The Staff of Aesculapius

)   The Staff of Aesculapius
Base item	quarterstaff
Damage vs. small	1d6 ×2 +1d8
Damage vs. large	1d6 ×2 +1d8
To-hit bonus	+0
Bonus versus	not drain resistant
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Affiliation	neutral Healer intelligent
When carried	(none)
When wielded	hungerless regeneration drain resistance
When invoked	heals HP cures sickness, sliming, and blindness
Base price	5000 zm
Weight	40
Material	wood

The Staff of Aesculapius is the Healer quest artifact. It is the prize for completing the Healer quest, and is neutral for wishing purposes. Its base item type is a quarterstaff.

Effects

The Staff of Aesculapius gives hungerless regeneration and drain resistance while wielded, and deals double damage to all monsters without drain resistance and drains levels from them - the life-draining itself applies a further +1d8 damage to the target's current and maximum HP, and restores half of that damage to the wielder's current HP. This bonus damage is not doubled, and does not apply against monsters with drain resistance.

When #invoked, it heals you by half of the HP needed to return to full health and cures sickness, blindness (unless it was caused by gunk, as from a cream pie) and sliming.

Strategy

See also: Invoke § Optimum invocation schedule

Like all staves, The Staff of Aesculapius is two-handed, and is a somewhat unpopular weapon in Gehennom because of the associated danger; additionally, many enemies in Gehennom are drain-resistant. However, as an intelligent artifact the Staff resists 80% of all curses - half spell damage and/or magic resistance can reduce the odds of it being cursed even further. The #tip extended command also ensures that you can still get to any bagged holy water or remove curse scrolls with a cursed Staff in your hands.

The Staff of Aesculapius is the only neutral artifact that provides drain resistance, making it a tempting (though ultimately optional) wish candidate for other neutral characters.

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	Drain resistant	Not drain resistant
+0 Staff of Aesculapius	$\frac{1+6}{2}=\bold{3.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+6}{2}\right )\times 2+\frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{11.5}$
+7 Staff of Aesculapius	$\frac{1+6}{2}+7=\bold{10.5}$	$\left (\frac{1+6}{2}+7\right )\times 2+\frac{1+8}{2}=\bold{25.5}$

History

The Staff of Aesculapius is introduced along with most of the other quest artifacts in NetHack 3.1.0.

Origin

In ancient Greek mythology, the Staff of Aesculapius - primarily known as the Rod of Asclepius, and also known as the "asklepian" - is a serpent-entwined rod, ⚕. The Caduceus of Hermes, ☤, is a similar symbol of commerce with two snakes around it, and both staves were gifted to each deity by Apollo - as a result, the caduceus often occurs in similar contexts, and is likely the reason Hermes serves as the neutral god of the Healer pantheon.

Aesculapius (or Asclepius) is one of the sons of Apollo and a deity associated with the healing aspect of medicine - the snake and staff are separate symbols of Asclepius that were combined at some point, and may represent the dual natures of medical practice and drugs that were capable of either inducing sickness and death, or bringing health and extending life. Snakes were also considered sacred beings of wisdom, health and resurrection by ancient Greeks, partly by virtue of regularly shedding their skin; the staff is interpreted as a walking stick, and thus a symbol of support and growth. One of Asclepius's more famous temples was located on the island of Kos, where the legendary "father of medicine" Hippocrates is said to have begun his career.

As a mortal, Asclepius was educated by Apollo and, more formally, by the centaur Chiron in the art of medicine. Some stories assert that Asclepius was his original name, while others suggest that he originally named Hepius, but received his new name from curing a ruler named Ascles, who suffered an eye ailment that was thought incurable. Asclepius eventually became so proficient as a healer that he could evade death and bring others back to life - this led to Zeus killing him with a thunderbolt when either Hades began accusing Asclepius of stealing his subjects, or Zeus himself became afraid that Asclepius would teach the art of resurrection to others. Apollo retaliated by killing the Cyclopes who made Zeus's thunderbolts, which led to his temporary banishment from Olympus; Asclepius's body was placed among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus. Zeus later resurrected Asclepius as a god upon Apollo's request, and gave him a place on Olympus.

Variant

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, the Staff of Aesculapius no longer protects against life drain, although the encyclopedia entry describing the artifact is unchanged. Fortunately, there are more sources in SLASH'EM, such as the amulet of drain resistance.

In addition, the #tip command does not exist here, so players using it should keep at least one means of uncursing it in open inventory - the ⁴⁄₅ chance of resisting curses, still works in the Staff's favor, as does having magic resistance and/or half spell damage.

SlashTHEM

SlashTHEM both adds the #tip command from later versions of NetHack and restores the Staff's drain resistance.

Encyclopedia entry

This staff is considered sacred to all healers, as it truly
holds the powers of life and death. When wielded, it
protects its user from all life draining attacks, and
additionally gives the wielder the power of regeneration.
When invoked it performs healing magic.