Help me understand +x/+y weapons

Kaiketsu

Soo if you take Daystar for example, is it:

a) 1d8 + 4 damage vs evil, or
b) 1d8 +2+4 damage vs evil (in other words 1d8+6) ?

Also, if it says "double damage", does it mean that:

a) base 1d8 damage is doubled (aka 2d8)
b) the bonus damage is also doubled (aka 2*(1d8+2))
c) everything (including STR bonus) is doubled?

simples

good point

mlnevese

1d8+2, +4 vs evil means it will do 1d8+2 damage to all non evil opponents and 1d8+4 against evil ones. Notice that this bonus is also applied to hit rolls.

Saigon1983

Yeah. About double damage I would prefer to hear too

Saigon1983

For instance: I have a Ranger & 1d8+2 long sword whith double damage for dragon (as example). +1 damage bonus for specialisation, +2 damage bonus for Strenght? +2 damage bonus for Dragons, as a "lovely" enemy for ranger. So, in common for regular enemy I have 1d8+2+1+2 damage (right?) from 6 to 13. How damage will be calculated, when I will meet a dragon?

elminster

In Daystar's case double damage against undead would just mean 1d8+2 slashing damage + 1d8+2 magic damage + 2 slashing damage (against evil creatures) + strength bonus + weapon proficiencies + other damage bonuses.

Kaiketsu

mlnevese said:

1d8+2, +4 vs evil means it will do 1d8+2 damage to all non evil opponents and 1d8+4 against evil ones. Notice that this bonus is also applied to hit rolls.

well, that makes Foebane+5's bonus rather meh. it's "just" +1 thac0/damage to demons/undead ? :sadpanda:

I kinda always pictured it as a badass +11 damage bonus (in total) against the mentioned foes.

dunbar

Personally, rather than do sums when my life is threatened I just hit the damn thing and see how much it bleeds.
In other words I simply glance at the actual rolls and outcomes displayed in the dialogue box to see what real effect the weapon is actually having rather than bothering about what it could theoretically do - and if it bounces off, then I check the small print and either use a more suitable weapon or run away.

Kaiketsu

dunbar said:

Personally, rather than do sums when my life is threatened I just hit the damn thing and see how much it bleeds.
In other words I simply glance at the actual rolls and outcomes displayed in the dialogue box to see what real effect the weapon is actually having rather than bothering about what it could theoretically do - and if it bounces off, then I check the small print and either use a more suitable weapon or run away.

Baldur's gate is a joke without SCS when it comes to difficulty, so i guess you can say that.

But with SCS, you actually have to plan a bit.

That's why I never play without the mod:)

matrice

With a good team, scs is also a joke.
Even in solo in bad condition it's still so easy
I made a kensai 21 dualed to mage 22, and had absolutely ZERO problem (not using parch/wand/potion aswell) when I dualed. (and i skipped a lot of boring quest, so actually i wasn't lvl 22 mage at the end of soa)

I'm personnaly waiting for all difficulty mod to be ported. I had once 3-4 difficulty mod on top of scs and ascension, back to legacy bg, and random encounter were stronger than any battle of scs.

elminster

Kaiketsu said:

mlnevese said:

1d8+2, +4 vs evil means it will do 1d8+2 damage to all non evil opponents and 1d8+4 against evil ones. Notice that this bonus is also applied to hit rolls.

well, that makes Foebane+5's bonus rather meh. it's "just" +1 thac0/damage to demons/undead ? :sadpanda:

I kinda always pictured it as a badass +11 damage bonus (in total) against the mentioned foes.

Foebane works differently. It actually is +6 damage against undead, demons, and shapeshifters. So 2d4+3 +6 damage. In Foebane +5's case it would be 2d4+5 +6 slashing damage, 4 magic damage.

Having reviewed how both items are worded I suppose it may be a matter of the fact that Foebane uses the word damage twice. Both to specify the initial 2d4+3 damage and on top of that the +6 damage it does to undead etc. Daystar just says 1d8 +2 damage, +4 vs evil.

But really though in my book its an inconsistency.

Kaiketsu

matrice said:

With a good team, scs is also a joke.

hence the "bit" part.

The PC versions of D&D2 make it hard to create an intelligent challenge for the players (based on AI, not inflated numbers.

Stupid mods that pile 250 precasts on each enemy and quintuple their HP is just a fail "infinite dungeon" concept that belongs to hack and slash games.

BTW, Kensai 21/Mage 22 is a terrible, terrible idea.

semiticgoddess

@matrice: SCS2 isn't designed to beat the player. It's not Improved Anvil. It's designed to make enemies behave more intelligently, and they do. You can still plow through the game with the right character(s) and the right spells and equipment, but the enemies are more entertaining to fight, as they make better choices.

Why don't you try a no-reload challenge? If you're looking for a challenge, no-reload is great fun. A lot more thought and planning is required.