# Bat from Hell

)   The Bat from Hell   

Base item

Baseball bat

Damage vs. small

1d8 +20

Damage vs. large

1d6 +20

To-hit bonus

+3

Bonus versus

(any)

Weapon skill

club

Size

one-handed

Affiliation

chaoticrogue

When carried

(none)

When wielded

(none)

When invoked

(none)

Base price

5000 zm

Weight

40

Material

wood

The Bat from Hell is an artifact baseball bat introduced in SLASH'EM and included in SpliceHack. It gets +3 to-hit and +20 damage bonus, making it a weapon suitable even for SLASH'EM's endgame. It uses the club skill. In SLASH'EM, it is the first sacrifice gift for Rogues.

Contents

1 Obtaining
2 Strategy
3 SpliceHack
4 See also

Obtaining
Rogues can get this weapon as their first sacrifice gift. Other chaotic characters may receive it from sacrifice, but all others will have to wish for it or find it in a bones pile. Since its base item type is never randomly generated, it cannot be randomly generated either.

Strategy
The Bat from Hell is one of the strongest artifact weapons available in SLASH'EM. Its +20 damage bonus versus all enemies is matched only by Reaper, and as Reaper is a pole-arm it is both two-handed and can only be used for mounted combat or pounding. The Bat makes the Rogue role much easier in SLASH'EM, combined with the other advantages they are given; a Rogue's only goal in SLASH'EM's early game is almost certainly going to be to find an altar and sacrifice everything in sight. It makes the early game relatively easy, felling most monsters in one or two hits, but one should always be careful not to be overconfident; the Bat does not make you invulnerable.
The Bat is something that many roles may find it worthwhile to wish for, although it is not strictly speaking an essential. Even non-chaotics might want to wish for it; it is not an intelligent artifact, although one should be mindful that blasting damage has been considerably increased for all artifacts in SLASH'EM. Also, for those roles that can manage it, it may be worthwhile to #twoweapon the Bat with an artifact that provides drain resistance, since that will not compromise its increased damage.
Both Mjollnir at +24 and Disrupter at +30 have higher damage bonuses than the Bat, but Mjollnir's damage bonus doesn't apply to shock-resistant monsters, and Disrupter's only applies to undead.

SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, the Bat from Hell is not affiliated with Rogues. The flat +20 damage bonus is reduced to +1d20.

See also
SLASH'EM Artifacts