Does a +5 sling and a +1 bullet combine to equal a +3 weapon in regard to who it can hit?

MrBungle

Does a +5 sling and a +1 bullet combine to equal a +3 weapon in regard to who it can hit? Anyone know?

[Deleted User]

No, ranged launchers always use the enhancement of the ammunition in determining what it can hit, so a +5 sling firing a +1 bullet only hits as a +1.

lunar

Some slings, bows and crossbows have their own magical ammunition to fire, and their enchantment lvls are noted in the item description. It even says careful not to equip normal arrows with this otherwise it would fire normal arrows. And the normal arrows would hit like a normal weapon as explained above.

Nimran

The launcher's enchantment level affects THAC0, while the ammunition's level affects damage and what can be effected by the attack. A +5 sling would hit more often, but the +1 bullet won't affect certain enemies due to its own level.

MrBungle

Thank you for the info.

[Deleted User]

Actually, launcher bonuses stack with ammunition bonuses for both THAC0 and damage. My current character is using Arla's Dragonbane (+3 Sling) with +2 bullets and getting a combined +5 to hit from them, as well as damage bonuses from both.

smeagolheart

that seems like it could be op and missile weapons could be the most powerful weapons in the game.

Dee

Kaigen said:

Actually, launcher bonuses stack with ammunition bonuses for both THAC0 and damage. My current character is using Arla's Dragonbane (+3 Sling) with +2 bullets and getting a combined +5 to hit from them, as well as damage bonuses from both.

Correct--the bonuses stack for the purposes of determining THAC0 and Damage, but not the "Enchantment Level", which is used to determine whether or not the target can be affected by the attack.

(Which you pointed out above, but I'm reiterating it in case there's any remaining confusion.)

[Deleted User]

smeagolheart said:

that seems like it could be op and missile weapons could be the most powerful weapons in the game.

This is likely why they scaled back the damage on arrows and the damage bonuses on bows for BG2 (though they perhaps went a bit further than they needed to). The only combinations where you can get significant stacking are crossbows and slings, both of which are generally limited to 1 APR. In BG1 bows can and do exterminate most enemies with ease.