Dirge

)   Dirge
Base item	long sword
Damage vs. small	1d8 x2
Damage vs. large	1d12 x2
To-hit bonus	+1d5
Bonus versus	not poison resistant
Weapon skill	long sword
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	chaotic
When carried	(none)
When wielded	drain resistance
When invoked	(none)
Base price	3000 zm
Weight	40
Material	iron

Dirge is an chaotic intelligent knight-favoring long sword in SporkHack. It is given to chaotic knights who sacrifice a member of their own race on a chaotic altar while wielding a long sword. It can also be given normally to any chaotic character.

As an artifact, it has +5 to-hit and is permanently poisoned. It deals an extra 1d6 like normal poisoning, but also doubles the base and enchantment damage against non-poison resistant monsters. Dirge is mediocre against poison-resistant monsters, but deals incredible amounts of damage versus monsters that don't resist poison.

Fully enchanted, to non-poison resistant creatures it deals almost as much damage as a fully enchanted Graywswandir versus silver-hating creatures.

Average damage calculation

The average damage calculations in the following table do not include bonuses from weapon skills, strength, or from using a blessed weapon against undead or demons. It also does not include the 10% chance to instantly kill non-poison resistant monsters.

Weapon	Poison-resistant		Not poison-resistant
	Small monster	Large monster	Small monster	Large monster
+0 Dirge	$\frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{4.5}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}=\bold{6.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+8}{2} \right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{12.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+12}{2} \right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{16.5}$
+7 Dirge	$\frac{1+8}{2}+7=\bold{11.5}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}+7=\bold{13.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+8}{2}+7\right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{26.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+12}{2}+7\right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{30.5}$