# Talk:Luck
Contents

1 Successfully converting an altar
2 Bullwhip tricks
3 Displacing pets
4 Min and max luck
5 Messages
6 timeout and bonus luck
7 Two requests - New Moon and unicorns

Successfully converting an altar
Under the "Altar" page, it says you get -1 luck for failing to convert an altar, and +2 for successfully converting an altar.  The table on this page says you get +1 for successfully converting an altar.  Which is correct?

Just checked the source. Unless it does something really weird that I'm not seeing, it's +1 luck on a successful conversion. -- Qazmlpok 12:00, September 14, 2010 (UTC)
By all means, do correct the articles if you find errors! (Done in this case.)Tjr 15:56, September 14, 2010 (UTC)

Bullwhip tricks
Under "Luck in-game effects" it states that luck increases the chance of "Picking something off the floor by applying your whip."
I tried this with a expert level arc at XL:30 and couldn't pick up a diamond with it. Are there certain items that can and cannot be picked up with a whip? The bullwhip page doesn't mention this use at all.
Serratus 15:54, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

You have to be levitating or riding, and you must apply the whip at . or &gt;. In wizard mode I was able to pick up a diamond while levitating and while riding. -- Killian 03:24, 30 July 2008 (UTC)
Displacing pets
Is there a relationship between luck and the possibility of displacing one's pet? I had a roomful of flame spheres in SLASH'EM once and couldn't move through them because my luck was so low.Ih fek 18:46, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

No, it's flat 6/7 chance (only 1/7 for sessile pets and 0 for (baby) long worms).Tjr 15:56, September 14, 2010 (UTC)
Min and max luck
I removed the phrase "beyond the baseline" where minimum and maximum luck are discussed. While there is a comment "on moonlit lights 11" in the code you.h#326, this concept is not implemented. LUCKMIN and LUCKMAX are defined as -10 and +10 in you.h and they are not changed anywhere else in the code. Changes to luck are made by change_luck attrib.c#198 which uses LUCKMIN and LUCKMAX unmodified. The +1/-1 for full moon/Friday the 13th are implemented on initialization, allmain.c#32 and allmain.c#39, via calls to change_luck.
Skidragon 22:24, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Messages
What do you fellow editors think of adding messages to the big table here? All the luck-changing messages are spread throughout the wiki right now and require clicks to get here, I'd like to be able to refer to just this page for all the messages, and find them in a full text search here as well. (signed after the fact) Sparr0 16:23, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Anything that makes the wiki clearer and the lives of fellow net-hackers easier is a good thing. I'd suggest to make sure the Luck messages appear both on Luck and their respective context (e.g. unicorns, altar, pet&amp;trap,...) and to provide consistent redirects from those messages to Luck. -Tjr 10:19, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
PS: Please sign your posts, either with the signature button or with four tildes (~~~~). -Tjr 10:20, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
timeout and bonus luck
If I'm carrying a blessed luckstone and jump a lot in Sokoban, will my Luck time out to a total of zero or three? --Tjr 14:59, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

3. Your base luck is still 0, then there's the +3 luck for having a non-cursed luckstone. -- Qazmlpok 15:28, 27 May 2011 (UTC)
Two requests - New Moon and unicorns
From what I'm reading here, the message "Be careful - new moon tonight" is really irrelevant - the new moon doesn't really decrease my luck any.  I'm a tad skeptical of this interpretation - perhaps someone who knows more than I do could clarify this on the page?
I understand that sacrificing a cross-aligned unicorn on a co-aligned altar does good things for my alignment, but does it do anything for my luck?  A clarification for the clueless dweebs like me would be appreciated.  ——Emdoub (talk) 07:12, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

Main article: Time#Moon phase and date
The new moon doesn't affect luck, but it does affect cockatrice encounters. Starting or resuming the game on Friday the 13th lowers your base luck.
Also, sacrificing a unicorn in that manner gives you an alignment bonus in addition to the normal result of the sacrifice, and adds 3 to the sacrifice value. This means your prayer timeout will be reduced by more if positive, or you'll gain two points of luck instead of one.  - Andrio Celos (talk) 07:26, 26 September 2019 (UTC)
Thank you, Andrio Celos.  ——Emdoub (talk) 18:55, 26 September 2019 (UTC)