Mace of Variability

Version 0.14: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

It is rather unreliable.

the Mace of Variability

(-4 to +16), (-4 to +16) great mace

Chaos brand
Enchantment level rises or falls by 1 each turn that you wield it (40% chance)
Color changes each turn in console mode

Desirability

The Mace of Variability, like any chaos branded weapon, may occasionally produce dramatic and devastating results. The shifting enchantment level further magnifies its unreliably awesome power. As with other chaos weapons, however, it will almost certainly turn on you eventually, and it can very quickly go from being wonderfully well enchanted to miserably weak. Even if you find it in the early game where its damage outshines the alternatives, its skill requirement is too high for low-level characters. Unless you feel like making Xom happy, don't bother with it.

History

This is one of the original five artefacts in the game (the others being the Wrath of Trog, the Scythe of Curses, the Singing Sword, and the Glaive of Prune). It has evolved somewhat through the years, changing from a mace to a great mace and acquiring a chaos brand.