Crysknife - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: dnh + evil

2026-07-20T03:44:51Z

dnh + evil

Umbire the Phantom: variants are ordered roughly by release

2026-07-18T20:42:01Z

variants are ordered roughly by release

Rivest–Shamir–Adleman: added EvilHack variant material

2026-07-17T15:54:40Z

added EvilHack variant material

Umbire the Phantom: ...to correct the linked commit in history

2026-07-17T15:42:00Z

...to correct the linked commit in history

Umbire the Phantom: /* Variants */ start on variant stuff, then double back...

2026-07-17T15:41:23Z

‎Variants: start on variant stuff, then double back...

Umbire the Phantom: /* History */ typo

2026-07-17T15:29:53Z

‎History: typo

Umbire the Phantom: /* Description */ re-org

2026-07-17T15:24:13Z

‎Description: re-org

Umbire the Phantom: /* Description */ forgot the basics

2026-07-17T15:23:52Z

‎Description: forgot the basics

Umbire the Phantom: /* SLASH'EM */ thinko'd

2026-07-17T15:19:13Z

‎SLASH'EM: thinko'd

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ let it redirect to fremen

2026-07-17T15:18:56Z

‎Origin: let it redirect to fremen

@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 ===dNetHack===
-In [[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]], both the crysknife and worm tooth are made of mineral. A crysknife [[Poisoned weapon#dNetHack|can be poisoned]], and does not incur a to-hit penalty when thrown.
+In [[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]], both the crysknife and worm tooth are made of mineral.
 [[Player monster (dNetHack)|Player monsters]] generated on the [[Astral Plane]] have a {{frac|20}} chance of their melee weapon being made into a crysknife.
 ===EvilHack===
-In [[EvilHack]], the crysknife is made of bone.
+In [[EvilHack]], the crysknife is made of bone, and uses the [[dagger]] skill since knife weapons are merged into the dagger skill set. Otherwise, the weapon largely functions as it does in vanilla ''NetHack''.
 ===SlashTHEM===

@@ Line 83: / Line 83: @@
 | <math>\frac{1+30}{2}+7=\bold{22.5}</math>
 |}
 ===dNetHack===
@@ Line 90: / Line 93: @@
 ===EvilHack===
+In [[EvilHack]], the crysknife is made of bone.
 ===SlashTHEM===

@@ Line 83: / Line 83: @@
 | <math>\frac{1+30}{2}+7=\bold{22.5}</math>
 |}
 ===dNetHack===
@@ Line 91: / Line 88: @@
 [[Player monster (dNetHack)|Player monsters]] generated on the [[Astral Plane]] have a {{frac|20}} chance of their melee weapon being made into a crysknife.
 ===SlashTHEM===

@@ Line 52: / Line 52: @@
 ==History==
-The crysknife and its means of production are introduced in [[Hack 1.0]]. From this version to [[NetHack 3.4.3]], including some variants based on these versions, worm teeth and crysknives do not stack&mdash;[[NetHack 3.6.0]] enables stacking for both items via {{commit|54bbb38ee0e2e01f28a3a0139bbcb10b69da2338}}.
+The crysknife and its means of production are introduced in [[Hack 1.0]]. From this version to [[NetHack 3.4.3]], including some variants based on these versions, worm teeth and crysknives do not stack&mdash;[[NetHack 3.6.0]] enables stacking for both items via {{commit|5ce14e99fcfaa55b6fc01161699a4f20b2532a07}}.
 From [[NetHack 3.0.0]] to [[NetHack 3.6.7]], including some variants based on those versions, the crysknife has a [[material]] of [[mineral]] and is the only mineral item to be unaffected by the stone to flesh spell{{refsrc|src/zap.c|179|nethack=3.6.7}}{{refsrc|src/zap.c|1787-L1791|nethack=3.6.7}}&mdash;per {{commit|83c28e6ff81122e7c7ac9ab481f4620e7207882b}}, this is likely to be intentional. [[NetHack 5.0.0]] changes crysknives to be made of bone via {{commit|60ec7256ab5ddcaf47ef79aa27b24ab586cccff6}}.{{refsrc|doc/fixes5-0-0.txt|21|nethack=5.0.0}}

@@ Line 64: / Line 64: @@
 ===SLASH'EM===
-In [[SLASH'EM]], crysknives can be [[Poisoned weapon|poisoned]], and deal 1d20 damage against small monsters and 1d30 against large ones. In addition to the standard methods, crysknives can also be created by enchanting a worm tooth through [[shopkeeper services]]. Crysknives and worm teeth do not stack, so it is not possible to multishot them.
+In [[SLASH'EM]], crysknives are made of mineral as in NetHack 3.4.3 and previous contemporary versions. They can be [[Poisoned weapon|poisoned]], and deal 1d20 damage against small monsters and 1d30 against large ones. In addition to creating one through the standard methods, crysknives can also be created by enchanting a worm tooth through [[shopkeeper services]]. Crysknives and worm teeth do not stack, so it is not possible to multishot them.
 The increased damage puts the crysknife on par with some of SLASH'EM's better artifacts, although top-tier ones such as the [[Bat from Hell (SLASH'EM)|Bat from Hell]] and [[Doomblade]] still exceed it in damage. For roles that can gain skill in knives, it is an excellent fallback in games where the RNG has failed to produce a good artifact weapon&mdash;this is particularly applicable to neutral-aligned roles in general or any role whose guaranteed first sacrifice gift is a non-weapon or a low-damage artifact; the crysknife is unambiguously a [[Healer/SLASH'EM|Healer's]] best choice of standard weapon, while [[Wizard/SLASH'EM|Wizards]], [[Ice Mage]]s and [[Flame Mage]]s may also consider a crysknife for their main weapon, and both Flame and Ice Mages among other roles can two-weapon it in the offhand.
@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 ===dNetHack===
-In [[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]], the crysknife and worm tooth are made of [[stone]]. A crysknife can be poisoned and does not incur a to-hit penalty when thrown.
+In [[dNetHack]], [[notdNetHack]] and [[notnotdNetHack]], both the crysknife and worm tooth are made of mineral. A crysknife [[Poisoned weapon#dNetHack|can be poisoned]], and does not incur a to-hit penalty when thrown.
 ===SlashTHEM===

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 ==Description==
 A crysknife can normally only be created by a [[hero]] [[reading]] a non-[[cursed]] [[scroll of enchant weapon]] while [[wielding]] a worm tooth:{{refsrc|src/read.c|951-L971|nethack=5.0.0}} this will uncurse the worm tooth if it is cursed, remove any [[erosion]]-proofing and transform it into a crysknife, but does not affect the weapon's [[enchantment]] (i.e. it will never evaporate when transforming into a crysknife).{{refsrc|src/read.c|957|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/read.c|962|nethack=5.0.0}} Reading the scroll while wielding a stack of worm teeth will merge them into a single crysknife, so each tooth in the stack must be split up via the [[adjust]] command to create multiple crysknives from them.{{refsrc|src/read.c|952|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/read.c|958-L961|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/read.c|969|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|include/objects.h|224-226|nethack=5.0.0|name="stacks"}} Reading a cursed scroll of enchant weapon while wielding a crysknife will transform it into a worm tooth, with a stack of wielded crysknives fusing in the same manner.{{refsrc|src/read.c|972-L989|nethack=5.0.0}}
 Monsters will not create crysknives from worm teeth on their own, but will wield any intact crysknives that they come across as normal&mdash;in terms of [[monster weapon preference]], they will choose a crysknife over a [[trident]], and will choose a [[katana]], a [[unicorn horn]] (if they can currently wield a [[two-handed]] weapon) or better over the crysknife.{{refsrc|src/weapon.c|694|nethack=5.0.0}}

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 A crysknife can normally only be created by a [[hero]] [[reading]] a non-[[cursed]] [[scroll of enchant weapon]] while [[wielding]] a worm tooth:{{refsrc|src/read.c|951-L971|nethack=5.0.0}} this will uncurse the worm tooth if it is cursed, remove any [[erosion]]-proofing and transform it into a crysknife, but does not affect the weapon's [[enchantment]] (i.e. it will never evaporate when transforming into a crysknife).{{refsrc|src/read.c|957|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/read.c|962|nethack=5.0.0}} Reading the scroll while wielding a stack of worm teeth will merge them into a single crysknife, so each tooth in the stack must be split up via the [[adjust]] command to create multiple crysknives from them.{{refsrc|src/read.c|952|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/read.c|958-L961|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/read.c|969|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|include/objects.h|224-226|nethack=5.0.0|name="stacks"}} Reading a cursed scroll of enchant weapon while wielding a crysknife will transform it into a worm tooth, with a stack of wielded crysknives fusing in the same manner.{{refsrc|src/read.c|972-L989|nethack=5.0.0}}
-A crysknife is not subject to normal erosion due to {{sa|Reverting to a worm tooth|its properties}}, but can be wished for in a damaged state.{{refsrc|src/objnam.c|1145|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/objnam.c|5280-L5287|nethack=5.0.0}} Opening a [[tin]] to [[eat]] while wielding a crysknife takes 3 actions.{{refsrc|src/read.c|1759-L1761|nethack=5.0.0}}
+A crysknife deals 1d10 damage to all monsters, and has a +3 [[to-hit]] bonus. It is not subject to normal erosion due to {{sa|Reverting to a worm tooth|its properties}}, but can be wished for in a damaged state.{{refsrc|src/objnam.c|1145|nethack=5.0.0}}{{refsrc|src/objnam.c|5280-L5287|nethack=5.0.0}} Opening a [[tin]] to [[eat]] while wielding a crysknife takes 3 actions.{{refsrc|src/read.c|1759-L1761|nethack=5.0.0}}
 Monsters will not create crysknives from worm teeth on their own, but will wield any intact crysknives that they come across as normal&mdash;in terms of [[monster weapon preference]], they will choose a crysknife over a [[trident]], and will choose a [[katana]], a [[unicorn horn]] (if they can currently wield a [[two-handed]] weapon) or better over the crysknife.{{refsrc|src/weapon.c|694|nethack=5.0.0}}

@@ Line 57: / Line 57: @@
 ==Origin==
-{{wikipedia|Fremen}}
+{{wikipedia}}
 In [[Frank Herbert]]'s science fiction novel ''[[wikipedia:Dune (novel)|Dune]]'', the crysknife is the formal and sacred weapon of the desert-dwelling Fremen. A crysknife is a personally-tuned knife with a double-edged curved blade, ground from the crystal tooth of a [[long worm|sandworm]]. The crysknife comes in two forms, fixed and unfixed: Unfixed knives need to be stored in proximity to an electrical field produced by the human body, or they will disintegrate after a period of time&mdash;this is why ''NetHack'' crysknives revert to worm teeth when they leave the user's inventory. Fixed crysknives are put through chemical processes to keep them permanently intact, which is represented by fixed crysknives in ''NetHack'' only reverting 10% of the time.
 ==Variants==