# NetHack 2.3e

NetHack Versions

Jay Fenlason's Hack
HACK for UNIX
Hack 1.21 for DOS
Hack for PDP-11
PC/IX Hack

Andries Brouwer's Hack
Hack 1.0
Hack 1.0.1
Hack 1.0.2
Hack 1.0.3

Early NetHack
NetHack 1.3d
NetHack 1.4f
NetHack 2.2a
NetHack 2.3e

The NetHack 3.0 Series
NetHack 3.0.0
NetHack 3.0.1
NetHack 3.0.2
NetHack 3.0.3
NetHack 3.0.4
NetHack 3.0.5
NetHack 3.0.6
NetHack 3.0.7
NetHack 3.0.8
NetHack 3.0.9
NetHack 3.0.10

The NetHack 3.1 Series
NetHack 3.1.0
NetHack 3.1.1
NetHack 3.1.2
NetHack 3.1.3

The NetHack 3.2 Series
NetHack 3.2.0
NetHack 3.2.1
NetHack 3.2.2
NetHack 3.2.3

The NetHack 3.3 Series
NetHack 3.3.0
NetHack 3.3.1

The NetHack 3.4 Series
NetHack 3.4.0
NetHack 3.4.1
NetHack 3.4.2
NetHack 3.4.3

The NetHack 3.6 Series
NetHack 3.6.0
NetHack 3.6.1
NetHack 3.6.2
NetHack 3.6.3
NetHack 3.6.4
NetHack 3.6.5
NetHack 3.6.6
NetHack 3.6.7

NetHack 2.3e is the fourth public release of NetHack and the last before the founding of the DevTeam.  Mike Stephenson published it to the Usenet newsgroup comp.sources.games.bugs (an unmoderated group, unlike comp.sources.games) in April 1988.

Contents

1 Availability
2 Significant changes
3 The adventurer
4 Dungeon features
5 Bestiary

5.1 The Three Stooges

6 Objects

6.1 Artifacts
6.2 Amulets
6.3 Food
6.4 Weapons
6.5 Tools
6.6 Armor
6.7 Potions
6.8 Scrolls
6.9 Wands
6.10 Spellbooks
6.11 Rings
6.12 Gems
6.13 Other items

7 References

Availability
NetHack 2.3e first appears as a patch against NetHack 2.2a.  Google Groups has the patch at:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9 (is in fact a duplicate of part 8)
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
There are thirteen parts, but the subject lines incorrectly say that there are twelve.
UUNet did not archive comp.sources.games.bugs, but nonetheless provided a complete distribution of NetHack 2.3e. This is available at the Internet Archive. You can click on the links, but to get the complete archive, copy and paste to a script for wget.

https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart01
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart02
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart03
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart04
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart05
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart06
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart07
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart08
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart09
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart10
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart11
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart12
https://archive.org/download/Usenet_InfoMagic/Usenet%20%28InfoMagic%29%20%28Disc%202%29%20%28October%201994%29.iso/games%2Fnethack2.3%2Fpart13

Ali Harlow[1] has a NetHack 2.3e distribution at [2]; this is also available on NetHackWiki for browsing and annotation: NetHack 2.3e source code.

Significant changes
The electric eel replaces the giant eel.
Gremlins, djinn and the Three Stooges join the bestiary.  The Stooges appear only in NetHack 2.3e.
Dragons are differentiated into eight types, each with a different breath weapon.  They correspond to all the modern types except the silver dragon.
New objects are:  K-ration, C-ration, lamp, magic lamp, badge, Hawaiian shirt, wand of lightning, and amber stone.
The tourmaline, agate, and onyx stones are removed, and the colors of worthless glass are changed.
Sting now appears.
Sinks and barracks are added to the dungeon.
The land mine first appears as a trap, though not as an object.
Djinn may emerge from glowing potions (not smoky ones, as these still have ghosts).
The adventurer
The player may choose from these roles:

Archeologist
Barbarian
Cave-(wo)man
Elf
Healer
Knight
Ninja
Priest
Samurai
Tourist
Valkyrie
Wizard
All classes permit male and female adventurers, except the Valkyrie which must be female.
The adventurer has experience, hit points, magical energy, armor class, and strength.  He may advance to experience level 14.
The initial pet is a little dog.

Dungeon features
The dungeon in NetHack 2.3e has no branches; there is one way up and one way down.  The first 25 levels or so consist of rooms, and beyond that, the adventurer encounters mazes.  The deepest dungeon level is 60.
Medusa appears as '8' on the down-stairs of the last level with rooms.  She does not have a special level, and is thus a snare for the unwary adventurer.
Dungeon level 30 and deeper are designated as "Hell".  Entering hell without fire resistance, or losing it once there, is an instadeath.  This may happen by taking off one's ring of fire resistance or losing one's polymorph and not being otherwise fire resistant, or by being hit by a gremlin.  These levels have only up-stairs, and the only way to enter is by level teleportation.
Special rooms are throne rooms, swamps,  vaults, beehives, crypts, treasure zoos, barracks, and shops.  Special features are pools, fountains, thrones, and sinks.
Traps are:

bear trap
arrow trap
dart trap
trapdoor
teleportation trap
pit
sleeping gas trap
magic trap
squeaky board
web
spiked pit
level teleporter
anti-magic field
rust trap
polymorph trap
land mine
The Amulet of Yendor is found in the posession of the wizard of Yendor in a maze level.  He is in a small room in the center of the maze, surrounded by water and accompanied by a hell hound.
Fake Wizard rooms contain a demon instead of the Wizard and a fake Amulet.
Other maze levels have wands of wishing tucked under a boulder in a dead-end square.  There can be more than one, but it's much less likely than before; but one is guaranteed in the level immediately after Medusa.  Since NetHack 3.1.0, one version of Medusa's lair has a random wand in a similar spot, commemorating the former location of the wand of wishing.

Bestiary
New monsters are indicated in boldface.
The following monsters may be encountered:

Name
Symbol
Notes

acid blob
a
&nbsp;

bat
B
&nbsp;

centaur
C
&nbsp;

chameleon
:
&nbsp;

cockatrice
c
&nbsp;

demon
&amp;
&nbsp;

demon lord
&amp;
if HARD defined at compile time

demon prince
&amp;
if HARD defined at compile time

djinni
&amp;
&nbsp;

dog
d
&nbsp;

electric eel
;
Formerly giant eel

grey dragon
D
&nbsp;

red dragon
D
Not truly new; the 2.2a dragon breathes fire

orange dragon
D
&nbsp;

white dragon
D
&nbsp;

black dragon
D
Disintegration blast is an instadeath

blue dragon
D
&nbsp;

green dragon
D
&nbsp;

yellow dragon
D
&nbsp;

ettin
e
&nbsp;

floating eye
E
&nbsp;

fog cloud
f
&nbsp;

freezing sphere
F
&nbsp;

gelatinous cube
g
&nbsp;

ghost
(space)
&nbsp;

giant
9
&nbsp;

giant ant
A
&nbsp;

giant beetle
b
&nbsp;

gnome
G
&nbsp;

guard
@
&nbsp;

hell hound
d
Does not have a breath weapon

hobgoblin
H
&nbsp;

homunculus
h
&nbsp;

imp
i
&nbsp;

jackal
J
&nbsp;

jaguar
j
&nbsp;

killer bee
k
&nbsp;

large dog
d
&nbsp;

leocrotta
l
&nbsp;

leprechaun
L
&nbsp;

little dog
d
&nbsp;

lurker above
'
&nbsp;

mail daemon
2
if MAIL defined at compile time

medusa
8
if RPH defined at compile time

mimic
M
&nbsp;

minotaur
m
&nbsp;

nurse
n
&nbsp;

nymph
N
&nbsp;

orc
O
&nbsp;

owlbear
o
&nbsp;

piercer
p
&nbsp;

purple worm
P
&nbsp;

quivering blob
q
&nbsp;

rust monster
R
Reduces enchantment rather than truly rusting

shopkeeper
@
&nbsp;

snake
S
&nbsp;

soldier
3
if SAC defined at compile time

stalker
I
&nbsp;

tengu
t
&nbsp;

trapper
,
&nbsp;

troll
T
&nbsp;

umber hulk
U
&nbsp;

unicorn
u
&nbsp;

vampire
V
&nbsp;

violet fungi
v
"violet fungus" if KAA defined at compile time

wizard of Yendor
1
&nbsp;

wraith
W
&nbsp;

xan
x
&nbsp;

xorn
X
&nbsp;

yellow light
y
&nbsp;

yeti
Y
&nbsp;

zombie
Z
&nbsp;

zruty
z
&nbsp;

Moe
@
if STOOGES defined at compile time (default)

Larry
@
if STOOGES defined at compile time (default)

Curly
@
if STOOGES defined at compile time (default)

Keystone Kop
K
if KOPS defined at compile time (default)

kobold
K
if KOPS not defined at compile time, or if KJSMODS is (KJSMODS is the default)

rock mole
r
if ROCKMOLE defined at compile time (default)

giant rat
r
if ROCKMOLE not defined at compile time, or if KJSMODS is (KJSMODS is the default)

quantum mechanic
Q
if KAA defined at compile time (default)

quasit
Q
if KAA not defined at compile time

giant spider
s
if SPIDERS defined at compile time (default)

scorpion
s
if SPIDERS not defined at compile time

long worm
w
if NOWORM not defined at compile time (default)

wumpus
w
if NOWORM defined at compile time

The Three Stooges
 Screenshot of NetHack 2.3e showing the Three Stooges.
The Three Stooges were three monsters, appearing as @ and named Moe, Larry, and Curly.  They appeared on a particular level in the upper dungeon. They occasionally killed monsters, but mostly they just whacked each other and said things associated with the Stooges on film.
The Stooges were a frequent cause of YASD, as a confused or hallucinating adventurer often hit one by mistake and had to fight him; even if they prevailed, they incurred the penalty for murder since the Stooge was a peaceful human.
The Stooges were removed in NetHack 3.0.0, but their passing is still noted in a false rumor:

The crowd was so tough, the Stooges won't play the Dungeon anymore, nyuk nyuk.

Objects
New objects are indicated in boldface.

Artifacts
NetHack 2.3e has four artifacts.  Multiple copies of each may exist.
Any two handed sword may be named Orcrist and will do d10 extra points damage to orcs.  
Excalibur is obtained in the modern fashion, though there is no requirement to be lawful, as alignment is not yet implemented.  It gets +5 to hit and does d10 extra damage to all monsters. Wielding Excalibur makes demons angry (previously they might ask for a bribe) and can call the attention of certain monsters. Excalibur may now be granted by crowning. The player cannot name any object "Excalibur".
Any katana may be named Snickersnee and will do d5 extra points damage to all monsters.[1]
Sting is new to 2.3e. Any short sword or dagger may be named Sting and will do d5 extra damage to all monsters (not just orcs).

Amulets
Only the Amulet of Yendor and the cheap plastic imitation exist in NetHack 2.3e.

Food
Food items in NetHack 2.3e are:

food ration
tripe ration
pancake
dead lizard
fortune cookie
carrot
slice of pizza
cream pie
tin
K-ration
C-ration
orange
apple
pear
melon
banana
candy bar
egg
clove of garlic
lump of royal jelly
corpse (called dead foo rather than foo corpse)
The tin did not contain the remains of monsters, but rather a randomly-chosen food such as peaches or, if the adventurer is lucky, spinach.
The dead lizard is a found object rather than a corpse; live lizards do not exist in NetHack 2.3e.    It otherwise has its modern properties in this version.

Weapons
Weapons in NetHack 2.3e are:

arrow
sling bullet
crossbow bolt
dart
shuriken
rock
boomerang
mace
axe
flail
long sword
two handed sword
dagger
worm tooth
crysknife
aklys
bardiche
bec de corbin
bill-guisarme
club
fauchard
glaive
guisarme
halberd
lucern hammer
javelin
katana
lance
morning star
partisan
ranseur
scimitar
spetum
broad sword
short sword
trident
voulge
spear
bow
sling
crossbow
Tools
Tools in NetHack 2.3e are:

whistle
leash
magic whistle
blindfold
mirror
expensive camera
ice box
pick-axe
magic marker
stethoscope
can opener
lamp
magic lamp
badge
The ice box is the only container.  Then as now, it preserved corpses, and was generally too heavy (and too rare) to be useful for inventory management. Shopkeepers prevent players with an ice box from entering.
The badge is dropped when a Keystone Kop is killed.  The hero may wear it, and shopkeepers will call him "Officer" and react to theft with YAFM[2], but it is otherwise a junk item.  The badge appears only in NetHack 2.3e.

Armor
Armor items in NetHack 2.3e are:

helmet
plate mail
splint mail
banded mail
chain mail
scale mail
ring mail
studded leather armor
elfin chain mail
bronze plate mail
crystal plate mail
leather armor
elven cloak
shield
Hawaiian shirt (if SHIRT defined at compile time)
pair of gloves
Potions
Potions in NetHack 2.3e are:

potion of restore strength
potion of gain energy
potion of booze
potion of invisibility
potion of fruit juice
potion of healing
potion of paralysis
potion of monster detection
potion of object detection
potion of sickness
potion of confusion
potion of gain strength
potion of speed
potion of blindness
potion of gain level
potion of extra healing
potion of levitation
potion of hallucination
potion of holy water
Scrolls
Scrolls in NetHack 2.3e are:

scroll of mail (unconditional, even though mail daemon is dependent on MAIL)
scroll of enchant armor
scroll of destroy armor
scroll of confuse monster
scroll of scare monster
scroll of blank paper
scroll of remove curse
scroll of enchant weapon
scroll of damage weapon
scroll of create monster
scroll of taming
scroll of genocide
scroll of light
scroll of teleportation
scroll of gold detection
scroll of food detection
scroll of identify
scroll of magic mapping
scroll of amnesia
scroll of fire
scroll of punishment
The scroll of damage weapon acts as the modern scroll of enchant weapon does when cursed.  The scroll of genocide acts, in all cases, as the modern blessed scroll; but most symbols refer to only one monster anyway.

Wands
Wands in NetHack 2.3e are:

wand of light
wand of secret door detection
wand of create monster
wand of wishing
wand of striking
wand of nothing
wand of slow monster
wand of speed monster
wand of undead turning
wand of polymorph
wand of cancellation
wand of teleportation
wand of make invisible
wand of probing (if PROBING defined at compile time)
wand of digging
wand of magic missile
wand of fire
wand of sleep
wand of cold
wand of death
wand of lightning
Spellbooks
Spellbooks in NetHack 2.3e are:

spellbook of magic missile
spellbook of fireball
spellbook of sleep
spellbook of cone of cold
spellbook of finger of death
spellbook of healing
spellbook of detect monsters
spellbook of force bolt
spellbook of light
spellbook of confuse monster
spellbook of cure blindness
spellbook of slow monster
spellbook of create monster
spellbook of detect food
spellbook of haste self
spellbook of cause fear
spellbook of cure sickness
spellbook of detect unseen
spellbook of extra healing
spellbook of charm monster
spellbook of levitation
spellbook of restore strength
spellbook of invisibility
spellbook of detect treasure
spellbook of dig
spellbook of remove curse
spellbook of magic mapping
spellbook of identify
spellbook of turn undead
spellbook of polymorph
spellbook of create familiar
spellbook of teleport away
spellbook of cancellation
spellbook of genocide
Rings
Rings in NetHack 2.3e are:

ring of adornment
ring of teleportation
ring of regeneration
ring of searching
ring of see invisible
ring of stealth
ring of levitation
ring of poison resistance
ring of aggravate monster
ring of hunger
ring of fire resistance
ring of cold resistance
ring of protection from shape changers
ring of conflict
ring of gain strength
ring of increase damage
ring of protection
ring of warning
ring of teleport control
ring of polymorph
ring of polymorph control
ring of shock resistance
Because charisma does not exist in NetHack 2.3e, the ring of adornment is a useless item.

Gems
Gems in NetHack 2.3e are:

dilithium crystal
diamond
ruby
sapphire
emerald
turquoise stone
aquamarine stone
amber stone
topaz stone
opal stone
garnet stone
amethyst stone
jasper stone
fluorite stone
jade stone
and worthless pieces of white, blue, red, yellowish brown (formerly yellow), and green glass.
The tourmaline, agate, and onyx stones are removed.

Other items
Other items not appearing in the above categories are:

heavy iron ball
iron chain
enormous rock
It is not possible to pick up an iron chain, nor can they be generated from iron golems, because these do not exist in NetHack 2.3e.

References

↑ fight.c in NetHack 2.3e, line 399

↑ shk.c in NetHack 2.3e, line 938