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)   Snickersnee   Katana
Base item katana
Damage vs. small 1d10 +1d8
Damage vs. large 1d12 +1d8
To-hit bonus +1
Bonus versus (any)
Weapon skill long sword
Size one-handed
Affiliation
When carried

(none)

When wielded

(none)

When invoked

(none)

Cost 1200 zm
Weight 40
Material iron

Snickersnee is an artifact katana, that simply does +1d8 damage; the main good thing about it is that it uses the long sword skill, so you can build up skill quickly. It is the first sacrifice gift for a samurai.

It is moderately useful in the early game, especially for Samurai, Valkyries and Knights (or other long sword wielders), but is usually not worth burning a wish for. It is interesting to note, however, that Excalibur is only slightly better than Snickersnee - they inflict the same amount of damage versus small monsters (1d8+1d10 for Excalibur versus 1d10+1d8 for Snickersnee), and Snickersnee does not anger demons or reveal your presence to monsters. However, neither does it confer level-drain resistance or searching, and it gets only +1 to hit (versus Excalibur's +1d5), though the attack bonus is much less significant at high levels or with high luck. Excalibur also inflicts slightly more damage to large monsters.

In SporkHack, Snickersnee gains +1d5 to hit (in addition to the +1 for being a katana), but is otherwise unchanged. This is more significant than it might initially seem because of the to-hit calculation changes in Spork.

Encyclopedia entry[]

Ah, never shall I forget the cry,
or the shriek that shrieked he,
As I gnashed my teeth, and from my sheath
I drew my Snickersnee!
--Koko, Lord high executioner of Titipu

[ The Mikado, by Sir W.S. Gilbert ]
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