Newbie - how does the fighting system work?

gotnho · Post by **gotnho** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:48 pm

i'm used to play games like diablo and dungeon siege but this is kind of different for me. Being a newbie i dont know how the battle system work in NWN. i saw some weapon that have like 2d6 or something like that, what does this mean? i know it is like you roll a 6 sided dice or something like that but then how does this actually work? also how can i speed up my attack? my character attack then dodging/wait around for about another 5 seconds b4 attack again. can some one help explain the battle system to me? thanks.

p.s i read the manual but not very helpful.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 4:09 pm

[QUOTE=gotnho]i'm used to play games like diablo and dungeon siege but this is kind of different for me. Being a newbie i dont know how the battle system work in NWN. i saw some weapon that have like 2d6 or something like that, what does this mean? i know it is like you roll a 6 sided dice or something like that but then how does this actually work? also how can i speed up my attack? my character attack then dodging/wait around for about another 5 seconds b4 attack again. can some one help explain the battle system to me? thanks.

p.s i read the manual but not very helpful.[/QUOTE]

You have a certain attacks per round, for a certain attack rating.
As you gain levels you will get more attacks per round (round is 6seconds) that's why your character stands still for a while.
Remember that combat classes (fighter, barbarian) get more attacks per round sooner that non-combat classes like the mage.

I cant realy help you with attack rating, as i'm afraid i will explain it wrong. But rember the higher the better, same goes for your armorclass (AC).
And when an enemy has an high AC he's harder for you to hit.

Damage is calculated with dice.
1d8 means 1 roll with an 8sided dice, so you will do between 1 and 8 damage.
2d4 means 2rolls with a 4sided dice, so you will do between 2 and 8 damage.

It's easy to calculate avarage damage, just add the maximum and the miniumum damage and devide by 2.

For example a 2d4+2 weapon (+2 means it will do 2 extra damage)
The minimum you can roll is 4 (1 on each dice +2)
The maximim is 10 (4+4+2)
14/2 is 7 damage.

Do remember that the change for maximum damage get's lower with more dice.
For example with 1d8 you will do 8 damage statisticly once every 8 rolls.
With 2d4 once every 16rolls, cause to do 8 damage you will need to roll 4 on both dice (there are 4x4 possible rolls, and only one of them does 8 damage)

So a 1d8 weapon does a little less damage then a 2d4 weapon on avarage but has a better spread both up and down.
While a 2d4 weapon is more reliable, and does a more constant damage.

Hope i explained it well.
Feel free to ask more questions

Admo · Post by **Admo** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:51 am

Pretty much all there, but before the 1d8/2d4/whatever it is roll, you must make an attack roll, which decides whether you hit or not. The game throws a d20, adds on bonuses (for example, enchantments add a +1/+2/+3/etc to both your attack AND damage rolls) and also strength/dexterity/etc goes onto here depending on the attack you're making. So strength to greatswords and things, dexterity for your bow, wisdom/intelligence/charisma for spells etc.

If this total is higher than your opponents AC then you score a "hit". Then, for a Greatsword +2, you could do 1d12+2 damage.

So if your opponents AC is 28, and you're using the Greatsword +2, and strength of 18. You would make a d20 role, +2, +18. So you can roll as low as 9 (9+2+18=29) and make a hit. You could also score 15, but still only make a hit. Then you would role a 1d12+2 die, so if you rolled a 7 you would score 9 (7+2) damage.

It gets more complicated with things like saves thrown in on top of all this, as well as immunities, damage resistance, etc, but thats the basic jist of it

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:09 am

Strenght of 18 dosen't add 18 to the attack roll.

araknid70 · Post by **araknid70** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 6:20 am

All statistics add one modifier point for every two stat points above ten, and deduct one point for every two points below ten. So a strength of 18 would add +4 to hit and damage rolls.

Yes, and the manual is useless. The one major problem with the BG series and its cousins is the complexity of the combat system. Then again, that becomes the real attraction once one knows how the system works.

To gotnho: suggest you find some free ADnD faq online or something like that that explains the DnD 3E combat system. Gamefaqs has a DnD 2E Rules faq... but 2E is literally the opposite of 3E (i.e. lower AC is better). So don't use that one.

gotnho · Post by **gotnho** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:00 pm

thanks guy.....i'm begining to understand

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 1:21 pm

Can also check out the d20 rules
D&D is build up around these, so many things fit with the D&D games.

http://www.wizards.com/D20/article.asp?x=srd35

Just notice they are 3.5 and NwN runs with 3.0 rules.

Admo · Post by **Admo** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 3:51 pm

Knew there was something not quite right there! While I have some knowledge of how the rules, I can't say I'm a complete expert!

gotnho · Post by **gotnho** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 8:10 pm

can you guys tells me about moddifier? so far i seen AC natural modifier and deflect (or something) modifier. can you guys tell me how this work within the game.

Reguarding weapons, how do choose the most damaging weapon for ranger?

Admo · Post by **Admo** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:05 am

Natural AC is what you character gets with nothing on (maybe a tunic).

There are then several types of AC that can be boosted by items and clothing:

Armor (from your armor)
Shield (from your shield)
Natural (amulets mainly, I believe)
Deflection (from cloaks, rings, etc)
Dodge (boots and others)

You can only use ONE item that boosts your AC through each of these EXCEPT dodge. Dodge bonuses will stack, although I believe there is a limit. All of the others are wearable (if they hold other bonuses, such a immunities, etc), but the actual AC will NOT stack. You will get a message in the little box at the bottom of the screen about this.

As for your rangers weapons, there is a wide variety you can choose from. I will assume you are a medium sized character (elf/human/etc). Basically the ranger has a number of benefits. Quite an all-round character. Most people go for DEX orientated fighting skills, as a ranger is typically skilled with a bow. He also gets 2 weapon fighting (or ambi-dexterity, can't remember!) for free, so you can fight with 2 weapons. So with a long-sword in your good hand and a short-sword in the other, you can make a good 2 weapon fighter once you have some levels and the right feats under your belt. Best stay away at lower levels, lowers you chance of hitting too much unfortunately.

So ideally you want a good bow, and to use 2 weapon fighting if you want to be a "typical" ranger. But I ended up deviating a lot - I used the Harbringer Kin greatsword for some parts, after finding a belt of hill-giant strength. This gave me good strength to use a greatsword, better mighty modifier on my composite longbow, and I could also carry a lot more stuff! I also used heavy armor throughout the last part of the game, which takes away some of your ranger abilities (such as moving silently). As long as you have pretty good all-round stats you can get a ranger to do anything! Also you will want to have a reasonable wisdom score for ranger spells.

Fiberfar · Post by **Fiberfar** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:20 am

Correct me if I am wrong but I think Natural Ac is the hardness of your skin ect. For example: Dragon disiple gets shell like skin that increases the natural AC. But as admo says, you can increase natural AC with amulets and other stuff

Zel Greywords · Post by **Zel Greywords** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:14 am

[QUOTE=Fiberfar]Correct me if I am wrong but I think Natural Ac is the hardness of your skin ect. [/QUOTE]

Yep, the various armor boni are "explained" like this:

Natural AC Modifer:
Toughness of skin and direct dermal armoring (claws, horns, horn plates and the like). Basically only orcish/abysmal beings and barbarians should have this, but even your well-educated city sorceress can get a leathery skin with the right amulets. Question is if she'd like it.

Armor AC Modifier:
The various layers of metal that your character wears for protection. The more, the better, but at some point it will restrict your movements, thus spellcasters (who wave their hands around a lot) will get penalties to their spellcasting. Item types here are armor (duh), bracelets/gauntlets ... and helmets, iirc.
Shield AC Modifier:
Same idea as the armor one of course, only that you need a free arm for it.

Deflection AC Modifier:
In principle, this one is about various invisible magic fields surrounding the wearer/caster which either weaken or divert physical assaults. This is the most common form of magic protection and can be found on several item types, starting with cloaks and rings, but also belts. Since this type of protection doesn't hinder movement at all, it is the prime choice for mages. Also about the only kind of AC boosting that can be found as spells to cast.

Dodge AC Modifier:
Describes how nimble your character is and decides if he/she can roll with blows or sidestep them completely. First half of this you get from your DEX ability score, the second half from boots and spells. Dodge is the only AC bonus that can be raised by wearing multiple items/effects of the same type, in all other bonuses only the highest current modifier will count.

(meaning wearing a +1 deflection ring and a +4 deflection cloak -wont- give you a +5 bonus, but only a +4 one... since the +1 is ignored then.)

So,

AC =
Initial AC
+ highest NaturalModifier
+ highest ArmorModifier
+ highest ShieldModifier
+ highest DeflectionModifier

+ Dexterity-based DodgeModifier
+ Item-based DodgeModifier
+ Feat-based DodgeModifier

Yet, note that all Dodge Modifiers will be zero'ed or lowered as long as your character is slowed, frozen, paralyzed, encumbered (partially), entangled... and dazed, too I think.

<edit>
Side question: is there any spot in NWN where you attacks/round are shown? Being a paper&pen-player I have the attack progression tables in mind anyway... but it feels kinda lacking not to see that (highly important) data anywhere on the NWN character sheet.

-Zel

araknid70 · Post by **araknid70** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 3:41 am

They are there, in the character screen. For example, if your fighter has two attacks, then the Attack Bonuses are shown as +6/+1, for example, meaning 2 attacks per round. Since you know the attack progression you should know that fighters get an extra attack every five levels up to a max of 5 attacks (I think NWN maxed it to four or something, or was that IWD2?), so every five levels an additional "modifier" will be added to the list. Other classes get their attacks slower. Improved 2 Weapon fighting gives 2 attacks with the off-hand, also displayed in the same way under "Off-hand". Lastly, IIRC 3E DnD doesn't have half-attacks.

Zel Greywords · Post by **Zel Greywords** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:24 am

[QUOTE=araknid70]They are there, in the character screen. For example, if your fighter has two attacks, then the Attack Bonuses are shown as +6/+1, for example, meaning 2 attacks per round. [/QUOTE]

Ahhh, now I see. Back when I bothered to look that detail up for the first time, I was a low-class dual-wielder... and thus thought the ratings listed there would only refer to the primary/secondary hand. And actually never noticed that at some point there'd be more than just two entries in that spot. Thanks.

-Zel

Fiberfar · Post by **Fiberfar** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 1:30 pm

By the way.... we can't forget the hardheaded monk. He gets AC from his Wisdom modifier...