Scalpel
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | scalpel |
| Appearance | scalpel |
| Damage vs. small | 1d3 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d3 |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Weapon skill | knife |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 6 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 5 |
| Material | metal |
A scalpel is a kind of melee weapon that appears in NetHack. It uses the knife skill, and does d3 damage to both small and large monsters. Scalpels are not suitable for throwing like other knives, and doing so carries a -2 to-hit penalty.[1] They are made of metal.
Contents
Generation
Scalpels are not randomly generated on the dungeon floor, in shops, or as a death drop.
All Healers start with a +0 scalpel as their weapon.[2] A scalpel in a bones pile is usually left by a Healer.
Player monster healers on the Astral Plane have a small probability (6.25%) of generating with a scalpel as their weapon.[3]
Strategy
Scalpels are very poor weapons roughly on par with orcish daggers, with the only real advantage being their inherently erosion-proof material. However, knives tend to be sparse compared to other projectile weapons like daggers, and are slightly worse melee weapons themselves. In any case, the starting scalpel for Healers may be worth keeping as a backup weapon against monsters such as acid blobs that can corrode or rust weapons; you can stash or simply ditch it once you gather a decent stack of knives and/or obtain a primary weapon that is either non-iron or erode-proofed.
Variants
SLASH'EM
Scalpels are a little more useful in SLASH'EM: Healers can use them to cure sickness or sliming using the surgery technique.
xNetHack
In xNetHack, nurses have a 1⁄5 chance of generating with a scalpel.[4]
dNetHack
In dNetHack, Healers also apply their healing spell skill level to-hit and damage with scalpels (+0 at basic, +2 at skilled, +3 at expert). At max skill, a scalpel is roughly equivalent to other starting weapons in the hands of a Healer, though it is still outperformed by a unicorn horn or quarterstaff at high strength.
All nurses now generate with scalpels, as do some deminymphs. Several hostile nurses in the Madman's quest branch generate wielding sickness-poisoned scalpels.
Encyclopaedia entry
A scalpel is a very sharp knife used for surgery ... Merely
touching a medical scalpel with bare hands to test it will
cut through the skin. ... Medical scalpel blades are gradually
curved for greater precision when cutting through tissue.
