weapon choice

sldsmkd · Post by **sldsmkd** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:19 am

If you were heavily specialising in just one weapon, what damage type would you pick? (piercing / slashing / bludgeoning).

I'm leaning towards a rapier / scimitar for the increased threat range - but a warhammer for the greater multiplier might be interesting.

Have been using a longsword for the balance of it, but could be convinced to use a bastage sword just for the uniqueness of it.

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:35 am

Scythe.

kingfatzo · Post by **kingfatzo** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:38 am

the possiblities are endless..... there is no one weapon that stands out above the rest, as there may be 3 damage types there are also armors and shields made to resist each of them....so if i know i am fighting someone w/ a raiper i will put my pierce gear on :wink:

all comes down to your personal prefrence

...but some weapons will fair better than others in certian situations.....

kgb · Post by **kgb** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:29 am

It really depends on where you like to level too.

For example up the mountain bludgeon and slash is well protected against but not so pierce.

Slash and pierce resist are also common in the harder areas such as amazons and faction cities like mezo.

Bludgeon seems to have less widespread resist even in the planar areas. It's also useful versus undead which may or may not be a selling point for you.

So from my experience I would pick a weapon of choice in the following order:

1. Bludgeon
2. Pierce
3. Slash

Each to their own

Post by **Netrom.dk** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:29 am

You could also choose weapons with 2 damage types like a morning star.

Post by **Binkyuk** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:44 am

halberd gets my vote if you feel like 2 handing.

sldsmkd · Post by **sldsmkd** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:30 am

how does a weapon with 2 damage types work out? does it bypass resistances / immunities for one or the other?

also this is for my paladin/cot build so most of the damage output is divine so crits are quite nice - regardless of based damage type (except for the undead).

Post by **VagaStorm** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:44 am

I use a morningstar(piers/bludg) And tho it dont get those insane crits, it seems to do a wery ok averidge dmg on most criters.

Squikker2001 · Post by **Squikker2001** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 10:19 am

From my understanding, multiple damage weapons do half and half damage for each type. So if you use a morning star, half of the physical damage you do will be piercing, and the other half will be bludgeoning.

Findor · Post by **Findor** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:02 pm

Because of the dual-sources of damage, resistance/reduction to only one of the two listed types will not prevent the other from dealing the full damage modifier to a creature/NPC/Player Character.

This is from the NWN Wiki. I think what happens is if you only have piercing resist versus a weapon such as a morningstar, then it's as if you had no resistance at all, as all the damage will convert to bludgeoning. In other words, you have to defend against both forms of damage or you're out of luck. I guess this is comparable to a HiPSer in stealth mode - he has to defend against Spot and Listen checks.

Wolfarus · Post by **Wolfarus** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:17 pm

Well, thats part of the risk you take in NS. There are armor / shields around to defend against every type of physical damage, and you are usually running defense against 2/3 at any one time. (one on the armor, 1 on the shield).

As it so happens, pierc. damage is the one thats least defended against, gear-combo wise (at least so far) so if yer a smart fighter, you'll carry around the best morningstar you can

(or heavy flail, for the rare few of you who dont use shields)

JesterOI · Post by **JesterOI** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 1:33 pm

It works like this.

If you are using a morningstar which is bludg/peirce...

If bludg OR peirce resistance is present, the higher of the 2 will be used vs your morningstar.

Target has 5 bludge resist - You suffer -5 dmg
Target has 10 peirce resist - You suffer -10 dmg
Target has 5 bludge AND 10 peirce - You suffer -10 dmg

Immunity wise, BOTH immunities must be present for it to be effective. Even then when both are present, the lowest amount is used.

Target has 100% bludge immune - You do FULL dmg.
Target has 50% peirce immune - You do FULL dmg.
Target has 100% bludg immune AND 50% peirce immune - You do 50% dmg

This is what makes WM's using a morningstar, scythe, or halbeard an effective choice, your crits have a better chance of getting through with no or less immunity against it.

CrazyJ · Post by **CrazyJ** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:00 pm

Of course, the bonus damage is pure-type, so the same does not apply to it...

sldsmkd · Post by **sldsmkd** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:11 pm

Wow hard decisions

Am I correct in thinking additional damage - for instance that added by spells and feats would not be subject to the resistance / immunity of the base weapon type? Example: someone is 100% resistant / immune to slash - but innate spells abilities at a bunch of divine damage, would that still get through?

As a pally/cot smiter i'm thinking the increased threat range of improved critical / keen / rapiers/scimitars combined with Holy Avenger / Divine Might critting far more consistantly would be the best overall choice for a sword and board build. Of course the piercing/slashing are weak on undead - but hopefully the divine damage gives some options/compensation on that front.

Don't want to sacrifice the towershield AC and resistance for a 2 hander, so a 1 hander is the thing i think - also this kind of build doesn't really get the strength available to go for an all out nuts str build.

CrazyJ · Post by **CrazyJ** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 4:43 pm

With all the DR on the server, shields are definitely something you want.

Non-physical damage is not affected by the dr vs slash/pierce/etc. I am pretty sure that it does stack on crits.