Can someone explain damage to me?

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DJKajuru

1-Staff of Magi makes you invisible whenever you equip it , but it doesn't apply backstab damage. You can, however, get invisible with it to get away from then enemy line of sight and then equip your most appropriate weapon, hide in shadows add backstab more times in a row.

2 - Is this second question still related to backstabbing? If so, it is more about a specific weapon than it's damage type. For instance, there are very good staves in BG and BG2 and in ToB the weapon with the highest damage count is a quarterstaff so it is usually recommended for backstabing . Another common weapon for backstabbing is short sword because there are many good ones for thieves.

Now, considering that your second question is not about backstabing I believe that slashing and blunt damage are the best types in the game because (a) some enemies such as slimes and clay golems are immune to piercing or missile damage and (b) some enemies such as skeletons and golems are highly resistant to all kinds of damage except crushing. It doesn't mean that your protagonist needs to specialize in those weapons , as long as someone in your party does (Jaheira is good with clubs ans staves, Anomen can fight with maces and hammers ) and even if you're not proficient with a blunt weapon remember that fighter types suffer very few penalties when attacking with a weapon they're not proficient with . In other words, pick proficiency points in the weapons you like the most , just remember to have other types of weapons in your inventory for emergencies.

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DJKajuru

ArthasII wrote: »

Thank you. Concerning your last note: how are you supposed to calculate the damage you'll be doing with weapons?

For example, take staff of the magi. 1d6. Seems like the maximum is 6 dps. So the STR is applied on this 6 dps and then you sum up with the dps from the proficiency?

The damage dealt is the weapon dice (1d6 in case of quarterstaff) + other bonuses which can be strength bonus (starting at str 16) , weapon specialization, weapon magic bonus , proficiency bonus, class kit bonuses or magical buffs.
For example: A half orc with strength 19 , specialized in quarterstaff , will deal 1d6+ 7 (strength bonus) + 2 (specialization) . In other words, his damage will range from 9 to 15 .

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Humanoid_Taifun

Damage bonuses are the reason why high-level kensai make terrible surgeons. If you give them a tiny scalpel and ask them to make a small incision in somebody's thigh to aid with the extraction of an embedded arrowhead, they will inevitably take off the entire leg with a single cut. They cannot help it.

semiticgoddess

The Staff of the Magi can't backstab since it's not originally usable by thieves without Use Any Item, much like how Valygar's katana can't be used to backstab. Thieves can still get +4 to hit whenever they're invisible, so you can still wear down certain enemies in safety using the staff.

Strength bonuses and on-hit effects, if any, don't apply to backstab damage. Everything else is factored in. If the half-orc in @DJKajuru's example was level 1 and therefore had a 2x backstab multiplier, the staff would deal 3-8 base damage (from 1d6+2), doubled by the backstab to 6-16 damage, and then bumped up to 13-23 by the +7 bonus from its strength.