# Vorpal Blade

)   Vorpal Blade   

Base item

long sword

Damage vs. small

1d8 +1 (2–9)

Damage vs. large

1d12 +1 (2–13)

To-hit bonus

+1d5

Bonus versus

(any)

Weapon skill

long sword

Size

one-handed

Affiliation

neutral

When carried

(none)

When wielded

beheading

When invoked

(none)

Base price

4000 zm

Weight

40

Material

iron

Vorpal Blade is an artifact weapon that appears in NetHack. It is neutral, and its base item is a long sword.
One of the randomly generated epitaphs on a grave may read "Here lies The Lady's maid, died of a Vorpal Blade".

Contents

1 Generation
2 Description
3 Strategy

3.1 Instakill probability table
3.2 Monsters wielding Vorpal Blade

4 History
5 Origin
6 Messages
7 Variants

7.1 SLASH'EM

7.1.1 Instakill probability table

7.2 NetHack brass
7.3 UnNetHack
7.4 dNetHack
7.5 xNetHack
7.6 EvilHack

8 Encyclopedia entry
9 References

Generation
Any randomly generated long sword has a base 1⁄20 chance of being made into Vorpal Blade.
Vorpal Blade is also a possible sacrifice gift for neutral players, and is the default neutral crowning gift for most roles. Neutral Wizards and Monks can receive it only by carrying their role's crowning gift spellbook (finger of death for Wizards; restore ability for Monks) when they are crowned.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

The odds of a randomly generated object being made into a compatible object now also lowers depending on how many artifacts are already generated: 1⁄30 if one artifact has been found, 1⁄40 if two have been found, etc.
Description
Vorpal Blade has a +1d5 bonus to hit and +1 bonus damage against small and large monsters; the sword has a 5% chance of instantaneously killing monsters it hits by beheading them—this deals damage equal to twice that monster's HP, ignoring any penalties. This also applies to you if you are hit with Vorpal Blade; if you are polymorphed into a monster and decapitated, you will die and be returned to your base form as usual.[1] If Vorpal Blade hits a jabberwock (including a player in the form of one), it will always behead them.[2] Due to its calculation method, this is not a "true" instadeath. If a monster (including you) would be beheaded with Vorpal Blade and has a head but is unsolid, the sword will slice through the neck without beheading them - this is treated as a normal hit.[3]
How many heads the monster actually has (e.g. ettins and their zombie/mummy forms) has no bearing on the beheading effect: so long as it is corporeal and has a head, Vorpal Blade can behead and kill it.[4] However, if you or the target monster has no head at all, or else the target monster is currently engulfing you, the sword instead has a 5% chance of dealing no damage in those cases.[5]

Strategy
While often overlooked by some players due to its low bonuses to hit chances and damage, others seek out Vorpal Blade for its ability to insta-kill, either to wield for themselves or to keep out of the hands of hostile monsters.

Instakill probability table
The following table summarizes the damage done by Vorpal Blade. For example, if you expect to hit a monster ten times, you can assume a 40% chance of beheading it. You have also done an average of 55 points of physical damage to it. The odds of beheading a monster are above 50% if you can expect to hit it 14 times, which entails inflicting about 77 points of damage anyway.

Hits

Cumulative instakill probability

Damage at +0  to small monsters (avg)

Damage at +0 to large monsters (avg)

Additional damage at +7

1
5%
2–9 (5.5)
2–13 (7.5)
7

2
9.75%
4–18 (11)
4–26 (15)
14

3
14.26%
6–27 (16.5)
6–39 (22.5)
21

4
18.5%
8–36 (22)
8–52 (30)
28

5
22.6%
10–45 (27.5)
10–65 (37.5)
35

10
40.1%
20–90 (55)
20–130 (75)
70

15
53.7%
30–135 (82.5)
30–195 (112.5)
105

45
90.0%
90–405 (248)
90–585 (338)
315

Monsters wielding Vorpal Blade
Vorpal Blade is a very dangerous weapon to find in the hands of a monster for the same reason it is sought by players—melee combat with any monster wielding Vorpal Blade can easily end in tragedy, especially since you may not be aware until it is too late. In particular, if Vorpal Blade has not already been created in your game, the player monsters in the Astral Plane each have a chance of their weapon being turned into an artifact, naturally including long swords possibly being turned into Vorpal Blade.
Definitely avoid close combat in the Astral Planes until you can be certain that your target does not have Vorpal Blade, and attack such targets from a distance when possible; using a bullwhip to disarm them may be a last measure in especially dire situations. An amulet of life saving is highly recommended, as even without player carelessness an irreversible YASD can still occur. While the chances are incredibly low, a player monster with the weapon and two weapon attacks may be "lucky" enough to behead you twice in a row.
If you kill a monster wielding Vorpal Blade but do not plan on using it at that time (or at all), leaving it in a well-protected container (i.e. at least with a scroll of scare monster over it) or stashing it within a bag in your inventory is highly recommended—at minimum, it will be kept out of enemies' hands.

The following information pertains to an upcoming version (NetHack 3.7.0). If this version is now released, please verify that it is still accurate, then update the page to incorporate this information.

Monsters now pick up containers and can loot unlocked containers (excluding cursed bags of holding). Dropped scrolls of scare monster no longer scare any @ or unique monster.
History
Vorpal Blade is introduced in NetHack 3.1.0.

Origin
Vorpal Blade originates in the poem "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, an excerpt of which is included in the encyclopedia entry below. The unnamed adventurer's "vorpal blade" is used to cut through the eponymous jabberwock and behead it, an action inspiring its potential in NetHack (and its variants) to behead monsters, and most reliably jabberwocks.

Messages
Vorpal Blade 

<beheads decapitates=""> the <monster>!
The monster has been instantly killed from the special beheading attack.
Vorpal Blade <beheads decapitates=""> it!
As above, with an unseen monster.
Somehow, you miss the <monster> wildly.
Your hit would have beheaded the monster, but it lacks a head and thus takes no damage.[5]
Vorpal Blade slices through <monster>'s neck.
Your hit would have beheaded the monster, but it was incorporeal (e.g. a ghost or shade) and takes normal damage.[3]
Vorpal Blade decapitates you!
You were beheaded by a monster wielding Vorpal Blade.
Somehow, <foo> misses you wildly.
As above, but you were in a headless form.[5]
Vorpal Blade slices through your neck.
As above, but you were in an incorporeal form.[3]
Variants
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, Vorpal Blade beheads foes 10% of the time instead of 5%, making it considerably more powerful. A similar weapon, Thiefbane, has a 10% chance of beheading any @.
Despite their monster type, vorpal jabberwocks in SLASH'EM are not subject to decapitation on any hit of Vorpal Blade as with normal jabberwocks, instead retaining the same 10% chance as any other monster.

Instakill probability table

Hits

Cumulative instakill probability

1
10%

2
19%

3
27.1%

4
34.4%

5
41.0%

10
65.1%

15
79.4%

22
90.1%

NetHack brass
In NetHack brass, Vorpal Blade has a +1d15 to-hit bonus, but deals no extra damage.

UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, Vorpal Blade deals +1d8 damage instead of the vanilla +1. Additionally, it warns of jabberwocks and instakills vorpal jabberwocks.

dNetHack
In dNetHack, Vorpal Blade's base damage dice are doubled for each hit, dealing 2d8 + 2 versus small monsters and 2d12 + 2 versus large monsters. In addition, its damage rolls use exploding dice that roll another 1d8 or 1d12 for each die with a maximum roll (including the extra dice), applying a flat +1 bonus to those dice.
A decapitating blow from Vorpal Blade is not an instant kill, but rather deals bonus damage equal to (2d12! + x) * 20) + 8d20, where x is the weapon enchantment and 2d12 uses exploding dice - this is more than enough in practice to instantly kill most normal hostile monsters short of demon lords and princes, even with the helm partially reducing the damage (and likely being destroyed as a result of the blow).

xNetHack
In xNetHack, Vorpal Blade's damage bonus is +1d8 rather than +1. The average damage for an unenchanted Vorpal Blade is 9 versus small monsters and 11 versus large ones.

EvilHack
In EvilHack, Vorpal Blade warns of jabberwocks and additionally protects against beheading attacks.
Cerberus is immune to decapitation by Vorpal Blade, as he will instantly grow a new head in its place before the other two can be removed.

Encyclopedia entry
This entry is shared with the jabberwock.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
&nbsp;&nbsp;The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
&nbsp;&nbsp;The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
&nbsp;&nbsp;Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
&nbsp;&nbsp;And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
&nbsp;&nbsp;The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
&nbsp;&nbsp;And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
&nbsp;&nbsp;The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
&nbsp;&nbsp;He went galumphing back.

[ Jabberwocky, by Lewis Carroll ] 

References

↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1337

↑ src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1296

↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1312

↑ include/artilist.h in NetHack 3.6.7, line 145

↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 src/artifact.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 1304

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