Trident

)
Name	trident
Appearance	trident
Damage vs. small	1d6+1
Damage vs. large	3d4
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	trident
Size	one-handed
Cost	5 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	25
Material	iron

A trident is a kind of weapon. It has a special +4 to-hit bonus against swimming monsters that are in water. If the monster is not in water, there is still a +2 to-hit bonus if it is one of the snakes or the sea monsters.

The trident averages 7.5 damage versus large monsters, one point more than a katana, making it the most damaging one-handed non-artifact weapon versus large monsters. Along with the silver saber, crysknife and katana, the trident is one of the best choices for twoweaponing.

Generation

In addition to normal random generation methods, such as death drops and shops, the following monsters have a unique chance of being spawned with a trident in their monster starting inventory:

• Salamander. 2 in 21, or about 9.52%.
  • Sadly, they are also very rare to even spawn, making this largely ineffective for obtaining a trident. While they appear in large numbers on the Plane of Fire, by that time a player has already completed their ascension kit and likely ignoring all drops.
• Horned devil. 3 in 4, or exactly 75%.
  • If looking for a trident, it may be beneficial to avoid killing one without such in Gehennom to encourage the odds of one spawning with a trident. To be 95% certain to obtain one, the player need only kill ~2.16 , and 99% certainty at only ~3.32 . With polymorph control, should one turn into a Horned devil, there is a 1 in 13 chance of another being spawned in battle; attacking in bare-handed combat, so as not to actually kill a combatant, as few as ~50.41 strikes is enough to be 95% certain, and ~77.5 for 99% certainty (provided you have a means to safely kill your pets, such as conflict, of course).

Average damage calculation

We assume the player has expert skill in long sword, which gives a +2 damage bonus. This is assumed despite the fact that no class can actually have expert skill (so as to be on a level playing field with other weapon tables). A blessed weapon deals 1d4 extra damage against demons and undead. The worst case scenario is against a small, non-undead, non-demon. The best case scenario is against a large undead/demon monster.

Weapon	Against regular small monsters	Against regular large monsters	Worst case scenario	Best case scenario
Blessed trident +0	$\frac{1+6}{2}+1+2=\bold{6.5}$	$\frac{3+12}{2}+2=\bold{9.5}$	$\frac{1+6}{2}+1+2=\bold{6.5}$	$\frac{3+12}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2=\bold{12}$
Blessed trident +7	$\frac{1+6}{2}+1+2+7=\bold{13.5}$	$\frac{3+12}{2}+2+7=\bold{16.5}$	$\frac{1+6}{2}+1+2+7=\bold{13.5}$	$\frac{3+12}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2+7=\bold{19}$
Blessed trident +9	$\frac{1+6}{2}+1+2+9=\bold{15.5}$	$\frac{3+12}{2}+2+9=\bold{18.5}$	$\frac{1+6}{2}+1+2+9=\bold{15.5}$	$\frac{3+12}{2}+\frac{1+4}{2}+2+9=\bold{21}$

Despite the inclusion in the above table, attempting to enchant a trident to +9 is generally a very bad idea, as they're quite rare.

Trident skill

Trident
Max	Role
Basic	Healer, Knight, Ranger, Tourist, Valkyrie, Wizard
Skilled	Barbarian, Caveman, Priest

The trident is the only weapon to use the trident skill. There are no artifact tridents.