Excalibur revamp

[eakaye]

Excalibur has a dog's breakfast of effects which don't make thematic sense and don't really mesh with NetHack's current design. I suspect that this is because it was added to the game long before most other artifacts, and indeed before the developers even decided what an artifact would be (at one point you could have multiple Excaliburs). I propose making the following changes to make Excalibur more interesting:

• Still grants drain resistance.
• Still grants automatic searching, but not the enchantment bonus to searching. (It arbitrarily applies only to manual searching, and only to secret doors and corridors.)
• No longer makes lawful demon princes hostile. (It's a newbie trap that can get inexperienced players wrecked by demons that they could have otherwise paid off. There's not even any hint as to why the demons are so angry at you. There's also no reason to expect that they'd hate Excalibur more than e.g. Grayswandir or Frost Brand. Conversely, experienced players can unequip Excalibur at the crucial moments and bypass the disadvantage entirely.)
• No longer makes eyeless monsters track you better. (It simply has no real effect on gameplay.)
• Now prevents leprechauns, nymphs, and foocubi from stealing/seducing/charming you. (Monkeys don't recognize Excalibur's power, so they're not affected.) "[monster] reaches out, but recoils from Excalibur!" and it teleports away. This also applies to non-hostile foocubi that you chat with. This is a powerful and versatile advantage, but also a "double-edged sword", since it prevents you from exploiting foocubi for levels and energy while being safe from level drain. I think this fits nicely with NetHack's design ethos and the theme of being the lawful crowning artifact.

[Umbire]

"There's also no reason to expect that they'd hate Excalibur more than e.g. Grayswandir or Frost Brand."

I mean, Asmodeus in particular resists cold damage...

[entrez]

This seems to me like a fairly significant buff, since the only benefit removed is one that you note is basically irrelevant; two downsides (one major) are removed, and a significant benefit is added (I don't think it's as balanced as you suggest, since the player can always stuff her primary sword into a sack before dallying with an incubus -- if the scene is too dangerous to temporarily switch to a secondary weapon, it's too dangerous to dally with foocubi in the first place). Excalibur is already a very good artifact which many people use as their primary weapon through the end of the game; I don't think it needs a buff.

I do like the succubus-repellant idea though, because it seems like it fits thematically with of the source material for Excalibur -- the pure, chaste, pious knight alone is worthy etc, etc. I'm not sure about how leprechauns would fit into that chastity theme so I think if it were me I'd limit it to nymphs and foocubi, but I do think it's a neat idea for Excalibur and I wouldn't mind seeing some experimentation with Excalibur that incorporates it.

[eakaye]

This seems to me like a fairly significant buff, since the only benefit removed is one that you note is basically irrelevant; two downsides (one major) are removed, and a significant benefit is added (I don't think it's as balanced as you suggest, since the player can always stuff her primary sword into a sack before dallying with an incubus -- if the scene is too dangerous to temporarily switch to a secondary weapon, it's too dangerous to dally with foocubi in the first place). Excalibur is already a very good artifact which many people use as their primary weapon through the end of the game; I don't think it needs a buff.

I do like the succubus-repellant idea though, because it seems like it fits thematically with of the source material for Excalibur -- the pure, chaste, pious knight alone is worthy etc, etc. I'm not sure about how leprechauns would fit into that chastity theme so I think if it were me I'd limit it to nymphs and foocubi, but I do think it's a neat idea for Excalibur and I wouldn't mind seeing some experimentation with Excalibur that incorporates it.

The idea behind the downside is that it prevents "ratcheting" your level up. Other sources of drain resistance allow you to gain levels from foocubi, but prevent you from losing them; Excalibur blocks both, so its wielder has to weigh the potential gain against the potential loss, or else abstain altogether.

Theft is an inherently chaotic act, which is why Rogues can't be lawful or even neutral, and why only chaotics gain alignment record for stealing from shops (or consorting with foocubi, for that matter). So it follows that the symbol of law would rebuke any attempted theft (except animals acting on their base instincts, or the covetous type which is too strong for a mere artifact to overcome). I can see the logic for excluding leprechauns, though.

As an extension, Excalibur might prevent you from performing theft attacks yourself as a polyself -- or it might even "attack" those forms and be unequippable at all.

[loggersviii]

No longer makes lawful demon princes hostile. (It's a newbie trap that can get inexperienced players wrecked by demons that they could have otherwise paid off. There's not even any hint as to why the demons are so angry at you. There's also no reason to expect that they'd hate Excalibur more than e.g. Grayswandir or Frost Brand

Excalibur is ostensibly a very Holy, Lawful weapon, so I can see the reasoning behind it angering demons; even though a demon prince may be Lawful, that doesn't mean they are good, which I think Excalibur is kinda meant to be. I also disagree that it's a newbie trap. All the bribable demon lords/princes in vanilla are almost laughably weak, (with the exception of Asmodeus sans cold-resistance, and you should have that anyway) and I doubt any newbies in gehennom would get wrecked by them if they have excalibur.

This is a powerful and versatile advantage, but also a "double-edged sword", since it prevents you from exploiting foocubi for levels and energy while being safe from level drain. I think this fits nicely with NetHack's design ethos and the theme of being the lawful crowning artifact.

this isn't really a "double-edged sword" at all, it's just a straight buff to excalibur. you can unwield it whenever you want to consort with foocubi; level-drain from foocubi is simply not dangerous, as you can kill one monster to get your level back and you usually mess around with foocubi in a safe environment where there aren't likely to be other level-draining monsters. Excalibur is already arguably the best weapon in the game (gray does more damage, but excal has other benefits), so I don't think this is really necessary

[elunna]

I cast my vote for only allowing lawful knights to get this from fountain dipping (as in EvilHack). Otherwise, it is the default early-game strategy for almost every lawful character. Even with that limitation, lawfuls still get it from crowning so it's not that huge of a nerf besides extending the early game for non-knights.

[elunna]

Another more subtle nerf would be to make the effects of Excalibur (or any artifact really) to depend on your alignment, so you have a bit more motivation to keep good alignment to keep the effects active.

[eakaye]

this isn't really a "double-edged sword" at all, it's just a straight buff to excalibur. you can unwield it whenever you want to consort with foocubi; level-drain from foocubi is simply not dangerous, as you can kill one monster to get your level back and you usually mess around with foocubi in a safe environment where there aren't likely to be other level-draining monsters. Excalibur is already arguably the best weapon in the game (gray does more damage, but excal has other benefits), so I don't think this is really necessary

I would argue that this is a flaw of level-drain in general, not specifically of my concept for Excalibur. Now that potions of restore ability can restore all of your lost levels, I think it would be reasonable to make level drain leave you e.g. halfway between the two levels instead of one point from leveling up.

If Excalibur still seems overpowered, maybe it could lose automatic searching. This predates the modern alignment system, and searching nowadays seems to be chaotic-themed (Rogues and Rangers get auto-search and bonuses to searching in general). Chaotics are pragmatic and aware of their situation and environment, while lawfuls blunder through everything in their path because "it's the right thing to do".