Message-Id: <2bbrsg$pn4@pith.uoregon.edu>
Date: 4 Nov 1993 21:23:28 GMT
From: seth@cie (Master Nethacker)
Organization: University of Oregon Campus Information Exchange
Subject: Rec.games.hack SPOILER FAQ--many spoilers, warning!!
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Lines: 173

           "Spoiler FAQ" for rec.games.hack

This is the third version of the 'spoiler FAQ,' and thanks to all for their
critique of the first version.  Keep it up, keep me honest ;)  Also, I notice
that this document seems to be growing, when the original idea was to 
produce a fairly small document.  Shall I simply post this FAQ less
frequently, say every two or three weeks, or shall I pare it down and
revise it?  It was your idea, folks-- help me out here!

Purpose:  This document simply lists many of the tricks that can be so
     essential in playing nethack, yet so trying to learn on one's own.

Standard disclaimer:  This document reflects, at times, my opinion.  Tough :)
     if you disagree, but I welcome any suggestions.  Distribute this at will,
     as long as it includes this disclaimer and as long as it is not used for
     commercial benefit.  My email address is 
 
          seth@cie-2.uoregon.edu

     Also, I take no responsibility for any lessening of your enjoyment of the
     game from reading the spoilers listed here... If you're reading  
     rec.games.hack, you are already familiar with the warning, "spoilers," so
     consider yourself warned.  Wherever you obtained this "spoiler FAQ,"
     I'll say it once:  much of (my) enjoyment of NetHack comes from figuring
     things out _for myself_, and this document may spell things out for you
     that you may prefer to learn on your own.  It is your choice; good luck!


    ** Simple spoilers (religion, survival, and getting around): 

1. Kicking can open locked (or stubborn) doors and chests.
2. If a door resists opening, just try again.
3. If you _can not_ find a way down, search for secret doors.  Be persistent.
4. You can eat most corpses, but some things are poisonous.  Poison effects
   will vary, including damage (hp), loss of ability score points, 
   confusion, stunning.
5. Don't eat a corpse that is more than a few moves old, or you will be
   fatally poisoned.  Hint:  zombies are never less than a few moves old, even
   when they're still animate.  
6. Prayer can save you from starvation; if you are weak or fainting
   and you can't get any food (_and_ if praying is safe, see below), prayer is
   a common last resort.
7. If you aren't chaotically aligned, sacrificing human corpses isn't usually
   a good idea. :) That is, unless you WANT to meet a demon lord face-to-
   face...
8. Eating human corpses (or, if you're an elf, elf corpses) is a bad move, too.
9. Make holy water by dropping clear potions (water) on an altar that 
   matches your alignment.  Stand on the altar and pray (if it's safe to pray-- 
   again, see below).
10. An object's cursed, uncursed, or blessed status will be revealed if you
   drop it on an altar-- regardless of the altar's alignment, or yours.

      ** Prayer, Quests, Wishes, Yendorian matters, etc: **

Q: How do I rustproof my (weapon or armor)?
A: Wield or wear the item, and get confused.  Easy ways to get confused
   include umber hulk gaze attacks, potions of confusion, eating rotten
   food, and casting a spell after you've burned it out.  While confused,
   read a scroll of enchant weapon or armor, as appropriate.  Note that
   if you want to rustproof a _specific_ item of armor, it's best to
   strip down to wearing ONLY that piece of armor, since the scroll might
   not enchant the item you want if you're wearing several armors.

Q: How can I tell when it's safe to pray?
A: When you sacrifice, and it is accepted by your god.  If your god has done
   anything nice for you in the last 400 or so turns (given you something,
   listened to a prayer - even if it wasn't answered), forget about praying
   until a sacrifice is accepted.  It will take much longer than 400 turns
   if your god is angry.  Also, any accepted sacrifice decreases the amount
   of time it will be until it is safe to pray again.

Q:  My god is mad at me.  What can I do?
Q:  How do I get (this or that artifact)?
Q:  How do I convert an altar to MY alignment?
   A) Sacrifice a corpse, the larger the better (in the first two cases), and 
        remeber that spoiled meat is harmlessly ignored.  Artifacts sometimes 
        appear when one sacrifices at an altar, but not often, so don't hold your
        breath ;)

Q:  I'm in the rogue's quest, and I can't get through all these little chambers
    in the bottom level!  How am I supposed to reach the Master Assassin?
    A)  There ARE no doors to the Master Assassin, I'm afraid-- you have to
        either become a monster capable of phasing (a xorn or an earth
        elemental) OR you have to fall through trapdoors from the level above,
        using level teleportation to escape, until you fall into the right
        chamber.  The phasing method is VASTLY preferable ;)

Q:  The Wizard of Yendor didn't have the Amulet!?!
    A)  Yep.  Don't panic, the amulet is farther down.  The Wizard does 
        have a useful object, though, which leads us to--

Q:  How do I get the Book of the Dead/Candelabrum of Invocation/Bell of
      Opening?
    A)  These objects are always placed in specific locations in any given
        game-- the Wizard of Yendor has the Book, Vlad the Impaler has the
        Candelabrum, and the 'quest-enemy' has the Bell.

Q:  How do I get back from the Quest?
    A)  There is a magic portal leading back, located on the spot where you
        first appeared on the first 'Home' level.

Q:  I'm at the bottom of the Gnomish Mines, and there are no more stairs 
down.  Where do I go now?
     A)  Look around, and go back up to the rest of the Dungeons of Doom...
        The Mines only extend a few levels down, and are not meant to take
        you to the path to the endgame.  To be more clear:  the level where
        the mines begin has TWO stairs down, and one stair leads to the MINES,
        whereas the other leads onward to the Quest, Medusa, and all those 
        other unpleasant ways to die ;)

Q:  I got a wish from (whatever)... What should I wish for?
      ("Do you know, do you know, do you know?" ;)
     A: Here are some popular, time-honored choices.. :
       "blessed +3 shield of reflection"
       "blessed amulet of life saving"
       "blessed fireproof +3 speed boots"
       "blessed +3 gray dragon scale mail"
       "blessed magic marker"
       "3 blessed scrolls of charging"
       "3 blessed scrolls of genocide"
       "blessed figurine of an Archon"
       "blessed rustproof +3 gauntlets of power"
       "blessed wand of polymorph"

  Weapons to wish for, by alignment:  (and by all means a _partial_ list)

     Neutral-
       "blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Vorpal Blade"
       "blessed rustproof +3 war hammer named Mjollnir"
       "blessed rustproof +1 athame named Magicbane"
       "blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Fire Brand"
       "blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Frost Brand"
 
      Chaotic-
        "blessed rustproof +3 runed broadsword named Stormbringer"
             (be _careful_ with Stormbringer!  Fair warning! ;)

      Lawful-
        "blessed rustproof +3 long sword named Excalibur"
        "blessed +3 silver saber named Grayswandir"

       **Note- I have not included Quest artifacts in this list, and here is why:
   if I do, newbies will make impossible wishes, or wish for their class' Quest 
   artifact before doing the quest, OR they'll wish up something and get  
   blasted by alignment incompatibility.  If _I_ were lawful, I'd wish for the
   ToM, of course! :) who wouldn't?  But advising such things in a short FAQ
   would probably slay characters, more often than it'd help.


*** A List of Common Abbreviations Used in rec.games.hack) ***

  "WoW"  - Wand of Wishing
  "WoY" .- Wizard of Yendor
  "GDSM" - Gray Dragon Scale Mail
  "AoLS" - Amulet of Life Saving
  "PYEC" - Platinum Yendorian Express Card 
  "Stormy" - Stormbringer
  "ToM" - the Tsurugi of Muramasa

(please point out the many others I'm not remembering right at this
 moment, folks)

Afternote:  There are several things that I could include, but that I have
avoided thus far.  These topics include, among others:  luck, Quest artifacts,
the actual architecture of the endgame levels, polypiling (!!) and other so-
called "NetHack abuses," esoteric throne, sink, and fountain effects, and the
various ways of trying to identify things without identify magic.  These
things and countless more are covered in excellent detail in the Wheaton
College Spoiler file, which is mentioned in the rec.games.hack FAQ, and which
is currently being revised for NetHack 3.1.3; also, there are other net-posted
spoilers available in archives listed in the rec.games.hack FAQ, and of course,
other players represent the most prolific of all sources of spoilers.
