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Dragons immune to piercing damage?

DullSkullTheSecondDullSkullTheSecond Member Posts: 243
edited August 2014 in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
Picked up the halberd dragon's bane +3 from the unseeing eye quest and though it could be fun to let my blackguard put proficiencies into it so I could use it against the games dragons. Thought I could start small and started the Umar hills quest to kill the shadow dragon and expected it to fall quickly, but I was in for a surprise...

When I let my blackguard hack away at the dragon I got the message that my attacks was ineffective which was very surprising to hear when using a weapon called dragon's bane. Switched to my only other available weapon chaos blade +2 and everything worked fine and I managed to kick the dragons butt. Could not for the life of me understand how the weapon was ineffective so I looked at my weapon to see that it did piercing damage!?image

A halberd only doing piercing damage?? The unenchanted one I used in bg1ee did both piercing and slashing, so is this a bug? (And how come the shadow dragon is immune to piercing damage when the armor made from its scales is just leather which is very bad against piercing if I remember correctly?)

Does this mean all dragons are immune to piercing in which case "dragon's bane" is worthless against "dragons"?

EDIT: Just checked in bg1ee and yes all halberd do both piercing and slashing depending what is most effective. I do have some mods but none of them does anything to the weapons of the game? If anyone is interested my mods are: Back to Brynlaw, Multi-stronghold, sellswords and unfinished business. None of those do anything to weapons.

Comments

  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited August 2014
    He has the spell Protection From Magical Weapons active. It has nothing to do with the damage type (he is 25% resistant against all forms of physical damage).
  • DullSkullTheSecondDullSkullTheSecond Member Posts: 243
    But the chaos blade +2 could hit the dragon and Keldorns hallowed redeemer +2?? That can't be it
  • ryuken87ryuken87 Member Posts: 563
    Shadow dragon should have a flat 25% resistance to all physical damage types. Did you get a "weapon ineffective" or a "xxx is immune to my damage" message, because they mean different things. The first one means that you can't actually hit the target with your current attacks (the dragon probably had PfMW up, then it expired as you switched weapons). The second one means that you can hit but not damage (i.e. the dragon had 100% physical resistance).
  • ryuken87ryuken87 Member Posts: 563
    DullSkullTheSecond said:

    But the chaos blade +2 could hit the dragon and Keldorns hallowed redeemer +2?? That can't be it

    PfMW only has a 4 round duration, it probably ran out.

  • DullSkullTheSecondDullSkullTheSecond Member Posts: 243
    ryuken87 said:

    Shadow dragon should have a flat 25% resistance to all physical damage types. Did you get a "weapon ineffective" or a "xxx is immune to my damage" message, because they mean different things. The first one means that you can't actually hit the target with your current attacks (the dragon probably had PfMW up, then it expired as you switched weapons). The second one means that you can hit but not damage (i.e. the dragon had 100% physical resistance).

    Got the weapon ineffective with the sound effect
    ryuken87 said:

    DullSkullTheSecond said:

    But the chaos blade +2 could hit the dragon and Keldorns hallowed redeemer +2?? That can't be it

    PfMW only has a 4 round duration, it probably ran out.

    Could be true but that does not explain how Keldorn could still hit the dragon
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited August 2014
    DullSkullTheSecond said:

    ryuken87 said:

    Shadow dragon should have a flat 25% resistance to all physical damage types. Did you get a "weapon ineffective" or a "xxx is immune to my damage" message, because they mean different things. The first one means that you can't actually hit the target with your current attacks (the dragon probably had PfMW up, then it expired as you switched weapons). The second one means that you can hit but not damage (i.e. the dragon had 100% physical resistance).

    Got the weapon ineffective with the sound effect
    ryuken87 said:

    DullSkullTheSecond said:

    But the chaos blade +2 could hit the dragon and Keldorns hallowed redeemer +2?? That can't be it

    PfMW only has a 4 round duration, it probably ran out.

    Could be true but that does not explain how Keldorn could still hit the dragon
    Did you use Dispel Magic at all during the fight (particularly Keldorn's)?
  • ryuken87ryuken87 Member Posts: 563
    If Keldorn was hit by the dragon, his sword will have dealt magic damage back as per its description (which doesn't interact with PfMW).
  • DullSkullTheSecondDullSkullTheSecond Member Posts: 243
    edited August 2014
    I consoled in the dragon and could hit it with the weapon. Guess "PfMW" was the culprit because I removed all protective effects...

    *Facepalm* Sorry for that :p

    But this still does not explain why halberds only do piercing damage in bg2ee while they do both in bg1ee??
    ryuken87 said:

    If Keldorn was hit by the dragon, his sword will have dealt magic damage back as per its description (which doesn't interact with PfMW).

    That was probably how he could still hit it.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    Mechanically its labelled as doing piercing or slashing damage. However, the description doesn't reflect this. The bonus damage against dragons is only piercing damage however.
  • DullSkullTheSecondDullSkullTheSecond Member Posts: 243
    Ahh good! Got a bit worried that this weapon would not "cut it"(pun very much intended)
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