Athame
) 
| |
|---|---|
| Name | athame |
| Appearance | athame |
| Damage vs. small | 1d4 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d3 |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Weapon skill | dagger |
| Size | one-handed |
| Base price | 4 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Weight | 10 |
| Material | iron |
An athame is a type of weapon that appears in NetHack. It is a one-handed, non-stackable weapon that uses the dagger skill, and is made of iron.
The athame is the base item for the artifact Magicbane.
Contents
Generation
Athames are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
A master lich has an effective 6⁄91 chance of being generated with an athame.[1] An arch-lich has an effective 2⁄9 chance of being generated with an athame, which has a 1⁄4 chance of being erosion-proofed and will have its enchantment raised by 1-3 points if it is below +2.[2][3] There is a 1⁄13 chance of the boolean for making the weapon into an artifact being set to true, which will create an applicable artifact with a 1⁄20 chance[4][5][6]—this means that an arch-lich has a 1⁄1170 chance (less than ~0.086%) of generating with Magicbane, the only artifact that can be generated in this manner.
Player monster wizards, including Newt from the Wizard quest and those on the Astral Plane, have a 3⁄8 chance of forcing an athame as their initial weapon.[7][8]
Description
Athames are designed for engraving and will not become dull when used for this purpose, unless they are cursed: like other weapons, an athame cannot be used to engrave if its enchantment is -3 or lower. An athame can engrave up to 19 letters per turn, with up to 9 letters possible in one action.
Strategy
Athames are fairly weak as weapons despite their +2 to-hit, but are exceptionally suited for engraving Elbereth: Magicbane is considered valuable for its ability to engrave reliable Elbereths on top of its curse resistance and magical effects. The item's rarity typically means that a mass majority of heroes, especially non-atheist Wizards, will directly encounter Magicbane in a game well before they ever see a regular athame—an athame found in a bones level is usually either one that was reverted from Magicbane (due to the current hero generating the artifact before loading the bones level), or else one that the former hero wished for or retrieved from a different bones level and left behind upon dying; in either case, it is likely to be cursed. Be sure to mind the beatitude of any athame you attempt to engrave with in order to avoid being occupied (and helpless) for more turns than intended.
History
The athame first appears in NetHack 3.0.3. From this version to NetHack 3.2.3, Wizards start each game with a +1 athame.[9]
NetHack 3.3.0 merges the influential Wizard Patch into the mainline game, which changes the starting weapon to the stronger-but-less-utilitarian quarterstaff and revamps the spellcasting system into its modern form, making Wizards the spellcasting powerhouses they are known as.[10]
Origin
An athame (or athamé) is a ceremonial blade with a generally-black handle that is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in ceremonial magic traditions, including neo-pagan and Satanic traditions as well as modern witchcraft. A black-handled knife called an arthame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire dating back to the Renaissance.
The contemporary use of the athame as a ceremonial tool was started by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the early 20th century, for the use of banishing rituals, and was later adopted by Wiccans, Thelemites and Satanists. The athame is also mentioned in the writings of Gerald Gardner in the 1950s, who claimed it to be the most important ritual tool of the New Forest Coven—it is speculated that his interest and expertise in antique swords and knives may have contributed to the tool's central importance in modern Wicca. Modern occultism regards the athame as one of the four elemental tools, traditionally representing fire for witches and air for ceremonial magicians.
Contrary to popular belief, athames are not required to have double-edged blades or specially-coloured handles, though contemporary magical practitioners often choose a double-edged blade for symbolic meaning - the athame is also not used for any form of cutting or weaponry, and in fact may have blunted tips to prevent accidental wounds. Its primary function is to trace pentagrams and circles in preparation for rituals: in NetHack, this translates into a blade suitable for making engravings. For open rituals in public places, a ritual wand or staff is used in place of an athame, since there may be legal complications involved with public use of swords and daggers even when the edges have been dulled.
Variants
Some variants may make the athame more common in some manner, and others introduce items and/or artifacts that are capable of engraving with the same speed and quality as an athame.
SLASH'EM
SLASH'EM adds two artifact athames:
- Firewall, the first sacrifice gift for the Flame Mage
- Deep Freeze, the first sacrifice gift for the Ice Mage
Gnoll shamans are always generated with athames.[11] Player monster flame mages, ice mages, and necromancers have a 3⁄8 chance of forcing an athame as their initial weapon.[12]
The Guild of Disgruntled Adventurers generates two each of player monster flame mages, ice mages, necromancers, and wizards if the level is generated, making it very likely that a hero will find at least one athame there.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, athames deal 1d4 slashing damage to all monsters, can be poisoned, and behave as a spellcasting focus that improves the success rate of attack spells and enchantment spells while wielded.
Wizards start the game with a -1 athame, which is subject to racial substitutions: orcish Wizards will start with an orcish dagger in place of the athame, elven Wizards start with an elven dagger, vampire Wizards start with a normal dagger, and drow Wizards start with a droven dagger.
Witches have a 1⁄10 chance of generating with an athame.
dNetHack has a few artifact athames:
- Peace Keeper is a lawful silvered athame that grants +1d5 to-hit and +1d10 against monsters which are normally generated as hostile, warns of those monsters while carried and has a 1⁄10 chance to cancel them on hit, subject to monster magic resistance scores. Peace Keeper can be twoweaponed in the offhand.
- The Pen of the Void is an unaligned athame that acts as the first sacrifice gift and quest artifact of the Binder, and has +1d5 to-hit with additional effects if spirits are bound into the weapon itself; it deals double damage after the Quest is completed, and can be twoweaponed in the offhand. As The Pen is intended to be used by a Binder for the invocation, it is indestructible and resists being placed in containers like other unique items.
- Serpent's Tooth is a lawful intelligent athame that Mother Lilith is always generated with, and it is permanently poisoned.
- Fire Brand and Frost Brand can generate in athame form.
Athames are the most useful weapons for inscribing wards, as well as the seals required to bind spirits of the Void. Several artifacts can be used to engrave with the quality of an athame:
- The Rod of Lordly Might, in rapier form
- Helping Hand
- The Sceptre of Lolth in droven greatsword form
- The Rod of the Elvish Lords in elven broadsword form
- The Iron Spoon of Liberation
TNNT (the game)
One of the achievements, Rare Loot, requires you to pick up an athame that was generated on a master or arch-lich.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, the base item of Magicbane is changed from an athame to a quarterstaff.
Kathryn the Ice Queen always generates with an erosion-proofed athame that has the frost object property.
An alhoon has an effective 2⁄9 chance of generating with an athame: their weapon has a 1⁄4 chance of being made erosion-proof, and if it generates with an enchantment of +1 or lower, it will be given an enchantment ranging from +1 to +3 with an equal probability of each.
The Wizard of Yendor has a 2⁄3 chance of generating with an athame: his weapon will also have a 2⁄3 chance (66%) of generating with the fire object property, a 1⁄6 chance (16%) of generating with the frost property, and a 1⁄6 chance (16%) of generating with the venom property.
An athame can be created at a forge by combining a dagger and a stiletto.
Shadowblade is an artifact athame that can only be created by combining Werebane and Stormbringer at a forge.
SlashTHEM
In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, two more artifact athames are added:
- Acidfall, the first sacrifice gift for the Acid Mage
- Debugger, the first sacrifice gift for the Electric Mage
Sharpened pencils are weapons that can be used to engrave without dulling them, similar to an athame.
Encyclopedia entry
The consecrated ritual knife of a Wiccan initiate (one of four basic tools, together with the wand, chalice and pentacle). Traditionally, the athame is a double-edged, black-handled, cross-hilted dagger of between six and eighteen inches length.
A belt made from a twisted braid of silken threads of gold wound around her waist, and a dark-handled knife rested on a slant at her hip through a loop in the belt.
[...]
She arched her brows. "You should know better, dear godchild. You know I cannot speak what is untrue. During our last encounter I returned to Faerie with great power and upset vital balances. Those balances had to be redressed, and your debt was the mechanism that the Queen chose to employ."
I frowned at her for a minute. "Returned with great power." My eyes fell to the knife at her waist. "That thing the vampires gave you?"
She rested her fingers lightly on the knife's hilt. "Don't cheapen it. This athame was no creation of theirs. And it was less a gift than a trade."
"Amoracchius and that thing are in the same league?" Gulp. My faerie godmother was dangerous enough without a big-time artifact of magic.
References
- Jump up ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 728
- Jump up ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 730
- Jump up ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 733
- Jump up ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 732: 1⁄13 chance calls mksobj() with the 'artif' boolean set to true
- Jump up ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 771: mksobj() function
- Jump up ↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 816
- Jump up ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 155: athames will not generate as playermon weapon due to using normal random generation odds
- Jump up ↑ src/mplayer.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 247
- Jump up ↑ u_init.c in NetHack 3.2.0, line 156: no source for 3.2.3 on the wiki
- Jump up ↑ u_init.c in NetHack 3.3.0, line 161
- Jump up ↑ makemon.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 726
- Jump up ↑ mplayer.c in SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2, line 220
