Frost Brand (dNetHack)

)   Frost Brand   (No tile)
Base item	long sword
Appearance	ice-runed <base item>
Affiliation	unaligned
Generation	sacrifice gift can randomly generate as many base item types
Wishable?	no
Damage vs. small	(1d8 explosive ×2) + 3d8 cold + 3d8 physical damage
Damage vs. large	(1d12 explosive ×2) + 3d8 cold + 3d8 physical damage
Bonus versus	targets without cold resistance
Damage type	slashing, piercing
Weapon skill	long sword
Properties	can be reshaped with a fountain tripled damage against monsters vulnerable to cold can be paired with Fire Brand for two weapon combat
When carried	(none)
When wielded	frost resistance
When used	(none)
When invoked	(none)
Base size	(base item standard)
Base price	3000 zm
Weight	30
Base material	glass

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Frost Brand is significantly changed from its behavior in NetHack—it can appear as one of many available base item types, with the default being a long sword, and it appears as an ice-runed variation of its base item when unidentified.

Fire Brand is the ember-runed, fire-attuned counterpart of Frost Brand.

Generation

Frost Brand's available range of base items is partly determined by the race, role and certain other qualities of the current hero, as well as whether the artifact is being randomly generated, given by the hero's current deity as a sacrifice gift, or else being wished for directly. Once either Fire Brand or Frost Brand has been generated, the other of the pair can only be generated as the matching object type.

For random generation, Frost Brand is actually less likely to appear than a normal artifact, due to the massive pool of available items. There is a base ¹⁄₁₂₀ chance that a random item of a compatible base item type generated on the ground will be made into Fire Brand, with two further rolls applied if this chance is successful:

• The first roll is ¹⁄_X to skip turning the object into Frost Brand, where X is the value representing the base item's default size—0 for tiny, 4 for huge, 7 for gigantic, and so on, meaning that tiny items will always be skipped and larger items have a lesser chance of being skipped.
• If this skip does not occur, and the item is a valid base item for Frost Brand that is also an elven item or droven item, then there is a further ¹⁄₄ chance required for artifact generation to succeed—this is likely implemented due to the high amount of such items that are generated on the floors of certain quest levels, such as the Mordor Ruins quest.

If Frost Brand is being given to the hero as a sacrifice gift, it will pick a random base item type valid for Fire Brand in the current game, using normal item generation probabilities to determine which. If it fails to generate a valid base type, Frost Brand will default to being a long sword.

Frost Brand can also be reshaped into a different base item by dipping it into a fountain, and can be formed into any compatible weapon that is type-identified, in the hero's inventory or uses a weapon skill that the hero is at Skilled level or better in. Certain base item types for Frost Brand are only available to certain races and roles of hero that can wish for them if they qualify for those restrictions, and can be given in those forms as a sacrifice gift if that item also randomly generates naturally for the hero.

The table below covers the breadth of what Frost Brand can be generated as depending on whether it is gifted, randomly generated or wished for:

Base item type	Random?	Giftable?	Wishable?	Shape-able?
chakram	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
spear	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
atgeir	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
javelin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
trident	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
dagger	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
stake	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
set of crow talons	No	No	half-dragon Nobles only	Yes
scalpel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
knife	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
stiletto	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
sickle	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
saw cleaver	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
razor cleaver	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
long saw	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
saw spear	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
axe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
diskos	Yes	Yes	Anachrononaut and Android only	Yes
hunter's axe	Yes	Yes	Undead Hunter only	Yes
hunter's long-axe	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
battle-axe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
short sword	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
khopesh	No	No	Wizard only	Yes
wakizashi	No	No	Samurai only	Yes
church-brick	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
hunter's shortsword	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
scimitar	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
bow-blade	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
bladed bow	No	No	Undead Hunter only	Yes
rapier	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
saber	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:

"Finish above table."

Description

Frost Brand has +1 to-hit and deals double cold damage, as well as an extra +3d8 explosive cold damage and +3d8 explosive physical damage: this becomes triple cold damage and +6d8 each of explosive cold damage and physical damage against monsters that are vulnerable to cold, and the physical component of its damage always gain an extra damage mask—blunt for non-blunt weapons, piercing for blunt weapons that are non-piercing, and slashing otherwise. Frost Brand will not resist being used in two weapon combat with Fire Brand (and vice versa). On each hit, Frost Brand will subtract 2 movement points from the target with a minimum of 6 for the player and -12 for monsters).

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