I was doing some research on the special attack effects the artifacts have since the information regarding them is rather vaque here. I decided to post the results here to make the information on this topic more complete. Note: All the information is gathered without source-diving, so some information might be incorrect. It's just too lame to know how everything works. Takes the fun out of the game. Field testing is much more fun and cool. -Ancient mace named Neerc Se-ulb +6 Has a life-draining attack that kicks in every once in a while, causing life to be drained from the victim and being transferred to the wielder restoring his/hers/its hitpoints. The amount of hitpoints transferred seems to be the amount of damage done, although I could be wrong on this one. This "vampire attack" makes the Neerc a real killer, as it can turn the tide of a battle in a second. There's nothing like seeing your character being restored to full health from near death when fighting Elpuri. Using the Neerc will cause the wielder to gradually become more chaotic. -Mace named Turox Has a fireball effect that kicks in every once in a while. The size and power of the fireball seems to be random, ranging from a small explosion to a huge blast. The explosion seems to be centered on the target, not on the wielder of the weapon. The explosions will damage the wielder, his/hers/its items, and allies if they are caught in the blast. The explosions will cause peaceful creatures, such as city-folk and dungeon shopkeepers, to become hostile if they are hit. Tame creatures can not become hostile, however. Fire resistance is a must when using this weapon, and storing all your potions and wands in a box is highly suggested. -Unholy halberd named Mjolak Has a "burst of unholy energy" effect, that seems to be somewhat more regular than the explosions of Turox. The burst seems to affect only one creature, and does no splash damage. I believe it has the same effect as a wand of striking. Mjolak also causes the wielder to drift more into chaos when it is used, so if you plan to worship lawful gods it is a bad idea to use this weapon. As a side note, Mjolak seems to train your arm strength like mad when used. -Runed spear named Vermis Has a forced teleport effect that causes the victim to be teleported to a random location, unless the victim has telecontrol. The teleport effect is a lot more rare than the other special attacks, or at least it seems so to me. This is a good thing, as the teleport-away attack can be more harmfull to the wielder than to the victim. The teleport attack doesn't seem to do any added damage. Valpurus' Justifier has no special attack effects, and quite frankly it doesn't need any given the obscene amount of damage it does. The Saal'thul has no special attacks either. It does only average damage, but it makes a great secondary weapon as it makes the wielder invisible. In addition to these artifact weapons, some magical weapons have special attacks. Thunder hammers occasionally shoot bolts of lightning, which act like zaps from wands of lightning. The bolts can also damage the wielder if they bounce from something, so electricity resistance is recommended. The bolts can also make peaceful creatures hostile, and unlike Turox's explosions, they can also anger tame creatures. The chameleon whip randomly polymorphs the victim, but luckily this effect is quite rare. Luckily, since the creatures have a nasty habit of becoming something big and mean, and because the polymorphed creature is restored to full hitpoints. A whip of thievery has a change to disarm the opponent. This is however somewhat rare, and I have never seen such thing happen. Staffs of wondrous smells occasionally create magical clouds when they hit a target. The cloud can be created on the victim or on the wielder. If it is created on the victim, it is red in colour and confers bad effects such as slow. If it is created on the wielder it is blue in colour and confers good effects such as haste. The staffs of wondrous smells are rather annoying to use, and create unpleasant situations when creatures walk on the blue clouds you leave behind or when you have to move through red clouds in narrow corridors. Ivan's weapons, The Gorovits family hammer and sickle have no special effects, except for their cool glow. The flaming swords have an attack bonus which burns the victim causing additional damage. Even if the base damage is completely blocked by the creatures armor, resulting in "it is not hurt" message , the flames can still burn the target and even kill it.