Spear
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | spear |
| Appearance | spear |
| Damage vs. small | 1d6 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8 |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | spear |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 3 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 30 |
| Material | iron |
A spear is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a stackable one-handed weapon that can be used in melee or thrown as a projectile, and is made of iron.
Contents
Generation
Ordinary spears make up about 5% of randomly generated weapons (on the ground, as death drops, and in shops).
Watchmen and soldiers in the Yendorian army have a 1⁄3 chance of being generated with a spear.[1] Salamanders have a 6⁄7 chance of generating with a spear.[2] Ice devils have a 1⁄4 chance of generating with a spear.[3]
Spear skill
| Spear | |
|---|---|
| Max | Role |
| Basic | |
| Skilled | |
| Expert | |
The following weapons use the spear skill:
Spears of all kinds make up about 9.7% of randomly generated weapons (on the ground, as death drops, and in shops). Spears have an additional +2 to-hit bonus against all monsters when thrown, and have a separate +2 to-hit bonus against kebabable monster classes.
Spears can be multishot, and Cavepeople get a +1 multishot bonus for throwing spears of any kind.[4][5]
There are no artifact weapons that use the spear skill.
Strategy
In the absence of dagger skills, a small stack of spears is a powerful ranged weapon for any Caveperson or Priest lucky enough to find more than one: most characters will require an antique weapons outlet to amass multiple spears in any timely manner. They are also quite heavy, with four spears outweighing a single pick-axe.
History
The spear first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.3.1, including variants based on those versions, Knights start the game with a +2 spear.
From Hack 1.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, including variants based on those versions, spears cannot be multishot, and the javelin has its own separate skill in its appearances. NetHack 3.6.0 merges the javelin skill into the spear skill and makes all spear weapons eligible for multishot.
Origin
The spear is a weapon designed for thrusting. Chimpanzees use very rudimentary spears, so it is likely that humans have used spears for an extremely long time.
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, non-dwarven Valkyries start the game with a +1 spear.[6] Lycanthropic characters in any role that start with a silver spear (i.e. Undead Slayer) will instead receive a regular spear.[7][8]
Encyclopedia entry
- they come together with great random, and a spear is brast,
and one party brake his shield and the other one goes down,
horse and man, over his horse-tail and brake his neck, and
then the next candidate comes randoming in, and brast his
spear, and the other man brast his shield, and down he goes,
horse and man, over his horse-tail, and brake his neck, and
then there's another elected, and another and another and
still another, till the material is all used up; and when you
come to figure up results, you can't tell one fight from
another, nor who whipped; and as a picture of living, raging,
roaring battle, sho! why it's pale and noiseless - just
ghosts scuffling in a fog. Dear me, what would this barren
vocabulary get out of the mightiest spectacle? - the burning
of Rome in Nero's time, for instance? Why, it would merely
say 'Town burned down; no insurance; boy brast a window,
fireman brake his neck!' Why, that ain't a picture!
Twain ]
References
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 179
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 485
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 770
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 138: Caveman multishot
- ↑ src/dothrow.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1065
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 229: Valkyrie spear
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 217: Undead Slayer spear
- ↑ u_init.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 351: lycanthrope-safe spears
