# Talk:Grappling hook
Contents

1 Outcome odds
2 strategic?
3 4 squares away?
4 Traps

Outcome odds
What are the chances of getting "nothing happens" if you try to apply a grappling hook? Is it just if you get one of the randomly selected effects but it doesn't apply (e.g., there's no monster to hook)? Also, what happens if, at skilled or above, you try a specific effect and fail -- what are the odds of getting one of the other effects, what are the odds of nothing? Slandor 03:31, June 30, 2010 (UTC)

As the page says, if you get a random result, all possible results (nothing, monster, item, ground, yourself) are equally likely. If the space doesn't have both an item and a monster, more of those rolls will do nothing, so the chance of getting 'Nothing happens.' is greater.   - Andrio Celos (talk) 12:20, 18 January 2018 (UTC)
strategic?
A strategy section in this article would be nice.22:29, October 6, 2010 (UTC)Slarty 22:29, October 6, 2010 (UTC)

4 squares away?
When I tried using a grappling hook in wizmode, it tells me "too far" if I try more than 2 squares. I enhanced flail to expert, leveled up to level 30, raised my strength to 18, and enchanted the hook to +6 and blessed it -- no change. What gives? Scorchgeek (talk) 23:55, 4 February 2014 (UTC)
The source-diver who wrote that must not have known that NetHack measures distance by the square of the euclidean distance. I.e.:

85458
52125
41@14
52125
85458

This is the same way that polearms measure distance.
---Chris (talk)

Thanks, I noticed it was working the same way as polearms. That was a fast response, too! Scorchgeek (talk) 00:58, 5 February 2014 (UTC)
Traps
It seems you can't use a grappling hook to escape a pit or bear trap. An attempt to do so resulted in:

You are yanked toward the floor! You are anchored by the trap. You escape a pit.
But that doesn't actually free you:

You are still in a pit.
It also incurs the chance of taking damage, injuring your legs or being killed by poison.
You can pull a tiny monster out of a trap.
There's a comment in the source code that suggests some interaction between grappling hooks and traps on the target space was planned, but none is implemented yet.
- Andrio Celos (talk) 07:09, 27 January 2017 (UTC)