dpeg wrote:A bunch of one-liners. Nobody mentions damage spikes. Most reasoning is given by tasonir and tabstorm, and they only talk about identification.
One-liners are ok, we are in DCA, not GDD. Nobody is talking about damage spikes for the same reason why nobody is talking about drowning when saying "it's a bad idea to let small children to swim in ocean without adults", it's just obvious. Increasing damage is the only effect of the amulet unless you take it off. We don't even need damage spikes, the amulet makes it much easier to die to a pack of Yaktaurs or Centaurs who deal their average damage.
I've seen just a single character who benefited from harm, it was megazigger of Piginabag with darkness, tornado and powered by death 3. There are no characters who would equip the known amulet before Lair, or in Lair, or in Orc, or in Lair branches or in Vaults.
Who is intended user of the amulet? If damage is increased after applying AC, it is equivalent of Frail 2. If damage is increased before applying AC, it is even worse. It cannot be used by characters with HP penalty as they are already in danger due to damage spike, even without the amulet. Can it be used by races with high HP? Let's check. Species with +30HP: unarmed Troll and Ogre with giant spiked club. Do they need damage increase at melee range? I don't think so. Do they suffer from ranged attack and bad defense? Yes, absolutely, at least before they enchant some dragon armour. Troll relies on running away for healing, it does not combine well with harm. What about species with +20% HP? Centaur. It kites almost everything, I suppose the amulet can be convenient and will save some ammo. Does it increase chance to win? I don't think so, Ce has awful defense. Naga? no way, it cannot run away normally. Deep Dwarf? Yes, probably, except it has some problems with healing and it can make ranged attackers and things like torment even more annoying.
I think the amulet is intended to be good for characters with ranged AoE attacks who have high HP and rely on either Dodging or crazy AC. We don't have such characters before late game and by late game you usually have much better amulets and also there are too many monsters to cover them with attacks unless you have shatter or firestorm.