GameBanshee Forums

I have no D&D experience outside of BG, and I was kinda hoping some of you guys could explain what your weapon's speed factor is, and what effect it has on your attack per round stats. For Example... My kensai gets a -1 to his speed factor every four levels. What should I expect?

Erm, without having played the game, it sounds as if the company making it butchered the RPG rules to fit the engine. I'm assuming it means, the higher level you are in the class, the faster you can swing the weapon. Think of comparing the ease of swinging a 2-handed sword to a longsword, to a dagger. Logically, you'd be able to swing the longsword faster than the 2-handed sword with the same amount of force, and a dagger even faster. So, with that particular bonus, you may eventually be able to swing that 2-handed sword as fast as a normal person would a dagger.

I hope that helps.

Thanks, but not really... I figured that it sped up your attack, but I'm looking for how much...

"Speed factor also improves every 4 levels. What does this mean? That
your Kensai will almost always hit the enemy, before the enemy hits
him back. With the extra damage (and possible dual wield) it means
you may KILL the enemy before he ever hits you!"

http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/ ... _class.txt

Best I could find. *shrugs* Effectively it changes your initiative with your weapon.

Thanks... That helped a bunch.

actually, as you get more attacks per round, the Speed Factor will contribute less and less, as the game engine will have to "fit" more attacks into 6 seconds. This is true even if your weapon details "say" it has a high Speed Factor.

[QUOTE=Mirk]actually, as you get more attacks per round, the Speed Factor will contribute less and less, as the game engine will have to "fit" more attacks into 6 seconds. This is true even if your weapon details "say" it has a high Speed Factor.[/QUOTE]

Actually, and assuming I'm remembering correctly, your number of attacks and your weapon speed don't really affect each other. Speed just affects who gets to attack first. The game will "roll" an initiative order, to determine the order of attacks between the combatants. The higher "roll" will attack first. Initiative is modified by your dexterity score, and your weapon speed is subtracted from the "roll". Thus, a higher weapon speed score, meaning a slower weapon, will lower your initiative result, making your attack come later in the round.

You might have four attacks, but your opponent with one attack and a higher initiative might be able to get that first jab in.

Every round is 6 seconds long. Each 6 second round is divided into 20 increments, each .3 seconds long. Each round, each participant in a battle "rolls" for initiative, yielding a number 1-10, then adds speed factor, which is a number 1-9 (a speed factor of 10 will read "one round" on a spell, like "heal" for instance.)

Anyway, the resulting numbers 1-19 are then ranked to determine who goes first, next, simultaneously, etc.

Actually, I'm unsure if BG calculates initiative or not - it may use pure speed factor.

In any case, if it uses initiative, and you're using a magical katana with a speed factor of zero, your order of action will be between 1 and 10. On the other hand, Droog the Ogre weilding a halberd will be between 10 (9+1) and 19 (9+10). So even in a best case scenario for Droog, you're striking at the same time.

For the Kensai, his weapon speed keeps decreasing, so you're getting more and more of a jump (though I don't think it can decrease below zero.) This makes me think that BG doesn't use initiative rolls - else the bonus would be to his initiative, as I believe it is in the pen-and-paper game.

Also, I agree with whoever said that it matters less and less as you get more and more attacks.

[QUOTE=Aramant]Actually, and assuming I'm remembering correctly, your number of attacks and your weapon speed don't really affect each other. [/QUOTE]

Actually I think it might affect number of attacks. When I had Mazzy in a party and equipped her with "Kundane", which has a speed factor of zero, her attacks per round would go from 4 to 5, while dual-weilding short swords. It doesn't say anything in the description about adding an extra attack per round, only that the "speed factor of this weapon is zero".

Also- Recently my kensai reached a level that lent another -1 to his speed factor, and his atcks/round went up, and i could find nothing else to explain it otherwise. No extra proficiencies, or anything, so...

[QUOTE=flounder]Actually I think it might affect number of attacks. When I had Mazzy in a party and equipped her with "Kundane", which has a speed factor of zero, her attacks per round would go from 4 to 5, while dual-weilding short swords. It doesn't say anything in the description about adding an extra attack per round, only that the "speed factor of this weapon is zero".[/QUOTE]

No. Kundane and Belm both add an extra attack per round, having nothing to do with speed factor. There are any number of daggers with speed factor 0 that don't add the extra attack.

Belm says it adds an extra attack per round in the description, Kundane does not, all it says is that the "speed factor of the this weapon is zero" as opposed to Belm which says "Combat Abilities: Adds an extra attack per round". However, you are correct about the speed factor of numberous daggers being zero, I rarely use daggers with my characters so I never really noticed that before, so that can't be right. And the plot thickens...

[QUOTE=flounder]Belm says it adds an extra attack per round in the description, Kundane does not, all it says is that the "speed factor of the this weapon is zero" as opposed to Belm which says "Combat Abilities: Adds an extra attack per round". However, you are correct about the speed factor of numberous daggers being zero, I rarely use daggers with my characters so I never really noticed that before, so that can't be right. And the plot thickens... [/QUOTE]

It is, however, labaelled as "Sword of Quickness." Also, it says in the description "this weapon has no speed factor" rather than "this weapon's speed factor is zero."

Hmm, no speed factor "0" or a speed factor of zero "0"... seems like the same thing to me. Regardless, that still doesn't say anything about an extra attack per round.