Draft:Trident

Omega 0.90.4

Trident)Base damage rating12Base hit bonus+7Normal attack typeThrustingHands1Julie's price (Au)150Weight80

A trident is a one-handed thrusting weapon. It trades some of a spear's accuracy and portability for a slightly higher damage rating. Tritons carry ordinary tridents as treasure.

Generation

Julie's sells an identified, uncursed +0 trident for 150 Au. Random treasure, pawn-shop stock and acquirement provide other routes. Its item level 3 affects random generation, without imposing a wielding level requirement.

Every newly constructed triton receives a trident copied from the definition: +0 and neutral, rather than randomly enchanted. Its carried equipment is dropped by the ordinary death routine. The weapon's availability does not make a level-6 triton a suitable opening opponent; its own combat attributes are separate from the item's ratings.

Description

A normal thrust gains Dexterity-based accuracy. The trident also permits choosing a riposte in the combat sequence, but a counterattack still requires a matching defense and a separate hit roll. Its ordinary damage remains subject to physical immunity.

For tunneling, thrusting doubles its base damage contribution to 24, before the random wall-breaking roll. That exceeds the spear's 20, but every tunneling mishap attempts to damage a thrusting weapon. The separate damage checks can reduce enchantment or destroy it; the displayed enchantment does not itself improve excavation.

Throwing uses the ordinary weapon routine, not a trident-specific missile bonus. A spare trident's damage rating is not separately added to the character's current thrown damage. An equipped cursed trident cannot simply be thrown away.

Strategy

For an initial shop purchase, the spear costs 50 Au less, weighs 30 less and has three more hit points; it gives up only two base damage points. A trident is therefore more attractive when it has a better enchantment or is already available as loot than as an automatic upgrade over a spear.

A spare plain trident can serve as a digging tool when faster wall breaking matters and its weight is affordable. For frequent excavation with less risk to equipment, consider a cheap club or mace instead: striking avoids this particular tunneling damage check, although their base contributions are lower.