Long sword

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Name long sword
Appearance long sword
Damage vs. small 1d8 (1-8)
Damage vs. large 1d12 (1-12)
To-hit bonus +0
Weapon skill long sword
Size one-handed
Base price 15 zm
(+10/positive
enchant)
Weight 40
Material iron

A long sword is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a one-handed melee weapon that uses the long sword skill, and is made of iron.

The long sword is the base item for several artifacts of varying alignments: Excalibur (lawful), Fire Brand (unaligned), Frost Brand (unaligned), Giantslayer (neutral), Sunsword (lawful), and Vorpal Blade (neutral).

Generation

Knights start each game with a +1 long sword.[1]

Long swords make up 1⁄20 (5%) of all weapons that are randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapons outlets can also stock long swords.

A long sword is always generated in a niche on the first floor of Vlad's Tower during level creation.[2]

Several monsters can be generated with long swords:

  • Watch captains, Yendorian army captains and lieutenants each have a roughly 1⁄2 chance of generating with a long sword as their primary weapon.[3][4]
  • Chieftains, pages, roshi, and warriors have a 2⁄3 chance of generating with a long sword.[5]
  • Humanoid angelic beings have a 2⁄3 chance of generating with blessed and rustproofed long swords that have an enchantment ranging from +0 to +3, with the long sword always being made into Sunsword for Archons and having a 1⁄20 chance of being made into the artifact for Angels and Aleaxes.[6]
  • Wraith monsters with weapon attacks, i.e. barrow wights and Nazguls, are always generated with long swords.[7]
  • A strong humanoid monster with a weapon attack, the ability to wield weapons and no other ruleset governing its monster starting inventory has a chance of generating with a long sword, unless they are being generated on the Rogue level:[8] the base odds are 1⁄14 for normal monsters, 1⁄12 for a monster that is a lord or nasty, 1⁄10 for a monster that is either an overlord or else is both a lord and nasty, and 1⁄8 for a monster that is both nasty and an overlord.
  • King Arthur, the quest leader for the Knight quest, is always generated with a blessed +4 long sword that will be transformed into Excalibur if it has not yet generated.[9]
  • The Norn, the quest leader for the Valkyrie quest, is always generated with a +4 long sword.[10]
  • Player monsters that are not monks and are created on the Astral Plane have a roughly 1⁄2 chance (50%) of being generated with a long sword as their initial weapon, and otherwise have a 25⁄291 chance (~8.6%) of generating with one, resulting in an effective ~58.6% chance before role-based replacements are applied.[12][13]
    • Knights have a 3⁄4 chance of forcing a long sword in place of their initial weapon, resulting in an effective ~89.65% chance of their weapon being a long sword.[14]

Description

The long sword inflicts slashing damage, and deals 1d8 damage to small monsters and 1d12 to large ones.

A long sword can be transformed into Excalibur through one of two methods.

  • A lawful hero that is at least experience level 5 and dips a single, non-artifact long sword that is not named into a fountain has a chance of transforming the sword into the blessed and erosion-proofed Excalibur, exercising wisdom and using up the fountain instantly:[15] This happens with a 1⁄6 chance per dip for a Knight and 1⁄30 for other roles, and will always fail if the artifact already exists[16]—attempting to do this while the hero is not lawful will instead abuse wisdom, curse the sword, drain a point of enchantment if it is at -6 or higher, and remove any erosion-proofing before making the fountain disappear.[17]
  • A lawful hero that is crowned while wielding a long sword will have it transformed into Excalibur if the artifact does not exist yet:[18] wielding the long sword will also result in the crowning process blessing it, identifying it, making it erosion-proof, removing any erosion, and raising its enchantment to +1 if it is currently lower.[19]

In terms of monster weapon preference, monsters will prefer a long sword to an elven broadsword, and will prefer a trident or better to the long sword.[20]

Strategy

The long sword is one of the more popular weapons for its damage and versatility, and is also a popular off-hand weapon for two weapon combat. At six artifacts, the long sword also has the highest amount of artifacts that use it as a base item type—lawful and neutral heroes in roles that are restricted in long sword can unlock the skill by receiving one of the many artifact long swords as a sacrifice gift, as well as via crowning. Barrow wights are a reliable source of long swords for heroes that can deal with them efficiently, and heroes that are especially desperate for a long sword may consider attacking the Minetown watch captain, or else using a pet to kill them, if they have generated with a long sword.

Knights are the best-positioned role to take advantage of Excalibur due to their starting +1 long sword and their higher odds in creating it by dipping, though they will have to do so before entering their quest portal.[21] While other roles can still create Excalibur by dipping, it may prove tedious enough that they may be better off crowning or else seeking other options, (e.g. Valkyries using Mjollnir, which can perform well into the late-game) unless they player is especially patient and the long sword is not their primary weapon.

History

The long sword first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and it is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.

From NetHack 1.3d to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the Valkyrie starts with a +1 long sword—this gives lawful Valkyries in later versions easy Excalibur access, since a lawful hero of at least XL 5 always has a flat 1⁄6 chance of creating Excalibur by dipping. This is changed for NetHack 5.0.0 via commit c09ae332 so that human Valkyries instead start the game with a +1 spear, while dwarvish Valkyries start the game with a +1 dwarvish spear due to equipment substitutions.

From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, Demonbane's base item is a long sword: humanoid angelic beings are always given blessed and erosion-proofed long swords that have an enchantment ranging from +0 to +3—those that are lords to their kind will have the sword made into either Demonbane or Sunsword, while others have a 1⁄20 of being made into an artifact chosen from either available weapon. NetHack 5.0.0 changes the artifact's base item, first to a mace via commit b1a5a9c3, and then then to a silver mace via commit 67d58202—it also gives humanoid angelic beings their current odds of generating with a silver mace or a long sword.

King Arthur and The Norn's long swords are added in NetHack 5.0.0 as part of commit 20cbadcf, which makes it so that a hero killing their quest leader no longer makes the game unwinnable and strengthens all quest leaders accordingly.

Origin

Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an article about:

In the study of historical weapons, the term long sword or longsword refers to a medieval two-handed sword, the adjective "long" describing the long, two-handed grip rather than the length of the blade. The weapon depicted in NetHack is closer to a knightly sword, a single-handed weapon used throughout the Middle Ages that originally developed from Viking weapons—many modern fantasy works depict long swords in a similar manner. The knightly sword had a thick blade intended primarily for slashing or cutting, although later examples could thrust effectively as well: medieval (two-handed) longswords were often derived from knightly swords, with examples differing from the latter only in the length of the hilt.

As armor became thicker, the one-handed knightly sword was relegated to the status of a sidearm (referred to as an arming sword or side-sword), with the two-handed longsword predominating in combat. However, once the advent of firearms rendered metal armor ineffective in war, the single-handed arming sword came to prominence in civilian use, gradually evolving into the light and slender rapier, a weapon intended mainly for thrusting at unarmored targets.

Like most melee weapons in NetHack, the long sword and its damage dice originate from Dungeons & Dragons, specifically the 1st Edition Advanced ruleset. Alongside NetHack, Dungeons & Dragons is one of the primary examples of fantasy media where the long sword is treated and depicted as a knightly sword and "traditional" heroic weapon.

Variants

NetHack variants will often change the base items of artifact long swords to other items in order to make them less commonplace.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the Valkyrie's starting +1 long sword from NetHack 3.4.3 and prior contemporary versions is replaced with a +1 spear, and dwarven Valkyries will be given a +1 dwarvish spear instead.[22][23]

SLASH'EM retains all artifact long swords from NetHack 3.4.3 and prior contemporary versions except for Giantslayer, which is replaced by the artifact axe Giantkiller, and it adds another artifact long sword in the lawful Sword of Justice.

The Rat King is always generated with a long sword on his square during level creation.

SporkHack

SporkHack changes some of the base items for artifact long swords: Demonbane's base item is changed to a silver mace, while Sunsword's base item changed to a silver long sword, and Giantslayer is changed to a sling. SporkHack also adds a new artifact long sword in Dirge, which acts as a sort of a chaotic counterpart to Excalibur.

All other artifact long swords from NetHack 3.4.3 and prior contemporary versions are retained.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, Giantslayer's base item is changed to a sling as in SporkHack, and all other artifact long swords from NetHack 3.6.7 and prior versions are retained.

Black marketeers are always generated with an enchanted long sword.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, the long sword makes up 11⁄250 (4.4%) of all weapons that are randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops.

A long sword inflicts slashing and piercing damage, and retains its damage dice from NetHack. A hero that wields a long sword while they are at Skilled or better in long swords gains the "graze", "focus fire" and "stop thrust" expert traits.

dNetHack also has many artifacts that use the long sword as a base item—this information can be viewed in the marked tabs.

The following artifacts use the long sword as their base item:

The Singing Sword is an unaligned artifact long sword that is much different from most other artifacts, as it does not use the long sword skill but instead uses and exercises the musicalize spell skill.

Some changes are also made to the base items of existing artifact long swords from NetHack 3.4.3:

  • Fire Brand and Frost Brand are defined as long swords by default, and have a 1⁄3 chance of generating as a long sword, but they can be generated or wished for as several types of base item.
  • Excalibur retains its long sword base item, and can be created from a long sword of any object material by either dipping the desired long sword or wishing for the artifact as the desired long sword type.
  • Demonbane has its base item changed to a saber, while Giantslayer has its base item changed to an axe similar to SLASH'EM.
  • Sunsword retains its long sword base item and is made of silvered gold.
  • Vorpal Blade retains its long sword base item.

The minor spires encountered in the Outlands of the Neutral Quest may contain a long sword made of silver and a shield of reflection if Mirror Brand has already been generated in that game.

Some monsters can be generated with long swords:

xNetHack

In xNetHack, Fire Brand and Frost Brand have their base items changed to short swords. All other artifact long swords from current versions of NetHack retain their base item, with Sunsword being made of gold.

SpliceHack

In SpliceHack, two short swords can be combined at a furnace to create a long sword.

Demonbane remains an artifact long sword as it does in NetHack 3.6.7 and prior versions, and SpliceHack also adds two other artifact long swords alongside the existing ones retained from NetHack:

  • Acidfall, an unaligned long sword
  • Frostburn, an unaligned long sword created by combining Fire Brand and Frost Brand at a furnace

notdNetHack

In notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, in addition to dNetHack details, Berith generates with a long sword when summoned by an Illithanachronounbinder.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, some artifact long swords retained from NetHack 3.6.7 and prior versions have their base items changed: Fire Brand and Frost Brand's base items are changed to short swords, similar to xNetHack, while Giantslayer is changed to a spear, and Demonbane is changed to a heavy mace made of silver—Excalibur, Vorpal Blade and Sunsword retain their base items.

A long sword can be created at a forge by combining two short swords. Long swords can be used to create a few other items:

  • A long sword can be combined with a scimitar to create a saber.
  • A long sword can be combined with a broadsword to create a two-handed sword.
  • Two long swords can be combined to create a katana.

SlashTHEM

In addition to SLASH'EM details, SlashTHEM adds several artifact long swords (including from other variants):

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, upgrading a long sword successfully will produce an elven long sword, and upgrading an orcish long sword successfully will produce a long sword.

Fire Brand and Frost Brand have their base items changed to short swords similar to xNetHack and EvilHack, and Hack'EM adds Giantslayer from NetHack instead of adapting Giantkiller from SLASH'EM or other variants—Demonbane is changed a silver heavy mace, as it is in EvilHack. Hack'EM retains all other artifact long swords from NetHack 3.6.7 and prior versions, and adds other artifact long swords:

  • Thiefbane, from SLASH'EM
  • Dirge from EvilHack
  • The Master Sword, an artifact wholly new to the variant

References

  1. ↑ src/u_init.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 91
  2. ↑ dat/tower3.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 41
  3. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 207
  4. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 211
  5. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 296
  6. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 332-L347
  7. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 487
  8. ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 552-L554
  9. ↑ dat/Kni-strt.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 66
  10. ↑ dat/Val-strt.lua in NetHack 5.0.0, line 65
  11. ↑ include/objects.h in NetHack 5.0.0, line 174-L392
  12. ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 150: roughly 1⁄2 to get a long sword, otherwise give 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[11]
  13. ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 199: monks will always have no melee weapon
  14. ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 193-L194
  15. ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 404-L447
  16. ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 405
  17. ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 411-L424
  18. ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 901-L915
  19. ↑ src/pray.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 976-L985
  20. ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 694
  21. ↑ src/fountain.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 408: checks for existing Excalibur
  22. ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 229
  23. ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 343
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