Hammer of Thunderbolts
"appears to be a regular hammer of largish size and extra weight."
Hammer of Thunderbolts
"appears to be a regular hammer of largish size and extra weight."
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<Prereq.> It will be too imbalanced, somehow, to wield properly in combat, unless the character has 18/01 or better strength and a height of over 6'.
The hammer then functions as +3 and gains double damage dice an any hit.
<Gauntlets +
Girdle:>
If the wielder wears any girdle
of giant strength and gauntlets
of
ogre power in addition,
he or she may properly wield the weapon
if the
hammer's true name is known. When swung
or hurled it gains a +5,
double damage dice, all girdle
and gauntlets bonuses, and strikes
dead
any giant' upon which i t scores a hit.
When hurled and successfully hitting,
a great noise as if a clap of thunder
broke overhead will resound, stunning
all creotures within 3 for 1 round.
Throwing range is 1 + (0.5
/ point of strength bonus) for the gauntlets and girdle, <added ()>
i.e. 6
+ (7 to 12)
=
(13 to
18) x 0.5 =
6.5,
7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9.
(Thor would throw the hammer about double the above ranges . . . ). <check this ... >
<Gauntlets +
Girdle,
RoF:>
The hammer of thunderbolts is very difficult to hurl,
so only 1 throw every other round can be
made,
<Gauntlets + Girdle, Limitation:> and after 5 throws within the space of any 2 turn period, the wielder must rest for 1 turn.
* Depending
on your campaign,
you might wish to limit
the effect to exclude storm giants and include ogres, ogre magi, trolls,
ettins, and clay, flesh, and stone golems.
Question: Are giants
entitled to save vs. death magic when
struck by a Hammer of Thunderbolts?
Answer: No.
The power of the weapon,
when used by a being with
Gauntlets of Ogre Power and
a Girdle of Giant Strength, is so awe-
some that it will automatically
destroy a normal giant. However,
giants with unusual powers
or strengths like Surtur, Thrym
or
Mordagz
(see Deities & Demigods) will only take the proper amount
of damage from a successful
strike. J. Ward, W. Niebling
l l l
ADQ: Can a hammer of
thunderbolts be
swung and hurled 1-handed?
If fighting
2-handed, that is, with 2
weapons,
can the hammer be swung in
the off
hand?
ADA: No. Not only
must 2 hands be
used, due to the size of
the weapon, but
fatigue also applies (as
given in the description).
This hammer can never be
used
effectively with 1 hand,
including in
"2-fisted" combat.
(Polyhedron #25)
Hammer of thunderbolts
Quote:
Originally posted by Nikosandros
Hello Gary! 
I've always been curious about the origin of a "weird" combo of magic items in AD&D...
Namely, the possibility of stacking Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a Girdle of Giant Strength when using magical warhammers (or was that only when using an Hammer of Thunderbolts?)
Thanks!
Salut!
The combined gauntlets and
girdle applied only to the noted magic item, it being akin to Thor's
hammer, Mjolmir.
Otherwise the two different
items did not combine their powers.
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by khyron1144
Hello Mr. Gygax,
...
I recently started rereading my 1e hardbacks and was looking at the Hammer of Thunderbolts/ Girdle of Giant Strength/ Gauntlets of Ogre Power combo. It looks like you can add together the damage bonuses for the Gauntlets and Girlde, even though they both provide a magical bonus to Strength. It also looks like you add those damage bonuses together to determine the Hammer's throwing range.
This brings up an interesting
question:
In my campaign world there
are magical pools that bestow permanent ability score increases (only usable
once per character, only one pool per ability score in the whole world).
What happens if a character who already has a "giant" Strength from a magic
pool gets the Gauntlets/ Girdle/ Hammer combo?
...
Howdy!
So many posts to answer I must be brief.
Right about the cululative
additions for the hammer, girdle, and gauntlets. They make a fighter almost
as lethal as a mage 
Using magical equipment enhancements
is fine, but that is useless if the increase doesn't add anything to a
character because he is already at or above the level of the enhancement.
A giant-sized Girdle
of Storm Giant Strength doesn't add a thing to a storm giant, except
maybe for looking good with a natty new waist cincher...
cheers,
Gary
<sorry about the colors,
they need to be corrected (bronze? dull yellow? etc.), but that's the general
idea (readability, comprehension)>
<reverse order, so that
gauntlets precede girdle? : see example for the reason for this>
<instead of coloring the
whole word, try just the first letter : does too much (multi)color seems
to throw people off>