Runewords

👉 Runewords are magical words engraved on the floor that grant special properties, protections, or mechanics to players, monsters, and items.

ℹ️ Overview

Runewords in GnollHack are special words that can be engraved on the floor. Depending on the runeword and the player's current branch of the dungeon, they can frighten hostile monsters or protect items on the ground from being picked up.

There are three runewords in GnollHack:

• Elbereth: Frightens hostile monsters and prevents them from attacking.
• Gilthoniel: Protects items from being looted by monsters outside Gehennom.
• Morgoth: Protects items from being looted by monsters inside Gehennom.

📝 Engraving Mechanics

Engraving a runeword on the floor requires using the Engrave command. Beginners can do this manually, or configure a "Quick Engrave" command for convenience.

🚀 Step-by-Step Guide: How to Engrave

There are two primary ways to engrave runewords on the floor: Manual Engraving and Quick Engrave.

1️⃣ Manual Engraving

Use this method if you want to engrave a specific word or use a specific item from your inventory.

Step	Action	Example (Writing in Dust)
1. Initiate	Press the Engrave command (E).	Press E
2. Select Tool	Press - to use your fingers (writes in dust or blood), or press the inventory letter of a tool (e.g., a wand or weapon).	Press -
3. Enter Text	Type the runeword exactly as spelled (e.g., Elbereth or Gilthoniel).	Type Elbereth
4. Confirm	Press Enter to write the text on the floor.	Press Enter

2️⃣ Quick Engrave (Preset Writing)

You can automate the engraving process a bit with the Quick Engrave command. It is used as follows:

Step	Action / Example
Setup Settings	In the game options, set Quick Engrave Text to Elbereth and Quick Engrave Style to "Always finger".
Execute Command	Press the Engrave quick command (Alt-E). The preset text will be engraved instantly without any prompts.

⏱️ Engraving Speed

When engraving a runeword, the speed depends on the method and the tool used. Engraving with soft methods or highly specialized tools is much faster than carving into the floor with standard items. Thus, the time required to engrave is classified into two categories:

Engraving Speed	Extra Turns Required	Engraving Methods / Tools
Fast	0 extra turns (instant)	Writing in dust (fingers), writing in blood, using a magic marker, a wand of fire, a wand of lightning, or carving with an uncursed athame.
Slow	1 extra turn per character (e.g., 8 turns for "Elbereth")	Carving with standard weapons, rings, or Gems and Stones.

⚠️ Warning: Slow engraving takes a total of 9 turns (the action turn plus 8 extra turns) for an 8-character word like "Elbereth". If you attempt to engrave slowly in the presence of hostile monsters, they will get multiple free turns to attack you while you are paralyzed.

🧹 Erosion and Smudging

The permanence of an engraving—how easily it is erased or smudged by physical actions (like fighting or monsters walking over it)—depends entirely on the tool or method used to write it.

🛡️ Engraving Permanence

Engravings are classified into three levels of durability:

Durability	Engraving Methods / Tools	Smudging Mechanics
Soft (Dust / Blood)	Writing in dust (fingers) or writing in blood.	Highly susceptible to erosion. Physical actions erode the exact number of characters listed in the table below.
Hard (Carved / Ink)	Standard weapons, rings, Gems and Stones, an athame, or a magic marker.	Highly resistant to erosion. When a physical action occurs, there is only a very small random chance (typically around 5% to 10%) that a single character is eroded, regardless of the action's normal severity.
Burned	A wand of fire or wand of lightning.	Completely permanent. Burned engravings cannot be smudged or eroded by physical actions or monster movement.

⚔️ Player and Monster Erosion Actions

Performing physical actions on the square containing an engraving causes characters to be eroded from the text (based on its durability type). A word is completely wiped out when all characters are erased.

Action / Event	Base Characters Eroded (For Soft Engravings)
Melee attacking a monster	3 characters
Digging downwards	3 characters
Kicking	2 characters
Throwing items or shooting ranged weapons	2 characters
Whipping with a bullwhip	2 characters
Whipping with a weapon from Polearms	1 to 2 characters
Struggling out of webs or traps	1 to 3 characters
Jumping or sliding over the square	Up to 5 characters
Monster stepping onto the square	1 character

ℹ️ Note: The runewords Gilthoniel and Morgoth are magically protected and are completely immune to all forms of erosion and smudging from both player actions and monster movement.

🔮 Elbereth

Elbereth is the classic protective warding runeword. Standing on an active Elbereth engraving prevents most hostile monsters from attacking the player in melee or stepping onto the square.

⚙️ Mechanics

• Activation: The player must be standing on the square containing the engraving (or the player's displaced image must be on that square).
• Effect: Most hostile monsters attempting to move onto the square or attack the player will be frightened, causing them to turn around and flee for a random number of turns.
• Strict Spelling: The engraving must match the word strictly case-insensitively (e.g., "elbereth" or "Elbereth"). The full Tolkien prayer "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" does not trigger the warding effect.

🚫 Limitations

🔀 Branch Restrictions

Elbereth does not work in Gehennom or the Elemental Planes.

🛡️ Immune Monsters

The following monsters ignore the effects of Elbereth:

Monster / Category	Reason / Condition
Unique monsters	Includes all major bosses and unique demons.
The Wizard of Yendor	Often called Rodney, he ignores all scaring.
Lawful minions and Angels	Divinely resistant to Elbereth.
The Riders	Death, Famine, and Pestilence.
Shopkeepers	Ignore Elbereth regardless of whether they are inside their shop or polymorphed.
Vault guards	Ignore Elbereth (even if polymorphed).
Aligned priests	When inside their own temple.
Smiths	When inside their own smithy.
NPCs	When inside their own rooms.
Blind monsters	They cannot see the engraving.
Peaceful monsters	They will not attack or move towards you anyway.
Humans and Elves	Represented by the @ monster class symbol.
Minotaurs, Baphomet, and Yacc	Have an innate ability to ignore Elbereth.

🗡️ The Hypocrite Penalty

Elbereth is a request for peace. If you abuse this sanctuary by attacking a monster while standing on an Elbereth engraving, you will be penalized for being a hypocrite.

When this happens:

1. You receive a message: "You feel like a hypocrite."
2. You incur an alignment penalty of up to -5 points (specifically, a -5 drop if your alignment is good, or a random drop between -1 and -5 if it is already low).
3. The Elbereth engraving immediately fades away completely (you receive the message: "The engraving beneath you fades.").

What triggers the penalty?

Not all attacks are considered hypocritical. The penalty is triggered based on the type of attack:

• Triggers Penalty: Direct melee attacks (hitting with a weapon or bare hands), kicking a monster, triggering explosions that hit a monster, and zapping certain direct offensive spells or wands.
• Does NOT Trigger Penalty: Standard ranged attacks! Throwing items (like daggers) or firing projectiles from launchers (like bows or crossbows) does not trigger the hypocrite penalty. Standing on an Elbereth square and shooting enemies from afar is a valid and powerful strategy.

⚠️ Warning: The Hypocrite Penalty causes the engraving to instantly disappear, even if it was burned permanently into the floor with a wand. This is the only way a burned engraving can be erased.

ℹ️ Note: You are only penalized if the monster you attack respects Elbereth (i.e. is scared by it) or if the monster is peaceful. Attacking an immune monster (like a Minotaur or a unique boss) from an Elbereth square will not trigger the penalty.

🏆 Conduct and Achievements

• Conduct: Engraving Elbereth even once breaks the Elberethless conduct. Remaining "Elberethless" throughout the entire game is recorded at the end of the game and increases the base conduct score by 10 points upon ascension.
• Achievements: Engraving Elbereth for the first time in a run unlocks the Engraved Elbereth achievement and logs the event in the live log.

✨ Gilthoniel

Gilthoniel is a runeword of protection designed to secure items on the floor from being looted.

⚙️ Mechanics

• Looting Protection: Hostile monsters and pets are prevented from picking up items (including gold, weapons, armor, and comestibles) or eating food on a square engraved with Gilthoniel.
• Branch Restrictions: This protective effect only functions outside of Gehennom.
• Exceptions: Shopkeepers, vault guards, and the Wizard of Yendor ignore this restriction and can loot items from a Gilthoniel square freely.
• Erosion Immunity: Engravings of Gilthoniel are immune to all forms of smudging and erosion. This immunity applies everywhere (including inside Gehennom, even though the looting protection is inactive there).
• Natural Generation: When an Armory room is generated outside Gehennom, a chest or large box in the room is created with Gilthoniel written underneath it.
• Conducts: Writing Gilthoniel does not break the Elberethless conduct.

😈 Morgoth

Morgoth is the dark equivalent of Gilthoniel, used to protect items inside the depths of Gehennom.

⚙️ Mechanics

• Looting Protection: Hostile monsters and pets are prevented from picking up items or eating food on a square engraved with Morgoth.
• Branch Restrictions: This protective effect only functions inside Gehennom.
• Exceptions: Shopkeepers, vault guards, and the Wizard of Yendor are immune to the looting prevention and can pick up items from a Morgoth square.
• Erosion Immunity: Like Gilthoniel, Morgoth engravings are immune to all forms of smudging and erosion. This immunity applies everywhere (both inside and outside Gehennom).
• Natural Generation: When an Armory room is generated inside Gehennom, a chest or large box in the room is created with Morgoth written underneath it.
• Conducts: Writing Morgoth does not break the Elberethless conduct.

🎨 Visual Effects

In the graphical versions of GnollHack (Android, iOS, and modern Windows ports), active runewords are visually distinguished on the map:

• Pulsing Magic Glow: When a runeword is active in its current branch, its text pulses with a magical shine effect.
  • Outside Gehennom: Engravings of Elbereth and Gilthoniel pulse. Morgoth does not.
  • Inside Gehennom: Engravings of Morgoth pulse. Elbereth and Gilthoniel do not.
• This pulsing glow serves as a direct indicator to the player that the runeword's active warding or looting protection is currently functioning at that location.