Beginner

Being a beginner is a condition of a single NetHack character. Characters that have never achieved 2000 experience points (or 1000 if a wizard) are classified as beginners. Being a beginner only affects some messages given by the game. For example, a non-beginner who quaffs a potion of object detection when there are no objects on the level will receive, "You feel a lack of something." A beginner who does the same will receive, "You have a strange feeling for a moment, then it passes."

Note that this is a condition experienced by all players; each character (regardless of a player's history) is initially a beginner.