               The Adventurer's Guide to Standard Weapons
              ============================================

               by Robert DeLoura (deloura@noaapmel.govr),
               and Boudewijn Wayers (dedos4@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 *

