Short sword

Version 0.30: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Name	Short sword
Skill	Short Blades
Damage	5
Accuracy	+4
Base delay (%)	10 (100%)
Min delay	5 at skill 12
Hands	1H
Size	Small
Ranged?	No

A small, double-edged blade with a short grip. "Who was the first that forged the deadly blade? Of rugged steel his savage soul was made" -Albius Tibullus, _Elegies_ I, xi. ca. 25 B.C. trans. James Grainger, 1822.

This weapon falls into the 'Short Blades' category. It is a one handed weapon.

The short sword is a weapon in the Short Blades category. Many backgrounds have a short sword as a choice of weapon, and early monsters (such as kobolds, goblins and orcs) often wield them.

Strategy

As a starting weapon, a short sword is weaker than a falchion or mace in "raw" combat, but is better at stabbing.

At 0 skill, a short sword is better than nothing. It's also better than a dagger (if you aren't stabbing things) or club of the same brand. So if you started without a weapon, you might as well pick one of these up. Whips and spears are, in turn, better than the short sword.

	Image
Mundane
Magical
Artifact

History

• Prior to 0.30, short swords had a base delay of 11 (1.1).
• Prior to 0.29, short swords had 6 base damage, and scaled with strength rather than dexterity.