# The Orb of Fate

(   The Orb of Fate   

Base item

crystal ball

Affiliation

neutralValkyrieintelligent

When carried

warninghalf spell damagehalf physical damageacts as luckstone

When applied

selective object detection

When invoked

level teleport

Base price

3500 zm

Weight

150

The Orb of Fate is the Valkyrie quest artifact. It is the prize for completing the Valkyrie quest, and is neutral for wishing purposes. Its base item type is a crystal ball.
It is often called the Orb of Weight by some players, due to its base item's heavy weight of 150 aum.

Description
When carried, the Orb confers warning, half spell damage, half physical damage and acts as a luckstone. When applied, it acts as a normal crystal ball. When #invoked, it allows the player to level teleport. 
When read, it gives this message:

 It is signed:  "Odin."

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.
For crystal balls in general: You can now search for dungeon features by entering any of &lt; &gt; _ \ # {. Doing so will find all of these features regardless of which one you entered.
The intelligence check when applying a crystal ball now uses a d8 instead of d20 if it is your own quest artifact, or d16 for other blessed crystal balls.
Crystal balls are now generated with 3-7 charges. Uncursed charging adds 1-2 charges up to the maximum of 7. Blessed charging increases the number of charges to 7 and also blesses the ball. Cursed charging removes all charges and curses the ball.

Applying a cancelled crystal ball now destroys it, regardless of whether or not it is an artifact.
Strategy
The Orb of Fate is extremely useful, serving as a crystal ball and luckstone while halving most forms of damage. Despite its weight, the Orb needs to be held in main inventory for you to benefit from its effects. The #invoke effect of level teleportation is useful with teleport control for speedy travel, and can save you some cursed scrolls of teleportation. 
Neutral characters may consider the Orb of Fate for an artifact wish after obtaining both magic resistance and reflection, since the Orb provides no protection against instadeath.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

The changes for intelligence checks make the Orb viable for use as a crystal ball by Valkyries, allowing it to be applied for reliable detection of the vibrating square or magic portals on the Planes. This also saves resources that would be spent on writing or obtaining scrolls of gold detection for cursed/confused readings.
Encyclopedia entry

Some say that Odin himself created this ancient crystal ball,
although others argue that Loki created it and forged Odin's
signature on the bottom.  In any case, it is a powerful
artifact.  Anyone who carries it is granted the gift of
warning, and damage, both spell and physical, is partially
absorbed by the orb itself.  When invoked it has the power
to teleport the invoker between levels.

 