Dirge (SporkHack)

)   Dirge   (No tile)
Base item	long sword
Damage vs. small	1d8 x2
Damage vs. large	1d12 x2
To-hit bonus	+1d5
Bonus versus	monsters without poison resistance
Weapon skill	long sword
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	chaotic Knight intelligent artifacts
When carried	(none)
When wielded	drain resistance
When invoked	(none)
Base price	3000 zm
Weight	40
Material	iron

For the artifact in EvilHack and Hack'EM, see Dirge (EvilHack).

Dirge is an artifact that appears in SporkHack. It is chaotic, and its base item is a long sword.

Generation

Dirge cannot be randomly generated, though it can be wished for or found in bones.

A chaotic hero can receive Dirge as a sacrifice gift. A chaotic Knight can also obtain Dirge by sacrificing a corpse of their race on a chaotic altar while wielding a long sword, which will transform it into Dirge.

Description

While wielded, Dirge grants drain resistance, has +1d5 to-hit and is permanently poisoned: it deals +1d6 damage like all poisoned weapons, but also deals double the base and enchantment damage against monsters without poison resistance.

Strategy

Dirge's damage bonuses allow it to rack up significant damage against non-resistant monsters: When fully enchanted, it deals almost as much damage to them as a fully enchanted Grayswandir versus silver-hating creatures.

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. It also does not include the ¹⁄₁₀ chance of instantly killing non-poison resistant monsters.

Weapon	Poison-resistant		Not poison-resistant
	Small monster	Large monster	Small monster	Large monster
+0 Dirge	$\frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{4.5}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}=\bold{6.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+8}{2} \right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{12.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+12}{2} \right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{16.5}$
+7 Dirge	$\frac{1+8}{2}+7=\bold{11.5}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}+7=\bold{13.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+8}{2}+7\right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{26.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+12}{2}+7\right )\times 2+3.5=\bold{30.5}$