Do thrown weapons get their magical +1/+2/+3 etc. added to damage?

Oxford_Guy

I was wondering, do thrown weapons (axes, daggers, darts, and the dwarven thrower hammer) get their magical +1/+2/+3 etc. added to damage? I'm aware this *isn't* the case for arrows and bolts (at least in the BG2 engine, which is what I assume BGEE will be using), but thought magical damage might get added to throw weapons. Can anyone confirm whether this is the case and which thrown weapons (if not all) this applies to?

I'm aware that the throwing axe is the only thrown weapon (perhaps the dwarven thrower also) which gets the characters strength bonus applied, but am unsure about the magical damage.

Ulfgar_Torunn

It's often unclear whether or not the enhancement bonus is added to a weapon's damage. The lack of consistency even within weapon types only adds to the confusion (for example, +1 and +2 arrows get a damage bonus, but +3 arrows introduced in ToB don't).

Fortunately I can say with confidence that thrown weapons do get additional damage according to their enhancement bonus.

Oxford_Guy

Ulfgar_Torunn said:

It's often unclear whether or not the enhancement bonus is added to a weapon's damage. The lack of consistency even within weapon types only adds to the confusion (for example, +1 and +2 arrows get a damage bonus, but +3 arrows introduced in ToB don't).

Really? I wonder if this is something that they're going to fix/standardise in BGEE/BG2EE

Okay, thanks for clarifying, seems thrown weapons, especially axes, are better than I used to think

TJ_Hooker

Ulfgar_Torunn said:

It's often unclear whether or not the enhancement bonus is added to a weapon's damage. The lack of consistency even within weapon types only adds to the confusion (for example, +1 and +2 arrows get a damage bonus, but +3 arrows introduced in ToB don't).

Fortunately I can say with confidence that thrown weapons do get additional damage according to their enhancement bonus.

Umm, I'm pretty sure no normal magical arrows (ie arrows +x) get damage bonuses, including arrows +1 and arrows +2., unless the item description is wrong. The same goes for any other weapon thrown or otherwise; just look at the item description to see if it gets a damage bonus. As far as I can remember, arrows and bolts are the only +x items that don't get a +x to damage.

Edit: I should probably have said that I'm talking specifically about BGII here.

reedmilfam

That's potentially disappointing, if the arrows don't get damage bonuses. If it's an issue of the bow adding to the damage with the arrows, I see this as somewhat of a compensation for the lack of other damage (STR, anyone?) bonuses that other weapons get. I mean...

Fighter with 18/92 STR and a +3 sword gets: +5 to hit and +8 damage

Archer with 19 DEX and a +2 bow, +2 arrow gets +7 to hit and +2 damage? or is it +4 (adding the bow) or is it +6 (bow and arrow)?

My head is swimming... Maybe it is a balance thing, though, because that to hit bonus, with extra attacks, makes bows pretty nice.

Oxford_Guy

Okay, now I'm confused, so do thrown weapons (not arrows, bolts or bullets) add their magic +x to damage or not?

Oxford_Guy

reedmilfam said:

That's potentially disappointing, if the arrows don't get damage bonuses. If it's an issue of the bow adding to the damage with the arrows, I see this as somewhat of a compensation for the lack of other damage (STR, anyone?) bonuses that other weapons get. I mean...

Fighter with 18/92 STR and a +3 sword gets: +5 to hit and +8 damage

Archer with 19 DEX and a +2 bow, +2 arrow gets +7 to hit and +2 damage? or is it +4 (adding the bow) or is it +6 (bow and arrow)?

My head is swimming... Maybe it is a balance thing, though, because that to hit bonus, with extra attacks, makes bows pretty nice.

I think neither bows nor arrows add the magical +x to damage in the BG2 engine

Ulfgar_Torunn

@TJ_hooker: The arrows and bolts do get damage bonuses, just not the +3 varieties. Bows don't give a damage bonus, but crossbows do.

@Oxford_Guy: Arrows do, bows don't. And yes, the thrown weapons add the bonus.

Oxford_Guy

Ulfgar_Torunn said:

@TJ_hooker: The arrows and bolts do get damage bonuses, just not the +3 varieties. Bows don't give a damage bonus, but crossbows do.

That contradicts what others have told me and what I've read elsewhere.

Ulfgar_Torunn said:

@Oxford_Guy: Arrows do, bows don't. And yes, the thrown weapons add the bonus.

My understanding was that neither bows/crossbows nor magic arrows/bolts added any magic damage bonus (except elemental etc.)

Ulfgar_Torunn

@Oxford_Guy: If you don't believe me then test it. That's the way it works in Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale. Also, in Baldur's Gate 1 the bows give a damage bonus. I've checked and the descriptions are consistent with the function.

If you don't agree with me that's fine, but neither of us benefit from you saying so.

Oxford_Guy

Ulfgar_Torunn said:

@Oxford_Guy: If you don't believe me then test it. That's the way it works in Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 2 and Icewind Dale. Also, in Baldur's Gate 1 the bows give a damage bonus. I've checked and the descriptions are consistent with the function.

If you don't agree with me that's fine, but neither of us benefit from you saying so.

.

Sorry, but there does seem to be a lot of confusion and different things said about the damage modifiers that magic bows and arrows give (or not) in BG1 and BG2, also how BG1 behaves does not appear to be the same as BG2 in this regard. I will try to do some tests, but it can be quite hard to see exactly how damage modifiers are applied (or not).

TJ_Hooker

@Ulfgar_Torunn
I'm not sure which item descriptions you checked, but the ones in BGII do not list any damage bonus. Also I tested it out in game. Using the tuigan bow (+1 damage) with weapon specialization (+2 damage) I managed to score a hit for 4 damage using arrows +2. If the the arrows actually gave +2 damage, the minimum I could hit would be 6.

Here's a screenshot of the item description for arrows +2.


You're right about bow damage though, I forgot about that. Some special bows do provide damage bonuses, but generic +x ones do not.

But really, If you want to know if something provides a damage bonus, just look at the item description. Gamebanshee is a good site for item descriptions, as they use screenshots of the actual in-game descriptions (that's where the above image is from).

All of this is specifically for BG2. I'm not sure what they are using for BGEE. I think I may have read that they imported BG1 items into the BG2 engine. If that's the case then arrows, bolts and bows do get damage bonuses (as they did in BG1).

Oxford_Guy

@Tj_Hooker - thanks, that's helpful, I'd forgotten about the useful item descriptions on Gamebanshee (e.g. here: http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/arrows.php )

I think how things will work in BGEE for bows and arrows etc. in terms of damage modifications for +x values etc. will very much depend on whether they will follow the BG2 model (which seems to give most magic arrows no extra damage) or the BG1 model (which does give extra damage), we'll just have to see...

Interestingly, the magic bullets for slings in BG2 *do* seem to add magic damage, e.g. check out the +2 bullets listed on this page, which give 1d4+3 damage:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment/bullets.php

Also it looks like most magic crossbows (and slings) in BG2 *do* add extra damage equal to their +x rating, but short and longbows don't. Seems like short and long bows are seriously nerfed in BG2.

Oxford_Guy

reedmilfam said:

That's potentially disappointing, if the arrows don't get damage bonuses. If it's an issue of the bow adding to the damage with the arrows, I see this as somewhat of a compensation for the lack of other damage (STR, anyone?) bonuses that other weapons get. I mean...

Fighter with 18/92 STR and a +3 sword gets: +5 to hit and +8 damage

Archer with 19 DEX and a +2 bow, +2 arrow gets +7 to hit and +2 damage? or is it +4 (adding the bow) or is it +6 (bow and arrow)?

According to the weapon descriptions listed on the Gamebanshee site, without taking Archer/dex bonuses into account, a +2 bow (assuming not composite) and +2 arrows would give you +4 to hit and +0 damage