NetHack 1.4f

NetHack 1.4f is the second public release of NetHack. Mike Stephenson published it to the Usenet newsgroup comp.sources.games and the moderator approved it in August 1987.

Availability
NetHack 1.4f is distributed as a patch. The patch is in the form of an "ed script" and is difficult to apply on modern systems; some characters are interpreted differently by modern Unix shells, and the patch to invent.c appears to have been made against something other than the NetHack 1.3d distribution.

Google Groups has archived NetHack 1.4f; but the original source is more easily obtained from UUNet at. The partXX.Z files in that directory are NetHack 1.3d; patch1.Z is the patch for NetHack 1.4f.

Ali Harlow has a NetHack 1.4f distribution at.

Significant changes

 * Turn undead command added.
 * Support for Turbo C.
 * Support for additional Unix clones.

The adventurer
The player may choose from these roles:
 * Archeologist
 * Cave-(wo)man
 * Elf
 * Fighter
 * Healer
 * Knight
 * Ninja
 * Priest
 * Samurai
 * Tourist
 * Valkyrie
 * Wizard

All classes permit male and female adventurers, except the Valkyrie which must be female.

The adventurer has experience, hit points, magical energy, armor class, and strength. He may advance to experience level 14.

The initial pet is a little dog.

Dungeon features
The dungeon in NetHack 1.4f has no branches; there is one way up and one way down. The first 25 levels or so consist of rooms, and beyond that, the adventurer encounters mazes. The deepest dungeon level is 40.

Dungeon level 30 and deeper are designated as "Hell". Entering hell without fire resistance, or losing it once there, is an instadeath. As gremlins did not yet exist, the only way to lose fire resistance is to take off the ring. These levels have only up-stairs, and the only way to enter is by level teleportation.

Special rooms are throne rooms, swamps, vaults, beehives, crypts, treasure zoos, and shops. Special features are pools, fountains, and thrones.

The Amulet of Yendor is found in the posession of the wizard of Yendor in a maze level. He is in a small room in the center of the maze, surrounded by water and accompanied by a hell hound.

Other maze levels have wands of wishing tucked under a boulder in a dead-end square. (Yes, there's more than one.) Since NetHack 3.1.0, one version of Medusa's lair has a random wand in a similar spot, commemorating the former location of the wand of wishing.

Bestiary
NetHack 1.4f introduces no new monsters.

The following monsters may be encountered:

Objects
New objects are indicated in boldface.

Artifacts
NetHack 1.4f has two artifacts.

Any two handed sword may be named Orcrist and will do d10 extra points damage to orcs. There can even be more than one Orcrist.

Excalibur is new to NetHack 1.4f. The method of obtaining it is different from modern versions. One must first name a long sword Excalibur and then #dip it into a fountain. Excalibur has no special properties, but when so dipped, it becomes +5 (if not already higher) and rustproof, and any curse is removed. As with Orcrist, there can be more than one Excalibur. Although crowning exists, it does not grant Excalibur.

Amulets
Only the Amulet of Yendor and the cheap plastic imitation exist in NetHack 1.4f.

Food
Food items in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * food ration
 * tripe ration
 * pancake
 * dead lizard
 * fortune cookie
 * carrot
 * slice of pizza
 * cream pie
 * tin
 * orange
 * apple
 * pear
 * melon
 * banana
 * candy bar
 * egg
 * clove of garlic
 * lump of royal jelly
 * corpse (called dead foo rather than foo corpse)

The tin did not contain the remains of monsters, but rather a randomly-chosen food such as peaches or, if the adventurer is lucky, spinach.

The dead lizard is a found object rather than a corpse; live lizards do not exist in NetHack 1.4f. It otherwise has its modern properties in this version.

Weapons
Weapons in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * arrow
 * sling bullet
 * crossbow bolt
 * dart
 * shuriken
 * rock
 * boomerang
 * mace
 * axe
 * flail
 * long sword
 * two handed sword
 * dagger
 * worm tooth
 * crysknife
 * aklys
 * bardiche
 * bec de corbin
 * bill-guisarme
 * club
 * fauchard
 * glaive
 * guisarme
 * halberd
 * lucern hammer
 * javelin
 * katana
 * lance
 * morning star
 * partisan
 * ranseur
 * scimitar
 * spetum
 * broad sword
 * short sword
 * trident
 * voulge
 * spear
 * bow
 * sling
 * crossbow

Tools
Tools in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * whistle
 * leash
 * magic whistle
 * expensive camera
 * ice box
 * pick-axe
 * magic marker
 * stethoscope
 * can opener

The ice box is the only container. Then as now, it preserved corpses, and was generally too heavy (and too rare) to be useful for inventory management.

Armor
Armor items in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * helmet
 * plate mail
 * splint mail
 * banded mail
 * chain mail
 * scale mail
 * ring mail
 * studded leather armor
 * elfin chain mail
 * bronze plate mail
 * crystal plate mail
 * leather armor
 * elven cloak
 * shield
 * pair of gloves

Potions
Potions in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * potion of restore strength
 * potion of gain energy
 * potion of booze
 * potion of invisibility
 * potion of fruit juice
 * potion of healing
 * potion of paralysis
 * potion of monster detection
 * potion of object detection
 * potion of sickness
 * potion of confusion
 * potion of gain strength
 * potion of speed
 * potion of blindness
 * potion of gain level
 * potion of extra healing
 * potion of levitation
 * potion of hallucination
 * potion of holy water

Scrolls
Scrolls in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * scroll of mail (unconditional, even though mail daemon is dependent on MAIL)
 * scroll of enchant armor
 * scroll of destroy armor
 * scroll of confuse monster
 * scroll of scare monster
 * scroll of blank paper
 * scroll of remove curse
 * scroll of enchant weapon
 * scroll of damage weapon
 * scroll of create monster
 * scroll of taming
 * scroll of genocide
 * scroll of light
 * scroll of teleportation
 * scroll of gold detection
 * scroll of food detection
 * scroll of identify
 * scroll of magic mapping
 * scroll of amnesia
 * scroll of fire
 * scroll of punishment

The scroll of damage weapon acts as the modern scroll of enchant weapon does when cursed. The scroll of genocide acts, in all cases, as the modern blessed scroll; but most symbols refer to only one monster anyway.

Wands
Wands in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * wand of light
 * wand of secret door detection
 * wand of create monster
 * wand of wishing
 * wand of striking
 * wand of slow monster
 * wand of speed monster
 * wand of undead turning
 * wand of polymorph
 * wand of cancellation
 * wand of teleportation
 * wand of make invisible
 * wand of probing (if PROBING defined at compile time)
 * wand of digging
 * wand of magic missile
 * wand of fire
 * wand of sleep
 * wand of cold
 * wand of death

Spellbooks
Spellbooks in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * spellbook of magic missile
 * spellbook of fireball
 * spellbook of sleep
 * spellbook of cone of cold
 * spellbook of finger of death
 * spellbook of healing
 * spellbook of detect monsters
 * spellbook of force bolt
 * spellbook of light
 * spellbook of confuse monster
 * spellbook of cure blindness
 * spellbook of slow monster
 * spellbook of create monster
 * spellbook of detect food
 * spellbook of haste self
 * spellbook of cause fear
 * spellbook of cure sickness
 * spellbook of detect unseen
 * spellbook of extra healing
 * spellbook of charm monster
 * spellbook of levitation
 * spellbook of restore strength
 * spellbook of invisibility
 * spellbook of detect treasure
 * spellbook of dig
 * spellbook of remove curse
 * spellbook of magic mapping
 * spellbook of identify
 * spellbook of turn undead
 * spellbook of polymorph
 * spellbook of create familiar
 * spellbook of teleport away
 * spellbook of cancellation
 * spellbook of genocide

Rings
Rings in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * ring of adornment
 * ring of teleportation
 * ring of regeneration
 * ring of searching
 * ring of see invisible
 * ring of stealth
 * ring of levitation
 * ring of poison resistance
 * ring of aggravate monster
 * ring of hunger
 * ring of fire resistance
 * ring of cold resistance
 * ring of protection from shape changers
 * ring of conflict
 * ring of gain strength
 * ring of increase damage
 * ring of protection
 * ring of warning
 * ring of teleport control

Because charisma does not exist in NetHack 1.4f, the ring of adornment is a useless item.

Gems
Gems in NetHack 1.4f are:


 * dilithium crystal
 * diamond
 * ruby
 * sapphire
 * emerald
 * turquoise stone
 * aquamarine stone
 * tourmaline stone
 * topaz stone
 * opal stone
 * garnet stone
 * amethyst stone
 * agate stone
 * onyx stone
 * jasper stone
 * jade stone

and worthless pieces of blue, red, yellow, and green glass.

Other items
Other items not appearing in the above categories are:


 * heavy iron ball
 * iron chain
 * enormous rock

It is not possible to pick up an iron chain, nor can they be generated from iron golems, because these do not exist in NetHack 1.4f.