The Tavern

The "can't curse" property of Holy Wrath weapons originated from "Blessed" weapons being the opposite of "Cursed" in other Roguelikes. In some ways it -did- make sense; to repel being forcefully cursed by a mummy death curse or hexes miscast; but with death curses gone and hex miscast curses rare, the primary thing the 'repelling curses' property does is make it impossible for Ashenzari to boost a Holy Weapon.

I think "Are holy weapons good enough to sacrifice the skill boost" is a fun question.

But on the other hand, in the late game where holy weapons are best, there is enough xp to get those last few levels of weapon skill without Ash's boost. And getting to use rods and maybe a launcher adds more icing to the cake. So maybe it's too easy a decision to be worth the spoilery nethackism.

I think it's a good mechanic- but what if instead of TSO's blessing having the power to repel the curse, Ash's curse has the power to squelch the blessing? So a cursed holy weapon doesn't do holy damage.

Then what would be the point of cursing a holy weapon? You could just curse a flaming/freezing/vorpal weapon instead, and get a little bit of extra damage. The situation would be exactly the same as now.