# Reaver

)   Reaver   

Base item

scimitar

Damage vs. small

1d8 +1d8

Damage vs. large

1d8 +1d8

To-hit bonus

+1d4

Bonus versus

none

Weapon skill

scimitar

Size

one-handed

Affiliation

chaoticPirateintelligent

When carried

(none)

When wielded

steals one item from target per successful hit

When invoked

(none)

Base price

6000 zm

Weight

40

Material

iron

For the role whose rank title at experience levels 18-21 is Reaver, see Barbarian.
Reaver is an artifact cutlass (scimitar) in the Pirate patch for NetHack. It is the crowning gift for Pirates, and is the only artifact weapon they are able to receive from their deity (or guaranteed artifact weapon of any kind in the game). 
Reaver adds +1d4 to hit and +1d8 to damage, which combined with its relatively weak base damage of 1d8, makes it noticeably weaker than other artifact swords such as Excalibur, Stormbringer, and Snickersnee, not to mention Grayswandir, or the the Brands. However, it steals one item from an opponent with each successful hit, which will allow the Pirate to collect potions of full healing, amulets of life saving, and attack wands that otherwise would have been used up by monsters.
If the player has no room for a stolen object, it will be dropped at the player's feet ("Ye snatched but dropped <object>"). Note that stealing a footrice corpse from an opponent while not wearing gloves can lead to a petrification instakill.
The Pirate crowning title is "Pirate King". This is partly a reference to the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance.

Messages
"Hurrah for our Pirate King!"
A Pirate was crowned.
Yer 

<reaver> rings with the sound o' waves!
You're crowned while already wielding Reaver.  This identifies it.
Ye steal: <object>
You successfully stole an object with Reaver.
Ye snatched but dropped <object>.
You successfully stole an object with Reaver, but had no room for it in your inventory.
Encyclopedia entry

Oh, better far to live and die
Under the brave black flag I fly,
Than play a sanctimonious part,
With a pirate head and a pirate heart.
Away to the cheating world go you,
Where pirates all are well-to-do;
But I'll be true to the song I sing,
And live and die a Pirate King.

For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!

When I sally forth to seek my prey
I help myself in a royal way.
I sink a few more ships, it's true,
Than a well-bred monarch ought to do;
But many a king on a first-class throne,
If he wants to call his crown his own,
Must manage somehow to get through
More dirty work than ever I do,

For I am a Pirate King!
And it is, it is a glorious thing
To be a Pirate King!

[ Pirates of the Penzance, Gilbert &amp; Sullivan ] 

References
Chris's Pirate Patch
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.roguelike.nethack/pirate%7Csort:date/rec.games.roguelike.nethack/o95FVd7p_yQ/TgWCFVKJkwsJ

</object></object></reaver>

</object>