Best Sangband weapon ever?

[RogerN]

Morgoth is down, and I owe most of it to this amazing weapon:

An Executioner's Sword of Frost (2d18) (+11,+10)

Sangband occasionally creates weapons with extra-large damage dice. The Executioner's Sword already has the largest damage dice in the game, and with an additional 50% boost (12 to 18) this thing is incredible. The only better weapon I can imagine would be a Bluesteel Blade with higher dice, since it's intrinsically vorpal.

The weapon was not originally branded. A lucky *Enchant Weapon* scroll gave it the frost brand.

So how much damage does it put out? My Oath of Iron character had maxed STR and DEX, dealt 5 blows per round, and scored an *average* of 90 damage per blow against Morgoth. Obviously not all blows were hits, but a damage potential of 450/turn ain't bad

This just goes to reinforce my opinion that clubs and polearms are tragically underpowered in Sangband. Nothing in those categories can come close to the damage output of this sword due to how critical hits are calculated. Small dice means smaller criticals. They're also heavier, meaning you get fewer blows. And the extra weight doesn't increase the quality of your criticals like in Vanilla.

[camlost]

Pretty sweet. I never was able to brand my 2d12 lance, but I found Eorlingas, which makes up for it.

I'm pretty sure that non-swords need to be much better in S. Swords might actually compare favorably to martial arts.

[Estie]

Wasnt there a morningstar (Bloodspike?) which, when synergized with another part of the set it belongs to, turned it into an awesome weapon ? How would that compare to this sword ?

Also, does frost brand help any against M in sang ?

I never fought M. I quit sang after a very promising character got his equipment ruined by picking up (not wielding or using) a blanket.

"Gotcha!" "kbye"

[NotMorgoth]

Pretty sweet. I never was able to brand my 2d12 lance, but I found Eorlingas, which makes up for it.

I'm pretty sure that non-swords need to be much better in S. Swords might actually compare favorably to martial arts.

I agree, though surely it could be mostly fixed by tweaking the base damage dice for most weapons in the edit files without actually needing to change the code.

I find relying on martial arts pretty hard going through the mid-game when you would otherwise be wielding a good weapon with a brand and a few resistances and stat bonuses, though I'm sure once you get to 100% they're awesome.

Edit: I always wondered (in this and other variants) if blunt weapons were deliberately made weaker to prevent clerics from being overpowered.)

[dzhang]

I found a veritable bonanza of adamantine chunks in my last Sangband game, and he kept crafting Bluesteel Blades (with infusions, of course), until he got the following weapon:

A Bluesteel Blade (adamant) (3d14) (+10,+22) (+2 attacks) (charging) {!*
Activates for orb of lightning (damage 130) every 110 turns. [14% fail]
+2 CON, Blows. Slay Giant, Dragon. Brand Lightning.
Vorpal. Resist Lightning, Fire. Free Action.

I must have made a good 10 or so +2 blow bluesteel blades before getting one with enhanced damage dice.

[NotMorgoth]

Just found a Battle Axe (2d16) (cursed)

Not much use to me even if I uncursed and enchanted it as this character fights with bows and karate.