User blog:Newskinsucks/things i wish i'd known

"The DevTeam Thinks Of Everything, it's never NetHack broken, it's just you don't understand the way it works."

identification by naming

 * you have to use "#name-y" in order to get the "your hand slips" message when trying to identify grey stones, helms or amulets. "#name-n" doesn't work, and the artefacts page explains why quite concisely.

co-aligned

 * the altar/prayer spoiler goes on about "co-aligned" a lot. it took me ages to realise that in the case of temples, this means that the priest is the same alignment as the altar, not the same alignment as me. this means that if you're standing next to a priest it only matters whether they're the same alignment as the altar, and whatever alignment that is you can donate and get your added protection. if you deserve it, of course. and this applies even in the case of the priests and priestesses of moloch in gehennom and all three on the astral plane.

unrestricted

 * "unrestricted" usually means "without restriction" and generally has an implied "whatsoever." the prayer spoiler goes on about the gift of an artefact weapon makes your skill in that weapon class "unrestricted." from experience i know that a newb would think that this would mean that you would not be stopped from gaining "expert" skill in this weapon class, since "unrestricted" equals "without restriction." the reality is that "restricted" is the name of the skill level that's worse than basic. "unrestricted" means that you can advance the skill beyond "restricted" ("unrestricted", get it) to basic even if it's inapprioprate for your race or class.