TomeNET

(5.9a) Activatable items                                                        
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Many items can be activated (press 'A' to try). These items are generally
called 'Magic Devices'. (Apart from these items, magic devices also include
wands, staves and rods, see (7.10) for more information.)

The chance of successful activation depends on various factors such as the base
item level and your magic device ability. See (7.10) for details.

An activated item will usually have a cooldown (timeout) until it can be
activated again. Items that need to be equipped to be activated usually won't
recover while they aren't equipped.

Many artifacts can be activated, as well as items of certain ego powers. But
there are also some base item types that provide an activation effect.

Base and ego types that can be activated and aren't described elsewhere:

Scorching Cloak:              Temporary fire resistance.
Frostwoven Cloak:             Temporary frost resistance.
Sparkling Cloak:              Temporary lightning resistance.
Cloak of Lordly Resistance:   Temporary base+poison resistance.

Cap of the Noldor:            Treasure detection.
Boots of Jumping:             Random short-distance jump like Phase Door spell.
Dragon Scale Mail:            According breath attack.

Weapon of the Thunderlords:   Teleportation.
Weapon of Spinning:           Spin attack:
                              Hits monsters adjacent to you n times in total,
                              adding a stun effect to each blow. 'n' is your
                              number of blows per round (BpR) plus 8.
Weapon of Fury:               Temporary fury, compare (4.11c).
Spectral weapon:              Temporary wraithform (see (5.20)).

Amulet of the Serpents:       Poison breath.
Amulet of the Moon:           Sleep monsters.
Amulet of Rage:               Temporary fury, compare (4.11c).

Ring of Flames:
Ring of Ice:
Ring of Acid:
Ring of Lightning:            Breathe the ring's element and gain temporary
                              resistance to it.
Ring of Teleportation:        Explode and instantly teleport its wearer.