# Attribute

Contents

1 Strength
2 Dexterity
3 Constitution
4 Intelligence
5 Wisdom
6 Charisma
7 Starting attributes
8 Maximum attributes
9 Variants

9.1 NetHack brass

9.1.1 Racial modifiers
9.1.2 Wizard mode

9.2 SLASH'EM

9.2.1 Strength
9.2.2 Dexterity

9.3 FIQHack
9.4 UnNetHack

10 See also
11 References

An attribute shows some capability of the player. Alternatively, "attribute" may refer to properties divined through enlightenment or death.
There are six basic attributes, as in Dungeons &amp; Dragons. Four of a player's attributes can be increased by exercising them.

Strength
Main article: Strength
Strength corresponds to the ability to have more weight in your inventory. Also, the stronger you are, the more damage you do in melee combat, and the farther you can throw objects.

Dexterity
Main article: Dexterity
Dexterity has a multitude of effects, of which the most significant is probably that it affects your chance of hitting monsters, whether in melee combat or with a missile or spell.

Constitution
Main article: Constitution
Having a high constitution increases your healing rate and the number of HP you gain when levelling up and allows you to carry more weight in your inventory.

Intelligence
Intelligence is useful for reading spellbooks, for spellcasting (unless you are a Healer, Knight, Monk, Priest or Valkyrie, in which case it is wisdom that affects your chances of successfully casting a spell) and for encounters with foocubi. Mind flayers have a brain-eating attack that can drain your intelligence; if you are hit by a successful brain-eating attack when your base intelligence is already 3, you die of brainlessness.
Intelligence cannot be exercised, but can be permanently increased by drinking a blessed potion of enlightenment or a potion of gain ability. It can also be temporarily increased by wearing a helm of brilliance. If you eat a mind flayer corpse, there is a 50% chance your intelligence will be permanently increased by one point.

Wisdom
Main article: Wisdom
A Healer, Knight, Monk, Priest or Valkyrie requires wisdom to cast spells. Wisdom is not particularly important for most other classes, though it affects how fast your power regenerates (and is thus fairly important for wizards) and how much power you gain when leveling up.

Charisma
Charisma is mostly useful for obtaining better prices at shops.[1] It also helps with foocubus encounters, both by increasing the chance of a positive result and by giving more control over whether they remove your armor.[2]
Charisma also has other effects:

The chance of successfully bribing demons with less money than they demand.[3]
The amount of gold required to bribe the Yendorian army.[4]
The chance of successfully applying a saddle to a monster.[5]
The initial apport of new pets is equal to your charisma.[6]
Several messages that don't affect game mechanics.[7][8][9]

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.

Charisma affects the probability that monsters are affected by conflict.
Charisma is a difficult stat to increase, as it cannot be exercised. It can be permanently increased by drinking a potion of gain ability, or temporarily increased by wearing a charged ring of adornment. You can also gain charisma by triggering a magic trap; however, this can be dangerous.

Charisma

Price

3–5
×2

6–7
×1.5

8–10
×1.33

11–15
×1

16–17
×0.75

18
×0.67

19–25
×0.5

Reference: shk.c, line 1910.

Starting attributes
The player's starting attributes depend on their role as follows:[10]

Class
Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Intelligence
Wisdom
Charisma
Remaining

Archeologist
7\20%
7\10%
7\20%
10\20%
10\20%
7\10%
27

Barbarian
16\30%
15\20%
16\30%
7\6%
7\7%
6\7%
8

Caveman
10\30%
7\20%
8\30%
7\6%
7\7%
6\7%
30

Healer
7\15%
7\15%
11\25%
7\20%
13\20%
16\5%
14

Knight
13\30%
8\10%
10\20%
7\15%
14\15%
17\10%
6

Monk
10\25%
8\20%
7\15%
7\10%
8\20%
7\10%
28

Priest
7\15%
7\15%
7\20%
7\10%
10\30%
7\10%
30

Ranger
13\30%
9\20%
13\20%
13\10%
13\10%
7\10%
7

Rogue
7\20%
10\30%
7\20%
7\10%
7\10%
6\10%
31

Samurai
10\30%
10\30%
17\14%
8\10%
7\8%
6\8%
17

Tourist
7\15%
7\15%
7\30%
10\10%
6\10%
10\20%
28

Valkyrie
10\30%
7\20%
10\30%
7\6%
7\7%
7\7%
27

Wizard
7\10%
7\20%
7\20%
10\30%
7\10%
7\10%
30

First, points are distributed so that the player receives, as a minimum, the number indicated before the backslash. This is always out of a pool of 75 points, and the Remaining column contains the amount of leftover points from this step.
Next, the remaining points are distributed randomly according to the percentage after the backslash. If an attribute is chosen that would raise it above the player's racial maximum, it will try 99 more times to choose a different attribute to raise. If it fails to pick an attribute on all 100 attempts, it will abort this step and any remaining points will be lost.[11]
Third, each attribute has a 5% probability of having a random number from −2 to +4 added to it [12]. These respect racial maximums.
Finally, strength will, if necessary, be increased until the player is unencumbered by their starting inventory. If their racial maximum is not enough, constitution will be increased similarly.

Maximum attributes
The player's maximum attributes depend on their race as follows:[13]

Race

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

Wisdom

Charisma

Human
18/**
18
18
18
18
18

Elf
18
18
16
20
20
18

Dwarf
18/**
20
20
16
16
16

Gnome
18/50
18
18
19
18
18

Orc
18/50
18
18
16
16
16

These maxima only apply to your base "naked" attributes. Some magic items, like the helm of brilliance, gauntlets of power and gauntlets of dexterity, allow you to exceed these limits, up to 25 for all attributes. All attributes have a minimum of 3.

Variants
NetHack brass
NetHack brass implements different maximum attributes per role. Find your maximum attributes by looking for your role in the next table, then applying the racial modifiers. For example, humans have +2 to strength. All heroes have a minimum of 3 for each attribute. The entries with the exclamation marks are the spellcasting stats for each role.

Role

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

Wisdom

Charisma

Archeologist
16
10
17
19!
18
19

Barbarian
18/**
18
20
12!
16
10

Caveman
18/**
18
20
14!
16
15

Healer
12
19
19
19
19!
18

Knight
18/50
13
18
17
19!
19

Monk
10
20
20
18
20!
18

Priest
18
15
18
17
20!
18

Ranger
17
21
13
19!
16
19

Rogue
18
20
17
17!
17
16

Samurai
18/50
20
19
15!
15
15

Tourist
17
15
18
19!
19
19

Valkyrie
18/**
16
20
12
17!
16

Wizard
10
19
16
20!
20
18

Reference: src/role.c in NetHack brass 040923.

Racial modifiers
To find your maximum attributes in NetHack brass, after finding your role in the above table, you must apply the racial modifiers of the below table. These racial modifiers apply only to the maximum attributes of each player, not the initial attributes.
An elven Ranger of NetHack brass, for example, can reach 19+1 = 20 in charisma by increasing charisma one more time after a human Ranger would have maxed at 19.
For strength modifiers only, a +1 raises 18 to 18/50, while a +2 raises 18 to 18/** or 17 to 18/50.

Race

Strength

Dexterity

Constitution

Intelligence

Wisdom

Charisma

Human
+2
0
0
0
0
0

Elf
0
0
−2
+2
+2
+1

Dwarf
+2
+2
+2
−2
−2
−2

Gnome
+1
0
0
+1
0
0

Orc
+2
0
0
−2
−2
−3

Wizard mode
The wizard mode of NetHack brass supplies the #rrllududab extended command, a code that sets your attributes to their maximum; this is a reference to the Konami code.

SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM handles several attributes differently compared to NetHack.

Strength
Due to the changed behavior of the gauntlets of power, strength between 18/** and 25 is handled differently. Strength grants bonuses to damage and to-hit as follows:

strength

to-hit

damage

3–5
−2
−1

6–7
−1
0

8–15
0
0

16
0
+1

17
+1
+1

18
+1
+2

18/01–18/99
+1
+3

18/**
+2
+4

19
+2
+5

20
+3
+6

21
+3
+7

22
+4
+8

23
+4
+9

24
+5
+10

25
+5
+11

Reference: weapon.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 900.

Dexterity
Dexterity now has an impact on AC, and higher Dexterity provides bonuses to AC.

dexterity

AC

3&lt;
+3

4–5
+2

6–7
+1

8–14
0

15
−1

16
−2

17
−3

18
−4

19
−5

20–21
−6

22–23
−7

&gt;23
−8

FIQHack
In FIQHack, strength over 18 is no longer considered a special attribute, and "exceptional strength" of 18/XX does not exist - their numeric equivalents are used instead, as follows:

Elves: 18
Gnomes: 19
Orcs: 20
Humans: 21
Dwarves: 21
UnNetHack
UnNetHack adds the ability to exercise intelligence by fighting a weeping angel's mental reflection, which requires that the player does not have reflection.[14]

See also
hit points
inventory
purse
encumbrance
weight
intrinsic
Drain for gain, which involves manipulating your attributes, and discusses how to do so.
References

↑ src/shk.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 2134

↑ src/mhitu.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 2431

↑ src/minion.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 304

↑ src/dokick.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 372

↑ src/steed.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 94

↑ src/dog.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 45

↑ src/dig.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 1362

↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 826

↑ src/eat.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 751

↑ src/role.c in NetHack 3.6.6, line 54: base attributes and distributions

↑ attrib.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 565

↑ u_init.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 884

↑ role.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 405

↑ https://sourceforge.net/p/unnethack/git/ci/master/tree/src/mhitu.c#l2206