Magicbane is an
artifact athame (
dagger-like
weapon) given to
NetHack Wizards who please their
gods (
Thoth,
Anhur, or
Ptah, depending on
alignment). Its powers include:
Specifically, about 40% of the time, Magicbane will
probe,
stun,
scare, or do some combination of the two to your target. Which of these occurs is a complicated
function of the
enchantment of the weapon (+1, +2, +3...). Magicbane deals an extra 1d4 points of
damage beyond the basic
athame damage under all circumstances. Occasionally, the weapon will "
purge" your opponent; this adds an additional 1d4 damage and
cancels the monster as per a
wand of cancellation.
Magicbane is easily obtained by sacrificing a few corpses to your god. It is sometimes randomly generated (like in an Antique Weapons Outlet or something). The earlier you get this weapon, the better, as receiving the broadsword Stormbringer more or less makes it obsolete.