# Potion of monster detection

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Name

monster detection

Appearance

random

Base price

150 zm

Weight

20

Monster use

Will not be used by monsters.

A potion of monster detection is a potion that will show all monsters on the current level when quaffed.

Contents

1 Effects
2 Messages
3 Strategy
4 See also
5 References

Effects
A blessed potion will show all monsters on the map for 21–60 (more) turns.[1]
An uncursed potion will show just the monsters against a black background,[2] and will exercise Wisdom if any are found.[3]
A cursed potion has the same effect as an uncursed potion, but will also wake all sleeping and paralyzed monsters on the level.[4]
If you already have 300 or more turns of monster detection, a blessed potion will only add one more.
If you quaff a potion of monster detection while hallucinating, it will not reveal the monsters' true identities. However several snapshots can make the typical movement patterns of shopkeepers and priests visible.

Messages
Monsters sense the presence of you.
You drank a cursed potion and woke up some monsters.
You feel threatened.
You quaffed a non-blessed potion, there were no monsters on the current level, and you aren't a beginner.
Strategy
Some players save one or two of these potions to bless and drink on the Astral Plane, because it is the quickest and easiest way to locate and keep track of all the monsters, and it doesn't have any of the disadvantages of telepathy (you don't have to blind yourself, and it works on mindless monsters).
Otherwise, it's not a terribly useful potion and is a good candidate for dilution.

See also
Spellbook of detect monsters
References

↑ potion.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 630

↑ monster_detect in detect.c

↑ potion.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 647

↑ detect.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 625

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It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.0. Information on this page may be out of date.
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