BUC

BUC is an acronym meaning blessed/uncursed/cursed. It is usually used in phrases such as "BUC identified", meaning an item whose "BUC status" is known. A more elegant term is beatitude (blessedness).

Noncursed
Noncursed (or !C) is a shorthand way of saying not cursed, i.e. blessed or uncursed. For many items, the blessed and uncursed usage are very similar, but very different from the cursed usage. For example, noncursed potions of gain level increase your experience level, blessed potions increase your level and get you well on the way to the next level too, but cursed potions of gain level will move you up through the ceiling, moving you up one dungeon level.

Blessed Items
Generally speaking, blessing an item is never a [Bad Idea]. All blessed items are more difficult to curse, and they confer an 1d4 damage bonus when wielded as a weapon against undeads and demons (though this is mostly only useful for weapons). Also, some items confer additional bonuses when blessed:


 * Most blessed scrolls and potions work better if they are beneficial, or has its harm reduced/nullified if they are harmful.
 * Blessed spellbooks can always be read successfully, regardless of the spell's level, your level, or your intelligence score.
 * Blessed comestibles will never be rotten, though they can still confer food poisoning if they are corpses which were left for too long.
 * Some tools work better when they're blessed. Notable examples include Bag of holding, Unicorn horn, and Tinning kit.
 * Wands cannot be harmed by cursed scrolls of charging if they are blessed.
 * A blessed item generator generates blessed items.

Cursed Items
A cursed item, on the other hand, is usually bad. Cursed items are more difficult to bless, and almost all of them will at least impede the item's performance, if not incurring an ill-intended effect.


 * Anything that can be equipped is reluctant to be taken off if it's cursed. This includes amulets, weapons, armors, and rings.
 * Potions and scrolls generally work worse if they are cursed - if they are harmful, the harm is generally amplified, and if they are beneficial, either the benefit is reduced/nullfieid or a totally different, usually harmful effect is used.
 * Wands have a chance of exploding when you zap them while they are cursed.
 * You can never read a cursed spellbook successfully.
 * Tools generally do not work as well when they are cursed.
 * Comestibles are always rotten when they are cursed (though corpses still does not give food poisoning unless you've left it out for too long).

Encyclopedia entry
The encyclopedia has this to say about cursed items: Curses are longstanding ill-wishings which, in Fantasyland, often manifest as semisentient. They have to be broken or dispelled. The method varies according to the type and origin of the Curse: [...] 4. Curses on Rings and Swords. You have problems. Rings have to be returned whence they came, preferably at over a thousand degrees Fahrenheit, and the Curse means you won't want to do this. Swords usually resist all attempts to raise their Curses. Your best source is to hide the Sword or give it to someone you dislike. [ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, by Diana Wynne Jones ]

B/U/C identification
An altar can be used to detect the beatitude of an item by means of the coloured flashes when the item is dropped on it.

For some items, such as gold pieces or scrolls of mail, the beatitude has no meaning and is always omitted. For some other items, such as weapons or rings with charges, it is not shown if the object is uncursed, even if you have fully identified the item. Also, priests never see the uncursed-status, and can automatically tell the beatitude of any item they see, even if it has yet to be identified.

A scroll of identify will also show you the B/U/C status of an item.

Changing the B/U/C status of an item
There are quite a few ways to change the B/U/C status from items:
 * Dipping an object into a potion of holy water will change the B/U/C status from cursed to uncursed, and from uncursed to blessed, using one potion of holy water each time you dip it.
 * Dipping an object into a potion of unholy water will do the exact opposite, changing the B/U/C status from blessed to uncursed, and then to cursed.
 * An uncursed scroll of remove curse will remove the cursed status from the wielded object (whether it is a weapon or not), all worn items (armor, rings, amulet, blindfold, towel, and lenses), any leashes currently in use, and any carried loadstones. A blessed scroll of remove curse will remove the cursed status from every object in your inventory. A cursed scroll of remove curse "disintegrates" and removes no curses, though it will still end any punishment.
 * If confused, a read scroll of remove curse will randomly curse 25% and bless 25% of all uncursed items to which the scroll would have applied if not confused (none if cursed, as named above if uncursed, all uncursed inventory if blessed).
 * Your deity may bless and repair your weapon or uncurse your inventory when you pray on an altar, depending on your Luck (see prayer for details).
 * High-level spellcasting monsters (notably liches and the Wizard of Yendor) can randomly curse items in your inventory during combat.
 * Quaffing from fountains can have a cursing effect on every item in your inventory (see fountain for details).
 * #dipping items in fountains can curse and uncurse items (4/30 chance of uncursing, 1/30 chance of cursing).
 * When stepping on a magic trap, there is a 4.8% chance for an uncursing effect, uncursing worn and wielded items.
 * A blessed eucalyptus leaf may be applied and used as a magic whistle; this act has a 1/50 chance of removing the blessing.
 * Some items (like the dunce cap and the helm of opposite alignment) are generated uncursed, but once you wear them they will change to cursed, preventing you from removing them by normal means.
 * Picking up a loadstone will curse it automatically, making it impossible to drop, while picking up a blessed scroll of scare monster will remove its blessing.

Game messages
In-game, the phrase "Items of unknown B/C/U status" appears in the drop menu, but the "BUC" ordering is more common in discussions.