Excalibur

)   Excalibur
Base item	long sword
Damage vs. small	1d8 +1d10 (2–18)
Damage vs. large	1d12 +1d10 (2–22)
To-hit bonus	+1d5
Bonus versus	(any)
Weapon skill	long sword
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	lawful intelligent
When carried	(none)
When wielded	drain resistance automatic searching better searching (special)
When invoked	(none)
Base price	4000 zm
Weight	40
Material	iron

Excalibur is an intelligent artifact weapon that appears in NetHack. It is lawful-aligned, and its base item is a long sword.

Generation

Excalibur cannot be randomly generated or granted as a sacrifice gift, though it can still be left behind in bones. Excalibur's code indicates that it would be the first sacrifice gift for knights were it able to be gifted.

Excalibur is created by dipping an unnamed non-artifact long sword into a fountain as a lawful character who is at least experience level 5. Each time you dip, there is a ¹⁄₆ chance that, instead of normal fountain effects, the sword will be transformed into Excalibur - this will bless and rustproof the sword, along with removing any rust or corrosion, and its previous enchantment is retained. (This does not unrestrict the long sword skill.) When Excalibur is created, the fountain will always disappear afterward.

Dipping for Excalibur when not lawful has a ¹⁄₆ chance of removing erodeproofing and cursing the long sword instead, as well as abusing wisdom ("A freezing mist rises from the water and envelopes the sword"). The fountain will also disappear after this occurs.

Crowning

If a lawful character is crowned while wielding a non-artifact long sword in their primary hand, and Excalibur has not yet been generated, the sword will be transformed into the blessed rustproof Excalibur as the crowning gift. This auto-identifies the sword and unrestricts the long sword skill if applicable; if the sword has no positive enchantment at the time of crowning, its enchantment is set to +1.

Description

Excalibur adds +d5 to-hit and +d10 damage against all monsters, and confers drain resistance, automatic searching, and an enchantment-based bonus to searching for secret doors and secret corridors (up to a maximum of +5). However, while wielded, demon princes will be generated hostile, and every monster can track your location whether it has eyes or not - though due to how monster pathfinding works in NetHack, the impact of this is negligible.

Demon princes

If Excalibur is wielded when a demon prince is generated, the demon prince will be generated as hostile rather than peaceful. If you are wielding Excalibur when said prince warps to you and wants to demand a bribe, they will also turn hostile.

Strategy

Dipping for Excalibur is easy for Knights and lawful Valkyries, who both start with an enchanted long sword. It is also a stellar weapon for Samurai, who can create it once they find a long sword - their katana uses the same skill, making preparation and subsequent #twoweaponing far more conducive. Other lawfuls seeking to utilize Excalibur while avoiding crowning will first have to receive another long sword as a sacrifice gift (which will unrestrict the corresponding skill for them).

While acquiring it as soon as possible is generally a good idea, the chance of getting it is only ¹⁄₆ at each dip - be prepared to deal with water demons, water nymphs and other hazards that may arise from fountain dipping.

Generating Excalibur successfully will always make the fountain used dry up and disappear - in Minetown, there is no warning for this and the watch will immediately be angered, making dipping out in the open a Bad Idea. For those willing to take the risk (or somehow have no choice but to try), consider using a pet to kill all the guards, or else lock them up in rooms where they cannot come out and attack you.

You can get a +9 Excalibur in the late game by enchanting an ordinary long sword to +9 first (likely evaporating several other long swords in the process); Excalibur at +9 is more competitive in terms of damage with other commonly-used late-game artifacts at +7, conveys a rare intrinsic in drain resistance, and will not destroy potentially valuable items like Mjollnir or Frost Brand may for those concerned about loot. For more information on the chance of this process, see the enchant weapon article.

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.

Weapon	Small monster	Large monster
+0 Excalibur	$\frac{1+8}{2}+\frac{1+10}{2}=\bold{10}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}+\frac{1+10}{2}=\bold{12}$
+7 Excalibur	$\frac{1+8}{2}+\frac{1+10}{2}+7=\bold{17}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}+\frac{1+10}{2}+7=\bold{19}$
+9 Excalibur	$\frac{1+8}{2}+\frac{1+10}{2}+9=\bold{19}$	$\frac{1+12}{2}+\frac{1+10}{2}+9=\bold{21}$

Origin

Excalibur is the legendary sword of King Arthur, who appears in NetHack as the Knight's quest leader.

History

Excalibur first appeared in NetHack 1.3d.

Before NetHack 2.2a, the method of obtaining Excalibur was different from the present time. One first had to name a long sword Excalibur and then dip it in a fountain. Excalibur in these versions had no special properties, but the dipping would make the sword +5 (if it was not already higher), rustproof it, and remove any curses.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Excalibur has been made significantly better, as it always does 10 extra damage, instead of 1d10. This is because artifacts with a damage bonus in SLASH'EM always add that amount, as opposed to a random number between one and that amount. Also, the drain resistance it gives is much more useful.

SporkHack

In SporkHack, it is not possible to obtain Excalibur by dipping unless you are a Knight. Other lawful long sword wielders who want it must get it as a crowning gift, through a wish or by finding Knight bones. This devalues Excalibur slightly and makes Snickersnee, which can be randomly generated, more useful.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, Excalibur adds +1d20 to-hit and deals an extra 3d7 damage to demons and undead if blessed. In addition, Excalibur inherits the material and weapon properties of the sword it is made from. Players may therefore want to put off dipping for Excalibur until they obtain a more desirable base sword.

Sources of such swords include:

• A barrow wight's guaranteed long sword has a ¹⁄₅ chance to be a silver one (which adds 1d20 silver damage) and a ¹⁄₅ chance to be gold (which adds 1d20 holy damage). In addition, 5% of barrow wight swords will be lesser holy (+1d8 holy) as well. Wishing for a gold or silver long sword also works.
• Acquiring Oona's sword (+1d8 elemental damage, +1d8 damage vs. chaotic and neutral targets).
• Retrieving the Sword of the Deeps from the last level of the Lethe Waterway in the neutral quest (a +12 deep long sword).
• As a Knight, somehow obtain King Arthur's axiomatic long sword (double damage vs. chaotic and neutral targets).
• Nazgul are always generated with an unholy long sword (double unholy damage).

Encyclopedia entry

At first only its tip was visible, but then it rose, straight,
proud, all that was noble and great and wondrous. The tip of
the blade pointed toward the moon, as if it would cleave it
in two. The blade itself gleamed like a beacon in the night.
There was no light source for the sword to be reflecting
from, for the moon had darted behind a cloud in fear. The
sword was glowing from the intensity of its strength and
power and knowledge that it was justice incarnate, and that
after a slumber of uncounted years its time had again come.
After the blade broke the surface, the hilt was visible, and
holding the sword was a single strong, yet feminine hand,
wearing several rings that bore jewels sparkling with the
blue-green color of the ocean.

[ Knight Life, by Peter David ]