Silver mace
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| |
|---|---|
| Name | silver mace |
| Appearance | silver mace |
| Damage vs. small | 1d6+1 [2-7] (+1d20) |
| Damage vs. large | 1d6 [2-7] (+1d20) |
| To-hit bonus | +0 |
| Weapon skill | mace |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 60 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 36 |
| Material | silver |
- For the weapon in variants of NetHack, see silver mace (disambiguation).
A silver mace is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a one-handed melee weapon that uses the mace skill, and is naturally made of silver.
The silver mace is the base item for the artifact Demonbane.
Contents
Generation
Silver maces make up 1⁄500 (0.2%) of all weapons that are randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Used armor dealerships and antique weapons outlets can also stock silver maces.
Humanoid angelic beings have a 1⁄3 chance of being generated with a blessed and erosion-proofed silver mace that has an enchantment ranging from +3 to +6:[1][2] assuming Demonbane has not been generated, this mace will always be made into Demonbane for an angelic being that is a lord to their kind, and otherwise has a 1⁄20 chance of being made into the artifact.[3]
Player monsters, including those generated on the Astral Plane, have a low 1⁄582 chance (effectively ~0.17%) of generating with a silver mace as their weapon before role-based replacements are applied.[4]
Description
The silver mace has the same base damage as a mace, dealing 1d6+1 damage against small monsters and 1d6 damage against large ones before enchantments and damage bonuses such as the +1d20 damage dealt against silver-hating monsters.[5] It is also 6 aum heavier than the mace, matching the pattern of other silver weapons being 20% heavier than their iron counterparts.
In terms of monster weapon preference, monsters will prefer the silver mace to a normal mace, and will prefer an orcish short sword or better to the silver mace.[6]
Strategy
The silver mace is the only source of blunt silver damage and is stronger as a melee weapon than the silver dagger, but is outperformed in that regard by the silver spear and silver saber. Silver maces are likely to be the preferred silver weapon for Clerics, as well as some Barbarians and most Cave Dwellers. Most other Barbarians, along with a majority of Knights, Rogues and Tourists, may prefer a silver saber or even a silver spear for better melee damage depending on their skill set.
Hostile Angels and Aleaxes are good sources of enchanted and blessed silver maces for heroes seeking one from the mid-game stages onward.
History
The silver mace first appears in NetHack Plus, and also appears in SLASH 6, SLASH'EM and SporkHack. It makes its vanilla NetHack debut in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 67d58202, which also changes Demonbane's base item from a long sword to a silver mace.
Origin
A mace is type of blunt club or rod that uses a heavy head on the end of a strong and heavy shaft to deliver powerful strikes; it also comes in a two-handed variety and is typically made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, steel, or even metal-reinforced wood. Military maces can be shaped with flanges or knobs to allow greater penetration of plate armour, with their length depending on the soldier's rank.
Maces are used throughout prehistory and post-classical history, and in the modern era are rarely used for actual combat; ceremonial maces are still kept by many universities, government bodies such as the British House of Commons and the U.S. Congress, and other institutions to display as symbols of authority.
Variants
NetHack variants created prior to NetHack 5.0.0 may include the silver mace as an item, or else allow maces to be made of silver via object properties systems—this section is focused on the former instances.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM has the silver mace available as a type of weapon, retained from earlier appearances in NetHack Plus and SLASH 6.
SporkHack
In SporkHack, the silver mace is the base item for Demonbane, and is not randomly generated otherwise.
SlashTHEM
SlashTHEM retains the silver mace from SLASH'EM and adds the artifact silver mace Silverstar.
References
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 333
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 342-L350
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 334-L341
- ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 150: 1⁄2 to get a random weapon—the designated range of objects covers weapons from the spear to the bullwhip inclusively in objects.h, and uses normal generation odds
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 270
- ↑ src/weapon.c in NetHack 5.0.0, line 696
