I'm new to Baldur's Gate and I was wondering what the attributes for the weapons mean. Like when it says 1D10. What does that mean. or 2D4. It sounds like it means when the dice roll it counts as 10 damage or 8 damage cause you multiply 2x4 but I'm probably way off. So if someone knows what they stand for please reply.

thanks
marshall

Role-playing games use dice with different numbers of sides ( eg 4,6,8,12,or 20 sided) to determine things like whether or not a character hits an opponent, and then if a hit is made, what amount of damage results. The amount of damage done depends on the kind of weapon you're using. So if a sword does 1D10 damage, it means a 10-sided dice is rolled to determine the damage done each time a hit is made, and the hit will do between 1 and 10 points of damage. 2D4 means roll two 4-sided dice and add the two rolls, so a hit with this weapon will do 2-8 points of damage.

It is a little confusing at first, figuring it all out.
Also, if you had a 2D4+1, you would end up with something like
3-9 damage... It just adds an extra point, regardless of the role.
Thats a minimum of 3, max nine...
Sorry if thats a little patronising for you! :|

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What a good question. Does that mean that when comparing a 1D10 weapon is better then a 2D4 weapon, etc? And does it word the same for armour and shields? Also, how would you go about trying to factor in some of the other characteristics one may see with different weapons? Thanks.

An 1D10 weapon does 1-10 points of damage. A 2D4 does 2-8. So though the max is higher, the minimum damage is also a bit lower.

There is however also a bit on statistical distributions involved here. If you just roll one die any outcome is equally likely, but when you roll more dice than one the outcome is more likely to end up nearer the middle of the range. thus on the 2D4 weapon (mace?) 2 and 8 are less likely to occur than 4 and 5.