Weapon Questions

[Intimadater]

I have a few questions about weapons and how much damage they do.

1. What does it mean if the weapon says 1D4 or 1D8?

2. What does a +1 or +2 after 1D4 mean?

3. What does bonus to hit do?

4. What does bonus to damage do?

Thanks

[Imrahil]

1 - The D4 or D8 represent the range of damage the weapon can do. D4 means 1-4 points of damage, D8 means 1-8 points

2 - The + after the D4 means that number gets added after the damage is rolled. So, for example, if you have D4+1, that would mean 1-4 plus 1 point, for a base range of 2-5.

3 - The + To Hit helps you hit with that weapon. You roll a number 1-20 and if it's high enough, you hit. The + To Hit adds to that roll. For example, if you need to roll a 10 or higher to hit something with a non-magical weapon, you hit if you roll 10-20. If you have a weapon that is +1 To Hit, you'd get to add 1 to your roll, so you'd hit on a roll of 9-20.

4 - The + to damage is like #2, but usually from magic, rather than the base damage of the weapon. So, if you have a weapon that does D4+1 with +1 to damage, the base damage is 2-5, with 1 more point added on, giving you a total of 3-6 points.

Basically, the higher the number, the better, in all cases. D6 is potentially more damage than D4. D4+1 is better than plain D4. The higher the + To Hit & + To Damage, the better.

- Imrahil

[Intimadater]

And one more question what is speed factor and is it better to have a low or high speed factor?

[Lord]

Originally posted by Intimadater: And one more question what is speed factor and is it better to have a low or high speed factor?

It's the speed in which you use your weapon. The lower the number, the faster you use it. For missile weapons, this is called Rate of Fire (ROF).

[SixOfSpades]

Actually, Speed Factor and rate of fire (more commonly known as Attacks per Round, or ApR) are different.

ApR, multiplied by the average damage per hit, gives you the amount of damage you can expect to dish out in one round (provided all of your attacks hit the target, of course).

Speed Factor only affects when during that round the first blow will hit. For the most part, this is only important when fighting spellcasters: When you see an enemy start casting something, you want a low, low Speed Factor, so you'll have better odds of hitting him before he completes the casting, thus disrupting his spell.