The Tavern

The spell only affects melee weapons, which is obvious to players that know that the pain brand can only appear on melee weapons. But, new and unspoiled players don't know this, and would reasonably expect the spell to affect ranged weapons as well, potentially to great disappointment if they invest enough skill points into Necromancy to cast the spell on a character specializing in ranged weapons. I recommend either changing the description from "... the weapon held..." to "... the melee weapon held..." for clarity, making the pain brand and the spell compatible with ranged weapons for replay value, or simply removing the spell altogether for the following reasons:

* It's useless against most enemies in the extended game.
* The spell level is too high to be used in the early game.
* It's often unavailable in the midgame, especially for characters not worshiping Kiku.
* It's rendered obsolete by the pain brand gift from Kiku.
* It's rendered mostly obsolete by the staff of death which has a very similar effect as the pain brand, adds a Necromancy spell enhancer, works even for level 1 characters lucky enough to find one, and doesn't consume MP.

I've been playing for years and didn't know this until I read this post. (Zombies/skeletons go badly with ranged IMO, likely why the issue never arose for me.)