NetHack: Difference between revisions

* [[Diagonal Speed Boost]]: Naturally, as it's a roguelike. The "grid bug conduct" challengejokingly isrefers forto yourplayers playerwho tounintentionally ignore the speeddiagonal boost,movement (which makes the game a ''lot'' harder).

* [[Disc One Nuke]]: In quite a few ways, be it through an early wish or polymorphing.

** [[Broken Base|Some players]] used to regard "Elbereth" as this. Writing Elbereth in the dust with just their fingers can protect the player from almost all early monsters and many later ones. From 3.6.0 on, it was significantly nerfed to the point of causing another break in the base.

** Due to starting skill levels, a Rogue on the very first turn can throw up to 2 daggers at a time. Developing the skill can increase that to up to 4 daggers at a time. Enchanting the daggers (or finding enchanted daggers), plusand strengthadding damage bonus,bonuses meansfrom a Rogue isStrength almost guaranteedguarantees toyou'll behave a long range killer bythat machine-gunningcan daggers;tear thisthrough isthe whyearly Roguesgame startby with a stack ofmachine-gunning daggers. Rangers can do the same, but have to find the daggers on their own, as well as develop the skill completely from scratch.

** Charm monster is an invaluable spell for Tourists or Wizards... if you can find the book and have the right armor to cast it reliably. Once you do, it can prove an absolute lifesaver, as not only can you obtain powerful pets such as the people-eating purple worms, but you can also use it to deter especially menacing attackers, such as minotaurs or a freshly-summoned swarm of nasties.<!--3.7

* [[Divine Assistance]]: Coaligned gods reward regular sacrifices and not-too-frequent prayers from their followers (i.e. players) with various boons such as [[Luck Manipulation Mechanic|extra luckLuck]], blessings and even rare artifact weapons!

* [[Do Not Drop Your Weapon]]: Averted - you can unequip monsters with a [[Whip It Good|bullwhip]], though enemies can do the same. Weapons can also be stolen like other items - if Magicbane is your only source of magic resistance, and you're disarmed while somebody with a touch of death is around....

** Eating greasy food or handling a cursed potion of oil can make your character's fingers slippery, causing them to drop their weapon and anything else they wield for a few turns; this can be remedied by using a towel to wipe them offclean.

* [[Dummied Out]]: [https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/Deferred 'Deferred features'] include the shimmering dragon and vorpal jabberwock, as well as unique characters like [[Cerberus]] and Charon. There was also planned to be an artifact attack that fired magic missiles (similar to Fire and Frost Brand's planned secondary effects) and spellbooks that could summon spheres. Many of these features are used in variants.

* [[Dunce Cap]]: Appears as an actual item that [[Stuck Items|immediately autocurses and sticks to your head]] if you put it on and fixes your intelligence and wisdom stats to 6. It also shares an appearance with the [[Robe and Wizard Hat|cornuthaum]], which is only useful to wizards, - making it pure (and apt) [[Schmuck Bait]].

* [[Dungeon Bypass]]: Pick-axes can be used to tunnel around enemies and to dig a hole through the floor of one dungeon level down to the next, letting you bypass entire levels at a time (although you will have to deal with the bypassed levels on the way back up—unless you've got another cunning plan). Wands of digging can do thisthe job much faster, but have limited charges.

* [[Dungeon Shop]]: AnAs expected in a roguelike. Shops are an important source of items, and (possiblycan even more importantly)give clues as to what the items are via price identifying - their appearance is randomized for each game, and use-testing can be [[Schmuck Bait|a ''very'' Bad Idea]].

* [[Elite Mook]]: Many monsters have more powerful [[Monster Lord|"lord"]] and [[King Mook|"king"]] variants, alongside other general "upgraded" forms, and it's possible for them to level up into these forms.

** The spell and potion of monster detection reveals the current location of all monsters on the floor, hostile or otherwise; a blessed potion or high-skilled casting functions as an actual radar that lets you track monsters near you on the same floor for a limited amount of turns.

** In addition to [[telepathy]] (see [[Psychic Radar]]), the warning intrinsic reveals the locations of monsters with a high-enough level - though it does not show what they are, instead using a 1-5 scale of "threat assessment" (with a higher number indicating a more dangerous monster). Warning works well in conjunction with the formertelepathy to detectspot mindless monsters that telepathythe maylatter will not catchdetect.

** Certain [[Weapon of X-Slaying]] artifactsartifact) warnby ofrevealing certaintheir typeslocation ofon monstersthe that they are designed to work against, e.g. Sting warning of orcslevel.

* [[Enemy Scan]]: The wand of probing gives you information on any monster(s) standing in itsthe direction you zap pathit, as well as revealing the contents of their inventory if applicable. Magicbane can also probe enemies as one of its many effects.

* [[Enemy Summoner]]:* Werecreatures can call monsters within their animal form's class for help, and Demonsdemons are also capable of "gating" in more of their kind when attacking in melee. {{spoiler|As can you if you attain their forms.}}

** Do ''not'' kill a unicorn of your own alignment, even if chaotic, or you might not live to regret it. {{spoiler|You'll actually suffer a -5 Luck penalty (plus any additional applicable penalties if they were peaceful). By itself, this isn't unsurvivable, but it'll take *quite* a while to make up - better not try any wishes in the meanwhile!}}

* [[Faceless Eye]]: Floating eyes, which can paralyze the player if struck, but are rendered harmless if the player cannot see them.

* [[Fair Weather Mentor]]: There's no penalty for starving your pets to death or abandoning them whenon theanother goingfloor gets tough, exceptbesides the loss of the pet via death or untaming. JustThankfully, domestic pets are at least replacable - just don't [[Eat the Dog]] unless you ''really'' have to.

* [[Forgot to Feed the Monster]]: While food {{spoiler|(mostly corpses)}} is very common and you usually don't have to actively feed your pet(s), it is possible for them to starve to death. This can annoyingly be reversed if ''you're'' hungry, but your pet gets to edible food before you can. Your pet(s) can also untame or even go feral if you leave them on a different level for too long, and can end up attacking you while confused from hunger; in the case of domestic pets, feeding them will re-tame them.

** Pets that become extremely hungry will be confused and may end up attacking you. Averted for pets that are inediate and do not need food, though tameness mechanics still apply.

* [[Friendly Fireproof]]: ''Averted.'' Ranged attacks from any source can hit anything in the line of fire, including other peaceful or hostile monsters.

* [[Genie in a Bottle]]: In magic lamps, as well as actual bottles. {{spoiler|(Specifically smoky potions.)}} PossibleThey're a possible source of a wish, if handled correctly.

* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Players inevitably tend towards this style of play as they progress - in ''[[NetHack]]'', picking your battles wisely and having creative solutions for disposing of baddies is 70% of the final grade.

* [[Get Back Here Boss]]: Quest nemeses, end-game bosses and other powerful enemies can warp around at will, and will use this ability to run off and heal. {{spoiler|Generally speaking, they always run offwarp to the stairs leading to the nextprevious floor, meaning once they start that nonsense, you should be running that way, too... or preempt them by blocking the stairs before facing them.}}

* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]: NotInverted only seems to be averted, but- your god will be cross with you if you call on them too ''much''. {{spoiler|Yeenoghu is a notable aversion, as his encyclopedia entry explicitly states that his followers were wiped out.}}

* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: Oh, angelic monsters such as Archons and ki-rin can be plenty nice if you're lawful, but if youthey're nothostile ortowards else anger oneyou, ''you're in for it.''

* [[Grave Robbing]]: CanYou becan donedig up graves to find gold and items, though you may also unearth mummies and zombies. Lawful roles, including Samurai and [[Adventurer Archaeologist|Archaeologists]] in particular, suffer alignment penalties if they engage in this.

* [[Hailfire Peaks]]: The Valkyrie Questquest's home level has both lava and icefire traps onlittering the samenaturally-icy maparea, explained as the result of fire giants invading the naturally frosty Valkyrie homeland.

* [[Have a Nice Death]]: Your tombstone tells you how you died; usually that just means which monster, but sometimes, it's [http://alt.org/nethack/userdata/UltiMike/dumplog/1211469330.nh343.txt much more unique]{{Dead link}}. {{spoiler|ForFiguring thoseout whojust don'thow knowto wherereproduce toa look..specific death can be a non-trivial exercise in itself. he("Turned diedto slime by a scroll of genocide", anyone?) It''kickings even possible to have "elementary chemistry" as a wall'cause of death if you're careless with acid.}}

* [[Hollywood Acid]]: Averted in that most acid attacks only cause a few hit pointsrelatively oflower damage, and corrode metal items instead of instantly dissolving them.

* [[HP to One]]: The player can do this to certain monsters. {{spoiler|Specifically, if you're being engulfed by something that isn't whirlysolid, zapping a wand of digging insidethrough them will reduce them to 1 HP and force them to expel you.}}

* [[Infinity+1 Sword]]: Grayswandir is a silver saber which deals double damage to ''all'' monsters (instead of just extra damage like other artifacts) plus the usual extra damage to silver-hating monsters. It's widely considered the best artifact in the game, to the point that even non-Lawfuls may choose to wish for it in the late game - it's not intelligent, so itand won't evade their grasp, and the artifact blast only does 4d4 damage, making it ideal to carve through the demonic forces of Gehennom.

** Ranged attacks that make use of a multi-shot weapon at skilled level or better can kill enemies before they even get withing melee range, and is (typically called [http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Storm "storm" damage]).

** [[Magic Missile]] forin Wizardsthe hands of a Wizard will make short work of nearly anything without reflection, up to and including the final bosses.

* [[Interface Screw]]: The ''[[Rogue (video game)|Rogue]]'' level, a [[Shout-Out]] to the GUI of ''NetHack''{{'}}s predecessor, can be confusing to navigate if you're new or used to playing with tilesets, as it uses the GUI of ''NetHack''{{'}}s predecessor.

* [[Inventory Management Puzzle]]: For sufficiently advanced and/or paranoid players, most of the difficulty (and/or tedium) will come from this. You can carry a lot of swag with the right items, but eventually you'll have to start stashing; to be as certain as possible of not losing a cache, you can {{spoiler|put it in a pit and push a boulder on top of it}} or {{spoiler|put it in a (preferably locked) chest, on a scroll of scare monster, on a dungeon tile which has "Elbereth" engraved on it. If it's not a permanent Elbereth, peaceful monsters can wander across it and scuff it out. Then the gelatinous cube shows up...}}

* [[Let's You and Him Fight]]: Invoked with the ring of conflict - wearing one causes every nearby monster (that ''isn't'' you) to start attacking any other nearby monster. (''Including'' you!) The Sceptre of Might can also be literally invoked literally to generate conflict.

** The "pudding farming" method allowed you to collect massive amounts of hit points, as well as really good loot, at the cost of [[Victory Is Boring|turning athe lotremainder of the game into a tedious slog,]]. Prior to the pointrelease that prior toof 3.6.0,<ref>This version introduced globs that replaced the corpses of puddings as death drops; they could no longer be sacrificed or farmed for items, and cloned puddings give much fewer points.</ref> a player joked that the Dev Team didn't need to invent a punishment for pudding farming because there already was one—{{spoiler|[[Ironic Hell|"it's called pudding farming."]]}}

* [[Logical Weakness]]: Tridents do additional damage to aquatic monsters that are swimming; axes do extra damage to wood golems; and clay golems can be destroyed in one shot if you've read the original folk tale and {{spoiler|and know how to erase the runes on their foreheads}}. [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything/NetHack|The list goes on...]]

** [[Luck Manipulation Mechanic]]: Your capital-L Luck can be raised and lowered through various actions, ranging from the standard (gaining luckLuck by sacrificing to your god or losing Luck by breaking a mirror) to the unusual and frankly absurd (losing 1 point of Luck for hitting a blind floating eye<ref>Though this only occurs with a 1/500 chance</ref>). {{spoiler|Luck normally times out by 1 point every 600th turn of the game - having a [[Good Luck Charm|noncursed luck item]] such as a luckstone boosts your Luck and partially or completely prevents it from timing out.}}

** In regards to intentional deaths, some players have used it as a form of [[griefing]] by intentionally luring or creating powerful monsters to reasonably early levels, then dying to them in the hopes of creating an "impossible" bones file that stonewalls other players. Measures have been taken to prevent this on servers.

** A somewhat more benign use of bones involves "stuffing", - creating as many bones as possible on a given level in the hopes of coming across them with another character. - doingDoing this on purpose is still considered bad form, with the exception of specialized [[speedrun]]s.

* [[Magic Missile]]: One of the many spells available in the game, and can become ridiculously powerful due to scaling with your level. Other monsters such as Angels and the Oracle also have this as a natural ability, as does {{spoiler|the demon lord Yeenoghu}}.

** Despite the amount of slots available, there are no ''mention'' of pants in the game whatsoever. If you sit on a cockatrice corpse, however, you don't turn to stone, so you must be wearing pants. Since they don't tear apart or anything, they must be magic. [[Exact Words|So the pants are thus magic, but it's averted with the rest of your clothing.]]

* [[Magikarp Power]]/[[Lethal Joke Character]]: Arguably, all the "weak" character classes have this to some extent - but it's most noticeable with the Tourist, who might (arguably) be the easiest role to win with if you survive past [[the Quest]]. But that's usually [[Nintendo Hard|a ''big'' [[Nintendo Hard|"if."]]

* [[Mailer Daemon]]: A literal one - it delivers messages from other users when playing on a server. The daemon normally appears and disappears within one turn without giving the player a chance for the player to interact with it. However, a [[Crazy Prepared]] player [[Lord British Postulate|can kill it]], [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|rendering it extinct and preventing further messages from being delivered]]. {{spoiler|To do this, the player needs to stone-to-flesh a statue of a mail daemon, which is not something that occurs naturally but needs to be wished for, and tohave beenough preparedspeed and powerful enough weapons to kill the resulting daemon in one turn, as- ittoo otherwiseslow and it disappears with a cry of "I'm late!"}}

* [[Medusa]]: Appears as a boss on her own unique level, withwhich somehas elements that allude to her myth, such as a statue of Perseus, that allude to her myth.

** Nethack tracks the top 1000 player scores, which can be seen by other players on the same system (e.g., a public server), and "bones files" that store the contents of a level on which a character died may be loaded in lieu of normal level generation. The program Hearse can be used to exchange bones files with other players when playing outside servers (which store bones for use in other games by default).

** Public servers also have specialized bots that print text for significant in-game events; for example, NAO's Rodney announces ended games (i.e.g. deaths, escapes and ascensions), and Hardfought's Beholder announces other significant events, - such as when a player has completed a branch, picked up a notable item or, killed a noteworthy enemy, and alsoor announcementscommits certain conduct-breaking actions).

* [[Metasyntactic Variable]]: "Foo" is a loanword from hacker jargon often used in discussion of NetHack, typically involving sets of creatures with similar characteristics (e.g. [[Horny Devils|foocubi]] and [[Our Werebeasts Are Different|werefoo]]).

** The ''[[Sokoban]]'' branch. Interestingly, theThe [[Mini Game]] is done withuses the same mechanics as the rest of the game, with only minimal changes to the adapted Sokoban's mechanics itselfthemselves; boulders can't be pushed diagonally as usual, but you also can't fly over the pits and holes in the floor, and certain other thingsactions (e.g. usingmaking spellsor to get rid ofremoving boulders) will give youincur a luckLuck penalty.

* [[Mission from God]]: The core of the [[Excuse Plot]].

* [[Mook Bouncer]]: The quantum mechanic has a "teleport" attack, which is based on its [[Punny Name]] along with many of its other elements, and sends you to a random spot on the same floor.

* [[Mounted Combat]]: Possible with manyany rolesrole as long as you have a saddle and a compatible steed to apply it to, though only certain roles can actually level up the riding skill.

** However, you cannot eat food (notably corpses) off the ground while riding, and can only pick up items off the ground with at least Basic riding skill;. monsterMonster attacks may also fall upon your steed instead of you (though your steed will counterattack if able - better hope a footrice attack doesn't go astray!). [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|You also can't enter shops while mounted.]]

* [[Multi-Armed and Dangerous]]: Mariliths. - whileWhile they can't actually wield more than two weapons, they still get several "claw" attacks per turn.

** Simple sacks let you carry objects within them, which can also protect them from some types of damage and allows you to carry more than the 52-character limit. {{spoiler|It can also hold bags of tricks and wands of cancellation, whichthat would explode a [[Bag of Holding]] if placed inside one.}}

* [[Nintendo Hard]]: To the point where there is no shame in dying on the second or third level if you're a new player. One can die in less than 50 turns if they don't know what they're doing, and it's not unheard of for players to die [[Press Start to Game Over|on their ''first turn.'']] (though that's much more due to bad luck than a lack of skill).

* [[Nobody Poops]]: No matter how much meatfood you or your pet consume, you'll never feel unpleasantly "backed up", (though you do risk choking), andif you eat while oversatiated. thereThere's no toilets in the dungeon anyway. [[Comically Missing the Point|Although there are sinks]]. See also [[Bottomless Bladder]] above.

<!--3.7 ** Some demon lords and princes enforce [[Teleport Interdiction|no-teleport clauses]] on the entire floor of their current level, which is lifted upon their defeat.-->

* [[Not Enough to Bury]]: Some monsters are coded to [https://nethackwiki.com/wiki/Corpseless never leave corpses.] Liches are an example., as their bodies crumble to dust upon death. And this can happen to ''you'' if you're hit by a disintegration blast without reflection or resistance.

** Drowning attacks are technically a two-hit kill, but feel like a one-hit kill; if a monster is already securely wrapped around you near water and lands the grabbing attack again, it instantly pulls you in and drowns you.

* [[Our Demons Are Different]]: Demons tend to occurappear primarily in graveyards, the Valley of the Dead and [[Fire and Brimstone Hell|Gehennom]], and they are immune to fire, poison, death rays and [[Level Drain]]s.

* [[Our Ghosts Are Different]]: Ghosts occur in graveyards and abandoned temples, and in most cases where a player's death leaves a bones file, you can find theirthe character's ghost near their belongings, along with any pets they had - andas well as whatever killed them. While ghosts themselves are not all that damaging, they can prove very hard to hit due to their AC.

* [[Our Giants Are Bigger]]: Giants can't wear body armor, but can somehow still use other armor and weapons, and their strength lets them carry boulders with ease.

* [[Press Start to Game Over]]: If you're very unlucky with the [[Randomly Generated Levels]], or else going out of your way, it's possible to die on your first turn, and there's even a special [[Have a Nice Death]] message for it; ais523 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9oMSPzChgk proved] that this is indeed possible before you even have control of your character. {{spoiler|Grayswandir was generated on the upstairs; the neutral-aligned player character picked it up due to autopickup, and itthe lawful artifact blasted himthem to death.}} He did some calculations and estimated a 1 in 3 million chance (roughly) of this occurring.

* [[Public Domain Artifact]]s: Several of them can appear in the game. {{spoiler|Stormbringer of ''[[The Elric Saga]]'',: [[The Hobbit (novel)|''The Hobbit'' universe's]] Orcrist and Sting, Snickersnee from ''[[The Mikado]]'', [[King Arthur]]'s sword Excalibur, [[Norse Mythology|Thor's trademark weapon Mjollnir]], and the ''tsurugi'' of [[wikipedia:Muramasa|Muramasa]]. There's also {{spoiler|Stormbringer of ''[[The Elric Saga]]'', and Grayswandir from [[Roger Zelazny]]'s ''[[Book of Amber]]'', which technically won't be public domain for another 80 years yet.}}

* [[Public Domain Character]]s: [[Dracula|Vlad the Impaler]] and the various deities, among others .

** Levels that are not randomly generated but have no set appearance, (e.g., Mines' End, Sokoban, and Medusa's island), are instead created by choosing a layout from a set of templates. There are also levels that will always have certain fixtures within them while randomly generating the rest of the level around it

** A ring of regeneration can improve regeneration rates at the cost of lowering your nutrition faster, and the Healer quest artifact provides this perk without the latter downside. Werecreatures and trolls are among the monsters that boast impressive heightened regeneration.

** Receiving an artifact weapon as a gift from your god will unrestrict the corresponding weapon skill if it is not available, allowing you to attain at least Basic skill with that weapon. Certain artifacts also have secondary effects tied to their element (e.g., Fire Brand and Frost Brand provide fire and cold resistance respectively while wielded).

** The Wizard of Yendor willcan revive as well and will do so an endless amount of times, no matter how you actually kill him,. and{{spoiler|He willcan harass you remotely even while dead., Onceand once he does revive, he'll immediately appear in front of you to continue the fight. {{spoiler|He's guaranteed to resurrect/ or reappear at least once on the Plane of Earth, and will harass you this way until you make it to the Astral Plane.}}

** {{spoiler|Also, if you genocide your own base species or role while polymorphed, the game will say "You feel empty inside", and you will die if you try to turn back; if you quit beforeanytime dyingafterward, the death message will read "quit while already on Charon's boat."}}

* [[Robe and Wizard Hat]]: Appear as items in the game. The Wizard role starts with a cloak of magic resistance, and is the only role that can reap the benefits offrom the trademark pointy hat (called a "cornuthaum"). A more "traditional" robe that improves spellcasting success is also one of the many cloaks available, and Priests start the game with one.

* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: NamedGiant asrats and rabid rats are common early-game enemies, and ROUS are one of the many [[Mushroom Samba|hallucinatory monsters]]. Giant rats and rabid rats are also common early-game enemies.

** Some players will do the inverse and "start scum,", repeatedly starting and quitting the game until they get a favorable set of starting equipment or stats. This is usually done with wizards, due to the ridiculous (and pre-identified!) magical items a lucky wizard can start the game with. A little over 50% of all NAO games are turn-0 quits, and a good portion of those are wizards. Whether or not it's acceptable depends on the circumstances - for what it's worth, even the best start in the world won't matter if the player is subsequently terrible or else just plain unlucky afterward.

** TryingUsing and trying on unidentified items randomly qualifies as this, since many such items have at least one varianttype designed to punish this type of thoughtlessness (e.g. rings of hunger, amulets of strangulation), -scrolls suchof amnesia). Worn items of this kind will also often generate cursed for added insult to injury.

* [[Self-Imposed Challenge]]: Formally known as "conducts", NetHack's randomization allows for a ''lot'' of them; the distinction between an "official" and "unofficial" conduct is whether or not the game actively keeps track of how much you adhere to it. The game also has options that can alter the starting character to fit the desired conduct.

** [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: The "atheist" conduct involves not using any of the religious elements of the game ({{spoiler|except for sacrificing the Amulet of Yendor, and even then, there's a patch to eliminate this, too}}), satisfying the technical specs of this trope. Of course, actually playing this way pretty much requires you to know not to do these things.

* [[Shock and Awe]]: Certain electric monsters have shocking attacks that can destroy your wands and rings in open inventory. There is also the wand of lightning, as well as the lightning spell sometimes used by hostile priests, and the [[Bolt of Divine Retribution|lightning bolts]] from angry gods.

* [[Shout-Out]]: The game shouts out ''[[Rogue (video game)|Rogue]]'' in the form of the Rogue level, includes a lot of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' and ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' references, [[Reference Overdosed|and many,]] [[NetHack/Shout-Out|''many'' more.]].

* [[Sidequest]]: The Gnomish Mines, Fort Ludios, and ''[[Block Puzzle|Sokoban]]'' branches are all optional; Fort Ludios also isn't guaranteed to appear in a given game.

* [[Silliness Switch]]: Hallucinations,The hallucinations caused by magicpotions, or[[Mushroom dodgySamba|halluncination-inducing food]] (which essentially consists of corpses from monsters with stun attacks), and black lights serve as this. Non-hallucinating silliness includes kitchen sinks, tourists, cameras, Hawaiian shirts, and even the [[Keystone Kops]].

* [[Skeleton Key]]: Present and able to unlock any door or chest; the NetHack 3.0 series introduced the unlocking tools, and had different kinds of keys that could only open corresponding types of locks. These were3.1.0 removed for the skeletonshaped keykeys inand 3.1.0allowed unlocking tools to open any door. {{spoiler|The Rogue quest artifact is a magical thief-aiding key.}}

* [[Taken for Granite]]: Can occur with Medusa as well as cockatrices, one of the game's many [[Goddamned Bats]]. {{spoiler|If you manage to kill the 'trice or its younger variantsvariant and it leaves a corpse, you can then wield its corpse, turning its power against your enemies. Make sure to wear gloves, though, and ''don't trip.''}}

** Talking itself? Ohohoho, ''no it ain't.''. Using the extended #chat command to interact with a monster will print an appropriate response and use up a turn '''''unless''''' the monster in question has no response to give (as opposed to simply being unable to, e.g. due to sleep or paralysis).

* [[Unique Enemy]]:* The [[Mailer Daemon]]. {{spoiler|Finding a way to kill one successfully will render it extinct for the rest of that game, preventing any more in-game mail from being received.}}

* [[Unwinnable]]: If you {{spoiler|convert by sacrificing at another god's altar ''before'' spoiler|your quest master gives you the okay to go on your quest}}, you'll be unable to {{spoiler|get the Bell of Opening}} and complete the game. {{spoiler|Attacking your quest master before getting permission to go on the quest also accomplishes this, as does failing the alignment test seven times.}}

** [[Unwinnable by Insanity]]: In fairness, both of these are things you essentially have to go out of your way to do in most scenarios, or else have a very unfortunate series of accidents.

* [[Useless Useful Stealth]]: Averted - stealth can be a very good intrinsic to have, especially when clearing out monster-filled zoos such as the one in Sokoban. Even in a scenario where kicking or causing something to explode wakes the entire room of monsters up, you still have plenty of other crowd control skills you can fall back on. Stealth also has multiple sources (including some elven gear and even a godly gift), and some roles gain it through leveling up.

* [[Whip It Good]]: Bullwhips are an available type of weapon type. [[Adventure Archaeologist]]s start with a +2 bullwhip, and all balrogs and some horned devils will generate with one.

* [[You Will Not Evade Me]]: Once you've found him and woken him up, The Wizard of Yendor will reappear periodically wherever you are, and taunt you for thinking you could elude him (if he was alive and on a different dungeon level). A{{spoiler|This slightlyapplies differenteven tauntafter appearsyou've ifkilled hehim, waswith killeda slightly different taunt insteadapplied.}}