Scimitar (skill)

The scimitar is a weapon skill that appears in NetHack 3.6.7 and older versions of NetHack. In those versions, the scimitar is the only weapon to use the skill, and the following roles can reach the listed skill levels in scimitars:

Scimitar
Max	Role
Basic	Healer, Knight, Samurai, Valkyrie
Skilled	Archeologist, Barbarian, Rogue, Tourist

Barbarians are the only role that have a lower skill cap for sabers than scimitars in NetHack 3.6.7. NetHack 5.0.0 merges the scimitar skill into the saber skill via commit 296a3ac2, while also raising the Barbarian's skill cap for sabers to Skilled in order to compensate.

Variants

Some NetHack variants created prior to the release of NetHack 5.0.0 may retain the scimitar as a separate weapon skill, while others merge the scimitar into the saber skill class themselves.

SLASH'EM

SLASH'EM retains the scimitar skill as a separate weapon skill, and the caps of that skill per role are as follows:

SLASH'EM scimitar skill caps
Max	Role
Basic	Healer, Knight, Samurai, Valkyrie
Skilled	Archeologist, Barbarian, Flame Mage, Ice Mage, Rogue, Tourist

NetHack brass

In NetHack brass, the skill system consolidates scimitars into the saber skill group.

dNetHack

dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack retain the scimitar skill as a separate weapon skill, and the caps of that skill per role are as follows:

*dNetHack scimitar skill caps
Max	Role
Basic	Troubadour, Healer (including Drow Healer), Knight, Samurai, Tourist, Valkyrie
Skilled	Archeologist, Barbarian, Noble (half-dragon Noblewomen, drow Noblewomen and dwarven Nobles), Rogue, Undead Hunter
Expert	Kensei (elven only), Noble (all others), Pirate

dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack also add the elven scimitar, cutlass, high-elven warsword, and bow-blade as weapons that use the scimitar skill.

The spirit Dantalion grants skill in scimitars while bound.

SpliceHack

SpliceHack retains the scimitar skill as separate from the saber skill, and adds the falchion as a two-handed weapon that uses the scimitar skill.

EvilHack

EvilHack consolidates scimitars into the saber skill group.

SlashTHEM

SlashTHEM retains the separate scimitar and saber skills as SLASH'EM does, and the skill caps for the roles added in SlashTHEM are as follows:

SlashTHEM scimitar skill caps
Max	Role
Basic	Bard, Firefighter, Paladin, Musician, Zookeeper
Skilled	Electric Mage, Warrior, Officer, Gladiator, Locksmith
Expert	Noble, Pirate, Corsair

Of the roles retained from SLASH'EM, Ice Mages are restricted in the skill in SlashTHEM, while the skill caps of all other SLASH'EM roles are unchanged. Orcish heroes can always reach a minimum of Skilled in scimitars.

Hack'EM

Hack'EM consolidates scimitars into the saber skill group as EvilHack does.