| Grod ( ( ) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Item Type | Melee weapon |
| Artifact? | Yes |
| Weight | 220s |
| Danger Level | Unknown |
| Material | Iron |
The mighty morning star "Grod" is an artifact in ADOM. In ADOM v 1.1.1 and some earlier versions, the artifact can only be generated by crowning.
Grod is powerful and accurate, slays demons and giants, increases the PC's melee critical hit chance by 25% (0% in 1.1.1)[1] whilst wielded, and grants immunity to fire.
In its unidentified form, Grod appears as a morning star; but is distinguishable from regular morning stars by its unusual weight of 220s.
Desirability
Grod is one of the many weapons that finds itself in the two-handed artifacts debate — i.e. it makes an exceptionally powerful melee weapon, but incurs a very worrying DV loss both directly and through inability to be used with a shield. With Grod, this tends to result in high risk high return situations against powerful enemies, as the PC should usually expect to have to withstand as much damage as it deals (except for perhaps high level Barbarians, which can really smash enemies up with this weapon).
Grod not only has a remarkable damage potential, but its slaying powers are particularly excellent — ensuring critical hits against some of the game's most powerful monsters including balors, greater molochs and greater titans. Its increased critical hit rate means that it is somewhat likely to be as powerful against any other monster, though. Fire immunity is also very helpful, though not the most difficult immunity to get.
With its ability to slay demons and giants and its ability to grant fire immunity to the PC, Grod is definitely very nice for PCs relying on melee tactics to be crowned with before the Tower of Eternal Flames.
Guaranteed/Common sources
It is a possible crowning gift for Barbarians, Chaos Knights and Fighters.
As of v. 1.2.0 it can also be granted as a precrowning gift or a reward for making use of a potion of uselessness; generated in a surge of power or greater vault; or generated as random loot (albeit very rarely).
Greater Identify information
It is worth noting that due to a bug, Grod doesn't actually increase the PC's critical rate in versions prior to v 1.2.0.
--------------------------- morning star------------------------------ The morning star is actually a blessed mighty morning star "Grod" (+16, 5d10+5) [-8, +0]. It is an artifact. When wielded it modifies DV by -8 and PV by +0. When used in melee combat it grants a +16 bonus to hit and causes 5d10+5 points of damage. When used as a missile it grants a +0 bonus to hit and causes 2d6 points of damage. It is a giant slayer. It is a demon slayer. It is very good at scoring critical hits in melee. It grants resistance to stunning. It grants immunity to fire.