Fumble boots
[        fumble boots | |
|---|---|
| Appearance | random |
| Slot | boots |
| AC | 1 |
| Special | |
| Base price | 30 zm |
| Weight | 20 |
| Material | leather |
A pair of fumble boots is a type of boots that appear in NetHack. They are magical boots that are made of leather, and have a randomized appearance when unidentified; the default one associated with them is "a pair of riding boots".[1]
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated fumble boots have a 9⁄10 chance of being cursed.[2]
General stores, used armor dealerships and antique weapons outlets can sell fumble boots.
Player monsters, including those generated on the Astral Plane, have an effective ~8.01% chance of generating with fumble boots.[3]
Description
While worn, fumble boots grant 1 base AC and extrinsic fumbling: every 1d20 turns, a character wearing the boots will fumble, immobilizing them for 2 turns and ignoring free action.[4][5][6] Fumbling while wielding the corpse of a cockatrice or chickatrice will result in immediate stoning.
Wearing cursed fumble boots is considered a minor trouble.[7][8]
Strategy
Fumble boots are generally undesirable to wear, and are one of many reasons why randomly wear-testing boots is a bad idea without at least identifying their beatitude (especially since they often generate as cursed) - prayer can help deal with cursed fumble boots. If fumble boots are used or sought out at all, they are generally employed as polyfodder.
Identification
Fumble boots weigh the same as speed boots and jumping boots at 20 aum, and have the same base cost of 30zm as levitation boots. Provided their beatitude has been identified, 20 aum boots are somewhat trivial to wear-test with: speed boots will auto-identify, while using the #jump extended command or pressing j with the number pad active can reveal jumping boots without having to move. Distinguishing them from levitation boots can be more difficult, since both are likely to generate cursed, but a character fortunate enough to obtain an uncursed pair of 30zm boots can wear-test them safely.
History
Fumble boots first appear in NetHack 3.0.0.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, the Lawful Quest has a 2⁄5 chance of generating a cursed -2 pair of fumble boots among the items found in the Chamber of Junk.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, fumble boots set the wearer's dexterity to 6, since low dexterity also causes intermittent fumbling.
dNetHack
In dNetHack and notdNetHack, fumble boots grant 0 base AC, 1 base DR and fumbling while worn.
The November NetHack Tournament
In The November NetHack Tournament, fumble boots are not eligible to be placed in the swap chest.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, upgrading fumble boots will produce elven boots and vice versa. All other details from SLASH'EM apply.
References
- ↑ src/objects.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 525
- ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 994
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 295:
mk_mplayer_armorselects boots from all available types listed in objects.c - ↑ src/timeout.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 705
- ↑ src/timeout.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 714
- ↑ src/timeout.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 723
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 236
- ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 478
