Singing Sword

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Revision as of 22:35, 29 April 2014 by Derrek (talk | contribs) (0.14 update, add strategy tip)
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Version 0.14: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
This blessed weapon loves nothing more than to sing to its owner, whether they want it to or not.

Singing sword.png the +7,+7 Singing Sword

+7, +7 bastard sword

Makes noise

Desirability

At high tension, its name changes to the Screaming Sword and starts screaming instead of singing. Its ear-splitting shrieks do minor damage to all nearby monsters, including allies (in addition to waking and attracting even more monsters than usual). When you are within the range of Silence, its name changes to Sulking Sword. At low tension (i.e. when no monsters are in sight) it does not alert nearby monsters to your presence: technically, they won't actually be in-game noise at all. So there is no need to unwield the thing when you're not actually fighting.

Despite what one might think from its description, this weapon is not holy wrath branded or even holy; "blessed" is merely a sarcastic synonym for "accursed" (i.e. annoying).

Screaming mechanics

When tension is greater than 40, the sword will become the Screaming Sword, and periodically scream, dealing minor but irresistible damage to all monsters in sight. These screams deal ((1d2)*(1d2)*(1d3) + 1d3 + 1)*(XL/27) damage. In theory, this can deal up to 16 damage, but is far more likely to be around 5-10 at XL27, and even less for earlier characters. There is a 10% chance per scream that the damage will be doubled; however, damage is still capped at 16. Furthermore, damage is also capped at 3/10 of the monster's max HP, or at 5/10 for doubled screams.

History

Prior 0.14, the sounds it made at low tension attracted nearby monsters, so the optimal strategy was to unwield the thing when player is not actually fighting. It also was a long sword.