"best" weapon?

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 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

eudas wrote:

> On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 13:46:30 +0100, Mikael Schøler <QM3mik_s RemoveThis @tdcadsl.dk> wrote:
>
>
>>Hi NG..
>>
>>I just purchased NwN and are loving it (non McD-related).. I was
>>wondering if there was such a thing as a best weapon? I'm mostly a
>>fighter and a happy with the weapons I use so far.. But its there any
>>weapons I absolutely most find/have or is it a matter of taste?
>>
>>cheers,
>>
>>Mikael
>
>
> try a Keen scimitar with Improved Critical (scimitar). Threat range 12-20, which
> amounts to a critical threat approximately 45% of the time (9 of 20 rolls on a
> 1d20 are a threat).
>
> add elemental damage on the sword to that (+1d6 per element), plus sneak attack
> dice (depends on rogue levels), plus maybe weapon specialization (if
> fighter4+)...
>
> eudas

Trouble being that so many mobs are immune to criticals, that putting
that much effort into outlandishly good crits can backfire on you,
leaving you with a relatively substandard weapon.
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

"Barry Scott Will" <nwn_usenet.TakeThisOut@cavecreations.net> wrote in message
news:EEPkd.601091$8_6.225164@attbi_s04...
> vellu wrote:
> > Two handed style Great axe
> > and Great sword deal fairly equal damage (axe 1d12, sword 2d6) but axe
> > has x3 criticals vs. x2 of the sword.
>
>
> Yes; but, the greatsword has a threat range of 2 (19-20), while the
> greataxe has a threat range of only 1 (20). Mathematically, a higher
> threat range beats a higher crit multiplier in average damage over the
> course of combat. This is especially true if you take the Imp Crit feat,
> and/or get a Keen weapon.
> --
> Barry Scott Will
> Pyric RPG Publications
> http://www.pyric.com/

No.

Let's have a look at it: If you score a critical hit with an twohanded axe,
you do 3x damage. When rolling a 19, it's just 1x damage. Adding damage from
dice result 19 and 20, we have 4x damage. Taking a greatsword, we have 2x
damage on both 19 and 20, wich also sums up to 4x damage.
Mathematically, they are equal, considering only the threat range and damage
multiplyer.

Even when taking the improved criticals feat and keen weapons, they will
remain equal. 15-20/x2 sums up to 12, just as 18-20/x3 + 15-17/x1 does.

Ok, the greatsword has an slight advantage, as ist does 0,5 points of damage
more in average. But when it comes to strike through damage resistances, the
higher criticals of the greataxe will make your day.
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

This message is not archived
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

"Insane Ranter" <spam DeleteThis @not.me> wrote in message
news:_WVkd.17060$z3.10944@bignews5.bellsouth.net...
> watch out for the drunken dwarves with red hair as well

lol - Must have met you in a bar somewhere
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

Now, I new there was a reason I just love an axe <grins>
Colin E

"ulf" <kravkalash.DeleteThis@t-online.de> wrote in message
news:cn55lm$eu5$01$1@news.t-online.com...

> Let's have a look at it: If you score a critical hit with an twohanded
> axe,
> you do 3x damage. When rolling a 19, it's just 1x damage. Adding damage
> from
> dice result 19 and 20, we have 4x damage. Taking a greatsword, we have 2x
> damage on both 19 and 20, wich also sums up to 4x damage.
> Mathematically, they are equal, considering only the threat range and
> damage
> multiplyer.
>
> Even when taking the improved criticals feat and keen weapons, they will
> remain equal. 15-20/x2 sums up to 12, just as 18-20/x3 + 15-17/x1 does.
>
> Ok, the greatsword has an slight advantage, as ist does 0,5 points of
> damage
> more in average. But when it comes to strike through damage resistances,
> the
> higher criticals of the greataxe will make your day.
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

> but the other guy is right, most of bioware's modules are not immune to
> criticals. undead are the only real thing i can think of that they use
much of
> that is immune to them. there's not a lot of golems, not a lot of oozes,
etc.
>
> eudas
> Inside of every silver lining, there's a big, dark cloud.

Final enemies tend to be immune to all sorts of stuff, like criticals - you
should not rely on criticals too heavily.
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

"vellu" <velimala RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cmvtml$i63$1@phys-news1.kolumbus.fi...
>
> Two handed style Great axe
> and Great sword deal fairly equal damage (axe 1d12, sword 2d6) but axe
> has x3 criticals vs. x2 of the sword.
>

A very basic point, but a single die damage roll (1dx) is more likely to
deliver extremes, high and low, while two dice (2dx) will give a more
reliable average damage.


It works out like this:

1d12 - Max=12 Min=1 Avg=6.5. Same chance of getting a
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 or 12. (1/12th chance.)

2d6 - Max=12 Min=2 Avg=7. Weighted towards midrange damage. 1/36th chance of
a 2 or 12, increasing to 1/6th for an average 7.


--
Merlin

"A shortcut has to be a challenge, because if it was easy, it would just be
the way."
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

Merlin Fradley wrote:

> "vellu" <velimala.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:cmvtml$i63$1@phys-news1.kolumbus.fi...
>
>>Two handed style Great axe
>>and Great sword deal fairly equal damage (axe 1d12, sword 2d6) but axe
>>has x3 criticals vs. x2 of the sword.
>>
>
>
> A very basic point, but a single die damage roll (1dx) is more likely to
> deliver extremes, high and low, while two dice (2dx) will give a more
> reliable average damage.
>
>
> It works out like this:
>
> 1d12 - Max=12 Min=1 Avg=6.5. Same chance of getting a
> 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 or 12. (1/12th chance.)
>
> 2d6 - Max=12 Min=2 Avg=7. Weighted towards midrange damage. 1/36th chance of
> a 2 or 12, increasing to 1/6th for an average 7.
>
>
Whats interesting about this is that often you meet "damage resistant"
targets, which work differently depending which shape curve you have.

For no damage reduction, the 2d6 range averages slightly more damage.

But as damage reduction climbs, the 2d6 range drops faster than the 1d12
range:

Here's the average total damage done in 36 hits, as damage resistance
goes up
Penalty:2d6:2d12
-0: 252: 234
-1: 216: 198
-2: 180: 165
-3: 145: 135
-4: 112: 108
-5: 82: 84
-6: 56: 63
-7: 35: 45
-8: 20: 30
-9: 10: 18
-10: 4: 9
-11: 1: 3
-12: 0: 0

This is because when damage reduction takes you to below 0 damage, you
don't heal your target, you just do nothing. Thus, if the DR is over 5,
the 1d12 weapon will tend to do more damage

If you have an effect that only goes off if it actually damages your
target past his DR, then you see a similar same effect; here's number of
hits in 36, on average:

Penalty:2d6:2d12
-0: 36: 36
-1: 36: 33
-2: 35: 30
-3: 33: 27
-4: 30: 24
-5: 26: 21
-6: 21: 18
-7: 15: 15
-8: 10: 12
-9: 6: 9
-10: 3: 6
-11: 1: 3
-12: 0: 0

So now the 2d6 weapon has the edge up to an 8 DR... but if the DR is
that high or higher a 1d12 weapon hits more often.

For the above, you have to subtract any bonus to damage from the DR, but
apply any multiple of damage to the derived figure (ignore
multiplication for the second chart, it has no effect)

Lance
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

Mikael Schøler wrote:
> Barry Scott Will wrote:
>> Mikael Schøler wrote:
>>
>>> I just purchased NwN and are loving it (non McD-related).. I was
>>> wondering if there was such a thing as a best weapon? I'm mostly a
>>> fighter and a happy with the weapons I use so far.. But its there any
>>> weapons I absolutely most find/have or is it a matter of taste?
>>
>>
>>
>> It's primarily a matter of taste. There are a few weapons that get
>> short-changed in the matter of having decent magical versions
>> available in NWN's original campaign. Off the top of my head, you
>> probably don't want to concentrate on using a kama, sickle, darts or
>> throwing axe.
>
> Nope I don't.. Longsword is my primary weapons.. uhm.. Tension sword? hm
> nope.. uhm.. can't remember the name, but it glows with flames..
> Another one I have is also glowing with flames, can't remember the name
> though.. Will check later on..
>
> It is not possible to get above 1d8 with a longsword, is it?
>


I think you are thinking of the Tenser's Sword. I have that
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

On Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:05:12 -0600, David Misner
<miracleman2.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Mikael Schøler wrote:
>> Barry Scott Will wrote:
>>> Mikael Schøler wrote:
>>>
>>>> I just purchased NwN and are loving it (non McD-related).. I was
>>>> wondering if there was such a thing as a best weapon? I'm mostly a
>>>> fighter and a happy with the weapons I use so far.. But its there any
>>>> weapons I absolutely most find/have or is it a matter of taste?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> It's primarily a matter of taste. There are a few weapons that get
>>> short-changed in the matter of having decent magical versions
>>> available in NWN's original campaign. Off the top of my head, you
>>> probably don't want to concentrate on using a kama, sickle, darts or
>>> throwing axe.
>>
>> Nope I don't.. Longsword is my primary weapons.. uhm.. Tension sword? hm
>> nope.. uhm.. can't remember the name, but it glows with flames..
>> Another one I have is also glowing with flames, can't remember the name
>> though.. Will check later on..
>>
>> It is not possible to get above 1d8 with a longsword, is it?
>>
>
>
>I think you are thinking of the Tenser's Sword. I have that
>
If you're talking about the official campaigns...

NWN1 had a bunch of weapons that could be made by a blacksmith in
Chapter 1 and upgraded later on. Some of these were quite powerful and
the chapter 1 versions could all be sold for more than it cost to make
them. The upgraded versions cost more to make so really were only
worth getting them if you wanted that particular type of weapon.
Though there were also a lot of weapons to be found but a lot were
random too.

I can't recall anything really goof in SOU though there was a katana
in a bandit cave in chapter 1 IIRC.

HotU... Enserric is probably close to the best though if you're evil
there's one other but it's part of random loot stash and the odds of
getting it are pretty low IIRC

In NWN2 you can actually craft (if you have decent points, or have an
ally with decent points in the craft skills) better weapons than
you'll find anywhere in the game.

In mods it all depends on what the creator decides to put in there.

So really there's no best weapon in any game IMO and sometimes what
works well against one creature (eg. fire-sword against ice-giant)
won't work against another (eg. fire-sword against fire elemental) and
it's best to have an alternative, or two, (eg. cold sword or
electrical sword) if your current weapon isn't effective enough.
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

"DungeonRaider" <dngn_rdr DeleteThis @yahoooooooo.com> wrote in message
news:o6pr73prf62hlhv6rbnjjt2smo9lkck6bo@4ax.com...
> So really there's no best weapon in any game IMO and sometimes what
> works well against one creature (eg. fire-sword against ice-giant)
> won't work against another (eg. fire-sword against fire elemental) and
> it's best to have an alternative, or two, (eg. cold sword or
> electrical sword) if your current weapon isn't effective enough.

I found that the best universal magic enhancement was acid since it works
against a lot of creatures. Sonic is better as there are few monsters with
a natural resistance to sonic damage but I don't recall any high level
weapons with sonic damage and, IIRC, in HOTU you can't upgrade Enserric with
sonic damage but you could give him a nasty acid attack.

Best wishes
maxon
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon? 

"maxon" <maxon DeleteThis @NOSPAMntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:ceqfi.4070$uR5.761@newsfe7-gui.ntli.net...
>
> "DungeonRaider" <dngn_rdr DeleteThis @yahoooooooo.com> wrote in message
> news:o6pr73prf62hlhv6rbnjjt2smo9lkck6bo@4ax.com...
>> So really there's no best weapon in any game IMO and sometimes what
>> works well against one creature (eg. fire-sword against ice-giant)
>> won't work against another (eg. fire-sword against fire elemental) and
>> it's best to have an alternative, or two, (eg. cold sword or
>> electrical sword) if your current weapon isn't effective enough.
>
> I found that the best universal magic enhancement was acid since it works
> against a lot of creatures. Sonic is better as there are few monsters
> with
> a natural resistance to sonic damage but I don't recall any high level
> weapons with sonic damage and, IIRC, in HOTU you can't upgrade Enserric
> with
> sonic damage but you could give him a nasty acid attack.
>
> Best wishes
> maxon
>
>

To be honest the best weapon is no weapon at all. The absolute best weapon
is a monk's fists, which at level 16 can do 1d20 damage plus strength
modifier as +3 weapons at 16th level or above. on top of that a monk or
monk/fighter combo can attact up to 8 times a round with fists, put on a
pair of damage inflicting gauntltes to do additional elemental damage and
you have someone that can walk through anyone.
 >> Stay informed about: "best" weapon?