Hellfire

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)   Hellfire   Crossbow.png
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
When carried

(none)

When wielded
When invoked

(none)

Base price 4000 zm
Weight 50
Material wood

Hellfire is an artifact crossbow added in SLASH'EM.[1] Along with Plague, it is one of two new missile-launching artifacts in SLASH'EM. It has a flat +5 to hit, +7 damage, and bolts fired from it cause explosions at the feet of its target, doing an additional 2d6 damage. Contrary to what one might expect, an exploding bolt isn't necessarily used up; the standard chances of breakage ("mulching" rates) apply. Hellfire also provides fire resistance when wielded. Since crossbows are relatively abundant, it's not uncommon to come across Hellfire lying about in the dungeon or in a weapon or armor shop.

Strategy

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, some caveats apply. Fired bolts explode in a 3x3 square, hitting anything in the area. Therefore, you should avoid firing Hellfire at point blank range, or when your target is adjacent to anything you don't want to hit, such as pets, aligned priests, and shopkeepers. Finally, it should be noted that crossbows are two-handed weapons and therefore a player using Hellfire frequently may want to avoid wearing shields so she can easily switch back and forth to melee mode. Finally, due to SLASH'EM's increased blasting damage, nonchaotics shouldn't bother with Hellfire since re-wielding the weapon each time you switch from melee to ranged combat will cause too much damage.

Due to the presence of rapid-fire machine guns and the like in SLASH'EM, Hellfire is less powerful than some mundane alternatives for most roles. The exceptions are Rogue and Ranger, both of whom can reach expert in the crossbow skill and therefore use Hellfire as a viable alternative to firearms.

References