Draft:Giant club

Omega 0.90.4

Giant club)Base damage rating50Base hit bonus-10Normal attack typeStrikingHands2Weight250

A giant club is a very heavy two-handed weapon, distinct from the ordinary club. Its base damage rating of 50 comes with a severe -10 hit penalty. It has no special attack that bypasses physical immunity.

Generation

Giant clubs occur in random treasure, pawn-shop stock and acquirement. Their item level is 5 and base value 100 Au; that value is not a shop quote. Julie's does not sell them.

A jotun begins with a neutral +0 giant club, copied directly from the item definition. Its carried weapon can be recovered from the ordinary death drop. A jotun is a level-9 monster, so this is a late and dangerous source rather than an opening equipment plan.

Description

Wielding requires both weapon hand and ready hand, but the separate shield slot remains available. A normal strike gains the usual Strength-based damage bonus. The listed 50 is a damage rating used in a roll, not 50 guaranteed damage; misses and physical immunity can still reduce an attack's result to nothing.

It is also a powerful digging tool: tunneling uses its full base contribution of 50, and striking avoids the weapon-damage check on a tunneling mishap. Enchantment does not improve the digging contribution, and this protection does not extend to other equipment-damaging effects.

Throwing a spare giant club does not independently add 50 to projectile damage. Ordinary thrown weapons use current character damage plus the throwing Strength bonus, and the club normally lands for later recovery. Its weight therefore makes it an inefficient spare projectile when a lighter ordinary weapon is available.

Strategy

Compare the actual hit chance before trading a more accurate weapon for the high damage rating. At equal enchantment a great-axe has 17 more hit points, weighs 150 less and requires the same two hands, though its base damage is only 24. A character with strong hit bonuses may make better use of the club than a new character; the common hit roll still includes an automatic miss outcome.

For excavation the giant club's advantage is less dependent on character combat ability, but carrying 250 weight solely for digging can be costly. Keep it for a route with resistant walls when the load is manageable; use a cheap club or mace when portability matters more. Switching away from an equipped cursed copy requires resolving the curse first.