# Figurine

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Name

figurine

Appearance

figurine

Base price

80 zm

Weight

50

Material

mineral

Monster use

Will not be used by monsters.

A figurine is a type of magical tool that appears in NetHack. Figurines are akin to miniature statues, and can be used to bring the monster it depicts to life. They are made of mineral.

Contents

1 Generation
2 Description

2.1 Figurines and beatitude

3 Strategy

3.1 Conducts

4 History
5 Messages
6 Variants

6.1 SLASH'EM
6.2 EvilHack
6.3 SlashTHEM

7 Encyclopedia entry
8 References

Generation
Figurines are generated as a random monster, based upon a combination of your level at the time of its creation and the dungeon level. Non-undead humans, unique monsters and non-tameable monsters cannot have figurines made of them, and wishing for one will result in a random figurine being given instead.[1][2] Figurines are generated 75% uncursed, 12.5% blessed, and 12.5% cursed.[3]
Monsters brought to life from figurines will not have their starting inventory. Creating a monster by bringing a figurine to life respects genocide, but does not respect extinction except for monsters with special limits such as erinyes and Nazgul.[4]

Description
You can bring a figurine to life by applying it or using the stone to flesh spell. Applying a figurine will prompt the player for a direction and generate it on the square closest to them in that direction, while the latter method will cause it to animate on its current square (or next to the player if in their inventory). If a figurine is applied to a square with a monster on it, the figurine will be lost and nothing will generate. Applying a figurine &gt; or &lt; will generate the monster on the closest open square even if you are surrounded by monsters, unless the entire level is filled. Attempting to apply a figurine onto solid rock or a square containing a boulder will fail without using up the figure, but will generate the monster as normal if it has phasing.
If you name a figurine and then successfully activate it, the monster created will have that name.

Figurines and beatitude
A monster created from a figurine is most likely to be tame if the figurine was blessed, peaceful if it was uncursed, and hostile if it was cursed; however, even a blessed figurine may create a hostile monster, or a cursed figurine a tame monster. The odds are as follows:

tame
peaceful
hostile

blessed

80%
10%
10%

uncursed

10%
80%
10%

cursed

10%
10%
80%

A cursed figurine will automatically transform anywhere between 200 to 9200 turns after it is cursed or placed into an inventory[5] - this timer starts whenever a cursed figurine is picked up or an existing figurine is cursed; dropping or uncursing the figurine will stop the timer.[6][7][8] A figurine that transforms is treated as if you applied the figurine yourself, e.g. there is a 4⁄5 chance the monster will be hostile; if this transformation would fail for any reason, the timer is set again for anywhere between one and 5000 turns.[9]

Strategy
See also: Preferred pets
A blessed figurine of a powerful rare pet can prove to be a tempting wish for some players - some players will wish for a blessed figurine of an Archon for general power, or a ki-rin for a powerful riding steed. The link above provides more detail on which pets you may want for such a wish - remember that there is a 1⁄10 chance that the monster will be hostile, which may spell doom for you if the figurine backfires and you are not prepared to deal with the created monster. It may be a good idea to stand close to a staircase when applying it, e.g. so you can #jump to escape a potential death.
Also of note is the 1⁄10 chance that a blessed figurine will generate a peaceful monster: this at least means you can attempt to use charm monster or a scroll of taming on it whenever either option becomes available, though monsters like Archons or ki-rins are very likely to resist multiple attempts due to their high monster MR.
Non-blessed figurines can be used to generate a peaceful or hostile creature in the path of more dangerous foes; while tame monsters can be used for similar purposes, they may attempt to attack if they are at a high enough level, and depending on their power level they may risk being killed. Figurines have an additional, more mundane use as a means of generating corpses for sacrifice, and unwanted figurines also make ideal polypile fodder.

Conducts
For pacifist conduct play, a blessed figurine of an Archon is often an early wish; for illiterate conduct, figurines provide a means of generating particular monsters without relying on a scroll or spellbook.
Some players that are about to ascend a character on their high altar will opt to wish up a particular figuring, e.g. a blessed greased figurine of a foocubus, in preparation for the "demigod bar".

History
The figurine first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including variants based on those versions, applying a figurine generated the monster with its starting inventory.[10] Archons are even more popular pets in these versions, since applying a figurine of one would generate it with Demonbane or Sunsword and a shield of reflection; a bullwhip can then be used to disarm the Archon and take the artifact weapon for yourself if you wish.

Messages
You set the figurine beside you and it transforms.
You applied a figurine.
You set the figurine beside you and it transforms....into a pile of dust.
You applied a figurine of a Nazgul or erinys after they were extinct.[4]
You get a bad feeling about this.
The monster from an applied figurine was generated hostile.[11]
The figurine writhes and then shatters into pieces!
You applied a figurine to a square occupied a monster on it, or the applied figurine was of a genocided monster. This destroys the figurine.[12]
You see 

<monster> drop out of your pack!
You were carrying a cursed figurine, which spontaneously transformed.
You suddenly see a figurine transform into <monster>.
A cursed figurine on the ground suddenly transformed.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, pet shops are a new type of shop that often sells figurines of various monsters.
The Planetar and Solar outrank the Archon as the popular pet of choice for figurine wishes in SLASH'EM and its variants: On top of being much more powerful, Planetars and Solars are the only pets capable of taking out One-eyed Sam. A wish for a Solar/Planetar figurine is often used as a means of robbing the black market, though the pet cannot be led out of the dungeon branch afterward in that instance.

EvilHack
In EvilHack, monsters that obtain a wish may try to obtain a figurine of a powerful monster such as a balrog in order to use it against you.
The Idol of Moloch is an artifact figurine of a horned devil and the Infidel quest artifact. It can be applied like a normal figurine to summon a random major demon, including a horned devil, without using up the artifact; invoking it on a cross-aligned altar will immediately convert it into one to Moloch. Carrying the Idol also grants magic resistance and half spell damage, along with improved energy regeneration for Infidels in good standing with Moloch.

SlashTHEM
In addition to SLASH'EM details above, the Corsair role in SlashTHEM starts the game with a random figurine.

Encyclopedia entry

Then it appeared in Paris at just about the time that Paris
was full of Carlists who had to get out of Spain.  One of
them must have brought it with him, but, whoever he was, it's
likely he knew nothing about its real value.  It had been --
no doubt as a precaution during the Carlist trouble in Spain
-- painted or enameled over to look like nothing more than a
fairly interesting black statuette.  And in that disguise,
sir, it was, you might say, kicked around Paris for seventy
years by private owners and dealers too stupid to see what
it was under the skin.

[ The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett ] 

References

↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 952

↑ src/objnam.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 3955

↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 953

↑ 4.0 4.1 src/dog.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 87

↑ src/timeout.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 990

↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1285

↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1362

↑ src/invent.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1145

↑ src/apply.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 2118

↑ dog.c in NetHack 3.4.3, line 103

↑ src/dog.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 102

↑ src/dog.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 107

</monster></monster>