                              Artifacts
                             ===========

                by Boudewijn Wayers (dedos4@win.tue.nl).

                            Contributors:
                 Lars Huttar (huttar@hp750.itg.ti.com),
           Magnetic Technology Center (mtc@henry.ece.cmu.edu),
           and Paul Richardson (pmr@daneel.rdt.monash.edu.au).


General notes on artifacts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you wish for, pick up, or wield restricted artifacts (those that
you cannot gain by #name-ing), you may be blasted by their power. This
happens when either:

1. the artifact is intelligent (see below) and its character class (if
   it is a Quest artifact) or alignment is different from yours; or
2. the artifact's alignment is different from yours (1 in 4 chance that
   you will be blasted).

The power of the blast can be up to 4d10 hp, depending on whether the
artifact is intelligent (4d4 otherwise) and on whether you are magic
resistant (2d10 otherwise).

A second note must be made about wishing for artifacts. This will not
always be succesfull: it depends on the number of artifacts that
already exist in your game. The more artifacts there are already in
existence in your game, the smaller the chance that you will get an
artifact you are wishing for.

Whenever you wish for an artifact, the chance that you will get the
artifact is 2 in the number already existing. For example, if there are
no artifacts in existence, or just one or two, you always get what you
wish for (but see below, under "Quest" artifacts).  If there
are three artifacts already, you have a 2-in-3 chance of getting your
wish. If you have 5 artifacts, your chance is only 2-in-5, etc.

The following table provides some figures:

Number of artifacts in the game:    0   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8
% Chance of getting another one:  100 100 100  66  50  40  33  28  25


The Weapon Artifacts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lawful and neutral offer much more variety than chaotic. Note the
changes to some of the types of weapon when wishing, e.g. Stormbringer
is now a "runesword", not a broadsword or ninja-to. You can always wish
for "Stormbringer", in stead of "a runesword named Strombringer". Be
sure to capitalize, though.

The "Align" column indicates the alignment of the weapon. You will
get blasted if you're not of the appropriate alignment yourself, and
the weapon is intelligent (only Excalibur and Stormbringer are). Also,
a class may be mentioned here. This class can get the weapon by
offering or praying.

The "+hit" column indicates the bonus you get trying to hit a monster.
Note that this bonus is added to the weapon's usual to-hit bonus (e.g.,
an athame already has a +2 bonus, to which the +3 is added). The usual
to-hit bonus can be found in the file "weapons", that you could get
where you got this file..

The "+dam" column indicates the damage bonus conferred. A dash means
that the weapon does double damage, in stead of an added bonus.

The "Special" column is detailed below. The table below was sorted by
alignment first, then by name.

Name          Type              Align  +hit +dam  Special
~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~
Demonbane     long sword        L      5    -     demons
Excalibur     long sword        L K    5    10    search, defend, nogen
Grayswandir   silver saber      L      5    -     silver, hallu
Ogresmasher   war hammer        L      5    -     ogres
Snickersnee   katana            L S    0    8
Sunsword      long sword        L      5    -     undead
Werebane      silver saber      L      5    -     were

Cleaver       battle axe        N B    3    6
Dragonbane    broadsword        N      5    -     dragons
Fire Brand    long sword        N      5    -     fire
Frost Brand   long sword        N      5    -     cold
Giantslayer   long sword        N      5    -     giants
Magicbane *   athame            N W    3    4     antimag
Mjollnir **   war hammer        N V    5    24    elec
Vorpal Blade  long sword        N      5    1     behead, jbbrwck

Grimtooth     orcish dagger     C      2    6
Orcrist       elven broadsword  C E    5    -     orcs, name
Sting         elven dagger      C      5    -     orcs, warning, name
Stormbringer  runesword         C      5    2     drlvl, defend, attack
Trollsbane    morning star      C      5    -     trolls

The meaning of the various entries in the "Special" column is as
follows:

antimag	protects against magic and does strange things to opponents
attack	attacks every monster you move towards, even including pets
behead	has a 10% chance of outright killing by beheading
cold	does extra damage by cold and protects against cold
defend	protects agains level drain
demons	does extra damage against demons only
dragons	does extra damage against dragons only
drlvl	this weapon drains experience levels, adding 8 HP damage
elec	does extra damage by electricity and protects against electricity
fire	does extra damage by fire and protects against fire
giants	does extra damage against giants only
hallu	protects against hallucination
jbbrwck	kills jabberwocks with one hit
name	can be created by simply #naming an ordinary object
nogen	cannot be randomly generated
ogres	does extra damage against ogres only
orcs	does extra damage against orcs only
search	confers the "searching" intrinsic on its wielder
trolls	does extra damage against trolls only
undead	does extra damage against undead only
warning	confers the "warning" intrinsic on its wielder
were	does extra damage against were-creatures only

*  Magicbane grants magic resistance, and 95% protection against curses
   of any origin. Also, Magicbane may displace you, confuse monsters,
   induce conflict, and cancel certain monster's special abilities.
   Note that Magicbane doesn't like magic: its magical properties
   disappear (occur with less probability) as its enchantment goes up.
** When thrown by a valkyrie with a strength of 25, Mjollnir will
   usually return to her hands (this depends on her dexterity).


The Quest Artifacts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First something on how to gain these artifacts. Note that these
artifacts are all intelligent, and cannot be gained by #name-ing an
ordinary object.

Every one of these artifacts belongs to a certain class. You can only
gain your own class' artifact by going on your assigned quest, and
retrieving it from your nemesis on the quest, who has stolen it. Watch
out for these opponents: some of them are very tough opponents!

You cannot get your quest artifact by wishing for it ("For a moment,
you feel something in your hands, but it disappears!"). Also, you must
be at least level 15 to go on your quest, you must be piously aligned,
and you must be of the same alignment you started at.

If you covet a quest artifact not belonging to your class, the only way
to gain it is by wishing for it. There are some strings attached to
this, though. See the above section on getting blasted first.

If the artifact is intelligent, and both its alignment and its class
are different from yours, you will get blasted by the object, and if
you survived that attempt on your life, the object will evade your
grasp. Basically, you cannot wish for or use an artifact that is of the
wrong class AND alignment. Otherwise, if you don't mind being blasted
now and then, you can still use the artifact, since you will be able to
pick it up and use it.

Note that wearing a helm of opposite alignment will fool the artifact
into thinking you are of the correct alignment. Once you have
successfully picked it up (or wielded it), you can change your
alignment back. Should you drop or unwield it again, you will have to
go through the same procedure to be able to get a hold on it once
more.

Now something on using these artifacts. First note that all artifacts
are of a certain type (crystal ball, luckstone, etc.). They function as
a regular thing of that sort to start with. Note that, for example, the
Heart of Ahriman will function differently depending on its cursed/
blessed status, since it is a luckstone.

Then, all quest artifacts may confer a boon to you when carried, worn,
or wielded. These effects are detailed below and do not require any
action on the part of the player to be in working.

Also, most quest artifacts do something special when invoked. Some
toggle a property, such as invisibility. Others perform a service. Both
kinds of invocation are limited: you have to wait a certain number of
moves between invocations. However, if you've turned a property on, you
don't have to wait to turn it off. Once it's turned off, you do have to
wait before you can turn it on again. The number of moves you have to
wait is on the order of one hundred, and increases with your experience
level.

The table below lists the various quest artifacts and their special
powers (behind the name is the type of object, the class to which the
artifact belongs, and the alignment of the artifact).

Name and special powers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Orb of Detection (crystal ball, archeologist, lawful)
  invoked: Invisibility (on/off)
  carried: ESP, Half spell damage, Magic Resistance

The Heart of Ahriman (luckstone, barbarian, neutral)
  invoked: Levitation (on/off)
  carried: Stealth

The Sceptre of Might (quarterstaff, caveman, lawful)
  invoked: Conflict (on/off)
  wielded: Attack bonus on non-lawful monsters
  carried: Magic Resistance

The Palantir of Westernesse (crystal ball, elf, chaotic)
  invoked: Taming
  carried: ESP, Regeneration, Half spell damage

The Staff of Aesculapius (quarterstaff, healer, neutral)
  invoked: Healing
  wielded: Drains levels, Regeneration

The Magic Mirror of Merlin (mirror, knight, lawful)
  invoked: Nothing
  wielded: Talks to you (not implemented)
  carried: ESP, Magic Resistance

The Mitre of Holiness (helm of brilliance, priest, lawful *)
  invoked: Energy boost
     worn: Attack bonus against undead
  carried: Fire Resistance

The Master Key of Thievery (skeleton key, rogue, chaotic)
  invoked: Untraps
  wielded: Talks to you (not implemented)
  carried: Warning, Teleport control, Half physical damage

The Tsurugi of Muramasa (tsurugi, samurai, lawful)
  invoked: Nothing
  wielded: Bisects monsters, Increase luck

The Platinum Yendorian Express Card (credit card, tourist, neutral)
  invoked: Charging
  wielded: Defends (?)
  carried: ESP, Half spell damage, Magic Resistance

The Orb of Fate (crystal ball, valkyrie, neutral)
  invoked: Level teleport
  carried: Warning, Half spell damage, Half physical damage, Increase
           Luck

The Eye of the Aethiopica (amulet of ESP, wizard, neutral)
  invoked: Create portal **
  carried: Energy regeneration, Half spell damage, Magic Resistance

*  The Mitre of Holiness can be neutral or chaotic if you play a priest.
** The Eye allows you to teleport to the first levels of those branches
   of the dungeon (Dungeons of Doom, Gnomish Mines, the Quest, Gehennom,
   and Vlad's Tower) that you have already found.

