Movement tactics in BG Melee [fully engaged]

Eadwyn_G8keeper

Situation1: I have Melee characters engaged and wish to slightly reposition them so as to open lines-of-fire for my Archers. Is there a BG rule-of-thumb or Chart I can consult about what sort of Attack bonus their engaged opponent might temporarily receive while they are moving rather than attacking.

Situation2: I wish to position a Melee character for a Flank attack bonus. How close to directly behind- with 2 attackers -does he/she need to be. Or with 3 attackers -how much of a gap would negate the Flank bonus---anything more than 120dgr perhaps??

Situation3: Is it possible to actually dodge certain forms of missile attacks?? {I am thinking particularly of a behavior indulged in by the "K-e-g-h-a-n" family}. Or, on the other hand can spells such as Entangle be dodged --as a certain early game Ogre seems to attempt?

Situation4: Is there a resource which allows me to calculate results for an NPC using a weapon they are not proficient in. I am thinking specifically of buying a Scimitar for one NPCs use in the early game whose Sling rarely seems to be effective in Early Game. And even more-so of briefly equipping one NPC with Darts...

Situation5: Is there a Str level at which Short Bow is favored over Long Bow/Comp Long Bow. I think its clear that Imoen falls into that group but what about Khalid ?

Jace

Situation 1: Creatures do not block an archer's line-of-fire. As such, there is no bonus or penalty involved even if - visually - there is a another creature between the archer and his target. In addition, moving creatures do not get any better at dodging attacks (although it's painful for a melee to chase after a runner). Do note however that if your archer is engaging melee creatures at point-blank, attacking creatures get an attack bonus against your archer! In that case, switch to a melee weapon, or run away.

Situation 2: There is no flanking bonus or any positional modifiers in the game. The only time position matters is when you want to backstab with a stealthed thief (you must be behind the target).

Situation 3: You cannot actively dodge attacks on your own. Whenever you are attacked, the game rolls a random number and then calculates various statistics. Depending on the result, you either get hit or not, so sometimes it's pure luck. Better Armor Class decreases the chances of getting hit by weapons. Better THAC0 increases the chances of you hitting something with weapons. Better Saving Throws increase the chance of avoiding magical hazards (like Entangle in your case).

Situation 4: Everyone receives a penalty for using a weapon they are not proficient in, Fighters receive a small penalty (-2), thieves and priests a mediocre penalty (-3), and wizards a large penalty (-5).

Situation 5: Bows and Crossbows do not get any attack or damage bonus from Strength. Dexterity however will increase your chances to hit with ranged weapons, but it won't increase the damage.

atcDave

In most cases you're over-thinking things. AD&D is much simpler than the later rule sets.

There is no need to open firing lanes for your archers, the game will let you fire into the melee without hitting friendly forces.

I don't believe any flank attack bonus was implemented in BG. Your armor class may differ at missile range vs melee, you will suffer a penalty for using a missile weapon at melee range, and you may suffer an opportunity attack for disengaging from melee (I'm actually not sure about that one, its optional in PNP).

Yes you can sometimes dodge area effect spells, that is not done in PNP, but it is in BG.

Depending on class, non-proficiency penalties vary from -2 (warrior) to -5 (wizard). Unless you need a particular magic weapon, you will usually be better off using a weapon you ARE proficient in. A non-magical scimitar you aren't proficient in will certainly not be better than a sling you are proficient in (buy the +1 sling and some +1 or +2 bullets, that sling will suddenly become quite deadly for not much money).

Long bow is always a better weapon than short bow; BUT, long bow has a much higher minimum strength requirement and isn't usable by thieves anyway.

Madhax

Yeah, if you see a web trap or something trigger and pause in time, you can often outrun it, especially if you're hasted. Sometimes they track a character, though.

Besides the -2/-3/-5 penalties to using a weapon you aren't proficient in, you're also limited to a single attack per round. This is terrible for warriors, who usually attack at least 1.5 times a round, or for ranged weapons with more APR than 1.

Eadwyn_G8keeper

Got it thanks. The info that Archers can fire freely into Melee without Friendly Fire risks is good. Kinda wish the Computer could factor Melee tactics better

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Oxford_Guy

Madhax said:

Yeah, if you see a web trap or something trigger and pause in time, you can often outrun it, especially if you're hasted. Sometimes they track a character, though.

Besides the -2/-3/-5 penalties to using a weapon you aren't proficient in, you're also limited to a single attack per round. This is terrible for warriors, who usually attack at least 1.5 times a round, or for ranged weapons with more APR than 1.

BTW eleves get +1 THAC0 for *all* swords (not just lomgswords) and bows (not crossbow) currently, and halflings +1 THAC0 for slings, so an elf figher without proficiency in longbows actually gets no penalty for using a longbow or composite bow (although looking at it differently, they lose out on a +2 bonus and potential extra attacks for speciliaisation- though I think they *do* still get the base 2 APR per round for bows), so it's quite viable for an elf fighter not to take bow proficiency if they want to dual wield early - this is what I did for an elf fighter/mage I have who started with 2 pips in ling swords and 2 pips in dual-wield (3 pips at level 4).