Spear

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Name	spear
Appearance	spear
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d8
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	spear
Size	one-handed
Base price	3 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	30
Material	iron

A spear is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a stackable one-handed weapon that can be used in melee or thrown as a projectile, and is made of iron.

Generation

Ordinary spears make up about 5% of randomly generated weapons (on the ground, as death drops, and in shops).

Watchmen and soldiers in the Yendorian army have a ¹⁄₃ chance of being generated with a spear. Salamanders have a ⁶⁄₇ chance of generating with a spear. Ice devils have a ¹⁄₄ chance of generating with a spear.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Per commit c09ae332, Valkyries start with a spear weapon instead of a long sword: human Valkyries start with a +1 spear, while dwarven Valkyries start the game with a +1 dwarvish spear.

Spear skill

Spear
Max	Role
Basic	Healer, Monk, Rogue, Tourist, Wizard
Skilled	Barbarian, Knight, Priest, Samurai, Valkyrie
Expert	Caveman, Ranger

The following weapons use the spear skill:

• spear
• dwarvish spear
• elven spear
• orcish spear
• silver spear
• javelin

Spears of all kinds make up about 9.7% of randomly generated weapons (on the ground, as death drops, and in shops). Spears have an additional +2 to-hit bonus against all monsters when thrown, and have a separate +2 to-hit bonus against kebabable monster classes.

Spears can be multishot, and Cavepeople get a +1 multishot bonus for throwing spears of any kind.

There are no artifact weapons that use the spear skill.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Per commit c09ae33 above, Valkyries can reach Expert skill in spear.

Strategy

In the absence of dagger skills, a small stack of spears is a powerful ranged weapon for any Caveperson or Priest lucky enough to find more than one: most characters will require an antique weapons outlet to amass multiple spears in any timely manner. They are also quite heavy, with four spears outweighing a single pick-axe.

History

The spear first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.3.1, including variants based on those versions, Knights start the game with a +2 spear.

From Hack 1.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, including variants based on those versions, spears cannot be multishot, and the javelin has its own separate skill in its appearances. NetHack 3.6.0 merges the javelin skill into the spear skill and makes all spear weapons eligible for multishot.

Origin

The spear is a weapon designed for thrusting. Chimpanzees use very rudimentary spears, so it is likely that humans have used spears for an extremely long time.

Variants

In some variants, monsters that generate with spears of any type will generate with a stack of them.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, non-dwarven Valkyries start the game with a +1 spear, while dwarven Valkyries start the game with a +1 dwarvish spear. Lycanthropic characters in any role that start with a silver spear (i.e. Undead Slayer) will instead receive a regular spear.

Gnolls have a ¹⁄₃ a chance of being generated with a spear. Yendorian army soldiers no longer generate with spears.

notdNetHack

In notdNetHack, Cavepeople start with a +1 spear instead of a club, and have the ability to knap soft stones into spearheads by applying rocks. The Sceptre of Might, their quest artifact, is also changed to a bone spear.

Salamander characters can always reach Expert in spears.

EvilHack

EvilHack adds the atlatl and dark elven spear as weapons that use the spear skill. Wizards are restricted in the spear skill, while Archeologists are unrestricted and can train to Expert in spears.

Monsters that randomly generate with spears of any type will generate with a stack of them. Watchmen and soldiers that do not receive racial equipment have an effective ¹⁄₃ chance of generating with a stack of spears. Sea tortles have a ⁴⁄₅ chance of generating with a stack of spears.

A spear can be created at a forge by combining 2 arrows and a dagger. Spears can be used to create many other items:

• A spear can be combined with 2 arrows to create a dwarvish spear.
• A spear can be combined with 2 crossbow bolts to create a javelin.
• A spear can be combined with a scimitar to create a trident.
• A spear can be combined with a dagger to create an axe.
• A spear can be combined with a broadsword to create a partisan.
• A spear can be combined with a stiletto to create a ranseur.
• A spear can be combined with a knife to create a spetum.
• A spear can be combined with a short sword to create a glaive.
• A spear can be combined with a battle-axe to create a bardiche.
• A spear can be combined with an axe to create a voulge.
• A spear can be combined with a saber to create a fauchard.
• A spear can be combined with a grappling hook to create a guisarme.
• A spear can be combined with a guisarme to create a bill-guisarme.
• A spear can be combined with a war hammer to create a bec de corbin.
• A spear can be combined with a heavy war hammer to create a lucern hammer.

Encyclopedia entry

- they come together with great random, and a spear is brast,
and one party brake his shield and the other one goes down,
horse and man, over his horse-tail and brake his neck, and
then the next candidate comes randoming in, and brast his
spear, and the other man brast his shield, and down he goes,
horse and man, over his horse-tail, and brake his neck, and
then there's another elected, and another and another and
still another, till the material is all used up; and when you
come to figure up results, you can't tell one fight from
another, nor who whipped; and as a picture of living, raging,
roaring battle, sho! why it's pale and noiseless - just
ghosts scuffling in a fog. Dear me, what would this barren
vocabulary get out of the mightiest spectacle? - the burning
of Rome in Nero's time, for instance? Why, it would merely
say 'Town burned down; no insurance; boy brast a window,
fireman brake his neck!' Why, that ain't a picture!

[ A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark
  Twain ]