Hellfire

)   Hellfire
Base item	crossbow
Damage vs. small	1d2 +7 (+2d6)
Damage vs. large	1d2 +7 (+2d6)
To-hit bonus	+5
Bonus versus	(any)
Weapon skill	crossbow
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	chaotic
When carried	(none)
When wielded	fire resistance
When invoked	(none)
Base price	4000 zm
Weight	50
Material	wood

Hellfire is an artifact that appears in SLASH'EM and SlashTHEM. It is chaotic-aligned, and its base item is a crossbow; it is one of two missile-launching artifacts added to SLASH'EM, with the other being Plague. When wielded, Hellfire grants fire resistance.

Hellfire has a flat +5 to-hit bonus and +7 damage; crossbow bolts fired from it cause fiery explosions in a 3x3 square centered on any target they hit, doing an additional 2d6 damage.This also applies to monsters shooting bolts from Hellfire, with the bolt being destroyed on impact.

Generation

Hellfire can only be randomly generated in SLASH'EM. Since crossbows are relatively abundant, it is not uncommon to come across Hellfire lying about in the dungeon or in a weapon or armor shop.

In SlashTHEM, Hellfire is one of the many artifacts that can only be created at The Forge.

Strategy

In theory, Hellfire is great for a character who wants to do a lot of ranged fighting, as it turns ordinary crossbow bolts into potent weapons. However, several caveats apply:

Due to the range of the explosions, you should avoid firing Hellfire at a target that is either point-blank range or adjacent to anything you don't want to hit, such as pets, aligned priests, and shopkeepers. In addition, crossbows are two-handed weapons in SLASH'EM and its variants, making shields of any kind an obstruction; SLASH'EM's increased blasting damage also means that cross-aligned players should avoid Hellfire in particular, as re-wielding the weapon each time you switch from melee to ranged combat will cause too much damage. Finally, the presence of rapid-fire heavy machine guns and other firearms make Hellfire less powerful than some mundane alternatives for most roles.

With all of this in mind, Rogues and Rangers are likely to benefit the most from discovering Hellfire - they can reach expert in crossbow skill, making Hellfire a viable alternative to firearms for them.