Fire and Frost Brand

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)   Fire/Frost Brand   (No tile)
Base item long sword
Damage vs. small 1d8 x2
Damage vs. large 1d12 x2
To-hit bonus +1d5
Bonus versus not fire/cold resistant
Weapon skill long sword
Size one-handed
Affiliation
When carried

(none)

When wielded
When invoked

(none)

Base price 3000 zm
Weight 40
Material iron

Fire Brand and Frost Brand are two very similar artifacts. They are both unaligned long swords that give double damage and +1d5 to-hit against monsters not resistant to fire and cold respectively. Frost brand: "The ice-cold blade freezes the <monster>!". Fire Brand: "The fiery blade burns the <monster>!".

Frost Brand is vastly more popular than Fire Brand, because many monsters in Gehennom are fire-resistant. However, note that most of the Astral Plane's monsters are cold-resistant and not fire-resistant. Both can destroy potions carried by their target; Fire Brand can also destroy scrolls and spellbooks. Fire Brand confers fire resistance when wielded and Frost Brand confers cold resistance when wielded.

Fully enchanted, Frost and Fire Brand do slightly more damage than Grayswandir against large monsters who are neither resistant nor silver-hating. As such, they make excellent weapons once you have the resources to enchant them, and Frost Brand is probably your best weapon choice for Gehennom if you have it (unless you also have Grayswandir).

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. The same calculations apply to Frost Brand with respect to cold-resistant monsters.

Weapon Fire-resistant Not fire-resistant
Small monster Large monster Small monster Large monster
+0 Fire Brand \frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{4.5} \frac{1+12}{2}=\bold{6.5} \left (\frac{1+8}{2} \right )\times 2=\bold{9} \left (\frac{1+12}{2} \right )\times 2=\bold{13}
+7 Fire Brand \frac{1+8}{2}+7=\bold{11.5} \frac{1+12}{2}+7=\bold{13.5} \left (\frac{1+8}{2}+7\right )\times 2=\bold{23} \left (\frac{1+12}{2}+7\right )\times 2=\bold{27}

Encyclopedia

No entry.

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