Attack sequence

From NWN2Wiki

When a character attacks another player a number of calculations are made to determine how successful that attack was. The following is from the perspective of the attacker:

Contents 1 Attacker's swing 2 Defender's armor 2.1 Touch attacks 2.2 Flat-footed 3 The impact 3.1 Automatic results 4 Damage 4.1 Minimum damage 4.2 Critical hit 4.3 Multiplying damage 4.4 Additional damage 4.5 Damage reduction

[edit] Attacker's swing

A d20 is rolled to produce a number between 1 and 20. This will be refer to as Die A.

• Add the attack bonus (AB) of the character
  • The initial AB is based on the character's base attack bonus
    • Characters with multiple attacks per round get lower AB for each subsequent attack in the sequence.
  • Add the following:
    • ability modifier depending on the type of attacks.
      • strength modifier if using a melee weapon.
        • If the character has the weapon finesse feat, is using a light or otherwise appropriate melee weapon and has a greater dexterity modifier than strength modifier, add dexterity modifier instead of strength.
      • dexterity modifier if using a ranged weapon.
    • size modifier
    • +1 if using a weapon the character has the weapon focus feat for.
    • - 4 if using a weapon the character is not proficient in.
    • deduct the character's armor check penalty if wearing armor the character is not proficient in.

The final value is known as the character's attack roll.

[edit] Defender's armor

To calculate the armor class (AC) of the defender.

• The base AC value is 10. Add the following:
  • Armor bonus. From armor worn, this does not stack with itself.
  • Shield bonus. From a held shield, this does not stack with itself.
  • Dexterity modifier. This cannot exceed the maximum dexterity bonus of the currently worn armor.
  • Size modifier. Smaller things are harder to hit.

• • Deflection bonus. Usually gained from magic items, this does not stack with itself.
  • Natural armor bonus. Armor-like skin and toughness, this does not stack with itself.
  • Dodge bonus. This is the ability of a character to evade the attack. It stacks with itself.

[edit] Touch attacks

The defender's armor bonus, shield bonus, and natural armor bonus (including any enhancement bonuses to those values) do not apply to AC against a touch attack.

[edit] Flat-footed

When a defender is attacked while unaware, or incapable of protecting themselves, they are considered flat-footed. The defender's dexterity modifier and dodge do not count towards AC. Uncanny dodge allows the dexterity modifier to be retained.

[edit] The impact

If the character's attack roll exceeds the defender's AC, the character has been succesful.

[edit] Automatic results

If the character's attack roll dice (die A) is a natural 20 then the attack has automatically succeded irrelevant of the actual modifiers.

If die A is a natural 1 then the attack has automatically failed irrelevant of the actual modifiers.

[edit] Damage

The amount of damage done to the defender after when successfully attacked is:

The damage-dice is dependant on the weapon used with the following modifiers:

• Melee or thrown weapons add strength modifier, however:
  • Off-hand weapons only add ½ strength.
  • Two-handed weapons (except light weapons) add 1½ strength.

[edit] Minimum damage

The modified damage roll is considered to be at least 1 even if the actual modified value was lower.

[edit] Critical hit

If a character's successful attack roll dice (Die A) was within the critical threat range of the weapon he was using this can mean a critical hit has been scored. A second d20 attack roll is made (called a critical roll), including the same modifiers. If this also exceeds the defender's AC then the attack is a critical hit. If the dice roll was a miss, then the attack is still a normal hit.

Critical hits mean additional damage rolls equal to the weapon's critical multiplier.

[edit] Multiplying damage

When multiplying damage, the damage is additional rolls of the weapon damage roll with the same modifiers. All multiplication is derived from the original damage roll dice.

e.g.
A d6 damage roll which has scored a critical hit of ×2 is the same as 2d6. If the same dice recieves an additional ×3 the total damage will be 5d6 (2d6 + 3d6) not 6d6.

[edit] Additional damage

Additional damage rolls from other sources (e.g. sneak attack) are not affected by damage multiplications.

e.g.
A d8 damage roll which has scored a critical hit of ×2 is the same as 2d8. If the same dice recieves an additional +d6 from a sneak attack, the damage becomes 2d8+d6 not 2d8+2d6.

[edit] Damage reduction

If the defender has damage reduction it is possible that the final damage value can be reduced to 0.