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I'm currently in the middle of a game of Nethack, and have found a ring of invisibility. Also, I've come across a shop. I was wondering if the invisibility will let me steal items from the shop safely, or if the shopkeeper will notice that his inventory is going missing. I'd rather not find out through experimentation, obviously.

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No, if you attempt to enter a shop while invisible, the shopkeeper will block the entrance with the message

[name] detects your presence. "Invisible customers are not welcome!"

If you put on the ring while already inside the shop, the shopkeeper will refuse to move even if you pay for all of your items.

You can exploit this behavior to kill the shopkeeper if you have sufficient ranged weapons and some kind of method to counter their wand of striking and possibly wand of magic missile (note that reflection will not block the wand of striking!), but this will come with murder penalities if you're not chaotic.

A character with intrinsic invisibility can still circumvent this by wearing a mummy wrapping, which will cancel the effects of the invisibility.

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    Can I destroy the door and enter the shop diagonally to get around the shopkeeper?
    – Pavel
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 16:42
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    @Pavel No, invisibility has no effect in that case.
    – Doorknob
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 16:47
  • N.B. If you are intrinsically invisible, there's something you can wear that will make you visible again.
    – zwol
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 21:06
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    @Pavel If you destroy the door, the shopkeeper will be angry (and kill you) regardless of invisibility...
    – user140963
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 21:54
  • @zwol That's true, and probably something worth mentioning in the answer, thanks.
    – Doorknob
    Commented Mar 13, 2018 at 22:52

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