Question for the players ;)

[Chimaira]

Ehm were those "tests" in NS or in a self made module without any fixes?
Because if it was in a self made module then that means bioware has actually fixed an important bug in last update. If not then it means the fix works? Or isnt it fixed in NS and just wanted to know how NWN does it standard? Because the last I tried it(which was when hotu came out and after the first few patches, I have given up on testing each time since nothing seemed to get fixed) it just stacked everything. A cleric could hit through epic warding with a +5 attack weapon by using Divine power(+7), divine favor, bless and battle tide, and it worked when I tested it. The bug used to be different tho, when NWN just came out attack didnt do anything to damage reduction. The only bug back then was that a monk with Ki strike +1 (example) used gauntlets with +5 attack had fists that were considered +5 weapons. Since hotu the damage reduction works fine with creature weapons, a shifter in vampire form with stoneskin can hit through +5 reduction, when stoneskin wears off it reverts back to standard.

[JesterOI]

I did the tests in my exp2 plz mod.
Basic NWN, with a couple monsters in it, both immobile, the first has 1 hit point and gives you 1,000,000 xp on killing it, and the other has 10000 hitpoints for testing stuff on.

Whenever I have to I just drop some equipment into it on the floor for testing purposes.

It has no changes to the rules at all, it's your basic Bioware NWN rules.

[Gil-Este]

Damage reduction of +X requires the weapon itself to match that +X bonus in order to bypass the damage reduction. It has nothing to do with the character's ability to do damage, the character's ability to wield their weapon, or the character's ability to hit the creature. The point of damage reduction is to say "this material/creature's skin/armor is incredibly thick/tough/magically reinforced/hard and as such it is difficult to even scratch it without using a weapon of equal strength/potency

[Kaelis]

Yes, I'm bringing up an old thread because I just saw it and it needs a definitive answer.


There are only three related weapon modifications to consider here, normally available through the toolset only (a good reason to go get HotU if you haven't already): Attack Bonus, Damage Bonus, and Enhancement Bonus.
All three of these affect only the Physical Damage type (Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing). Keep in mind that elemental, magical, or energy attacks are never affected by a physical damage soak value.

The Attack Bonus applied to a weapon, as a modification through the toolset, will defeat an equivalent soak while providing the weapon with no extra damage potential. Sorry, attack bonuses granted to the player character via spells or increased stats are insufficient as they only serve to increase the character's chance to actually strike the target.

The Damage Bonus applied to a weapon as a modification of any kind will not defeat soak at all, it merely increases the weapon's damage potential.

The Enhancement Bonus applied to the weapon, through the toolset or through use of the Magic Weapon/Greater Magic Weapon spells, serves to both defeat soak of the equivalent level *and* to increase the weapon's damage potential by the same amount.


Gil-Este was right on the money in describing the soak value as a measure of the target's relative toughness. A superior weapon is needed to pierce or damage these tough hides or armors.

A soak value of +5/50 will soak the first 50 points of physical damage delivered by a weapon or attack that has either an Attack Bonus or an Enhancement Bonus which is only +4 or lower.

Gloves with an Attack Bonus count as magical weapons for unarmed combat since they cover the hands and unarmed combat means fighting with the hands.
Divine Favor works to *bypass* soak by adding magical damage to the physical damage type delivered, as well as providing the character a bonus to hit. This should *not* be confused with an effect that actually defeats soak, as this effect is applied to the character and not the weapon.

Keep in mind that the ability to cast Greater Magical Weapon on *any* weapon which already has an Attack or Enhancement Bonus is a current bug. This spell is only supposed to be castable on a weapon with no bonus. What this means: you can take advantage of this fact to get a higher weapon bonus if you have, say, a +3 dagger and you or an ally can cast Greater Magic Weapon with a +4 or +5 bonus. However, the two bonuses will *not* be combined in determining what level of soak you can defeat; only the highest bonus applied to the weapon will matter.

On a side note, you can combine spells and modifications which provide soak. Take for instance a character with +3/10 soak on his armor and active Stone Skin cast on his person. This character will effectively soak the first 20 points of any incoming attack with a bonus of +2 or less. However, as soon as he is attacked by a +3 weapon, his useful soak value is only +5/10 due to the Stone Skin he has cast on himself; his armor's soak value has been defeated by the attack. All sources of damage soak are combined and then defeated individually based upon their bonus.

Then, of course, there is always Damage Resistance. Damage Resistance is a value noted for a specific damage type and would be presented as 5/- (signifying that the first five points of that damage type are completely ignored). Damage Resistance can never be defeated, regardless of whether your weapon is bare of any bonus or bears a +20 bonus (the current maximum bonus allowed under HotU). In all, I'd rather have Damage Resistance on my character over Damage Soak, any day.

I hope this leaves no further doubt or room for conjecture concerning this subject.