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Morlac · 06-21-2003, 01:47 PM

obviously personal preference (and roleplay) as well as the luck of the draw in what weapons you find all can play a part. One thing I rarely see mentioned but which is a factor for me is that two-handed weapons are usually pretty slow -- their weapon initiative can be as bad as -6 or so.

That has a couple of distinct disadvantages for me:

(1) Bad weapon init can make the character slow enough that he tends to take his swings very late in the round, giving monsters more of a chance to hit and later in the game letting my faster characters "clean house" leaving nobody within close range to kill. At least with extended range weapons, like polearms or the giant sword, that's not a factor -- which is why I do tend to use at least a couple of those in every party.

(2) Weapon init (but not personal init) is a big factor in determining when you unlock your second and third swings of each attack. All other factors (e.g. speed, character class, weapon skill, etc) being equal, a superfast weapon like bloodlust or a stiletto will give you 2nd and 3rd swings several levels earlier than a superslow one like excaliber.

And then of course, there are a couple of other factors I tend to consider:

(3) Once your party is reasonably well-developed and has found good items (like the sword of 4 winds), a typical "balanced" group is more than a match for most of the opposition. At that point, matters of style and personal preference tend to count for more IMHO. Whether your fighter does 300 or 350 damage to the opponents in one round -- a spread of 50-- just isn't as huge a difference when he jumped from doing 20 to 70.

(4) Depending on things like profession and personal tastes on training, your front line warrior types may be pretty well maxed out long before you're ready to finish the game. If you're like me and you enjoy being able to keep increasing skills, dualing gives you a bit more to work on. And in that vein, more swings for less damage gives you more chances for skill increases than fewer swings for more damage...

Just another 2 cents...

[ 06-21-2003, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: Morlac ]

06-21-2003, 01:47 PM	#6
Morlac Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: April 21, 2003 Location: New Jersey, USA Age: 56 Posts: 27	obviously personal preference (and roleplay) as well as the luck of the draw in what weapons you find all can play a part. One thing I rarely see mentioned but which is a factor for me is that two-handed weapons are usually pretty slow -- their weapon initiative can be as bad as -6 or so. That has a couple of distinct disadvantages for me: (1) Bad weapon init can make the character slow enough that he tends to take his swings very late in the round, giving monsters more of a chance to hit and later in the game letting my faster characters "clean house" leaving nobody within close range to kill. At least with extended range weapons, like polearms or the giant sword, that's not a factor -- which is why I do tend to use at least a couple of those in every party. (2) Weapon init (but not personal init) is a big factor in determining when you unlock your second and third swings of each attack. All other factors (e.g. speed, character class, weapon skill, etc) being equal, a superfast weapon like bloodlust or a stiletto will give you 2nd and 3rd swings several levels earlier than a superslow one like excaliber. And then of course, there are a couple of other factors I tend to consider: (3) Once your party is reasonably well-developed and has found good items (like the sword of 4 winds), a typical "balanced" group is more than a match for most of the opposition. At that point, matters of style and personal preference tend to count for more IMHO. Whether your fighter does 300 or 350 damage to the opponents in one round -- a spread of 50-- just isn't as huge a difference when he jumped from doing 20 to 70. (4) Depending on things like profession and personal tastes on training, your front line warrior types may be pretty well maxed out long before you're ready to finish the game. If you're like me and you enjoy being able to keep increasing skills, dualing gives you a bit more to work on. And in that vein, more swings for less damage gives you more chances for skill increases than fewer swings for more damage... Just another 2 cents... [ 06-21-2003, 01:48 PM: Message edited by: Morlac ]