Clarification of weapon listing for a noob!

[MrSumOne]

Hi, I'm really new to all the DnD and Pathfinder stuff. I was going through all the books and looking all over the net, but I can't seem to understand how weapons and armor work in Pathfinder.

When something is listed as
+1 longbow +8/+8 (1d8+1/x3)
I understand that the 1d8+1 is the damage, and /x3 is for citicals, but what is the +8/+8 for? Also, how do you make a weapon into a +1 weapon? Can you buy them? And what are the price differences? I see a lot of +something weapons in the NPC book, which just confuses me even more. Can someone help out?

 

[Guillaume]

Welcome to the boards and the game.
To answer you question, the +1 longbow thing indicated that the weapon is a magic weapon (you'll notice that it is often italicized which is another indicator of a magic item). Therefore, when calculating the attack and damage bonuses, one must add 1 to both. Now since this comes from a stat block, the magic bonus is already added into the next part of the line : +8/+8. This indicates the attack bonus and since it is sperated by a slash, it means that the NPC can, in certain conditions (usually using a full-attack action during a round), attack twice per round both at +8.
Next question, the rules for creating magic items are found in the Magic Item section of the Player's Guide. They can also be found in the PRD, a copy of which can be found here.
Can you buy magic weapons? The answer is it depends on the GM and the world he/she is using. The common practice is that yes magic items can be bought and sold. The prices in the core book can be found also in the Player's Guide and in the PRD. With that said, some GM do not like having such a world (they sometimes call them the Magic Wal-Mart). They are within their rights to limit such transactions and you might have to talk to him/her how about how one can aquire magic items.
Hope this helps.

 

[MrSumOne]

Thanks for your reply! So I guess the slash represents a second attack? Also, is it a +8 to the d20 roll to see if it hits, or +8 to the total damage? The reason I'm so confused is because I thought all magic weapons had a name, not just +1 beside them. If I was a GM and wanted to create a +1 or +2 version of a greatsword how would I go about finding the stats for that?

Also, a little off topic, but I see each class has a hit dice for when they level up, like sorcerer has d8. Does that mean that you roll a d8 every level to get the HP, or 2d8 for 2nd level, 3d8 for 3rd, etc? Some NPCs I see have 12HD for their hit dice instead of an actual die, can someone please explain this?

Sorry for all the noob questions, just trying to get oriented before I start.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Thanks for your reply! So I guess the slash represents a second attack? Also, is it a +8 to the d20 roll to see if it hits, or +8 to the total damage? The reason I'm so confused is because I thought all magic weapons had a name, not just +1 beside them. If I was a GM and wanted to create a +1 or +2 version of a greatsword how would I go about finding the stats for that?

Also, a little off topic, but I see each class has a hit dice for when they level up, like sorcerer has d8. Does that mean that you roll a d8 every level to get the HP, or 2d8 for 2nd level, 3d8 for 3rd, etc? Some NPCs I see have 12HD for their hit dice instead of an actual die, can someone please explain this?

Sorry for all the noob questions, just trying to get oriented before I start.

When shooting the NPC adds 8 when rolling to hit, with each shot. Damage is 1d8+1 for each shot that hits.

When posting something like this it is usually better to post the whole stat block, so folks can tear it apart and see what bonusses came from where.

In this case, it looks to b a +1 longbow - adding 1 to each of to hit and to damage. The character has a further +7 to hit (but not damage), but some of that can be from their Base Attack Bonus and some can be from a high dexterity or from feats.

The +1 is added to both attack and damage, but only that +1, the rest is on the to hit roll only.

I hope that helps.

The Auld Grump

 

[Dilvias]

As an example, let's say it's a 4th level ranger with 18 dex and using the archery combat style (choosing the rapid shot feat as his second level ability). In addition, one of the feats he chose was weapon focus: Longbow.

As a 4th level ranger, his base attack bonus is +4. (base attack bonus is the bonus to hit, representing your basic skill in combat.) A dex 18 provides another +4 to hit when using ranged weapons like longbows. The feat weapon focus adds a +1 to hit when using the weapon in question, in this case longbows. The magical longbow +1 provides yet another +1 to hit (and +1 to damage) when the ranger uses it. The feat rapid shot allows the user to make an additional attack, but all attacks are at -2 to hit.

So the total bonus to hit is +8, which you roll twice versus the target's Armor class. Let's say the ranger is targeting an opponent whose armor class is 16. This means you roll the d20 twice, adding +8 to whatever result comes up on the die. In this case, the ranger rolls a 7 and a 14. 7+8 is 15, not enough to hit the 16 armor class, so that arrow misses. However, 14+8 is 22, so one of the ranger's arrows hits.

The damage a longbow does is a base 1d8. You add +1, because it is a magical longbow. Let's say you roll a 5. 5+1 means the target of the ranger takes 6 points of damage, which is subtracted from the target's hit points.

 

[MrSumOne]

I guess I'm still confused about stat blocks. If someone could please explain the ones I'm looking at?

I was trying to figure out Kiramor on page 455 of the core rulebook, and the hit dice thing I was trying to figure out was from Pirate Captain on page 281 of the GM guide.

Thing is, I live in a remote area, no one to play with, so I can only play with my gf, and no one but the book and internet to teach us the rules! I thought I might as well try to play as gm, but I can't get past these small details, as if the guide is vauge, and doesn't show what it's terminology means.

 

[IronWolf]

Thing is, I live in a remote area, no one to play with, so I can only play with my gf, and no one but the book and internet to teach us the rules! I thought I might as well try to play as gm, but I can't get past these small details, as if the guide is vauge, and doesn't show what it's terminology means.

I remember those days! Living in a remote area, only my brother to play with until I finally met some people at school - and when I started? No Internet!

Things can be confusing when you are first getting started, especially with no one to answer questions face to face. Keep with it and you will find it a rewarding hobby.

First, start with small steps. Looking at higher level characters and such can be confusing early on. Go through the character creation process a few times if you need to. Just filling out a character sheet can help you get a decent foundation. As you get questions with that, post them here and we can help clear them up. Then it will be easier to take things you learn at these early levels and apply them to later levels.

 

[MrSumOne]

Well, those really are the only confusing things I'm finding right now. How to level up someone's HP and what the HD actually does, because it's mentioned in a lot of spells. How to read stat blocks that have those numbers before and after the weapons, and how to get those stats in the first place. The guide seems more confusing than I remember the DnD guides being.

 

[Kvantum]

Hit Die, hp, and leveling - every level you get your class's hit die in extra hp, plus your Constitution modifier. Example: A 4th level Ranger with 35 hp has gained enough XP to advance to 5th level. He has a 14 Constitution score, which gives him a +2 modifier, and as a Ranger, he has a d10 Hit Die. If our example Ranger rolls a 6 on that d10, he adds a +2 to it and gains 8 hp as he advances from 4th to 5th level, making his new hp total 43. (Note that you might also be adding a Favored Class bonus to every level, gaining 1 hp per level, or 1 skill point, or... well, the Advanced Player's Guide adds a whole bunch of different options, but that would just confuse you right now.)

When it comes to spells, "Hit Dice" and "levels" are frequently used interchangeably for spell effects, but monsters usually do not have levels, they just have hit dice... unless they're a monster with class levels on top of its hit dice, for example an Ogre Barbarian 5. Ogres have 4 hit dice just as a part of being an ogre, but one that also has 5 levels of the Barbarian class has 9 total Hit Dice.

 

[BlubSeabass]

Attacking with ze longbow:
So let's crunch down Kiramor, the level 4 ranger/2 rogue (total level 6)
He has two ranged attacks, namely:
Ranged +1 longbow +10 (1d8+1/x3)
Ranged +1 longbow +8/+8 (1d8+1/x3)

The first part, that is, every number and name after "Ranged" and till (and including) the name of the weapon, is the full name of the weapon. In this case, that is +1 longbow. The longbow part means it's a longbow, the +1 part means it's a magical attuned weapon. It's magically enhanced to hit more often (giving a +1 on attack roles) and do more damage (giving +1 on damage roles). Some weapons give higher bonuses, like a +3 longsword gives +3 on attack and damage roles. Other weapons might have special properties, like a +1 flaming scimitar. It does not only have the +1 magical enhancement bonus, but also has the flaming property, which makes it deal 1d6 extra fire damage. The magical properties and its costs are well described on page 468 of the core rule book. Masterwork weapons (have "mwk" on the place where "+1" would be, just like Kiramor's melee rapier), give the +1 bonus on attack, but not on damage. This bonus does not stack with the magical bonus, since all magical weapons are masterwork to begin with!

Now comes a confusing part. We have the same weapon (a +1 longbow) with two different attack modes? What are does +10 and +8/+8 for? Well, as you might know, you need to roll a d20 to see if you hit an opponent. You have to beat the opponents Armor Class (AC in short) to hit. When you roll the d20, you may add your attack bonus to your roll. For a ranged attack that is Base Attack Bonus (BAB) + Dex + other bonusses. Let's look at Kiramor:
BAB = +5
Dex = +4
Other bonusses = +1 (The +1 of the magical longbow!)
Total = +10.
That makes sense with what's written with the first attack, right? So he can shoot one arrow with his +1 longbow, with an attack bonus of +10 and dealing 1d8+1 damage, triple on critical.
The second attack mode, is using his special feat, Rapid Shot. Look it up under feats what it does precisely, but it means that at a full-round attack, the owner of the feat may fire 1 extra arrow at his highest attack bonus, but takes a -2 penalty on all attacks.
So the slash means a new attack. His first attack (his normal arrow) would be at +10, but Rapid Shot lowers this with 2 to +8. His second attack after the slash also uses his highest bonus (+10), but is also lowered by 2 to +8. Another mystery solved. Two attacks with his +1 longbow, with an attack bonus of +8 each and dealing 1d8+1 damage each, triple on critical.

Note that when you have a BAB of +6, you naturally get a new attack, without the use of feats, on full round attacks. Look for the Ranger class table on page 66 for a moment. See that his BAB at level 6 is +6/+1? This means that in a full-round attack, he can do two attacks: The first uses BAB +6, the second uses BAB +1. So first attacks always have a bigger chance to hit.
Some feats may give you extra attacks, like two weapon fighting of the captain in the GM guide. These have slight different rules. For example, the weapon you wield in your off hand gives only half your Str bonus on attacks. That's why the captains second set of attacks deal 1 less damage each.

HD and hp
Hit Dice (HD) is the number of hp-dice that are rolled for this character. Back to Kiramor, his hp says:
hp 39 (4d10+2d8+6)
What does it mean? Well, the numbers before the "d", in this case 4 and 2, are the amount of times that that specific dice is rolled for hp. So he rolled 4 10-sided dice and 2 8-sided dice for hp. Why? Well he has 4 levels in ranger, and each level in ranger gives you one roll on the d10 for hp. He also has 2 levels in rogue, which gives him 1 roll on the d6 per level in rogue. So 4d10+2d6. That would be a minimum total of 6 (roll 1 each time) or a maximum of 52 (roll 4x10 and 2x6). Now as you may know, constitution gives you more hp. The rule is that for each HD you posses, you get your Con modifier as bonus hp. So Kiramor has 12 con, a modifier of +1. This means he gets 1x 6(number of HD) bonus hp, for a total of 6. That explains the +6!

How did they get to the final hp? Well they don't actually roll, but take the average: 4x5.5 (4d10) + 2x4.5(2d8) +6 = 37. They just gave him +2 hp because the felt like it, I guess. Thats a magical GM trick.

Notice that for player races with class levels, like humans, elves and dwarves, the HD is equal to your level. After all, you only roll a hit dice when you level up! For other monsters, HD might rise more steeply to match the players level. For example, an animal which is a normal challenge for a level 6 party (CR 6), has roughly 9 HD. This is so, because when a player gains a new HD and a new level, he also gets new abilities and better scores. Animals have worse "level ups" and thus need more to be equally challenging.

Hope this makes sense!