+# weapons question

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I'd like to know what makes a weapon to be for example +4. Is it that it has THACO +4 or is it damage +4?

Hence two derived questions.
1)If I you have a weapon dealing damage 1D6 +1, + 2 fire damage, +1 acid damage would it be a +4 weapon in total?

2)Another thing. I read somewhere that if you have a missile weapon +5 and use bullet +3 it makes the weapon to be +8 in total. Hence if I have a sword +3 and use bracers that add +1 THACO or Damage (whichever defines +# status of a weapon) does it make my weapon to be treated as +4 capable hurting those highly resistant enemies?

 

For most weapons the +# applies to both THACO and damage. There are the odd exceptions though, in which case the +# usually applies to the THACO (I think). It's a little different with missile weapons like bows, crossbows and slings.

When the modifier is applied to the bow/crossbow/sling itself it's almost always just to the THACO, unless the item description says otherwise. When the modifier is applied to the ammunition, it's for both THACO and damage. As far as I know, the combination of magical weapon and ammunition is not cumulative though.

In your first example, the weapon would probably be +1 all said in done.

 

what would the flail of ages +5 be? adding all the extra damage...

+5 thac0
+6 damage +2 poinson +2 fire +2 electicity +2 acid +2 cold

would be +16? omg...

 

so daystar would be a +4 weapon against evil opponents and +2 against others?

 

Another small comment.

A +# enchanted weapon also gives a +# bonus to the speed factor. So if you normally have a Flail with a SF of 7, a Flail +3 has SF of 4.

However, this is not obligatory, and enchanted weapons han have extra bonuses or penalties to their speed factor.

 

mASSIVe: "what would the flail of ages +5 be? adding all the extra damage...
+5 thac0
+6 damage +2 poinson +2 fire +2 electicity +2 acid +2 cold
would be +16? omg..."

Yes. You would get an additional +16 damage, above and beyond that of the original 1d6.


Tassadar: "so daystar would be a +4 weapon against evil opponents and +2 against others?"

You are correct sir! (He says in his best Ed McMahon voice)


-----------
-Immoral

 

Thx for all the answers. It's a pity though that those bonuses don't add together. It would be nice to have Celestial Fury +3 & bracers +2 = +5 hence making CF still worthy in ToB. As a +3 weapon it's practically useless in expansion and I think won't spend any more prof points on katanas (I'm proficient now). Hmm, those stunned opponents are just so cooperative

So what use are those +5 slings/bows etc.? According to what you said they would be no better than +3, hence enemies like demi-lich would be immune to them (if my observations are correct and d-l can be hurt only with +5 and up weapons). Is that +5 of a missile weapon taken into calculations in any way? At least while determining whether it can or cannot hurt opponent perhaps?

 

An exception to this is the Sunstone Bullets which I used to kill Kangaxx in SoA. They're +1, but they worked just fine.

 

Thanks Blackthorne TA. I thought I finally got it right after all these answers. Unfortunatley I got a stupid idea of looking at the Hearseeker's description. THACO +4, Damage +2 and the weapon is +3 overall. I got a little puzzled again but I read all the posts once more and taking them all into account I now think that there is no general rule, just the intention of the weapon's designer like you mentioned earlier.

Now just to make one last thing clear - if I got it right there is no possibility of hurting an up to +3 weapons immune opponent with missile weapons as the best aviable bullets are +3 IIRC? Moreover you mentioned 'unless a weapon produces its own missiles' matter. I'd like to know how this applies. I think I recall a sling +5 which produced +1 bullets (even if it doesn't exist or differs from what I presented let's assume it's this way for the purpose of example). As I understand it this sling wouldn't hurt opponents immune to up to +4 weapons cause it produces +1 bullets even though the sling itself is +5. Only if it produced bullets equall to its +# indicator it could hurt such highly immune creatures.


Edit - didn't notice Namuras' post before posting (I wrote answer offline). Interesting though I'm puzzled yet again.

[This message has been edited by Dragoon (edited August 21, 2001).]

 

question: are fire arrows, acid arrows, arrows of biting, and ice arrows +1 munitions?

 

I don't know whether or not these ammunition types count as +1 or not, but I tried them against magic golems, and they didn't work.

And I think I've been able to kill Demi-liches and mages with Improved Mantle with Sling of Everard +5(don't remember what kind of bullets it produces) and the Firetooth crossbow (+2 bolts).

 

I think (could be wrong though) that although the acid arrows, arrows of ice and flame arrows are considered "magical", they are not considered to have any + modifier. Basically, this would mean that the magic golem would be immune to them, but that any little beastie that requires +1 or better to hit them is also immune. I seem to remember having this situation occuring a few times in BG1 and BG2.

As for the Sling of Everard, I don't think it says in the description, but the bullets appear to be +5 as well. I was able to use it on Kangaxx the demi-lich without any ammo.

 

Arrows of Acid, Biting, Fire and Ice count as just magical


Arrows of Piercing count as +1 for working out what they can damage.

 

For those ranged weapons which fire phantom ammo (i.e. Gesen Bow, Sling of Everard, etc) the enchantment of the weapon is used. Thus, Everard +5 does work against Kangaxx.

+ to damage is normally not considered when determining enchantment level of a weapon, whether magical or elemental in nature.

Extra bonuses to Thac0 (such as daystar's +4 vs evil or Carsomyr's +5 vs CE) are also not considered as enchantment level, even if you happen to be fighting that particular opponent.

As stated, + to Thac0 is not always the enchantment level, although it usually is the same. Normally, a clarification will be stated if the two modifiers are unequal. For example, Staff of Magi has +1 to hit, but is considered +5 enchantment level.

One final note: side effects of weapon often take effect even when your weapon is not high enough of an enchantment level. I've stunned opponents many times with C. Fury, even though I couldn't damage them with a +3.

 

Exactly! C' Fury is a great time buyer. If you do that though just turn down your sound unless you want to hear things like this repeatedly :
"This is simply unnatural!"
"My weapon has no effect!"
"Not even a scratch!"
"Blasted bloody beggar's immune!"
"No effect? I think I need a bigger sword!"
And so on

 

Daystar seems only to be considered to have a +2 echantment regardless of your opponent. For example, you can't hit Kangaxx with it even though he is evil (he is evil, isn't he?). This would seem to be a bug to me, or did they just not program the game to handle weapons with variable enchantment levels?

Heartseeker is only of +3 enchantment because one of its THACO "pluses" comes from being a compound longbow as opposed to a normal longbow.

 

Daystar is a +2 longsword. However, it's THAC0 is +4 against evil enemies, but it will still not hit things that can't be damaged by +2 weapons.

Extremist made a post quite a while ago that says exactly what weapons have what enchantment. I did a search, but must not be typing in the right words or something. Perhaps he would be so kind as to post a link so that we can resolve this issue.