Does anyone know what 'vorpal' means?

The weapons in the game that are vorpal all have like the instant death ability.

Does that have anything to do with it?

Does anyone know??

It must have smt with this instant death because in TOB
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there is a creature called vorpal spider which can kill you instantly.

can the vorpal blade long sword kill instantly

Well Aragorn, the Vorpal Silver Sword (2handed) has a chance to kill enemies instantly. And I think there's a vorpal axe in TOB as well, not sure though.
haven't heard of a vorpal longsword...

But does anyone know?? Is vorpal the stuff the weapon's made of (like mithril)?
Is it an enchantment??

Vorpal means that the sword is so incredibly sharp that it can cut off arms, legs and heads as easily as a fireball can melt warm butter, it's instant death ability comes from it's ability to sever an enemy head in one clean blow.

aahh, so vorpal just means "really really sharp".

thnx, Neb

Actually "Vorpal" comes from Alice in Wonderland, it's a nonsense word used to describe the sword that killed the Jabberwocky, the Vorpal sword went snicker-snack, the term was borrowed for use in Dungeons and Dragons to describe a type of sword that can remove heads from enemies on a critical hit (18-20 on the dice), it's ability to instantly whack foes comes from the inability of most creatures (dopplegangers, undead and golems among others excluded since removing their heads woudn't necessarily kill them.) to function without their heads

[This message has been edited by Morgeruat (edited 10-16-2001).]

aaahh, so that's where it's from. You know, in the pc-game, American Mcgee's Alice, you have a vorpal blade as your starting weapon.

But any way, I think VORPAL is a cool word, don't you think?

Well, yes, that WOULD be the short version, but saying "Vorpal Sword" sounds cooler than saying, "My Really, Really Sharp Sword", don't you think?

I'm glad my useless trivia didn't bore you, I tend to collect a fair amount of it and like to be able to put it to use.