Magicbane

)   Magicbane   (No tile)
Base item	athame
Damage vs. small	1d4 +1d4 +(special) (2-8)
Damage vs. large	1d3 +1d4 +(special) (2-7)
To-hit bonus	+2 +1d3
Bonus versus	fail monster MR check or player without MR
Weapon skill	dagger
Size	one-handed
Affiliation	neutral Wizard
When carried	(none)
When wielded	magic resistance absorbs and negates 95% of curses special attacks
When invoked	(none)
Base price	3500 zm
Weight	10
Material	iron

Magicbane is an artifact that appears in NetHack. Its default alignment is neutral, and its base item type is an athame.

Generation

Magicbane is the guaranteed first sacrifice gift for Wizards, and any neutral hero can receive Magicbane as a sacrifice gift.

Arch-liches have a minuscule chance (¹⁄₁₁₇₀, or approximately 0.085%) of being generated with an athame that is made into Magicbane.

Description

While wielded, Magicbane grants magic resistance, and ¹⁹⁄₂₀ of the time that the curse items monster spell or a similar effect is directed at the wielder, Magicbane will absorb and negate those effects entirely. Magicbane has +1d3 to-hit, and on hit it has a ²⁄₅ chance of inflicting a magical effect and dealing +1d4 damage to the victim in that order, subject to monster MR or player-style magic resistance. The probability of each applicable magical effect is determined by Magicbane's enchantment, and Magicbane will print messages when enchanted to certain thresholds:

Your <left/right> <hand> itches!

Magicbane has been enchanted to +0 or +1.

Your <left/right> hand flinches!

Magicbane has been enchanted to +2 or above.

There are four "bonus" effects that Magicbane can produce upon hitting, with details listed below:

Effect	Details	Notes
Probe monster	Reveals the monster's HP, AC and inventory as if zapped with a wand of probing	'Replaces' other effects as enchantment increases
Stun monster	Stuns the attacked monster.	Odds drop significantly once Magicbane is enchanted
Scare monster	Scares the attacked monster.	Odds drop significantly once enchanted past +2
Cancel monster	Cancels the attacked monster as if zapped with the spell or wand of cancellation. If the cancelled monster is a spellcaster, you will also absorb energy and increase your current and maximum energy by 1.	Odds drop significantly once enchanted past +2 Absorption occurs regardless of if the target is already canceled

Exact mechanics

The base damage is 1d4 to small monsters and 1d3 to large monsters. If the monster fails a magic resistance check, an additional 1d4 damage is added to the base damage and the further special attacks are more likely. This magic resistance check is, however, an unusual one, because it doesn't consider level bonuses. There is an 8 / 20 (40%) chance of an additional +1d4 damage and possibly more. Given there is additional damage:

• There is a chance of an additional +1d4 stun damage.
  • If the monster failed the previous magic resistance check, the probability of this stun damage is $\frac{10 - \max(\mathrm{enchantment}, 0)}{11}$.
  • If the monster passed the magic resistance check, the probability of this stun damage is $\frac{6 - \max(\mathrm{enchantment}, 0)}{7}$.
• There is a chance of an additional +1d4 scare damage or +2d4 scare & cancellation damage.
  • The roll for scare or cancellation damage is scaled by $z = 2^{\max(\mathrm{enchantment}, 0) \; \mathrm{div} \;3}$, where $\mathrm{div}$ is integer division. The base roll for scare damage is $R_{\mathrm{scare}} = 4 \; \mathrm{div} \; z$ and the base roll for cancellation damage is $R_{\mathrm{cancel}} = 2 \; \mathrm{div} \; z$.
    • If the monster failed the previous magic resistance check, the probability of scare damage is simply $p_{\mathrm{scare}} = \frac{R_{\mathrm{scare}}}{8}$ and the probability of cancellation damage is simply $p_{\mathrm{cancel}} = \frac{R_{\mathrm{cancel}}}{8}$.
    • If the monster passed the previous magic resistance check, the probability of scare damage is $p_{\mathrm{scare}} = \frac{\max(R_{\mathrm{scare}} - 1, 0)}{8}$ and the probability of cancellation damage is $p_{\mathrm{cancel}} = \frac{\max(R_{\mathrm{cancel}} - 1, 0)}{8}$.
  • Exactly one of the following occurs:
    • The probability of +1d4 scare damage is $p_{\mathrm{scare}} - p_{\mathrm{cancel}}$.
    • The probability of +2d4 scare & cancellation damage is $p_{\mathrm{cancel}}$. (Note that this means there is a $p_{\mathrm{scare}}$ probability of +1d4 scare and a $p_{\mathrm{cancel}}$ probability of +1d4 cancellation, which is used in the table below.)
    • The probability of no scare or cancellation damage is $1 - p_{\mathrm{scare}} - p_{\mathrm{cancel}}$.
      • If there is also no stun damage, the attack probes. The probe has a 1 in (abs(enchantment) * 3) of being insightful and actually probing the monster, otherwise nothing happens. The +0 magicbane will always successfully probe the target.
• Finally, there is a 1-in-12 chance of confusing the target with any magical attack. This chance is not affected by enchantment.

The monster can resist the scare and cancellation effects using a Magic resistance (monster) check (if you are attacked, you resist if you have Magic resistance instead), but the extra damage of these effects is dealt even in that case. The monster cannot resist the stun, probe, or confuse effects.

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

"Tighten up the presentation of the above info, if possible."

Strategy

In theory, the secondary magical effects of Magicbane are meant to deter heroes from enchanting the weapon too highly in order to ensure the best secondary effects occur: the chance of stunning drops progressively from +0, while the chance of scaring and cancellation drop progressively after +2, and cancellation is eliminated after +5; in all cases, probing takes up the remaining probability. However, this is usually not of much concern for most heroes using Magicbane as a primary weapon, since they will be more concerned with its average damage and typically consider the additional effects to be a convenient bonus.

Increasing Magicbane's enchantment from +6 to +7 is typically not worth the effort. As with other weapons, you need to lower it to +5 to safely attempt to enchant to +7, but lowering Magicbane's enchantment can be very difficult: because it's an athame, engraving with it will not dull it, and because it's an artifact, it will resist most attempts at disenchantment from a cursed scroll of enchant weapon. Drain life can work, but typically takes many attempts. Hitting a disenchanter with Magicbane can also work, though the disenchanter may be able to disenchant your armor if you stand around hitting it for too long (the attack is subject to magic cancellation, so this is rarely a major issue by the time you're worried about enchanting Magicbane to +7).

If you have copious amounts amounts of holy water and unholy water on hand, it is also possible to lower Magicbane's enchantment by cursing it with unholy water and engraving a single letter with it. Remember to re-bless it afterward.

Damage

Below is a table describing the damage dealt by Magicbane at each enchantment, partly based on the artifact selection guide from steelypips.org—strength, skill and blessed damage bonuses are included. Note the progressive drop of stun from +0, the progressive drop of scare and cancel after +2, and cancel is eliminated after +5 while average damage keeps increasing.

Enchantment	Monster Resisted	Base Damage	Chance of +1d4 Extra	Chance of +1d4 Stun	Chance of +1d4 Scare	Chance of +1d4 Cancel	Mean Damage
+0	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 10 / 11	4 / 20	2 / 20	7.66 or 7.16
	Yes	1d4 or 1d3	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 6 / 7	3 / 20	1 / 20	4.86 or 4.36
+1	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 1	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 9 / 11	4 / 20	2 / 20	8.57 or 8.07
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 5 / 7	3 / 20	1 / 20	5.71 or 5.21
+2	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 2	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 8 / 11	4 / 20	2 / 20	9.48 or 8.98
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 2	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 4 / 7	3 / 20	1 / 20	6.57 or 6.07
+3	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 3	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 7 / 11	2 / 20	1 / 20	10.01 or 9.51
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 3	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 3 / 7	1 / 20	0 / 20	7.05 or 6.55
+4	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 4	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 6 / 11	2 / 20	1 / 20	10.92 or 10.42
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 4	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 2 / 7	1 / 20	0 / 20	7.91 or 7.41
+5	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 5	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 5 / 11	2 / 20	1 / 20	11.83 or 11.33
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 5	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 1 / 7	1 / 20	0 / 20	8.77 or 8.27
+6	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 6	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 4 / 11	1 / 20	0 / 20	12.49 or 11.99
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 6	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 0 / 7	0 / 20	0 / 20	9.5 or 9
+7	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 7	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 3 / 11	1 / 20	0 / 20	13.40 or 12.90
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 7	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 0 / 7	0 / 20	0 / 20	10.5 or 10
+8	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 8	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 2 / 11	1 / 20	0 / 20	14.31 or 13.81
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 8	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 0 / 7	0 / 20	0 / 20	11.5 or 11
+9	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + 9	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 1 / 11	0 / 20	0 / 20	15.09 or 14.59
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + 9	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 0 / 7	0 / 20	0 / 20	12.5 or 12
+10 or more	No	(1d4 or 1d3) + 1d4 + Enchantment	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 0 / 11	0 / 20	0 / 20	(6 or 5.5) + Enchantment
	Yes	(1d4 or 1d3) + Enchantment	8 / 20	8 / 20 * 0 / 7	0 / 20	0 / 20	(3.5 or 3) + Enchantment

History

Magicbane is introduced in NetHack 3.1.0.

Messages

The magic-absorbing blade probes/stuns/scares/cancels the <monster>!

Magicbane's additional effects were triggered.

The magic-absorbing blade prods/amazes/tickles/purges the <monster>!

As above, while hallucinating.

You absorb magical energy!

The cancellation effect increased your energy.

Variants

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, Magicbane deals +4 damage to monsters that fail a check versus their MR score, adding 1.5 to its mean damage, and unlike other artifact weapons it hits as a +4 weapon, effectively beating all forms of enchantment resistance. Magicbane is technically the only weapon that can do so: lightsabers are weapon-tools with the same ability, but they are classified as tools by the game.

SLASH'EM allows the hero to wield artifacts in the offhand while twoweaponing, but Magicbane is not as worthwhile an offhand candidate as many other artifacts for this purpose, since it only grants its curse resistance and magic resistance when wielded as a primary weapon.

All of the above information also applies to SlashTHEM.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, Magicbane is more powerful vs. monsters that resist magic (it requires powerful magic to resist magic, and Magicbane is effective against such magic). Each magical effect that triggers deals an additional 6d6 (6-36) damage to targets that have player-style MR or that have passed their monster MR check. Magicbane also receives a +10% bonus to the chances of the probing, scare monster, and cancellation effects occurring vs. such targets. Wizards in dNetHack are therefore advised to leave Magicbane unenchanted to maximize the chances of the additional magical effects occurring when fighting magic-resistant foes.

FIQHack

In FIQHack, Magicbane's base item type is changed to a quarterstaff, and otherwise retains its usual traits - additionally, all staves enhance spellcasting in the same way robes do while wielded.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, the base item for Magicbane is changed to a quarterstaff.

Magicbane can be forged together with Secespita to create The Staff of the Archmagi, an artifact quarterstaff.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, the base item for Magicbane is a quarterstaff as in EvilHack.

Encyclopedia entry

A highly enchanted athame said to hold the power to channel and direct magical energy.