
Polymorphing yourself, monsters and objects
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Written by Jonathan Ellis for NetHack 3.2.3, with reference to Kevin 
Hugo's "wand-322.txt" and Roy Stead's "NetHack A-Z".

You can use a wand or spell of polymorph on both monsters and objects.
The beam acts over a maximum distance of 8 to 13 squares, and cannot be
reflected.  Polymorph traps may also affect monsters, but not objects.

When a monster (including you) is hit, the monster may change into a
different species.  Magic resistance will prevent a monster from
polymorphing, unless the monster zapped itself (or yourself).  Some
monsters may also resist the attack, as well.  Objects in the monster's
or your inventory are not affected.

There are several special cases when you are polymorphed.  If you have
polymorph control, you can choose the creature you wish to be polymorphed
into.  If you are wearing dragon armor, you will become that type of
dragon (even with polymorph control) and will lose your cloak and shirt.
If you have lycanthropy, you turn into that were-creature (or vice
versa); if you are a vampire, you become a vampire bat (or vice versa).
If you have none of the above, you have a (Constitution in 20) chance of
NOT getting system shock ("You shudder for a moment", lose 1 to 30 hit
points, and abuse your constitution).  If you become a "new man/woman/elf",
then your level, hit points, energy, and statistics will be randomly
adjusted by a couple of points up or down. If you polymorph into a bat or 
invisible stalker you will be stunned, and remain stunned as long as you 
are in that form. Finally, if you are polymorphed, you will turn back into
human form after a certain length of time (dependent on your level), or 
when you run out of hit points in your new form - unless your polymorph is
into a "new man/woman/elf" (depending on your race), i.e. an elf polymorphing
into an elf, or a human into a human, in which case you are stuck with your 
shuffled stats and adjusted level/hp/energy

If another monster is polymorphed, it remains in that form and, unlike the
player, does not revert back to its original form. There is a monster called
a Chameleon, which randomly polymorphs every few turns into something else: 
it is not affected by a polymorph effect. (Beware: a chameleon can turn into
literally anything - I have seen one turn into a master lich at dungeon level 
14, and been *very* thankful I had magic resistance. Ten moves later it turned 
into a newt and died very quickly.)

You can also polymorph objects.  Many people call this "polypiling",
because they painstakingly collect items, line them up into several
piles, and polymorph them all at one.  Each item may become a new item
in the same object class with roughly the same probability as random
generation.  The objects retain their blessed/cursed state, erosion,
erosionproofing, traps, and poisoning.  Wands keep their number of
charges, and weapons and armor keep their enchantment level; this is
not a significant abuse, since any resulting items have a chance of
being charged/enchanted to that level anyway.

You will eventually lose some objects.  Items appearing in quantities of
2 or more have a (quantity in 1000) chance of merging into one object.
Items also have a probability of "shuddering": 1/3 if a wand or cursed,
1/8 if uncursed, 1/12 if blessed, and twice the chance if in quantities
greater than 4.  This will decrease the quantity of the item randomly,
and has a one in (luck + 45) chance of creating a golem from the material
of the shuddered item.

There are some limitations to polypiling.  You can't change scrolls of
mail, the invocation artifacts, or the Amulet of Yendor.  Eggs laid by
you become other types of eggs, still laid by you.  Spellbooks will
become more faded.  Crocodile corpses become low boots.  Containers lose
all of their contents; newly created containers will be locked and empty.
There are limits to converting stones (e.g. rocks and luckstones) into
non-stones (e.g. valuable gems); you won't get more than four in one pile.
Note that balls and chains become (surprise!) balls and chains.  You can
never create a magic lamp, wand of wishing or wand of polymorph through 
polypiling.

Lycanthropy
~~~~~~~~~~~

If you are bitten by a werewolf, wererat or werejackal in were-form, you may 
"feel feverish": you also get this effect when you eat a corpse of such a monster 
(which is also considered to be cannibalism if you are human, as were-creatures
are part-human.) This means that you have contracted the disease of lycanthropy.

If you have contracted lycanthropy, you will occasionally polymorph at random 
intervals into a werewolf, wererat or werejackal. This can result in (1) being 
seriously overloaded with the weight of your baggage, as the were-form does not
have the strength of the human form, and (2) your armor, cloak or shirt falling 
off you or breaking. While in were-form, you can summon a group of monsters 
just as a real were-creature can by using the #monster command to use the 
monster's special ability. 

Curing lycanthropy is bes accomplished by: quaffing a vial of holy water, eating 
a sprig of wolfsbane, or praying when in good standing with your god. You can 
also cure it by polymorphing into a new form of yourself (a new man or new woman, 
if human, or a new elf if you are an elf.)