Scroll

Omega versionsRemake 0.90.4 (current)source 009707d17482updated 2026-07-24

Scrolls are single-use readable items represented by a bright-yellow ? in Omega 0.90.4. They can provide information, improve equipment, grant temporary powers, or radically alter a level, while cursed copies often reverse or spoil the expected benefit.

Every scroll weighs 5, has fragility 1, and belongs to the common rarity class.

Scroll types

Scroll	Base value (Au)	Item level	Relative probability	Weight	Fragility	Rarity	Unidentified appearance	Cursed name
Blank scroll	5	0	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Antinomy!
Scroll of spells	250	1	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of spell loss
Scroll of blessing	400	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of cursing
Scroll of acquirement	5,000	7	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of destruction
Scroll of enchantment	200	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of disenchantment
Scroll of teleportation	75	1	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of teleportation
Scroll of wishing	10,000	10	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of wishing
Scroll of clairvoyance	25	1	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of amnesia
Scroll of displacement	50	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of vulnerability
Scroll of identification	20	0	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of forgetfulness
Hint sheet	10	0	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Hint sheet
Jane's guide to treasure	50	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Jane's guide to treasure
Scroll of alertness	50	1	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of drowsiness
Scroll of cosmic flux	300	5	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of cosmic flux
Scroll of charging	100	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of draining
Scroll of the warp	100	3	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of the warp
Scroll of self-knowledge	10	1	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of delusion
Scroll of law	100	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of law
Scroll of heroism	200	5	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of cowardliness
Scroll of true sight	50	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of blindness
Scroll of dispelling	250	3	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of self-dispelling
Scroll of summoning	300	2	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of summoning
Scroll of light	30	0	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of darkness
Scroll of deflection	250	3	1/24	5	1	Common	Random inscription	Scroll of vulnerability

The initial roll is uniform among all 24 types. The item-level check is applied afterwards, so high-level scrolls are less likely to survive generation from a low-level treasure source. The unidentified appearance is one of the shuffled inscriptions listed below.

The base value is the ordinary, uncursed scroll's value before identification and BUC adjustments. Pawn-shop stock is fully identified and an ordinary scroll's shelf price matches this value. When selling, the pawn shop offers half of the value it can recognize: unidentified scrolls are heavily discounted, partially identified scrolls receive a smaller discount, and cursed scrolls are refused.

Finding scrolls

Scrolls can appear among random treasure on dungeon floors and in monster inventories. The pawn shop can stock eligible scrolls, and a scroll of acquirement can produce either a random scroll or, when blessed, a chosen scroll. Some monsters also carry a particular scroll.

The initial roll among the 24 scroll types is uniform, but the treasure-level check can reject a scroll that is too powerful for the current source. Randomly generated copies begin uncursed.

Unidentified inscriptions

At the start of a new game, the following pool of thirty inscriptions is shuffled. The 24 scroll types receive the first 24 shuffled names, leaving six unused in that game. An inscription learned in one game therefore cannot safely identify the same scroll in another. A scroll's cursed name appears only after its type has been identified.

No.	Inscription	No.	Inscription
1	scroll-GRISTOGRUE	16	scroll-Aratron Samael
2	scroll-Kho Reck Tighp	17	scroll-De Wormiis Mysterius
3	scroll-E Z	18	scroll-Necronomicon
4	scroll-Kevitz	19	scroll-Pnakotic Manuscript
5	scroll-Arcanum Prime	20	scroll-Codex of Xalimar
6	scroll-NYARLATHOTEP	21	scroll-The Mabinogion
7	scroll-Gilthoniel	22	scroll-Ginseng Shiatsu
8	scroll-Zarathustra	23	scroll-Tome of Tromax
9	scroll-Ancient Lore	24	scroll-Book of the Dead
10	scroll-Eyes Only	25	scroll-The Flame Tongue
11	scroll-Ambogar Empheltz	26	scroll-Karst Khogar
12	scroll-Isengard	27	scroll-The Yellow Sign
13	scroll-Deosil Widdershins	28	scroll-The Kevillist Manifesto
14	scroll-Magister Paracelsus	29	scroll-Goshtar Script
15	scroll-Qlipphotic Summons	30	scroll-Pendragon Encryption

Reading scrolls

Scrolls cannot be read while blind or afraid. Cancelling before choosing a scroll leaves it in the inventory. Once a scroll has been read, it is normally consumed even if a later target or text prompt is cancelled or rejected; exceptions and important targeting details are described on the individual page.

Blessed, uncursed, and cursed copies may have very different results. The BUC table on each individual page describes those outcomes from the reader's point of view.

Loss and destruction

Reading normally consumes one scroll. Cancelling before choosing a scroll is safe, but cancelling a later target or text prompt usually does not prevent consumption.

A scroll can also be lost in the following ways:

• The Destroy an item command can shatter a selected scroll.
• An acid trap can damage possessions unless the reader dodges the spray or has acid immunity. A normal fragility-1 scroll subjected to the general item-damage check shatters 14 times in 15.
• Entering the Abyss removes all possessions, including scrolls.
• A cursed scroll of acquirement can destroy a random possession. A scroll of blessing can disintegrate a sufficiently cursed target. Misusing the Orb of Earth can disintegrate all possessions.

A blessed scroll may resist the general item-damage check according to its item level, but this offers no protection to level-0 scrolls and is unreliable for low-level ones.

Strategy

Protecting scrolls

Acid immunity prevents an acid trap from damaging possessions, making it the most direct protection for carried scrolls. Avoid entering the Abyss with scrolls that must be retained. Blessing can improve the survival chance of higher-level scrolls, but it should not be treated as dependable protection for low-level copies.

Acquiring scrolls

Search ordinary floor treasure and monster drops, and check the pawn shop when it refreshes. A blessed scroll of acquirement is the reliable way to request a particular scroll; an uncursed acquirement only chooses the scroll category and then gives a random type. Blippers carry scrolls of teleportation, phantasticons carry scrolls of true sight, and necromancers can leave scrolls of spells.

Using scrolls

Identify both the scroll type and its BUC state before committing rare or dangerous copies. Keep escape effects such as teleportation available for emergencies, use temporary combat or vision effects shortly before they matter, and save acquirement or wishing until the desired result and any required input are known. Choose targets before reading: once a scroll reaches its effect, backing out of a later prompt normally still consumes it. Some scrolls ignore BUC while others reverse their benefit, so consult the individual effect table rather than assuming that blessed is always stronger or cursed is merely weaker.

References

• WinOmega source at the documented revision
• NetHackWiki Scroll article (table organization reference; Omega values and mechanics are sourced from WinOmega)