Effects of quaffing from and dipping objects in fountains in NetHack 3.3

by Dylan O'Donnell <psmith@spod-central.org>
HTML Conversion by Kate Nepveu.

Contents

Quaffing from fountains

Any randomly-generated fountain will have a 1/7 chance of being "magic", or "blessed"; there is no way to tell if a given fountain is magic or not.

Quaffing from a magic fountain, non-negative Luck:

3/10 "The cool draught refreshes you." Hunger reduced slightly.
7/10 All your attributes are restored to their maximum (same effect as a blessed potion of restore ability). One attribute is increased by 1 (uncursed potion of gain ability effect); if your Luck is 4 or higher, this last effect will increase all your attributes by 1 (blessed potion effect). After this effect, the fountain is no longer magical.

Quaffing from a non-magic fountain, or magic with negative Luck:

9/30 "The cool draught refreshes you." Hunger reduced slightly. (Same as above.)
9/30 "This tepid water is tasteless." (no effect)
1/30 "You feel self-knowledgeable." (enlightenment, exercise WIS)
1/30 "The water is foul! You gag and vomit." (vomit, increase hunger)
1/30 "The water is contaminated!" (lose d10 HP and d4+2 STR, abuse CON; if poison resistant, only lose d4 HP ("Perhaps it is runoff from the nearby <fruit> farm."))
1/30 Summons d5+1 water moccasins.
1/30 Summons a water demon [1].
1/30 Summons a water nymph.
1/30 "This water's no good!" (makes hungrier, abuses CON, each item in inventory has 1/5 chance of being cursed outright)
1/30 "You see an image of someone stalking you. But it disappears." (gain see invisible, exercise WIS)
1/30 Detect monsters, exercise WIS.
1/30 You find a random gem (not stone).
1/30 "This water gives you bad breath!" (monsters on the level flee you momentarily)
1/30 Water gushes forth (creates pools).

[1] A water demon has a 80+DL/100 chance of being hostile (100% if you have the Amulet); if not hostile, he'll grant one wish and then vanish.

Finally, the fountain has a 1/3 chance of drying up (except in Minetown, where you'll always get one warning).

Dipping items in fountains

From arti-331.html:

If you #dip a single ordinary long sword in a fountain, are at least experience level 5, and Excalibur doesn't already exist in your game, then there is a 1/6 chance of something special happening to your long sword. If you are lawful, the long sword is converted into the blessed, rustless, uncorroded, damageproof Excalibur and you exercise your wisdom. If you are neutral or chaotic, your long sword is cursed, loses its rustproofing, may lose an enchantment, and you abuse your wisdom.

In any other case, the dipping is handled normally. First, the object gets wet and does the appropriate things (scrolls blank, potions dilute, metal things rust, lit objects go out, grease washes off). Then special effects can happen:

1/30 Dipped item is cursed.
4/30 Cursed dipped item is uncursed. ("feeling of loss" otherwise)
1/30 Summons a water demon. [1]
1/30 Summons a water nymph.
1/30 Summons d5+1 water moccasins.
1/30 You find a random gem (not stone).
1/30 Water gushes forth (creates pools).
1/30 You lose some gold [2], abuse WIS.
1/30 You find (2*d(height+1))+5 zorkmids [3], exercise WIS (only once per fountain, but recharged by above case).
1/30 "A strange tingling runs up your arm." (no effect)
1/30 "You feel a sudden chill." (no effect)
16/30 No special effect.

[1] A water demon has a 80+DL/100 chance of being hostile (100% if you have the Amulet); if not hostile, he'll grant one wish and then vanish.

[2] The amount of gold you might lose depends on how much you have (GP) as follows:

GP <= 10 0 zorkmids
GP < 100 GP/10 zorkmids
GP <= 10000 d(GP)/10 zorkmids
GP > 10000 d(10000)/10 zorkmids

[3] height = distance above bottom level of current dungeon branch.

Finally, the fountain has a 1/3 chance of drying up (except in Minetown, where you'll always get one warning).


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