Speedfactor on weapons

Tigersag

I just got this +2 halberd that sets the amount of attacks per round to 1 (not saying where..)

when I look up the info it says the speed factor is 7 but what does that actually mean?

TwoWayFinesse

The lower the speed factor the earlier the first (or only) strike of the round takes place. A low speed factor can help disrupt a mage before they've had a chance to cast their spell (or strike and kill an enemy before they try to strike you)
it has no effect on the number of attacks you have per round.

Tigersag

@twowayFinesse so what exactly is the deal with a weapon setting a character handling it to one attack per round? Is that favourable then?

Drayen

note that magical weapons, gets a bonus to speed factor for every +1 they get. Most of the endgame weapons all have the minimum speed factor already.

elminster

Tigersag said:

@twowayFinesse so what exactly is the deal with a weapon setting a character handling it to one attack per round? Is that favourable then?

Not its not favourable. You want more attacks per round, not less. The deal with that particular halberd is that because it does extra damage its good for characters that don't get more attacks per round as they level up (namely bards).

TwoWayFinesse

elminster said:

Tigersag said:

@twowayFinesse so what exactly is the deal with a weapon setting a character handling it to one attack per round? Is that favourable then?

Not its not favourable. You want more attacks per round, not less. The deal with that particular halberd is that because it does extra damage its good for characters that don't get more attacks per round as they level up (namely bards).

What Elminster said. A fighter type can expect more than one attack per round with a weapon if they either have 2* proficiency or level 7 or higher. So that particular halberd would be bad for them, but a Bard would only ever get one attack (unless using a bow or weapons in both hands) and so would benefit from the fact it is 'better' than a standard +1 weapon.

Tigersag

again I am disappointed by the halberd...

coz a bard isn't really a frontline character is it?

thanks anyway.. but I doubt I will ever take proficieny in halberd soon.

Heindrich

@Tigersag

Yeah... halberds and spears are terrible in this game. Only two-handed weapon worth having is Two-handed sword.

TwoWayFinesse

Couple of decent halberds in BG2, but can't think of the last time I took proficiency in either halberd or spear, as @Heindrich1988 says

Tigersag

In this other game made by Atari, I think Temple of Elemental evil, the halberd type weapons had more reach then the swords and you could put a character behind two fighters and have him swing with it. you would see a big circle indicating the reach of the weapon and I remember in certain battles there I would do a fighting retreat and let them come at me, again and again.

Heindrich

Tigersag said:

In this other game made by Atari, I think Temple of Elemental evil, the halberd type weapons had more reach then the swords and you could put a character behind two fighters and have him swing with it. you would see a big circle indicating the reach of the weapon and I remember in certain battles there I would do a fighting retreat and let them come at me, again and again.

Actually that's true for Baldur's Gate as well.

All 2 handed weapons (including 2 handed swords, quarterstaff, spears, halberds etc) have longer reach than 1 handed weapons. (But there is no circle as far as I know, and I think the range only covers 1 character inbetween, and there's no difference between different 2 handed weapons.)

That's why the best melee strategy is shield-wall with 2 handers for support. In my party that means Anomen and Charname (Fighter/Mage) in the frontline, with their shields and magical protections soaking up most of the incoming attacks, with Jaheira and Minsc hitting from the second line with hard-hitting 2 hander attacks.

In practise, apart from some narrow dungeons, it's difficult to maintain formation, and Minsc is tough enough to take some hits anyway.

bob_veng

A good speed factor is only important for ranged weapons when you want to poison casters, shoot arrows of dispelling at a precise time etc. People feel like it's important for backstabbing but i don't really experience that.

And yes 2-2-2 formation with tanks in the front, 2 handers in the second row and casters in the third row is by far the best (the most veratile and least maligned by poor pathfinding). I find formations very important in tob after i get permanent haste on everyone, i regroup and readjust after almost every kill, makes using npc scripts safer too.