Confusion
Confusion, or the state of being confused, is a property that affects you.
Being confused is generally bad, although some scrolls have useful effects if read while confused.
Contents
Causes
Some of these actions have other bad effects in addition to causing confusion. If you are deliberately seeking to be confused, you may want to lock yourself in a closet so that monsters can't gang up on you.
- Attempting to cast a forgotten spell (can also stun you).[1]
- Quaffing a potion of confusion or a non-blessed potion of booze.[2][3]
- Being affected by vapors of a potion of confusion or potion of booze.[4]
- Reading a cursed scroll of confuse monster, or any scroll of confuse monster while polymorphed into any non-@, or casting the equivalent spell while so polymorphed.[5]
- Eating a rotten egg, a tin of something rotten, or a tripe ration as a non-orc/caveman/canine in an attempt to become nauseated (any food item has a chance of making you vomit, but eggs and tripe rations have the highest chance. You will need to wait some time to be confused, and cure the nauseating side-effect as well).
- Applying a cursed unicorn horn. May cause other bad effects, including terminal illness. [6]
- Applying a mirror to yourself while polymorphed into an umber hulk.[7]
- Applying a charged crystal ball unsuccessfully (may cause other bad effects).[8]
- Reading a cursed or difficult spellbook (may cause other bad effects).[9]
- Trying to magic-map a non-mappable level.[10]
- Sitting on a throne.[11]
- Being hit by Magicbane. This includes throwing it upward <.
- Being exposed to an umber hulk's gaze attack.[12]
- Being attacked by a monster that casts Confuse (monster spell).
- Being hit by Yeenoghu.
Effects
- You cannot cast spells.[13]
- Attempting to loot while confused will find an object that is already in your inventory or cause you to drop some gold on the floor.[14]
- Looting a throne while confused has other effects; see throne.
- You will not be asked for confirmation before attacking peaceful monsters.
- When you walk, aim, or apply certain tools in a direction, there is a 20% chance of a random direction being chosen instead (similar to being stunned, which has a 100% chance).[15][16][17][18][19]
- When reading scrolls, you will mispronounce the magic words, which will cause different effects from what would occur normally.[20]
- Reading any spellbook will instead make you tear the book into pieces (1/3 chance) or else you will simply fail to learn it. ("You find yourself reading the <first/next> line over and over again.")[21]
- Wisdom is abused.[22]
- You cannot throw or fire more than one projectile at a time.[23]
- If you throw Mjollnir or an aklys, the weapon will not return to your hand.[24]
- Your ability to engrave is impaired.[25]
- Your ability to play music is impaired. You cannot play a tune, and any magical instrument will behave as if you were playing its mundane counterpart.[26][27]
- You are less able to saddle a steed and cannot mount it.[28][29]
- You cannot teleport at will.[30]
- You may be unable to control a level teleport ("Oops...") even if you have teleport control (4/5 chance of uncontrolled level teleport at zero luck).[31]
Cures
- Applying a non-cursed unicorn horn.
- Eating a lizard corpse (reduces the timeout to 2 turns).
- Praying (confusion counts as a minor trouble).
- Reading a blessed scroll of confuse monster.
- Waiting for it to wear off.
Confused scroll effects
When you are confused, most scrolls have different effects.[32]
See the individual scroll pages for detailed information.
| Scroll name | Confused blessed effect | Confused uncursed effect | Confused cursed effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scroll of amnesia | Forgets less map | Forgets more spells, less map | Forgets more spells |
| Scroll of blank paper | same as unconfused blessed | same as unconfused uncursed | same as unconfused cursed |
| Scroll of charging | Boosts your energy | Boosts your energy | Drains your energy |
| Scroll of confuse monster | Unconfuses you | Confuses you | Confuses you |
| Scroll of create monster | Creates 13+ acid blobs | Creates 13+ acid blobs | Creates 13+ acid blobs |
| Scroll of destroy armor | Unerodeproofs one armor | Unerodeproofs one armor | Erodeproofs one armor (does not fix damage) |
| Scroll of earth | Drops rocks instead of boulders | Drops rocks instead of boulders | Drops rocks instead of boulders |
| Scroll of enchant armor | Erodeproofs one armor and fixes damage | Erodeproofs one armor and fixes damage | Unerodeproofs one armor |
| Scroll of enchant weapon | Erodeproofs weapon and fixes damage | Erodeproofs weapon and fixes damage | Unerodeproofs weapon |
| Scroll of fire | 1 hp fire in your hands | 1 hp fire in your hands | 1 hp fire in your hands |
| Scroll of food detection | Detects potions | Detects potions | Detects potions (same as unconfused cursed) |
| Scroll of genocide | same as unconfused blessed | Instadeath | Creates 4-6 player monsters |
| Scroll of gold detection | Detects traps and portals | Detects traps and portals | Detects traps and portals (same as unconfused cursed) |
| Scroll of identify | Identifies only the scroll itself | Identifies only the scroll itself | Identifies only the scroll itself |
| Scroll of light | Darkens room; may summon light monster | Darkens room; may summon light monster | Darkens room; may summon light monster |
| Scroll of magic mapping | Maps only a few squares | Maps only a few squares | Maps only a few squares (same as unconfused cursed) |
| Scroll of punishment | No punishment (same as unconfused blessed) | No punishment | No punishment |
| Scroll of remove curse | Randomly bless/curse all uncursed items | Randomly bless/curse equipped uncursed items | No change |
| Scroll of scare monster | Makes monsters unimpaired | Makes monsters unimpaired | Makes monsters unimpaired |
| Scroll of stinking cloud | same as unconfused blessed | same as unconfused uncursed | same as unconfused cursed |
| Scroll of taming | Tames in 11x11 area | Tames in 11x11 area | Angers in 11x11 area |
| Scroll of teleportation | Level teleports | Level teleports | Level teleports (same as unconfused cursed) |
Monster confusion
Monsters can be confused as well, but the effects on monsters are not identical to those that players experience. To distinguish the two, confused monsters are said to be afflicted by "monster confusion". Using a stethoscope or a wand of probing will reveal if the monster is confused. Monsters have a 1/50 chance of losing the monster confusion status on their turn.[33] If monsters have access to a non-cursed unicorn horn or a lizard corpse they will use it to clear the monster confusion status. Zapping healing spells at monsters (pets) does not un-confuse them, but bashing them with healing potions does (and counts as abuse).
When a monster is confused they exhibit different behavior:
- Monsters may attack a random adjacent target instead of the player. This includes enemies without weapons who will attack cockatrices, chickatrices and Medusa and may stone themselves.[34]
- Monsters that cast spells have a higher spell failure chance. For each spell cast, a random number chosen between ([1 to Monster's Level] * 10) is chosen - if this is less than 100, then the monster's spell will fail to cast. This gives the message The air crackles around <caster>.[35]
- Monsters may wander in a random direction instead of attacking
- Monsters that can read scrolls will do so incorrectly and will be affected by the confused behavior as per the scroll
- Monsters have less chance of avoiding an exploding drawbridge
- Monsters cannot block incoming kicks
- Monsters cannot shoot multiple projectiles
To inflict monster confusion on a target, the player can do one of the following:
- Hit a monster with a melee attack while under the effects of a scroll of confuse monster
- Hit a monster with Magicbane, which may randomly trigger the monster confusion effect[36]
- Hit a monster with a thrown potion of confusion
- Have a tame umber hulk use its gaze attack against a monster
- Have a tame black light attack a monster by exploding
- Be polymorphed into an umber hulk and use the #Monster command against a monster
- Be polymorphed into a black light and attack a monster by exploding
- Apply a looking glass to a non-blind umber hulk
- Revive a bones file corpse that has the awake bones file ghost on or adjacent to the square the corpse is on. The resulting monster will be confused.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, confusion can be used with shopkeeper services to make unholy water. When confused, use the uncursing service on a potion of water. "You accidentally ask for the item to be cursed!" The potion of water will be cursed.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack monks get a bonus of a single point of AC while confused, as a reference to the idea of drunken boxing. This bonus applies to confusion from any source however, not just the confusion from a potion of booze.
History
In Hack, bats could cause confusion. NetHack has now differentiated this so that stun and confusion are not the same. Bats and trapped doors can stun you; this causes you to move in random directions, like confusion would. However, only confusion will let you obtain different effects from reading scrolls.
In NetHack 3.4.3, confused throne looting was an efficient way to farm monsters.
See also
References
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 842
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 911
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 700
- ↑ src/potion.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1704
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1199
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1931
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 878
- ↑ src/detect.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1112
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 144
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1545
- ↑ src/sit.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 267
- ↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2220
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1017
- ↑ src/pickup.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1938
- ↑ src/hack.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1443
- ↑ src/cmd.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 5095
- ↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1057
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 360
- ↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2662
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 389
- ↑ src/spell.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 179
- ↑ src/attrib.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 508
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 114
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1326: Here, "impaired" includes confusion
- ↑ src/engrave.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1056
- ↑ src/music.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 701
- ↑ src/music.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 482: confusion unsets do_spec
- ↑ src/steed.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 115
- ↑ src/steed.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 323
- ↑ src/teleport.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 706
- ↑ src/teleport.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 829
- ↑ src/read.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 996
- ↑ src/monmove.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 414
- ↑ src/mhitm.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 398
- ↑ src/mcastu.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 257
- ↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1106
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