Guisarme
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| |
|---|---|
| Name | Guisarme |
| Appearance | pruning hook |
| Damage vs. small | 2d4 |
| Damage vs. large | d8 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | polearm |
| Size | two-handed |
| Base price | 5 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 80 |
| Material | iron |
A guisarme is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a two-handed polearm that is made of iron, and appears as a pruning hook when unidentified.
Contents
Generation
In addition to random generation, general shops and antique weapons outlets can sell guisarmes.
Watchmen and soldiers may be generated with a guisarme.[1]
Strategy
The guisarme has high average damage against small monsters among polearms and is relatively light, but it has low average damage against large monsters, being slightly less effective versus them than the still-lighter ranseur.
History
The guisarme is introduced with all other polearms in NetHack 1.3d.
Origin
A guisarme, sometimes called a gisarme, giserne or bisarme, is a pole weapon used in Europe primarily between the 11th and 15th centuries, and is likely Germanic in origin - like many medieval polearms, the exact early form of the weapon is hard to define from literary references, and the identification of surviving weapons can be speculative. Many photos that supposedly feature guisarmes are actually fauchard-forks with sharp spear points added to the back of the fauchard blade.
Two main modern schools of thought exist regarding guisarmes and their construction and use. One school of thought posits that the guisarme was developed by peasants by combining hand tools with long poles like most polearms, with the guisarme being a combination of a pruning hook and a spear shaft; early guisarmes designs were simply a hook on the end of a long pole, while later designs implemented a small reverse spike on the back of the blade - eventually weapon makers incorporated the hook in a variety of different polearms, making "guisarme" into a catch-all for any weapon that included a hook on the blade, as exemplified by the terms "bill-guisarme", "voulge-guisarme" and "glaive-guisarme". The other school of thought is rooted in the interpretation of the guisarme existing as a "crescent shaped double socketed axe" on a long shaft, based on the use of the term "giserne" and axe interchangeably for the same weapon in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Variants
NetHack Fourk
NetHack Fourk removes the guisarme and many other polearms.
xNetHack
xNetHack removes the guisarme and many other polearms.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, a guisarme can be created at a forge by combining a grappling hook and a spear; a guisarme can be combined with a spear to create a bill-guisarme. This also applies to Hack'EM.
Encyclopedia entry
- See the encyclopedia entry for polearm.
