The Adventurer's Guide to Standard Weapons ============================================ by Robert DeLoura (deloura@noaapmel.govr), and Boudewijn Wayers (kroisos@win.tue.nl). To start with, some useful information about your chance to hit and the damage you do. Your Strength and Dexterity affect your chances to hit and your amount of damage in combat: Strength To-Hit Damage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 01 - 05 -2 -1 06 - 07 -1 normal 08 - 15 normal normal 16 normal +1 17 +1 +1 18 +1 +2 18/01 - 18/50 +1 +3 18/51 - 18/75 +2 +3 18/76 - 18/89 +2 +4 18/90 - 18/99 +2 +5 18/** +3 +6 Dexterity To-Hit Damage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ 01 - 03 -3 normal 04 - 05 -2 normal 06 - 07 -1 normal 08 - 14 normal normal 15 +1 normal 16 +2 normal 17 +3 normal 18 +4 normal ... ... ... 25 +11 normal The Dexterity part of the table just continues on, with the bonus To-Hit being (Dexterity - 14), and no damage bonus ever being given for Dexterity. A plus on a weapon, pickaxe, or unicorn horn adds to its chance of hitting. Blessed weapons are +2 To-Hit against demons and undead. spears and javelins are +2 to-hit against xorn, dragons, nagas, and giants. Two-handed weapons cannot be used when you are wearing a shield. A plus on a weapon, pickaxe, or unicorn horn also adds to its damage. Weapons are -1 to damage for each time they've rusted. Cream pies do no damage. Leather weapons (bullwhips) do no damage against thick-skinned creatures. [THICK SKINNED are: small mimics, large mimics, giant mimics, mumaks, titanotheres, baluchitheriums, baby dragons, dragons, earth elementals, naga hatchlings, nagas, xorn, skeletons, wood golems, clay golems, stone golems, iron golems, horned devils, barbed devils, crocodiles, the Chromatic Dragon (caveman's quest nemesis), and Ixoth (knight's quest nemesis).] Axes and battle-axes do +d4 (+2.5 avg) damage against wooden creatures. [WOODEN are: wood golems.] Blessed weapons do +d4 (+2.5 avg) damage against undead and demons. [UNDEAD are: vampire bats, all liches, all mummies, all vampires including Vlad the Impaler, barrow wights, wraiths, nazgul, all zombies, skeletons, ghosts, and shades.] [DEMONS are: water demons, erinyes, horned devils, succubi, incubi, barbed devils, mariliths, vrocks, hezrou, bone devils, ice devils, nalfeshnee, pit fiends, balrogs, the Minion of Huhetol (archeologist's quest nemesis), and Nalzok (priest's quest nemesis). Also, the following demon lords and princes: Demogorgon, Juiblex, Yeenoghu, Orcus, Geryon, Dispater, Baalzebub, Asmodeus.] [AD&D players might think the following creatures are demons, but for the purposes of Nethack, they are not: manes, homunculi, imps, lemures, quasits, and tengu.] Silver weapons do +d20 (+10.5 avg) damage against silver-hating creatures. [SILVER-HATING are: All werecreatures, all demons, shades, any monster represented by a 'V' (all vampire types including Vlad), and any monster represented by an 'i' except for tengus.] Shades are a special case. If your weapon is made of silver, it behaves normally. Otherwise, the base damage for the weapon (Sdam,Ldam) is zero, and the weapon's plus does not add (but neither does the rusting penalty). However, if your weapon is blessed, you still inflict the +d4 damage. Also, if your weapon is made of silver, the silver bonus (+d20) still applies. Bonuses for Strength still seem to apply, as well. This is why shades seem to be so hard to kill. And now, the weapons themselves. The table below works as follows: "Name" is the real name of the weapon. A weapon that has plus signs or minus signs after its name carries an intrinsic bonus or penalty To-Hit, due to its ease of use or quality of worksmanship (+1 per plus, -1 per minus). Please note that named weapons do extra damage, which hasn't been incorporated in this table. Japanese names have their own entry. "Appearance" is what a character who is not knowledgeable about weapons (tourists for example) would think the weapon was, if this is different from its normal name. If this space is left blank (--), the item is recognized by everyone. "Wt" is Weight. "Sdam" is the amount of damage it does against man sized or smaller creatures, and "Ldam" is the amount it does against larger than man sized creatures. Damage is in "dice". "d6" means a random amount from 1-6, for example. "Avg Dmg" is the average amount of damage that a +0 weapon of that type can be expected to inflict IF it hits. Keep in mind that the game works off a random d20 die roll to determine whether or not a weapon hits, so taking a weapon's intrinsic plus/minus into account is very important. A weapon that only averages 5 points of damage, but hits 10% more often might be more valuable than a weapon that averages 6 points of damage, if you really need to hit that monster. The amount before the slash is the amount it can be expected to inflict on a man sized or smaller creature, and the amount after the slash is for Larger than man sized creatures. The "Metal" column, finally, lists what the weapon is made of. IRON denotes ferrous metals, including steel. Only IRON weapons can rust. Only COPPER (including brass) corrodes. Some creatures are extra vulnerable to SILVER. An asterisk (*) here means that the weapon is two-handed. Swords Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ broadsword -- 70 2d4 d6+1 5.0/4.5 IRON dwarvish short sword broad shrt swd 30 d7 d8 4.0/4.5 IRON elven broadsword runed broadswd 70 d6+d4 d6+1 6.0/4.5 IRON elven short sword runed shrt swd 30 d8 d8 4.5/4.5 IRON katana (+) samurai sword 40 d10 d12 5.5/6.5 IRON long sword -- 40 d8 d12 4.5/6.5 IRON ninja-to -- 70 2d4 d6+1 5.0/4.5 IRON orcish short sword crude shrt swd 30 d5 d8 3.0/4.5 IRON runesword runed broadswd 40 d4 d6 2.5/3.5 IRON scimitar curved sword 40 d8 d8 4.5/4.5 IRON short sword -- 30 d6 d8 3.5/4.5 IRON silver saber -- 40 d8 d8 4.5/4.5 SILVER tsurugi (++) lng sam. swd 60 d16 d8+2d6 8.5/11.5 METAL * two-handed sword -- 150 d12 3d6 6.5/10.5 IRON * wakizashi -- 30 d6 d8 3.5/4.5 IRON Polearms Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ bardiche long poleaxe 120 2d4 3d4 5.0/7.5 IRON * bec de corbin beaked polearm 100 d8 d6 4.5/3.5 IRON * bill-guisarme hooked polearm 120 2d4 d10 5.0/5.5 IRON * fauchard pole sickle 60 d6 d8 3.5/4.5 IRON * glaive sngl-edge pole 75 d6 d10 3.5/5.5 IRON * guisarme pruning hook 80 2d4 d8 5.0/4.5 IRON * halberd angled poleaxe 150 d10 2d6 5.5/7.0 IRON * lucern hammer pronged pole 150 2d4 d6 5.0/3.5 IRON * naginata sngl-edge pole 75 d6 d10 3.5/5.5 IRON * partisan vulgar polearm 80 d6 d6+1 3.5/4.5 IRON * ranseur hilted polearm 50 2d4 2d4 5.0/5.0 IRON * spetum forked polearm 50 d6+1 2d6 4.5/7.0 IRON * voulge pole cleaver 125 2d4 2d4 5.0/5.0 IRON * Spears Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ dwarvish spear stout spear 35 d8 d8 4.5/4.5 IRON elven spear runed spear 30 d7 d8 4.0/4.5 IRON javelin throwing spear 20 d6 d6 3.5/3.5 IRON lance -- 180 d6 d8 3.5/4.5 IRON orcish spear crude spear 30 d5 d8 3.0/4.5 IRON spear -- 30 d6 d8 3.5/4.5 IRON trident -- 25 d6+1 3d4 4.5/7.5 IRON Blunt weapons Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ aklys thonged club 15 d6 d3 3.5/2.0 IRON bullwhip -- 20 d2 1 1.5/1.0 LEATHER club -- 30 d6 d3 3.5/2.0 WOOD flail -- 15 d6+1 2d4 4.5/5.0 IRON mace -- 30 d6+1 d6 4.5/3.5 IRON morning star -- 120 2d4 d6+1 5.0/4.5 IRON nunchaku -- 15 d6+1 2d4 4.5/5.0 IRON quarterstaff staff 40 d6 d6 3.5/3.5 WOOD * rubber hose -- 20 d4 d3 2.5/2.0 ???? war hammer -- 50 d4+1 d4 3.5/2.5 IRON Other Hand-weapons Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ athame (++) -- 10 d4 d3 2.5/2.0 IRON axe -- 60 d6 d4 3.5/2.5 IRON battle-axe dbl-headed axe 120 d8+d4 d6+2d4 7.0/8.5 IRON * crysknife (+++) -- 20 d10 d10 5.5/5.5 MINERAL dagger (++) -- 10 d4 d3 2.5/2.0 IRON dwarvish mattock (-) heavy pick 120 d12 d8+2d6 6.5/11.5 IRON * elven dagger (++) runed dagger 10 d5 d3 3.0/2.0 IRON knife -- 5 d3 d2 2.0/1.5 IRON orcish dagger (++) crude dagger 10 d3 d3 2.0/2.0 IRON scalpel (++) -- 5 d3 d3 2.0/2.0 IRON shito -- 5 d3 d2 2.0/1.5 IRON stiletto -- 5 d3 d2 2.0/1.5 IRON worm tooth -- 20 d2 d2 1.5/1.5 ???? Bows Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ bow -- 30 d6 0 3.5/--- WOOD crossbow -- 50 d6 0 3.5/--- WOOD elven bow runed bow 30 d6 0 3.5/--- WOOD orcish bow crude bow 30 d6 0 3.5/--- WOOD sling -- 3 d6 0 3.5/--- WOOD yumi long bow 30 d6 0 3.5/--- WOOD Missile weapons Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ arrow -- 1 d6 d6 3.5/3.5 IRON crossbow bolt -- 1 d4+1 d6+1 3.5/4.5 IRON elven arrow runed arrow 1 d7 d6 4.0/3.5 IRON orcish arrow crude arrow 1 d5 d6 3.0/3.5 IRON silver arrow -- 1 d6 d6 3.5/3.5 SILVER ya (+) bamboo arrow 1 d7 d7 4.0/4.0 METAL Throwing weapons Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ boomerang -- 5 d9 d9 5.0/5.0 WOOD dart -- 1 d3 d2 2.0/1.5 IRON shuriken (++) throwing star 1 d8 d6 4.5/3.5 IRON Tools Appearance Wt Sdam Ldam Avg Dmg Metal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ pick-axe -- 100 d6 d3 3.5/2.0 IRON unicorn horn -- 20 d12 d12 6.5/6.5 BONE *