Official Clarification Request - do *any* ranged weapons get the strength damage bonus in BGEE?

Oxford_Guy

There seems to be some confusion over what, if any, ranged weapons give the strength bonus to damage in BGEE. In BG2 at least some throwing axes gave the strength damage bonus, and in the original BG1 I think at least throwing axes and slings gave the strength bonus. Could someone "official" clarify what, if any, missile weapons (including thrown) provide a strength bonus to damage in BGEE? Thanks

CutlassJack

You can see which get the bonus by equipping them. If they do, bonus damage will be added in.

Double checking on my own since you asked, Slings and Throwing daggers and throwing Axes definately get the bonus. But Darts do not get a Strength bonus. Viconia has been doing incredibly fun damage (9-12) with her sling +1 since I just gave her the Gauntlets of Ogre Power.

Bows and crossbows also don't get the bonus, but the Composite bow factors in extra damage due to the str you need to equip it.

Oxford_Guy

CutlassJack said:

You can see which get the bonus by equipping them. If they do, bonus damage will be added in.

I'm a little dubious of this because the correct values for equiped weapons are not always displayed (or has this now been fixed?)

CutlassJack said:

Double checking on my own since you asked, Slings and Throwing daggers and throwing Axes definately get the bonus.

Interesting, this goes contrary to what was indicated on this forum before BGEE was released by people who I thought were dev or beta testers, but then so have a few other things...

See the response from @Aosaw in this thread:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/7073/darts-and-other-thrown-weapons-gaining-str-bonus-to-damage/p1

"Currently, no thrown weapons receive a bonus from Strength to either attack or damage. That's a discrepancy in the manual that I'm already aware of"

Because of this I gave Dorn his fifth weapon proficiency in crossbows, but I would've chosen axes if I'd known axes actually do give the strength bonus to damage :-(

CutlassJack said:

But Darts do not get a Strength bonus.

Good, they'd be very OP otherwise

Oxford_Guy

BTW when I equip Dorn (who should get +7 strength damage if this bonus is applied) with the the following weapons, the character sheet indicates the following damage:

Throwing Dagger 1-4
Darts 1-3
Sling 9-12
Throwing Axe - 2-7

Of the above it looks like *only* slings are getting the strength damage bonus applied. This is interesting, as in BG2 there is only one magic sling which receives the strength bonus!

CutlassJack

Yeah looks like I was wrong on the throwing weapons getting the bonus. My bad. I forgot the character I was testing on was wearing Gauntlets of expertise at the time. Slings only. But it should be on axes/dagger.

Sorry about that.

Oxford_Guy

CutlassJack said:

Yeah looks like I was wrong on the throwing weapons getting the bonus. My bad. I forgot the character I was testing on was wearing Gauntlets of expertise at the time. Slings only. But it should be on axes/dagger.

Sorry about that.

No worries, the manual does indicate that axes/daggers (but not darts) should get the strength bonus, but am not sure if the manual is wrong or if the in-game behaviour is bugged!

CutlassJack

The manual is correct as far as the actual PnP rules are concerned. So I'd say its a bug or an engine limitation.

bob_veng

Oxford_Guy said:

Of the above it looks like *only* slings are getting the strength damage bonus applied. This is interesting, as in BG2 there is only one magic sling which receives the strength bonus!

yeah this difference between BG2 and now BG:EE is interesting because it's hard to tell what will happen to that sling ("sling of seeking") in BG2:EE if it's going to be consistent with BG:EE in this respect.
- and i hope that it will be, both for the sake of consistency and the fact that it's more fun with strength damage bonuses for slings

the sling of seeking should then either be removed or switched with another item

also, a couple of threads for this already exist including this one: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/1484/bg1-bg2-sling-bullets-getting-strength-bonuses

Oxford_Guy

bob_veng said:

Oxford_Guy said:

Of the above it looks like *only* slings are getting the strength damage bonus applied. This is interesting, as in BG2 there is only one magic sling which receives the strength bonus!

yeah this difference between BG2 and now BG:EE is interesting because it's hard to tell what will happen to that sling ("sling of seeking") in BG2:EE if it's going to be consistent with BG:EE in this respect.
- and i hope that it will be, both for the sake of consistency and the fact that it's more fun with strength damage bonuses for slings

the sling of seeking should then either be removed or switched with another item

also, a couple of threads for this already exist including this one: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/1484/bg1-bg2-sling-bullets-getting-strength-bonuses

Thanks, am also wondering whether they will harmonise how the +x damage from magic bows, arrows and bolts works in BG2EE, as it's currently different in BG2 (from BG1 and BGEE), see:
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/126098/#Comment_126098