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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5545274" data-attributes="member: 92305">Yeah, 2E actually changed your AC based on the weapon being used by your enemy. For example: A fighter is proficient with both footman's mace and longsword. He fights an opponent wearing chainmail and using a small shield. With the footman's mace, our fighter will strike against an AC 6 target and do 1d6+1 damage if he hits. Using a longsword, our fighter will strike against an AC 2 target and do 1d8 damage if he hits.That's pretty cool.  Without those AC adjustments, players would always pick the longsword over the footman's mace because the longsword did more damage (although the average is the same:  1-8 vs. 2-7). Clearly, though, in this case, the footman's mace is a superior weapon since it will do about the same damage but basically gets a +4 to hit modifier. I really wish they hadn't taken that kind of stuff out of the game.  That's the kind of detail I feed on.     I'll note that the Conan d20 game does a pretty good job of having different reasons for picking different weapons.  A player doesn't always go for the weapon that does the most damage. First off, in the Conan game, most weapons do more damage than their D&D counter-parts.  A dirk is just as likely to do 1d6 damage as it is 1d4.  Spears and one-handed battleaxes do 1d10.  Warswords (basically, a bastard sword) do 1d12.  And, with a two-handed greatsword, you can do 2-18 damage (that 1d10+1d8). Your normal picks all do about the same damage--usually in the 1d10 range.  So, picking weapons based solely on how much damage they produce becomes less important.  You're going to get a weapon that deals a lot of damage--because weapons are deadly in this game. Conan handles armor by having it reduce damage (not make you harder to hit with an AC bonus).  But, there's an attack style the offers, also, that allows you to try to defeat armor--basically making called shots to attack your enemy where he is not armored or where his armor is weak.  This is called Finesse style combat, and instead of your attacks being based on STR, they are based on DEX.  You want a quick, light weapon if you are going to fight with this style.  It also gives those characters with high DEX but weak STR scores a reason to be good at combat.   So, if you're a big, tough hombre, you'll fight using your STR, trying to punch through armor, break it, knock a hole in it. If you're a skinny Zamorian thief, with a STR 12 but DEX 18, you'll use a dirk, arming sword (short sword), or poinard to dance around your opponent, take advantage of your superior DEX, and make quick, lightning jabs at your enemy at his neck, exposed parts of his arms and legs, maybe under the armpit where armor is weak. Weapons in the Conan game have other important stats, besides damage.  Players consider the Armor Piercing value of the weapon--which is the weapon's ability (combined with the character's STR mod) to be used to punch through armor.  Some weapons may do superior damage but have light armor piercing capability.  With other weapons, the reverse may be true. For example, a cutlass does 1d10 damage with AP 2.  A warhammer does 1d6 damage (almost half as much) but comes with an armor piercing score of AP 7. Therefore, you'll want to use a cutlass when fighting un-armored foes*.  That's why it's a favorite of pirates.  The warhammer can bash through just about anything, and that's why you'll usually find it used on the mass battlefield, the favorite of mercenaries. So, in the Conan game, besides the usual considerations of reach, damage, and how many hands a weapon takes to wield properly, the Conan game also has a player consider how the weapon will be used (light weapons for the DEX based Finess combat style;  heavy weapons for the normal STR combat style) and who it will be used against (the weapon's AP rating). Heck, in the Conan game, even shields come with damage ratings.  And, for the first time in any D&D game, there is a reason to use a buckler--because it's lighter, more maneuverable, and therefore does more damage as an off-hand weapon than the larger, heavier, less easily manipulated shields.   *And, you will come across a lot of unarmored foes in the game because the Conan RPG allows for two types of defense.  You've got your STR based parry defense, which is closest to your typical D&D AC (except tha armor has nothing to do with being hit);  and, you've got the DEX based Dodge defense--in this game, you can build a viable character that is good in combat and wears nothing but a loincloth, always dodging incoming blows.  You're not tied to wearing armor in order to keep your character alive.        Good one! Yeah, some of those titles didn't even make sense....but I kinda miss 'em too!</blockquote>

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