set themselves up for credit cloning and buying intrinsic protection.

The Gnomish Mines has random tools, gold and gems embedded in the walls, and a chance at good armor and a dwarvish mattock, and is generally the preferred early goal for most Archeologists; an Archeologist using their speed and pick-axe combined with infravision and/or a light source can also run protection rackets to obtain several points of AC from the aligned priest in Minetown. The guaranteed luckstone at Mines' End is much more dangerous to shoot for, though it is worth going for once you are better prepared; a luckstone can also generate randomly in the solid rock of the dungeons, making it possible to uncover one while digging. Sokoban does offer opportunities to train strength along with additional food and magical loot, including wands that can give the Archeologist an edge in fights against hostile monsters.

Both the starting bullwhip and pick-axe are poor weapons, but the former can be used to disarm weapon-wielding hostile monsters and make fights more survivable, while pick-axes can be used to dig to lower levels and create pits to trap hostile monsters in. A scimitar from a hobgoblin or group of orcs can prove decent, and any artifact weapon an Archeologist can obtain as a sacrifice gift should be able help them in combat. The aklys is a melee weapon that also doubles as their best ranged weapon by far: it can pull double-duty in melee and at short distances, will return far more often than not due to being a tethered weapon, can be easily obtained from the Mines, and Archeologists can train clubs to Skilled for a substantial to-hit bonus. An aklys or two that is curse-tested can do the work of several daggers for much less weight.

Archeologists should prioritize AC and survival over spellcasting in the beginning stages: the starting leather jacket is the weakest suit of armor available, while the fedora grants no AC at all and leaves the hero vulnerable to falling rock traps. As mentioned previously, the Gnomish Mines and Minetown can provide some decent-to-good-quality armor, and wearing whatever armor they can find and curse test that is reasonably protective and lightweight. A cloak of invisibility may be of particular interest: a fast, invisible and constantly-moving target is hard to track down, providing an additional combat edge that Archeologists may appreciate; a ring of invisibility or even a few potions of invisibility can provide similar benefits.

Mid-game

As an Archeologist develops their weapon skills and finds their footing, they should pursue Sokoban prize if they have not yet obtained it, as well as nabbing the luckstone in Mines' End if they have not come across and identified a luckstone at this point. Stealth can help them gradually clear out monster-filled special rooms, such as treasure zoos like the one in Sokoban and throne rooms, without waking most of the sleeping denizens - be mindful of pets waking them up instead! Digging to lower floors en route to Mines' End can make avoiding various traps easy, though you will have to be much more careful on the trip back to Minetown. The bullwhip remains a decent-to-good utility item for Archeologists with higher dexterity.

An Archeologist that reaches the mid-game should consider an artifact weapon if they lack one: lawful Archeologists are likely to receive either Grayswandir, or else an artifact long sword that unrestricts the skill for Excalibur dipping, while neutral ones can make use of artifacts such as Mjollnir, Magicbane or Vorpal Blade, and may even optionally go for Grayswandir if they have a spare wish and can put up with the minor artifact blasts. Dwarvish mattocks, unicorn horns and silver sabers are good non-artifact weapons—the saber is the role's best silver option by far and a quality candidate for two-weapon combat, though Archeologists can only reach Basic in the latter skill; dwarvish mattocks deal high damage that can become reliable with to-hit bonuses from skill, and can be trained to Expert, while unicorn horns can be trained to Skilled. The Minetown watch captain has a 12 chance of generating with a saber, so it may be worth have a strong pet kill them for it; disarming them with a bullwhip is risky and will anger them, but does not set off the rest of the watch if done successfully.

While Archeologists have a fairly low base spellcasting penalty and can reach Basic skill in attack spells, most of their potential spell repertoire is tailored towards utility rather than combat, so AC should remain a priority unless the player lacks any form of ranged attack, is confident in their ability to survive without metal armor, or else finds enough non-metal equipment that is highly enchanted. The role usually starts with a decently high intelligence score for reading spellbooks, making it worthwhile to try reading a few of the lighter ones while in a safe area.

The Archeologist quest is very loot-heavy due to its overwhelming amount of snakes: several levels will be created with items for them to hide under, enough that it may be worth taking a peek into the home level before gaining access in order to potentially expand the hero's kit—once you gain proper entrance, be careful engaging in melee combat with the mummies throughout, unless you have solid AC. The locate level contains an altar of each alignment within each of the abandoned templates, so a hero can sacrifice for artifacts and luck at their leisure.

The Minion of Huhetotl can prove to be very nasty without a source of magic resistance, but a sharp Archeologist can whittle them down with an enchanted and blessed silver saber or even a dwarvish mattock, and can also exploit their vulnerability to cold with items such as the wand of cold. The Orb of Detection is heavy due to the 150 aum weight of its base item, and while its properties are well worth having, the invoke ability to toggle invisibility rarely comes up: most heroes can easily obtain permanent invisibility and will have done so by this point. Even with the role's tendency towards good intelligence scores, an Archeologist is highly unlikely to apply their quest artifact for its crystal ball functions without an enchanted helm of brilliance.

Late game

An Archeologist invested in spellcasting should be approaching Skilled level in divination around this point: it is the spell school most utilized in traversing and mapping Gehennom, including detect treasure, detect unseen and their special spell magic mapping, and also has the overall strong identify spell. Those planning to keep their quest artifact The Orb of Detection in open inventory for magic resistance should have a reliable backup source, such as Magicbane, gray dragon scale mail or a cloak of magic resistance, in case the Wizard of Yendor steals it.

For a lawful Archeologist, Grayswandir is easily among the best artifacts that can be used in Gehennom, and Excalibur and Frost Brand remain solid primary weapon choices even at Basic skill. Neutral Archeologists have less stellar artifact choices, but are more than capable of making do with a well-enchanted Mjollnir, Magicbane or Vorpal Blade. Even with a two-weapon combat skill cap of Basic, pairing an enchanted silver saber, scimitar or silver dagger with most artifact weapons can significantly improve their damage-dealing capabilities, especially against the denizens of Gehennom.

An enchanted helm of brilliance significantly improves an Archeologist's spellcasting ability, as well as making their quest artifact potentially reliable for detecting the vibrating square and magic portals later on. As intelligence-focused casters, magic missile is a very strong spell in an Archeologist's hands even at Basic, so it may be worth utilizing the helm and/or shedding a few points of AC from any interfering armor in order to increase the spell's reliability and damage output, which can be supplemented by their primary weapon even for heroes that are not twoweaponing. Though Archeologists are restricted in escape spells, the jumping spell may also be worthwhile to learn for mobility on the ascension run.

History

The Archeologist first appears in Hack 1.0 as the Speleologist - NetHack 1.3d gives the role its current name, presumably to make room for selecting the Samurai role using S, and converts the former name to one of its rank titles.

In NetHack 3.4.3 and previous versions, including some variants based on those versions, Archeologists start with Basic skill in slings as a side effect of their starting touchstone, which is considered sling ammunition. This is bug C343-355, and was fixed in May 2008 via commit d5ca34a4.

Origin

Archaeology (or archeology) is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture, with the "archaeological record" consisting of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Derived from Greek, the term archaeology means "the study of ancient history". Archaeology can be considered both a social science and a branch of the humanities; it is usually considered an independent academic discipline, but may also be classified as part of anthropology, history or geography.

Archaeologists study human prehistory and history, from the development of the first stone tools at Lomekwi in East Africa 3.3 million years ago up until recent decades - it is distinct from palaeontology, which is the study of fossil remains. Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time. The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past, making it reliant on cross-disciplinary research.

The Archeologist role and starting equipment are based on 1954 film Secret of the Incas, whose main character Harry Steele (Charlton Heston) is an explorer of ancient ruins - this image of the archeologist adventurer was further popularized by 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark, which marked the debut of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), a character inspired by Secret of the Incas that wore similar clothing and additionally carried an army bag and trusty bullwhip with him.

Variants

Main article: Itlachiayaque

The Itlachiayaque patch replaces the Archeologist quest artifact while preserving some of its properties, and is implemented in several variants.

SLASH'EM

Main article: Archeologist/SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Archeologists are given a few additional items, including a spellbook in order to take advantage of their good starting intelligence, and also gain an additional method of identifying items.

UnNetHack

UnNetHack allows Archeologists to safely enchant a fedora past +5 up to +7, and they gain a +2 bonus to Luck when wearing one.

dNetHack

Main article: Archeologist/dNetHack

In dNetHack, Archeologists are given a first gift, different weapon skills and a redesigned quest with Itlachiayaque as the quest artifact - they remain one of the harder roles in the variant due to a similar lack of easy methods to get off the ground and excel in the early and mid-game stages.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, Archeologists get a +10 bonus to the base searching rate.[9]

Encyclopedia entry

Archeology is the search for fact, not truth. [...] So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and X never, ever, marks the spot.

[ Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ]

References