Re: weapon damage in duelmasters

From: itlm013@judy.ucdavis.edu (Captain Caveman)

Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1992 19:39:17 +0000

In article <1992Oct20.215033.15847@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> eisen@fermat.cs.jhu.edu (Hal Joshua Eisen) writes:
>Greetings Duelmasters players!
>
>Well, I grabbed those weapon charts that were posted a few days ago, and
>it looks to me like they will be very useful for choosing which weapons
>NOT to send my warriors out with.  However, they don't help me to much in
>choosing from the remaining weapons.

Don't be so quick to write off certain weapons.  Remember that you don't
have to go through plate armor every time you hit, so plan your assault
accordingly.  Warriors in lighter armor tend to be faster.  If you use a
faster weapon, you have a better chance of "getting the drop" (i.e.
swinging first) on them.  Also, less protected warriors take less damage
to put down.

>I know a warrior has a favorite
>weapon, and that a manager should experiment to find it.  My question is:
>Does the weapon do the damage, or does the warrior do the damage?

It depends.  An awesome damage warrior will tend to hit hard with whatever
he has, so weapn selection for damage isn't quite as important.  However,
small warriors' damage ability can be *dramatically* affected by the use
of a favorite weapon.

>The reason
>I ask this is that there might be 4 different weapons which my warrior is
>able to handle, but one is right on the edge of the ST requirement, while
>the other is far below the ST requirement.  Which should I pick?  I would guess
>that a larger weapon (one which requires more ST) would do more damage,
>so I'd try that one first.  Alternatively, if the warrior simply does
>damage based on SZ and ST, then I'd choose the smaller weapon, since it
>wouldn't tire out my warrior as fast.  Which is better?

Damage is based on several things, including SZ and ST, whether or not the
weapon is the warrior's favorite, and how much armor your opponent is wearing.
Use weapons that are appropriate for the armor you're facing.  For instance,
wielding a maul against everything probably isn't a bright idea, but using
a fast weapon like  a War Hammer is.

>Is it always true the a warrior does the most damage with his favorite weapon?

Despite what John said earlier, yes.  A warrior almost always does more
damage with his favorite weapon than with any other.  A friend of mine has
an AB in AD whose favorite weapon is the dagger, and you'd think it was a
small Halbard in his hands.

>If you knew you were going to fight a warrior of a particular style, do some
>weapons do well against other styles?  Thanks for any hints...

If the warrior you're fighting likes to get the jump, using exceptionally light
weapons usually helps out.  For instance, giving a striker DA's or a HA instead
of a LO will give him a little extra speed.  You can also afford to use the
heavy killing weapons against scum: GS, HL, ML, etc.

Trump
dfcleary@ucdavis.edu

References

weapon damage in duelmasters
eisen@fermat.cs.jhu.edu (Hal Joshua Eisen)
Tue, 20 Oct 1992 21:50:33 +0000