Crysknife

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Name	crysknife
Appearance	crysknife
Damage vs. small	1d10
Damage vs. large	1d10
To-hit bonus	+3
Weapon skill	knife
Size	one-handed
Base price	100 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	20
Material	mineral

A crysknife is a weapon that can only be produced by enchanting a worm tooth. It has a +3 to-hit bonus and does d10 damage against both small and large monsters, making it a nice choice for #twoweaponing. However, if it leaves your possession, it reverts back into a worm tooth (when fixed, this only happens 10% of the time). It can safely be put in a container without reverting, as long as that container remains in your possession.

Crysknives count as throwing weapons, so they get a to-hit bonus when thrown. Because of their reversion property, throwing them is typically not a good idea.

Slash'EM

Slash'EM changes the damage for crysknives to 1d20 against small and 1d30 against large. The Ice Mage, Flame Mage and Necromancer roles can gain Skilled in knife, Healer can gain Expert, and Yeomen can gain Basic. A healer can benefit seriously from the Crysknife, since they have little weapon choice other than darts, but still can achieve expert in knives, this can be the most lethal weapon (see below) for a healer in Slash'EM.

Generation

See: Worm tooth

Crysknifes are not normally generated, but instead created by the player through enchanting a worm tooth.

Average damage calculation

NetHack

We assume the player has expert skill in knife, which gives a +2 damage bonus. A blessed weapon deals 1d4 extra damage against demons and undead. The worst case scenario is against a non-undead, non-demon monster. The best case scenario is against a undead/demon monster. Further, this damage calculation is based per 3.4.3, and not SLASH'EM.

Weapon	Against regular small monsters	Against regular large monsters	Worst case scenario	Best case scenario
Blessed crysknife +0	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2=\bold{7.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2=\bold{7.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2=\bold{7.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2=\bold{10}$
Blessed crysknife +7	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2+7=\bold{14.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2+7=\bold{14.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2+7=\bold{14.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2+7=\bold{17}$
Blessed crysknife +9	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2+9=\bold{16.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2+9=\bold{16.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+2+9=\bold{16.5}$	$\frac{1+10}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2+9=\bold{19}$

SLASH'EM

We assume the player has expert skill in knife, which gives a +2 damage bonus. A blessed weapon deals 1d4 extra damage against demons and undead. The worst case scenario is against a non-undead, non-demon small monster. The best case scenario is against a undead/demon large monster.

Weapon	Against regular small monsters	Against regular large monsters	Worst case scenario	Best case scenario
Blessed crysknife +0	$\frac{1+20}{2}+2=\bold{12.5}$	$\frac{1+30}{2}+2=\bold{17.5}$	$\frac{1+20}{2}+2=\bold{12.5}$	$\frac{1+30}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2=\bold{20}$
Blessed crysknife +7	$\frac{1+20}{2}+2+7=\bold{17.5}$	$\frac{1+30}{2}+2+7=\bold{22.5}$	$\frac{1+20}{2}+2+7=\bold{17.5}$	$\frac{1+30}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2+7=\bold{25}$
Blessed crysknife +9	$\frac{1+20}{2}+2+9=\bold{19.5}$	$\frac{1+30}{2}+2+9=\bold{24.5}$	$\frac{1+20}{2}+2+9=\bold{19.5}$	$\frac{1+30}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2+9=\bold{27}$

Because of this increase in damage, the SLASH'EM crysknife compares favorably even to artifacts such as Excalibur. Against large monsters, it actually does more damage than the similarly enchanted Excalibur.

Throwing

At d10, the highest of any projectile weapon (above even the shuriken and boomerang), it begs to be used as such. However, as per the table below, this usually isn't worth the trouble. Even when a crysknife in question is fixed, as throwing an unfixed knife is best reserved for sheer desperation or complete and utter stupidity. The simple reason for this is that they do not stack—meaning only one may ever be thrown at a time, and it'll take far more enchant weapon scrolls than is worth that small upgrade. Consider that even 3d3 has a higher average (three unenchanted knives, thrown at once) than the 1d10 of a crysknife. Further, when enchantment is considered, 3d3+21 (27) is far larger than 1d10+7 (9).

Mythology

The crysknife and the concept of worm teeth are from Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune.

Encyclopedia entry

[The crysknife] is manufactured in two forms from teeth taken
from dead sandworms. The two forms are "fixed" and "unfixed".
An unfixed knife requires proximity to a human body's
electrical field to prevent disintegration. Fixed knives
are treated for storage. All are about 20 centimeters long.

[ Dune, by Frank Herbert ]

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