The Brick

The Brick +2
Item
Type	Throwing hammer
Cursed	❌
Cursed	❌
Magical	✅
Magical	✅
Cold iron	❌
Cold iron	❌
Silver	❌
Silver	❌
Enchanted	2
Lore	75
Weight	4 lb
Acquisition
Obtained from	Neera's Hidden Refuge
Combat
Combat type	Ranged and Melee
Range	20 (thrown) | 1 (melee)
Ranged APR	As melee
THAC0	-2 bonus
THAC0 modified by	Dexterity (thrown) Strength (melee)
Damage	Thrown: 1d4+3 (missile) Melee: 1d4+3 (crushing)
Physical damage modified by strength in	Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition Shadows of Amn (2013) Content from the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition campaign Shadows of Amn
Speed factor	2
Proficiency	War Hammer
Wielding	One-handed
Special
Equipped abilities	Aura of Wild Magic: 10% chance that a spell cast within 10 ft. of the wielder (by friend or foe alike) will be affected by a wild surge
Combat abilities	– Returns to the wielder's hand when thrown – Target suffers 1d12 magical damage and 100% spellcasting failure for the next round (Save vs. Spell negates)
Requirements
Strength	9
Not usable by	Beast master; druid; fighter/druid; mages and sorcerers; monks; thieves
Other
Item value	10,000
Technical information
Item code	OHNHAMM1
Projectile	Axe

Description

“

Typically, when wizards select items to magically enchant, they choose finely crafted weapons or suits of armor. The wild mage Reginald selected a pole with a brick attached to the end. While effective, it is not aesthetically pleasing. In addition to radiating an aura of wild magic, when hurled at an enemy, the Brick will magically return to the thrower. Being struck by the Brick disrupts whatever spell was being cast at the time. "Nobody beats the Brick!"

”

Gameplay

• A successful save vs. spell negates both the spell failure and the extra damage on hit.
• As an Offensive damage spell, the aura of Wild Magic can be blocked by the Cloak of Mirroring except on the wielder of The Brick.
• The Brick's aura of wild magic works like this: every 6 seconds, a 10% chance is rolled for each nearby creature (friend or foe) to apply a 100% certainty of wild surging to that creature for 7 seconds (no save, bypasses magic resistance and any spell protections, spell power/level = 0 aka the max possible, meaning it affects liches and rakshasa).
• The roll doesn't happen when you cast a spell (unlike a Wild Mage randomly getting a surge) and you can see when you're affected by the surging effect via an icon on your character's portrait.
• Interestingly, the rolls happen four times as frequently if the character holding the Brick is hasted, effectively increasing odds of applying the surging effect from 10% to ~34% over the same period.
• Furthermore, one may also utilize clones (from Vhailor's Helm, Mislead, Project Image, Simulacrum or Shadow Twin) to increase the odds of applying the wild surge effect. And that can also, of course, be combined with the aforementioned haste effect.
• Here are some examples of odds of applying the effect in any single round: 10% normally, 19% with one clone without haste, ~34% when hasted without clones, ~57% with one clone and haste, ~72% with two clones and haste, ~81% with three clones and haste. This means that Cleric / Mages and Fighter / Mages can all easily (via casting Haste + using Vhailor's Helm) apply the wild surge effect more often than not (over 50% chance) very early on in BG2EE. And more classes (like Stalkers, Thieves with Use Any Item or Bards) can do so at higher levels. Out of all of these, Stalkers might be one of the best choices, since they're less reliant on actually casting spells (after all, the wild surge aura affects both friend and foe alike).

Involvement

• Neera's Hidden Refuge – reward from Reginald after you free him if you let him hit you without retaliating