Blade of mercy
| ) | |
|---|---|
| Name | blade of mercy |
| Appearance | split-bladed short sword |
| Damage vs. small | 1d6+1 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8+1 |
| Damage type | slashing, piercing |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Weapon skill | short sword |
| Secondary skill | axe |
| Primary attribute | dexterity |
| Secondary attribute | strength |
| Tertiary attribute | intelligence |
| Magical item? | no |
| Insight threshold(s) | 1+, 25+, 50+ |
| Properties |
|
| Base size | medium |
| Base price | 500 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Default weight | 33 |
| Base material | metal |
| ) | |
|---|---|
| Name | blade of grace |
| Appearance | curved short sword |
| Damage vs. small | 1d6 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8 |
| Damage type | slashing, piercing |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Weapon skill | short sword |
| Secondary skill | axe |
| Tertiary skill | dagger |
| Primary attribute | dexterity |
| Secondary attribute | strength |
| Tertiary attribute | intelligence |
| Magical item? | no |
| Insight threshold(s) | 1+, 25+, 50+ |
| Properties |
|
| Base size | medium |
| Base price | 400 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Default weight | 19 |
| Base material | metal |
| ) | |
|---|---|
| Name | blade of pity |
| Appearance | curved dagger |
| Damage vs. small | 1d6 |
| Damage vs. large | 1d8 |
| Damage type | slashing, piercing |
| To-hit bonus | +2 |
| Weapon skill | dagger |
| Primary attribute | dexterity |
| Secondary attribute | strength |
| Tertiary attribute | intelligence |
| Magical item? | no |
| Insight threshold(s) | 1+, 25+, 50+ |
| Properties |
|
| Base size | small |
| Base price | 100 zm (+10/positive enchant) |
| Default weight | 14 |
| Base material | metal |
A blade of mercy is a type of weapon and an object property that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. The blade of mercy is a unique, multi-formed insight weapon: it can be split into a pair of component insight weapons, the blade of grace and the blade of pity, and "blade of mercy" is also an object property that is exclusive to the blade of mercy weapon.
The blade of mercy is a medium-sized melee weapon, making it one-handed for a medium-sized hero, and uses the highest between the hero's short sword and axe skills (with short sword as the default). It has a default material of metal and appears as a split-bladed short sword when unidentified.
The blade of grace is a medium-sized melee weapon, making it one-handed for a medium-sized hero, and uses the higher between the hero's short sword, axe and dagger skills (with short sword as the default). It is made of metal and appears as a curved short sword when unidentified.
The blade of pity is a small melee weapon, making it one-handed for a medium-sized hero, and uses the dagger skill. It is made of metal and appears as a curved dagger when unidentified.
Contents
Generation
Blades of mercy are very rare as weapons, and make up 1⁄1000 (0.1%) of all weapons randomly generated on the ground, in general shops or as death drops. Antique weapon outlets and used armor dealerships can also stock blades of mercy. The "blade of mercy" object property cannot be wished for and will not occur on any other item in the game.
The blade of pity and blade of grace are not randomly generated, though they can be wished for or found in bones.
Human Madpeople that started the game as female will have a +2 copper blade of mercy generated in their quest box on the goal level of the Madperson quest during level creation.
A blade of mercy is generated within the chest in the northeastern room of the Undead Hunter quest home level during level creation.
Vicar Amalia is always generated with a blessed +7 blade of mercy.
Player monster madwomen that are slated for "good" equipment have a 3⁄4 chance of being given a blade of grace and a blade of pity as their primary and secondary weapons.
Description
The blade of mercy inflicts slashing and piercing damage, with 1d6 damage versus small monsters and 1d8 damage versus large monsters alongside a +1 to-hit bonus. Blades of mercy only gain half damage bonus from the hero's strength, but gain a full damage bonus from their dexterity and an additional half bonus from their intelligence. Applying a blade of mercy that is wielded in the main hand will split the item into a blade of grace and a blade of pity and enter two-weapon combat: the blade of grace will be wielded in the main hand, while the blade of pity will be wielded in the off-hand, and both weapons will be the same beatitude, enchantment and object material as the original blade of mercy they were split from.
The blade of grace also inflicts slashing and piercing damage with 1d6 damage versus small monsters and 1d8 damage versus large monsters, retains the +2 to-hit bonus, and has identical damage bonuses from the hero's attributes as blades of mercy do.
The blade of pity inflicts piercing damage, with 1d4 damage versus small monsters and 1d6 damage versus large monsters, retains the +2 to-hit bonus, and it has the same damage bonuses from the hero's attributes that the blade of mercy and blade of grace do.
A hero applying a blade of grace with a blade of pity in the off-hand or alternate weapon slot will recombine the weapons into a blade of mercy, but only if the component weapons are identical to each other (with the obvious exception of their item type)—if either of the blades have different enchantments, material, beatitude, object properties, or potion coating (such as a potion of sickness) in their separated forms, they cannot be recombined and will resist combination until these traits are made identical.
In terms of monster weapon preference, monsters will favor the blade of mercy over the rakuyo-saber, and will prefer a crow quill or better to the blade of mercy. Monster weapon preference differs for each of the blade of mercy's components: for a blade of grace, monsters will favor it over the hunter's shortsword, and will prefer a spear or better to the blade of grace; for a blade of pity, monsters will favor it over an athame, and will prefer an elven dagger or better to the blade of pity.
Insight effects
As insight weapons, the blade of mercy and its components gain several effects based on the hero's current insight, indicated by a change in name that is applied to the weapons:
- While the hero has at least one point of insight, each of the weapons deal bonus damage to monsters without magic resistance, with 2% (1⁄50) bonus damage applied per point of insight—this tops out at a maximum of 100% bonus magical damage against non-resistant monsters with 50 insight.
- While the hero has at least 25 insight, each hit with any of the weapons will cause discouragement in the target monster equal to the hero's charisma divided by 5, which is capped at the sum of their charisma and the weapon's enchantment (e.g. 5 points of discouragement per hit, capping at -32, from a hero with 25 charisma and a +7 blade of mercy). The hero also gains an additional damage bonus of +2% per point of charisma for each of the weapons versus monsters without magic resistance—this caps out at +50% bonus magical damage with 75 insight & 25 charisma, stacking with the prior bonus for a total of +150%.
- While the hero has at least 50 insight, monsters hit by any of the weapons have a chance of lashing out at a random adjacent monster that is allied with them, subject to a resistance check versus their MR score. Hostile monsters will only lash out at other hostile monsters, and peaceful or tame monsters will only lash out at other peaceful or tame monsters—a monster that lashes out will do so even if the hit from the blade of mercy/grace/pity that triggered their lashing out would kill them, with the lashing occurring just before the monster dies.
- The monster will perform their entire attack routine when lashing out, with each attack ignoring any discouragement or buffs to encouragement and being given a damage bonus equal to the weapon's enchantment + ML5. If the attacking monster is alive and their lashing out kills a monster that is not a grudge target or part of an opposing faction, the attacker must also pass a check against their MR score or else they will become crazed and berserk, with a 1⁄5 chance of becoming confused and a 1⁄10 chance of laughing for up to 5 turns. Monsters that are mindless or negatively impact the hero's own sanity are immune to becoming insane from this effect.
- For heroes who are Madpeople or have the spirit Ose bound, they also gain to-hit and damage bonus rolls equal to half of the lowest value between the hero's level and their insight—the caps for these bonuses are +1d30 to-hit and +1d15 damage at XL 30 and 30 insight.
Strategy
This weapon's prohibitive rarity makes wishing for one all but a necessity for those looking to use it. Unless you're planning on using a blade of mercy as an offhand to a stronger main hand weapon, it's strongly recommended to split it and two-weapon the blades of grace and pity, due to getting doubled enchantment bonuses and chances to trigger the forced attack on targets. Since both blades of grace and pity can use dagger skill, a hero utilizing both should train only their dagger and two weapon combat skills if they are the primary weapon of choice—heroes focusing on the combined blade of mercy should prioritize their short sword and/or axe skills.
Blades of mercy, separated or not, occupy the general dNetHack trick weapon niche: their damage and effects are generally noticeably better than non-trick weapons once you have the requisite insight, but they're middling to subpar until that point. At 50+ insight, it's competitive with most middle of the pack artifacts for damage values, but their spawn rate and lack of synergy with most roles makes them a rare weapon choice. Since they're typically made of metal, they're usable with all cults.
For Madmen and those with Ose bound, the insight bonus damage may make it a compelling option, especially since the bonus applies to both main and offhand attacks. For Undead Hunters, it's much less compelling due to accepting only lesser object properties from bloodsmithing. Due to blades of mercy and grace having the "create opening" expert trait, they make particularly nice weapons for Rogues, given that they are almost inarguably the best weapon with that trait other than the future tech vibroblades.
Origin
The blade of mercy is a trick weapon available in the 2015 Fromsoft videogame Bloodborne. It consists of two large curved daggers, that in their inert "untransformed state" are stuck together in such a manner that they overlap to form a single dagger/short sword. They can be unstuck from one another as part of an attack chain/trick attack or at will, whereupon the left-hand dagger will swing outward in an arc, pivoting around the tip of the right-hand dagger and being caught in the left hand making the hunter wield one dagger in each hand. This behaviour is explained by its unique material makeup being magnetic, being one of only two weapons along with the burial blade made of siderite. The real life siderite does have magnetic potential — since it is mainly composed of iron — as are siderites which instead refer to ferrous meteorites and contain large amounts of iron alloys, though neither is found magnetized in nature.
The left-hand dagger is jagged, hook-like and curves upward, while the right-hand dagger more closely resembles a sickle or Egyptian khopesh and curves downward. Though neither blade has a distinct name in the game, actions and attacks are predominantly right-handed, such as with the right-hand dagger's thrust attack animations which is likely the basis for the blade of grace in dNetHack. Unlike in dNetHack, in Bloodborne both blades are nearly identical in both length and appearance.
Eileen the Crow is an NPC in Bloodborne's story that uses the blade of mercy as her primary weapon. She is also the primary way the player acquires the weapon, dropping an item, allowing its purchase upon death or upon completing her questline. Hunters who succumb to the scourge of the Beast are put out of their misery by Eileen and put to rest. The player will have a chance to help her in this endevour with Old Hunter Henryk and have a chance to see the blades of mercy in action before getting access to them. The namesake of the blade probably refers to its particular use as a tool for "hunter of hunters" as an effective weapon in dispatching those that turn after prolonged exposure to the corrupting power of the blood; ironically the very thing keeping them alive.
The manner in which the two daggers go from their normal form to their "transformed" form is somewhat similar to the motion of opening a balisong, or butterfly knife, though these weapons are completely unrelated otherwise. Very little information about what inspired its design was divulged other than the game taking heavy inspiration from the Victorian era and the appearance of some medieval and late-19th-century novelty weapons which were often a combination of two weapons into one. Although the name "blade of mercy" made a comeback in Fromsoft's latest title Elden Ring as a talisman, this is the extent of the connection between the two.
Messages
- You unlatch the <blade of mercy>.
- You applied a wielded blade of mercy and split it into its paired weapons.
- You drop the <blade of pity>!
- As above, but you then dropped the blade of pity, e.g. as a result of fumbling or an artifact blade of pity evading your grasp.
- You latch the <blade of grace>.
- You applied a wielded blade of grace and blade of pity pair and combined them into a blade of mercy.
- You must <wield/unwield> the <blade of mercy/blade of grace> to <latch/unlatch> it.
- You attempted to apply a raukyo or its component weapons without wielding them.
- You need to buy it.
- You were prevented from unlatching a blade of mercy or relatching its components due to the item(s) belonging to a shop.
- The swords are stuck together.
- You tried to apply a cursed blade of mercy.
- You are carrying too much junk to successfully split your sword.
- You tried to apply a blade of mercy with all 52 inventory letters occupied.
- You need the matching dagger in your swap-weapon sheath or offhand.
- You tried to apply a wielded blade of grace without also wielding the blade of pity that it was paired with.
- They don't fit together!
- As above, but you are also wielding a blade of pity that is not matched to the right blade of grace.
Encyclopedia entry
All three weapons share the same encyclopedia entry:
A special trick weapon passed down among hunters of hunters. One of the oldest weapons of the workshop.
Splits into two when activated. The weapon's warped blades are forged with siderite, a rare mineral of the heavens. It is said the siderite ore was porous and slick with a gruesome clear fluid. But why would bones fall from the sky?
