The Staff of Aesculapius

)   The Staff of Aesculapius   (No tile)
Base item	quarterstaff
Damage vs. small	1d6 ×2 +1d8
Damage vs. large	1d6 ×2 +1d8
To-hit bonus	+0
Bonus versus	not drain resistant
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Affiliation	neutral Healer intelligent
When carried	(none)
When wielded	hungerless regeneration drain resistance
When invoked	heals HP cures sickness, sliming, and blindness
Base price	5000 zm
Weight	40
Material	wood

The Staff of Aesculapius is the Healer quest artifact. It is the prize for completing the Healer quest, and is neutral for wishing purposes. Its base item type is a quarterstaff.

Generation

For Healers, The Staff of Aesculapius is always generated on the Healer quest goal level, where it is placed on the square of the Cyclops at level creation.

Description

The Staff of Aesculapius grants hungerless regeneration and drain resistance while wield]]ed, and deals double damage to all monsters without drain resistance and drains levels from them on hit - the life-draining itself applies a further +1d8 damage to the target's current and maximum HP, and restores half of that damage to the wielder's current HP. This bonus damage is not doubled, and does not apply against monsters with drain resistance.

When #invoked, The Staff heals you by half of the HP needed to return to full health and cures sickness, blindness (unless it was caused by gunk, as from a cream pie) and sliming.

Strategy

For optimized invocation, see Invoke#Optimum invocation schedule.

Healers fighting the boulder-tossing Cyclops to retrieve The Staff of Aesculapius should avoid melee-range combat if at all possible, and can immobilize the covetous giant by exploiting his lack of Monster MR: the wand of sleep, potions sleeping and paralysis, or spells of sleep can all put him under if they hit.

The Staff of Aesculapius is generally unpopular late in the game as a a two-handed weapon, especially with the abundance of drain-resistant hostiles in Gehennom. However, it is also the only neutral artifact that provides drain resistance, making it a tempting-if-ultimately-optional wish candidate for neutral non-Healer characters. Thankfully, as a intelligent artifact The Staff of Aesculapius resists ⁴⁄₅ (80%) of item curses (before factoring in half spell damage and/or magic resistance), and the #tip extended command ensures that a hero can still get to any bagged holy water or remove curse scrolls with a cursed Staff in their hands. The on-demand healing from its regeneration and invoke power is also especially powerful for typically spell-focused Healers in particular.

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.

Weapon	Drain resistant	Not drain resistant
+0 Staff of Aesculapius	$\frac{1+6}{2}=\bold{3.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+6}{2}\right )\times 2+\frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{11.5}$
+7 Staff of Aesculapius	$\frac{1+6}{2}+7=\bold{10.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+6}{2}+7\right )\times 2+\frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{25.5}$

History

The Staff of Aesculapius is introduced along with most of the other quest artifacts in NetHack 3.1.0.

In NetHack 3.4.3 and earlier versions, including variants based on those versions, the #tip command does not exist, making it perilous if the Staff's resistance fails to prevent it from becoming cursed. The Staff of Aesculapius is also occasionally used in drain for gain strategies.

Origin

In ancient Greek mythology, the Staff of Aesculapius - primarily known as the Rod of Asclepius, and also known as the "asklepian" - is a serpent-entwined rod, ⚕. The Caduceus of Hermes, ☤, is a similar symbol of commerce with two snakes around it, and both staves were gifted to each deity by Apollo - as a result, the caduceus often occurs in similar contexts due to being confused with the Rod, and is likely the reason Hermes serves as the neutral god of the Healer pantheon.

Aesculapius (or Asclepius) is one of the sons of Apollo and a deity associated with the healing aspect of medicine - the snake and staff are separate symbols of Asclepius that may represent the dual natures of medical practice and drugs as capable of either inducing sickness and death, or bringing health and extending life. Snakes were also considered sacred beings of wisdom, health and resurrection by ancient Greeks, partly by virtue of regularly shedding their skin, while the staff is interpreted as a walking stick, and thus a symbol of support and growth. One of Asclepius's more famous temples was located on the island of Kos, where the legendary "father of medicine" Hippocrates is said to have begun his career - the Oath attributed to him (as seen in the encyclopedia entry for the Healer) swears by "Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal", the latter two of which refers to Asclepius's daughters, Hygieia and Panacea.

As a mortal, Asclepius was educated by Apollo and more formally by the centaur Chiron in the arts of medicine. Some stories assert that Asclepius was his original name, while others suggest that he was originally named Hepius and received his new name from curing a ruler named Ascles, who suffered a seemingly-incurable eye ailment. Asclepius eventually became so proficient as a healer that he could cheat death and bring others back to life - this led to Zeus killing him with a thunderbolt when either Hades began accusing Asclepius of stealing his subjects, or Zeus himself became afraid that Asclepius would teach the art of resurrection to others. Apollo retaliated by killing the Cyclopes who made Zeus's thunderbolts, leading to his temporary banishment from Olympus; Asclepius's body was placed among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus. Zeus later resurrected Asclepius as a god upon Apollo's request and gave him a place on Olympus. In NetHack, the player character kills the Cyclops to retrieve the Staff of Aesculapius and curses Zeus upon obtaining it, suggesting that this myth is the basis for their quest.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, The Staff of Aesculapius no longer has drain resistance, although the encyclopedia entry describing the artifact is unchanged. Fortunately, there are more sources of drain resistance, such as the amulet of drain resistance - finding one makes facing the Cyclops as a Healer much less fraught and leaves his strong weapon attacks to contend with.

The #tip command does not exist in SLASH'EM, so character using The Staff of Aesculapius should keep at least one means of curse removal in open inventory - the ⁴⁄₅ chance of resisting curses still works in The Staff's favor, as does having magic resistance and/or half spell damage.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack, and notnotdNetHack, The Staff of Aesculapius is a silver-shod quarterstaff, and appears as a serpent-entwined staff when unidentified. The listed variants also have the #tip command and introduce various sources of curse resistance and curse removal.

The silver damage granted to The Staff of Aesculapius gives it far more utility as an offensive melee weapon for Healers in Gehennom.

SlashTHEM

SlashTHEM both adds the #tip command from later versions of NetHack and restores the Staff's drain resistance - all other details from SLASH'EM apply.

Encyclopedia entry

This staff is considered sacred to all healers, as it truly
holds the powers of life and death. When wielded, it
protects its user from all life draining attacks, and
additionally gives the wielder the power of regeneration.
When invoked it performs healing magic.