Artifacts in NetHack Plus =========================== by David Robertson (djr98665@tree.egr.uh.edu). Note: Since quest artifacts were not altered much in NetHack Plus, I copied the NetHack 3.1 spoilers where these were appropriate. For this information I would like to thank the people who compiled the NetHack 3.1 artifact spoilers: David Hairston (mtc@henry.ece.cmu.edu), Lars Huttar (huttar@hp750.itg.ti.com), Paul Richardson (pmr@daneel.rdt.monash.edu.au), and Boudewijn Wayers (kroisos@win.tue.nl). All information in this file applies to NetHack Plus, version 3.1.3, compiled january 23rd, 1995. There have been many changes to artifacts in NetHack Plus: new artifacts have bene added, and many of the old ones have been altered in various ways. The biggest changes have been to the artifacts that used to do double damage, like Grayswandir, Frost/Fire Brand, Demonbane, etc. Most of these have been changed to do a set amount of damage. For most of the creature specific artifacts, the damage bonus is +30. Grayswandir is much less powerful now, doing a mere 2 points of extra damage. Most classes now have a specific first artifact which they get through sacrificing. If an artifact is the first one gotten by a class, the class' name will be mentioned after to the name of the artifact in the ensuing list. These artifacts will be granted only if the character is of the proper alignment. For example, if a barbarian wears a helm of opposite alignment and sacrifices at a lawful altar, he will receive a lawful artifact, not Cleaver. However, he will still receive Cleaver as his first gift from sacrificing at a chaotic altar. For priests, there is a first artifact for lawfuls (Sunsword) and for neutrals (Disrupter), but not for chaotics. You will notice that there are a lot of artifacts that are not aligned. You will never be able to get these by sacrificing, but you can name some of them, or wish for them. If this is possible, it is listed after the name of the artifact ("nameable" or "wishable"). Any of the non-quest artifacts, except for Excalibur, may be generated randomly in the dungeon as well. You may not wish for any quest artifacts and for most normal artifacts in NetHack Plus. There is no limit on wishing and the number of artifacts in the game. If you so desire, and you have enough wishes, you could get all "wishable" artifacts with just one wish per artifact. For every artifact you gain through sacrificing at an altar, it is harder to get a next artifact by sacrificing (25 more sacrifices, to be specific). Wished-for artifacts and named artifacts do not count towards this, so there is no penalty for naming Sting, Elfrist, etc. All artifacts are effectively one plus higher than their enchantment levels for purposes of damaging monsters. Thus, the +0 Dragonbane could damage a creature like a werewolf (which normally requires a +1 or higher weapon to damage it). Finally, the artifact to-hit bonuses only apply if the artifact damage bonuses do as well. So Dragonbane, (+5 to hit, +30 to damage - versus Dragons only) will behave as a normal broadsword against non-dragons, with no to-hit or damage bonuses (except the +1 noted in the prior paragraph). This is also true for non-monster specific artifacts like Fire/Frost Brand. If a monster is resistant to Fire/Cold, the to-hit bonuses will not apply. Lawful Artifacts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Excalibur (long sword, knight) Intelligent wielded: +5 to hit, +6 to damage, Searching, Protection from level drain The Fire Dagger (dagger, healer) wielded: +4 to hit, +4 fire damage, Cold resistance Grayswandir (silver saber) wielded: +5 to hit, +2 to damage, Hallucination resistance The Holy Spear of Light (silver spear, undead slayer) Intelligent wielded: +5 to hit, +10 damage versus Undead invoked: Light blast, like camera flash that does 10d6 versus undead, lycanthropes, and demons The Quick Blade (elven short sword, elf) wielded: +9 to hit, +2 damage The Skullcrusher (club, caveman) wielded: +10 to damage Snickersnee (katana, samurai) wielded: +8 to damage The Sunsword (long sword, lawful priest) Intelligent wielded: +5 to hit, +10 damage versus Undead, Protection from level drain invoked: Light area Neutral Artifacts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Disrupter (mace, neutral priest, wishable) wielded: +5 to hit, +30 damage versus undead The Fire Brand (long sword, fire mage) wielded: +5 to hit, +5 fire damage, Cold resistance The Frost Brand (long sword, ice mage) wielded: +5 to hit, +5 frost damage, Fire resistance The Luckblade (short sword) wielded: +5 to hit, +5 to damage carried: Gives extra luck The Magicbane * (athame, wizard) wielded: +3 to hit, +4 to damage, Magic resistance, absorbs 95% of curses. It also has various attacks, like probe, stun, purge, and can always damage monsters, no matter what the plus required to hit them is Mjollnir (heavy hammer, valkyrie) wielded: 1d8 versus small and large; two-handed: +12 electrical damage The Sword of Balance (silver short sword, wishable, nameable) wielded: +2 to hit, +5 damage against non-neutrals The Vorpal Blade (long sword) wielded: +5 to hit, +1 to damage 10% chance of beheading The Gauntlets of Defense ** (gauntlets of dexterity, monk) worn: Half physical damage invoked: Levitation (on/off) * WARNING: In this version, Magicbane has a bug that drains your maximum HP when you purge monsters. ** Note: Due to a bug, monks will never get their artifact or any spell books when sacrificing. Even if this bug were fixed, monks would only receive the Gauntlets of Defense, and spellbooks after that. Chaotic Artifacts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cleaver (battle axe, barbarian) wielded: +3 to hit, +10 to damage The Doomblade (orcish short sword) wielded: +10 to damage; 25% of time: an extra 5*(1d4) damage Grimtooth (orcish dagger) wielded: +2 to hit, +6 to damage The Serpents Tongue * (dagger) wielded: +2 to hit versus all If a monster is not poison resistant: 40% of time does 1d6+2 30% of time does 2d6+4 20% of time does 3d6+6 10% of time it is fatal If the monster is poison resistant: does 2*(base damage+enchantment) Stormbringer (runesword) Intelligent wielded: 2d4 versus small, 1d6+1 versus large +5 to hit, hits to drain level and 1d8 hp You get healed by 1/2 the amount you drain if the monster is not resistant to level drain, does 2*(base damage + enchantment) Protects from level drain * Note: This may be a bug, but right now, if a monster is vulnerable to poison, the enchantment of the weapon does no extra damage Unaligned artifacts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Demonbane (long sword, wishable) wielded: +5 to hit, +30 damage versus demons The Dragonbane (broadsword, wishable) wielded: +5 to hit, +30 damage versus dragons Elfrist (orcish spear, wishable, nameable) wielded: +5 to hit, +15 damage versus elves The Giantkiller (dwarvish mattock, wishable) wielded: +2 to hit, +30 damage versus giants The Ogresmasher (war hammer, wishable) wielded: +5 to hit, +30 damage versus ogres Orcrist (elven broadsword, wishable, nameable) wielded: +5 to hit, +15 damage versus orcs Sting (elven dagger, wishable, nameable) wielded: +5 to hit, +7 damage versus spiders Warns when spiders are near The Trollsbane (morning star, wishable) wielded: +5 to hit, +30 damage versus trolls The Werebane (silver saber, wishable) wielded: +5 to hit, +20 damage versus lycanthropes Quest Artifacts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Orb of Detection (crystal ball, archaeologist, lawful) invoked: Invisibility (on/off) carried: ESP, Half spell damage, Magic resistance The Heart of Ahriman (luckstone, barbarian, chaotic) invoked: Levitation (on/off) carried: Stealth The Sceptre of Might (quarterstaff, caveman, lawful) invoked: Conflict (on/off) wielded: +3 to hit, +5 damage on non-lawful monsters carried: Magic resistance The Medallion of Shifters (amulet of ESP, doppelganger, neutral) invoked: Protection from shape shifters worn: Protection from shape shifters The Palantir of Westernesse (crystal ball, elf, lawful) invoked: Taming carried: ESP, Regeneration, Half spell damage The Candle of Eternal Flame (magic candle, fire mage, neutral) invoked: Summon tame fire elemental carried: Cold resistance, Teleport control, Warning The Staff of Aesculapius (quarterstaff, healer, neutral) invoked: Healing wielded: Drains levels, Regeneration, +3 to-hit, Double damage versus monsters vulnerable to drain life The Storm Whistle (magic whistle, ice mage, neutral) invoked: Summon tame water elemental carried: Warning, Teleport control, Fire resistance The Magic Mirror of Merlin (mirror, knight, lawful) invoked: Nothing wielded: Talks to you (not implemented) carried: ESP, Magic resistance; if you are a knight, you inflict double damage in certain cases * The Staff of Withering (quarterstaff, lycanthrope, chaotic) invoked: Energy boost wielded: Drains levels, +3 to-hit, +5 damage versus non-chaotics carried: Cold resistance The Mantle of Knowledge (helm of brilliance, monk, neutral) invoked: Energy boost carried: Magic resistance, ESP The Mitre of Holiness (helm of brilliance, priest, lawful **) invoked: Energy boost worn: Half physical damage from undead (only for priests!) carried: Fire resistance The Master Key of Thievery (skeleton key, rogue, chaotic) invoked: Untraps wielded: Talks to you (not implemented) carried: Warning, Teleport control, Half physical damage The Tsurugi of Muramasa (tsurugi, samurai, lawful) invoked: Nothing wielded: Bisects monsters 10% of time, Increase luck Against large monster, it does double damage instead of bisecting. 10% of time, when the attacking monster is wielding a weapon, it will break that weapon The Platinum Yendorian Express Card (credit card, tourist, neutral) invoked: Charging wielded: Defends (?) carried: ESP, Half spell damage, Magic resistance The Holy Sword (silver saber, undead slayer, lawful) wielded: +10 to-hit, +20 damage versus undead and non-lawfuls carried: Magic resistance The Orb of Fate (crystal ball, valkyrie, neutral) invoked: Level teleport carried: Warning, Half spell damage, Half physical damage, Increase luck The Eye of the Aethiopica (amulet of ESP, wizard, neutral) invoked: Create portal *** carried: Energy regeneration, Half spell damage, Magic resistance * When you turn undead in any way, when you use a spell of fireball, force bolt, magic missile, cone of cold, or finger of death, or when you use a wand of striking. ** The Mitre of Holiness can be neutral or chaotic if you play a priest. *** The Eye allows you to teleport to the first levels of those branches of the dungeon (Dungeons of Doom, Gnomish Mines, the Quest, Gehennom, and Vlad's Tower) that you have already found.