Flail
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | flail |
| Appearance | flail |
| Damage vs. small | 1d6+1 (2-7) |
| Damage vs. large | 2d4 (2-8) |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | flail |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 4 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 15 |
| Material | iron |
- "Nunchaku" redirects here. For the weapon in dNetHack and its variants, see nunchaku (dNetHack).
A flail is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a one-handed melee weapon that uses the flail skill, and is made of iron.
Samurai know the weapon as a nunchaku.
Generation
Flails make up 1⁄25 (4%) of all weapons that are randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapon outlets can also stock flails.
Some monsters can be generated with flails.
- Sergeants have a 1⁄2 chance of being generated with a flail as their primary weapon.[1]
- Yeenoghu is always generated with a flail.[2]
- Player monsters that are not monks and are created on the Astral Plane have an effective 20⁄291 chance (~6.87%) of generating with a flail as their initial weapon before role-based replacements are applied.[4][5]
Description
A flail inflicts blunt damage, and deals 1d6+1 damage versus small monsters and 2d4 versus large monsters.
In terms of monster weapon preference, monsters that are not balrogs will prefer the flail to a bullwhip, and will prefer an orcish spear or better to the flail.[6][7]
Strategy
A flail does decent damage and is relatively light, but is not particularly remarkable. Flails can be of use to certain roles such as Cave Dwellers and Clerics in the early game.
History
The flail first appears in Hack121 and Hack for PDP-11, which are both based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and it is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.
Origin
A flail is a weapon with a striking "head" attached to a handle by a flexible rope, strap, or chain; there are two primary types, though the word has been used somewhat loosely to describe any similarly-structured blunt weapon. Flails were generally employed to strike around a defender's shield or parry, but were imprecise and difficult to use in close combat or closely-ranked formations.
Cylindrical-headed flails are two-handed weapons adapted from European agricultural tools used to remove the husks from grain by beating; they were considered a peasant's weapon, commonly used by infantry. One-handed "military" flails–sometimes called a "mace-and-chain"–had spiked metal heads on chains and appeared in late medieval art; however, the scarcity of artifacts suggests they were very rarely used, and varieties with long chains and short handles in particular would have been hazards to their wielder. Regardless, the latter type are usually the depiction of choice for fantasy media such as Dungeons & Dragons (which NetHack takes the flail's traits and hit dice from).
The nunchaku (sometimes known as "nunchuks" in English) is an Asian weapon consisting of two usually-wooden six-inch sticks connected at their ends by a 1-inch metal chain or a rope, and was popularized by martial artists Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto. Nunchaku are traditionally held to have also been adapted from short flails originally employed in threshing rice, as were similar weapons such as the the three-section staff. The nunchaku is most widely used in martial arts such as Okinawan kobudō and karate—it is intended for training, since practicing with it enables the development of quick hand movements and improves posture. Modern nunchaku may be made of metal, plastic or fiberglass instead of the traditional wood, while toys and replicas may be made of polystyrene foam or plastic.
Variants
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, flails retain their damage dice and are slightly less common, making up 3⁄125 (2.4%) of all randomly-generated weapons. A hero that wields a flail while they are Skilled or better in flails gains the "hew", "stunning strike" and "penetrate armor" expert traits.
Player monster convicts have a 3⁄4 chance of generating with a flail as their weapon.
There are four artifact flails:
- Quicksilver is an unaligned silver flail that grants +1d4 to hit and +1d8 damage, and grants an extra attack at experience level 16 (made with a -15 to-hit penalty). It can be invoked to toggle extrinsic speed, as with speed boots.
- The Tentacle Rod is a drow-favoring intelligent flail that grants +1d7 to-hit and +1 to damage, and is the primary quest artifact for renegade drow Priests, Rangers, Rogues, and Wizards. It only receives half the normal damage bonus from strength, and receives no damage bonus from your skill or its enhancement; however, to-hit bonuses are applied as normal, and it has various effects when wielded or used to attack.
- The Three-Headed Flail is a chaotic and intelligent large flail wielded by Yeenoghu. On each hit, it makes two bonus attacks that each deal the standard weapon damage, and will confuse and stun the target if both of them land.
- The Sting of the Poison Queen is a chaotic and intelligent large flail wielded by Shaktari; it grants +1d4 to-hit and +1d12 damage, is permanently poisoned, and grants magic resistance when wielded.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, two flails can be combined at a furnace to create a triple flail.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, gnolls, gnoll hunters and flinds have an effective 1⁄2 chance of generating with a flail. Human and gnomish sergeants have a roughly 1⁄2 chance of being given a flail as their primary weapon.
A flail can be created at a forge by combining a mace and a morning star. A flail and a mace can be combined to create a war hammer, and a flail and a club can be combined to create an aklys.
Encyclopedia entry
Nunchaku
A nunchaku is two sections of wood (or metal in modern
incarnations) connected by a cord or chain. There is much
controversy over its origins; some say it was originally a
Chinese weapon, others say it evolved from a threshing flail;
one theory purports that it was developed from a horse's bit.
Chinese nunchaku tend to be rounded, whereas Japanese are
octagonal, and they were originally linked by horse hair.
There are many variations on the nunchaku, ranging from the
three sectional staff (san-setsu-kon nunchaku), to smaller
multi-section nunchaku. The nunchaku was popularized by
Bruce Lee in a number of films, made in both Hollywood and
Hong Kong.
EvilHack
When you are swinging a spiky ball on a chain, the only
realistic option is to keep moving. Standing still is an
interesting but brief demonstration of a spiral in action.
References
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 203-L205
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 515-L517
- ↑ include/objects.h in NetHack 5.0.0, line 174-L392
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 150: roughly 1⁄2 to get a random weapon—the designated range of objects covers weapons from the spear to the bullwhip inclusively in objects.h, and uses normal generation odds[3]
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 199: monks will always have no melee weapon
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 697-L698
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 723-L724: balrogs always favor their bullwhip to disarm a weapon-wielding hero with, and switch to a better weapon when the hero is weaponless
