How come the bow does not do any serious damage

[avok]

I have an Nephil archer with Dex 5 + Bows 7 + Sharpshooter 5

 

That is a total of 17 attack strength.

 

His Yew bow has 5-10 base damage, that is an average roll of 7.5

 

A simple calculation 7.5 times 17 = 127.5 damage average.

 

In reality he deals a miserable 20-30 damage (before armor) even to worms and goblins, wolfs ? WTF? Is there something real at all in those rules in the game help?

 

I am talking about Avernum 6

[Mea Tulpa]

The "base damage" is not the damage per level. The base damage is the damage per level, times the base levels. (This is true for melee weapons too.)

 

In this case, the Yew Bow does 1-2 damage per level. Longbows are a bit better, as they will do 1-3 damage per level. Unfortunately this means bows are not very impressive attacks in A6.

 

The Yew Bow has a base attack level of 5, apparently. Add on your 17 bonus levels, and we get an expected damage level of 22-44 before armor.

[avok]

Well, what is the per level damage of the melee weapons then?

 

I read someone say the pole weapons are most damaging?

[Lilith]

Dual-wielding becomes better than using a pole weapon by the midgame, especially once you get access to broadswords that are light enough to wield in the offhand. Most spears have 1-3 damage per level, halberds have 1-4, shortswords have 1-2 and broadswords have 1-3, but you can use two swords, which more than makes up for it.

[avok]

You are great man, a living fontain of knowledge

 

Do you know the damage per level of the javelins? Maybe 1-3 as per results I get in damage?

 

And the wands and scrolls? Although for them I get the feeling that the attack strength is not clear. I remember something about throwing weapons + Dex maybe?

[Lilith]

For any weapon, you can just divide the maximum damage by the minimum damage to get the damage per level. So if a weapon says it does 10-40 damage, the damage per level is 1-4. From memory, I think javelins are 1-4.

[avok]

Originally Posted By: Lilith

For any weapon, you can just divide the maximum damage by the minimum damage to get the damage per level. So if a weapon says it does 10-40 damage, the damage per level is 1-4. From memory, I think javelins are 1-4.

You confused me there a little. Is it depending on the weapon type or only on the actual base damage range. For example is a steel javelin going to do more damage per level than a common one?

[MMXPERT-seraph of thermodynamics]

Bow down to the game mechanics!

[Alorael at Large]

I also can't remember exact weapon stats, but I think all javelins have the same base damage and steel javelins give you more levels of damage. For instance, if they were 10-40 and 16-64, they would both have the same damage per level of the both values divided by the lower 10/10=1 40/10=4, so 1-4; 16/16=1, 64/16=4, so also 1-4. The second does more damage, but the amount of extra damage doesn't increase as your characters improve their stats, so it becomes increasingly unimportant as you gain levels.

 

—Alorael, who is ready to declare a moratorium on posts that are made entirely for puns. He even likes puns, but not enough.

[avok]

They are 4-16 and 6-24

 

So both are 1-4 according to Lilith's system.

 

That clears it out. Thanks guys!

[Harehunter]

That one is almost beneath me as well.

 

Well, almost. I have been guilty of worse.