can i brand the GoP?

[Sky]

so, the rings of acid are gone, but as i am *accidentally* playing a paladin, i see that i have a spell called Elemental Brand - CL 47, i'm still CL 37.
I also accidentally found the Glaive Of Pwng, which i used to remember was a end-game weapon when branded with acid.
Should i hold on to this? My house is nowhere near full, but it currently does 312 dps, versus 369 ~ 261 dps for Anduril (also dropped in the same tiny vault, all guarded by a single Great Wyrm Of I'm Teleporting You Out Of Here).
Doesn't seem like a good tradeoff. I'm near 18/100 on physical stats.

[Derakon]

You can't brand it; the branding spell only works on items that are not already ego- or artifact level. But it's worth keeping around, as it will do considerably more damage once you get your stats up.

[Will]

Actually the whole book of Holy Infusions is pretty much useless for a Paladin. Which is sad.

[Thraalbee]

Off weapon branding is still available (but rare) with Randarts. But then GoP is not there

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Reading the title line of this thread, my first thought was branding the "Grand Old Party". I must still be upset over the election.

[Sky]

"lol, you were not kidding"

i swear this is what i thought just now, when i thought the angband meme "you find a good artifact = you die".

i literally just put on cubragol, said to myself "ooh, finally", and walked into a great wyrm "to test it". 3 more wyrms followed and i was like "i can TO, there's no need to teleport away ..."

incidentally, cubragol is branded with fire, does that mean it brands bolts -of acid etc.. also with fire? does it override -of wounding?

i gotta say, i did not enjoy playing the paladin; i had't found yet the Wrath Of God book, but the previous 8 left me for wanting. Also, found Tenser, Mordekainen and Kelek, which were useless but got me thinking i could be wreckin' these fools if i was a mage.

[Derakon]

The paladin's gimmick is being basically indestructible with reasonably smart play -- they can win any duel so long as they have mana left to cast Healing (and aren't blind, confused, etc.). It's a pretty "blunt" way to play the game.

Cubragol treats every bolt fired from it as if it had a fire brand in addition to whatever else the bolt has on it. It can only help you. Incidentally Wounding ammo has no special properties; it's just highly-enchanted.

[Will]

i gotta say, i did not enjoy playing the paladin; i had't found yet the Wrath Of God book, but the previous 8 left me for wanting. Also, found Tenser, Mordekainen and Kelek, which were useless but got me thinking i could be wreckin' these fools if i was a mage.

In terms of books for a paladin the first two dungeon books are the best: one for mobility/TO, the other for detection/ID. The next 2 aren't that interesting. Wrath of God has Banish Evil and *Destruction* but I haven't found it yet.

My feeling is that a paladin has 2 phases: pre- and post-Heal.

Pre-Heal a paladin is a slightly weaker warrior with decent utility spells that can save a couple of slots.

Post-Heal (and with decent speed) a paladin is nigh-unkillable as he has enough mana for 15 free !healing per fight... which basically means a warrior with unlimited consumables. It's just silly really.