Stick of dynamite

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) Stick of dynamite.png
Name stick of dynamite
Appearance red stick
Damage vs. small 6d6 fire explosion
Damage vs. large 6d6 fire explosion
To-hit bonus +0
Weapon skill ''none''
Size one-handed
Base price 150 zm
(+10/positive
enchant)
Weight 30
Material plastic

A stick of dynamite (unidentified appearance "red stick") is a new item introduced in SLASH'EM. It is essentially a more powerful grenade, but it is never randomly generated.

Arming

Arming works similarly to grenades, i.e. the time is dependent on BUC status:

  • Blessed: 15 turns
  • Uncursed: d10+9 turns
  • Cursed: d15+1 turns

Compared to grenades, the fuse on a stick of dynamite is longer; unlike grenades, cursed sticks are never "duds". When armed, it gives off a radius-2 light, similar to a lit potion of oil. Using a stick of dynamite as a light source is not recommended however.

Sticks of dynamite are stackable, but unlike grenades, attempting to arm a stack will only arm one of them (which will be assigned a new inventory letter). Unarmed sticks of dynamite in your inventory are never affected by explosions, but unarmed sticks on the ground will be detonated by explosions (from any source, including grenades), potentially resulting in a much larger blast.

Explosion

A stick of dynamite will explode in a fireball doing 6d6 damage, and will attempt to destroy walls and create pits in a 3x3 square centered on the stick of dynamite. This effect is somewhat similar to a broken wand of digging, except that it cannot create holes. Undiggable walls are unaffected, but pits will still be created on levels with undiggable floors.

The radius of both the fireball and the pits can be massively increased by detonating many sticks simultaneously, as mentioned above. Pits will not be created on or behind the squares of walls that were destroyed, and the explosion "fans out" in a realistic manner, destroying one layer of walls in its path.

Strategy

As these never appear randomly, most players will never see one. The only way they can appear is via a wish, and they most certainly do not merit one. A large stack detonated in the center of Minetown or the Mall (very likely in wizard mode) certainly creates amusing results, though.