About the "Number of Attacks"

On the character sheet, there is a thing called "Number of Attacks." Is that how many times you roll or something like that?? I have one character with a 5 and the other with a 2. Is the character with a 5 better or worse. Simply, is the 5 on the character better or worse??

Number of attacks is how many times you attack per assault. The more you have, the better it is, cause you´ll be able to hit more times. Oil of speed doubles this number.
Which weapon are you wielding to have 5 attacks ?? I think it´s a very high number.

5 ??? I dont really believe this !!!
My Best Warior (Khalid level 9 Fighter) has 3 atacks, wich is pretty high...
I think you'll have to recheck this

Dablo, Azreall

You can't have 5, unless you're under influence of some spell... In fact, the max in AD&D is 4,5 I think. Adhrael said it just right: this number indicates the number of attacks per ROUND. There's also a Speed-factor to each weapon. This factor indicates at which time in a certain round the weapon attacks. Example: a dart has a speedfactor of 1. This means that this is the first weapon to attack in a certain round. A crossbow may have speedfactor 10 (I'm not sure), so it attacks later in a round. This doesn't nescesarraly mean it is a slower-fireing weapon.

If I'm not clear enough, please tell me so

HEY SHAFT !!

WHO'S DA MAN ????

Petrarcus: maybe you´re right and the speed factor of a weapons is what you say, but I think it has something to do with n of attacks too. My number of attacks is different with a bow or a sword (I´m sure) and I´m slower with spoder´s bane than with frostband (I´m not sure).
Why some characters have a greater base number of attacks than others ? It depends on dexterity or what ?
And how many assaults has a turn ?

[mir_ror]

The frequency of your attacks depends on two main factors: the weapon(wpn) in question and your character class (not your dexterity).
Each wpn has an associated speed factor which signifies how much 'time' it takes to deal out an attack (which, for ranged wpns, may in turn comprise 2 shots (by a bow), or 3 (for darts)). So the 'time' taken to loose off an arrow will be effectively 3 for a non-magical short bow, instead of the stated 6. The two-handed sword (Spider's Bane is one) has a speed factor of 10 (or is it 9?), so naturally you will attack less frequently than a scimitar (like frostbrand) of speed factor 5. Magical wpns have modified speed factors, so you'll have to chk up the individual wpn yourself.
Fighter classes have an additional half or more attack(s) if they have Weapon Specialization or better in the wpn they are currently wielding, ie. they have 2 or more 'stars' in their wpn type proficiency.
Personally, I prefer my fighters to have 3-star specialization (you can find out why from the damage/to-hit chart in the manual), since 5 stars are unobtainable in BG/TotSc.
NB: Please correct me if I'm wrong in any of the above info .

No of attacks, briefly:

a, your level
b, your weapon proficiency
c, the weapon (Icingdeath has speed 3, by the way)
d, spells
e, other magical items

sum it up. ( not literally, of course )