weapons proficiency versus special weapons

[riverman]

Minsc is carrying around Dragons Bane +3, a halberd with +6 against dragons. Minsc has no proficiency slots for halberds, but two stars for two-handed weapons and two stars for two-weapon style. So, when fighting a dragon, is Minsc better off using a weapon especially designed for dragons but for which he has no proficiency, or should he use a good two-handed sword, or his Daystar plus Flail of Ages?
Thanks

[Indemaijinj]

The penalty for using weapons you are not proficient with are rather severe, so the answer would be to use a two-handed sword.

[IronDragon]

Try installing that weapon and checking his THAC0 (remember the lower the better) and compare it to his THAC0 with a weapon he is proficient in.

[Armen]

Originally posted by IronDragon: Try installing that weapon and checking his THAC0*(remember the lower the better) and compare it to his THAC0* with a weapon he is proficient in.

* and attacks per round

[Jim]

Originally posted by Armen: quote: Originally posted by IronDragon: Try installing that weapon and checking his THAC0*(remember the lower the better) and compare it to his THAC0* with a weapon he is proficient in.

* and attacks per round [/QUOTE]Exactly. If he has no proficiency points with halberds, he will receive -1 penalty to hit, -1 penatly to damage and will only have 1 attack per round. Even if he is over level 13. This is why a single point in a weapon for a warrior is far, far better than none at all. The 2-Handed weapon style bonuses will nullify the -1 penalty to damage, and he will get some substantial speed factor bonuses, but this won't make if for the lack of attacks per round.

[JrKASperov]

Indeed, attacks per round is EVERYTHING is this game. Every character I made with 5 attacks per round normally was a god.

[Binge]

My level 15 Kensai has Attacks per round listed at 9/2. What does that mean? He is Grandmaster in Katanas and I think 1 point from GM in 2 weapon style, and has 2 very nice katanas equipped.

[Faceman]

9/2 means exactly that: 9/2 = 4.5
Have you installed the Grandmastery patch?
4.5 is really well however. I never got one of my chars beyond 5 without any additional spell or item.

[Jim]

Originally posted by Faceman: 9/2 means exactly that: 9/2 = 4.5

Yes, or alternatively, I regard this as nine attacks over 2 rounds. Same result however, but I think the latter is more accurate since it's impossible in practice to have half an attack per round. You must attack a whole number of times per round, so the 9 attacks over 2 rounds theory basically means you'll attack 5 times in the first round, and then 4 times in the second round, and this pattern continues. Something like that anyway [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-29-2003, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: Jim ]

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by Jim: If he has no proficiency points with halberds, he will receive -1 penalty to hit, -1 penatly to damage and will only have 1 attack per round. Even if he is over level 13. This is why a single point in a weapon for a warrior is far, far better than none at all.

....Except in the case of offhand weapons, where the only effect of proficiency points is your offhand THAC0 & damage. And since the offhand only gets 1 ApR (2 if Imp. Hasted) anyway, it's rather negligible. Warriors would jump for a chance at slapping Belm in their offhand, whether they've got proficiencies in Scimitar or not.