Snickersnee
) Snickersnee 
| |
|---|---|
| Base item | katana |
| Damage vs. small | 1d10 +1d8 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d12 +1d8 |
| To-hit bonus | +1 |
| Bonus versus | (any) |
| Weapon skill | long sword |
| Size | one-handed |
| Affiliation | |
| When carried |
(none) |
| When wielded |
(none) |
| When invoked |
(none) |
| Base price | 1200 zm |
| Weight | 40 |
| Material | iron |
Snickersnee is an artifact katana, that simply does +1d8 damage; the main good thing about it is that it uses the long sword skill, so you can build up skill quickly. It is the first sacrifice gift for a samurai.
It is moderately useful in the early game, especially for Samurai, Valkyries and Knights (or other long sword wielders), but is usually not worth burning a wish for. It is interesting to note, however, that Excalibur is only slightly better than Snickersnee - they inflict the same amount of damage versus small monsters (1d8+1d10 for Excalibur versus 1d10+1d8 for Snickersnee), and Snickersnee does not anger demons or reveal your presence to monsters. However, neither does it confer level-drain resistance or searching, and it gets only +1 to hit (versus Excalibur's +1d5), though the attack bonus is much less significant at high levels or with high luck. Excalibur also inflicts slightly more damage to large monsters.
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 Snickersnee |  |
|
| +7 Snickersnee |  |
|
Variants
In SLASH'EM, Snickersnee does its maximum damage bonus on each hit, thus 1d10+8 vs. small and 1d12+8 vs. large, making it significantly more powerful than in Vanilla. Additionally, since artifacts can be #two-weaponed, a Samurai who finds a longsword can get easy access to both Excalibur and Snickersnee, which makes for a formidable combination even into the late game.
In SporkHack, Snickersnee gains +1d5 to hit (in addition to the +1 for being a katana), but is otherwise unchanged. This is more significant than it might initially seem because of the to-hit calculation changes in Spork.
Encyclopedia entry
Ah, never shall I forget the cry,
or the shriek that shrieked he,
As I gnashed my teeth, and from my sheath
I drew my Snickersnee!
--Koko, Lord high executioner of Titipu
