Artifact

An artifact is a rare and unique object. Most players sacrifice to their god because gods sometimes provide artifacts as gifts. Some NetHack players like to wish for artifacts, although it has been argued that a Barbarian pretending to know the correct spelling of the Eye of the Aethiopica is somewhat out-of-style.

The, the English definite article, is placed before the name of any artifact. For example, the blessed +2 Magicbane or the Orb of Fate. True to grammar, there can only be one of each artifact; if one that has already been generated (or your own quest artifact) is loaded in a bones level, it is converted into its base item type.

List of artifacts

See Source:artilist.h or the article for each artifact for more details.

Artifact name	Base item type	Alignment		Obtaining
Bell of Opening	bell (silver bell)	unaligned	Invocation ritual. Detect secret doors & traps. Opening.	Obtained by killing quest nemesis.
Book of the Dead	spellbook (papyrus spellbook)	unaligned	Invocation ritual. Tame undead. Raise the dead.	Obtained by killing the Wizard of Yendor.
Candelabrum of Invocation	candelabrum	unaligned	Invocation ritual.	Obtained by killing Vlad the Impaler.
Cleaver	battle-axe (two-headed axe)	neutral		First sacrifice gift for Barbarians.
Demonbane	long sword	lawful		May be given to a new angelic being.
Dragonbane	broadsword	unaligned
Excalibur	long sword	lawful		May be produced for lawful adventurers at fountains. Lawful crowning gift. Intelligent.
The Eye of the Aethiopica	amulet of ESP (random amulet)	neutral		Quest artifact of Wizards. Intelligent.
The Eyes of the Overworld	pair of lenses	neutral		Quest artifact of Monks. Intelligent.
Fire Brand	long sword	unaligned
Frost Brand	long sword	unaligned
Giantslayer	long sword	neutral
Grayswandir	silver saber	lawful
Grimtooth	orcish dagger (crude dagger)	chaotic
The Heart of Ahriman	luckstone	neutral		Quest artifact of Cavepeople. Intelligent.
The Longbow of Diana	bow	chaotic		Quest artifact of Rangers. Intelligent.
The Magic Mirror of Merlin	mirror	lawful		Quest artifact of Knights. Intelligent.
Magicbane	athame	neutral		First sacrifice gift for Wizards.
The Master Key of Thievery	skeleton key (key)	chaotic		Quest artifact of Rogues. Intelligent.
The Mitre of Holiness	helm of brilliance (random helmet)	lawful		Quest artifact of Priests. Intelligent.
Mjollnir	war hammer	neutral		First sacrifice gift for Valkyries.
Ogresmasher	war hammer	unaligned
The Orb of Detection	crystal ball (glass orb)	lawful		Quest artifact of Archeologists. Intelligent.
The Orb of Fate	crystal ball (glass orb)	neutral		Quest artifact of Valkeries. Intelligent.
Orcrist	elven broadsword (runed broadsword)	chaotic		May be produced by naming an ordinary elven broadsword Orcrist.
The Platinum Yendorian Express Card	credit cart	neutral		Quest artifact of Tourists. Intelligent.
The Sceptre of Might	mace	lawful		Quest artifact of Cavepeople. Intelligent.
Snickersnee	katana (samurai sword)	lawful		First sacrifice gift for Samurai.
The Staff of Aesculapius	quarterstaff (staff)	neutral		Quest artifact of Healers. Intelligent.
Sting	elven dagger (runed dagger)	chaotic		May be produced by naming an ordinary elven dagger Sting.
Stormbringer	runesword	chaotic		Chaotic crowning gift. Intelligent.
Sunsword	long sword	lawful		May be given to a new angelic being.
Trollsbane	morning star	unaligned
The Tsurugi of Muramasa	tsurugi (long samurai sword)	lawful		Quest artifact for Samurai. Intelligent.
Vorpal Blade	long sword	neutral		Neutral crowning gift.
Werebane	silver saber	unaligned

See also

• Artifact weapon
• Quest artifact
• Artifact blast
• Artifact YANIs
• [SLASH'EM artifacts]

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