The Three Questions Of The Paladin

[Nemesis]

QUESTION ONE: Do I Get To Count My Damage Bonus One Time For Each Blow?


My clvl 23 paladin has this nifty little Westernesse dagger which gives him +10 to damage and four attacks. I also have a couple of gauntlets giving me +3 to damage and a ring giving me +9. Having 18/60 in strenght, I think I also get +3 to damage from that.

Let's see: I do 1d4 + 10 + 9 + 3 + 3... That's an average of 2,5 + 25! And I get four blows, which means that I should slice 110 hit points off from my enemies each turn (but I guess they get to subtract damage with their armour four times as well)!



QUESTION TWO: What Is My Damage Bonus Anyway?!


One thing I was wondering about is what "fight: +3, +6" and "melee: +20, +26" in my character screan means. What's the difference between those two bonuses? In a Spoiler guide I read that I only get +3 to damage with my current strenght. As damage is always the last number of the two as far as I can rembember, I understand nothing. Is my damage bonus from strenght/class/race/whatever except equipment 3, 6 or 26?



QUESTION THREE: Do I Have To Be Picky About Which Spells I Learn Or Can I Learn Everyone?

As Quickband is the only variant that I've won this far, I never found all spell books nor reached level 50. But let's say I actually do find all of the dungeon spell books, reach level 50 and max out wisdom, will I be able to get all spells (except those that Paladin's can't learn) or do I have to plan ahead and be careful not getting too many spells early in the game so that I have slots left?



Thanks in advance for your help, everyone!

[PowerDiver]

(1) once per blow

(2) fight is not counting melee weapon, melee counts it -- the diff should be what you see as the bonus when you inspect your wielded weapon

(3) you will be able to learn all spells long before CL 50

[pampl]

(but I guess they get to subtract damage with their armour four times as well)!

IIRC monster armor doesn't reduce damage, only chance to hit.

[Sirridan]

The first value of the pairs (3, 6) and (20, 26) andf any other pair like that is to hit, while the second is to damage. Damage is better than hit, it scales linearly whereas hit has diminishing returns. (Diminishing returns: after a certain point, each +hit has a net effect less that the previous, and so on)

[Nemesis]

Nice! Another thing I was wondering about was what those Rings of Ice and the like do, except for activating like dragon scale armour and some artifact weapons... They seem to raise my armour class but do they also brand my attacks in some way? And if so, do they only do branded damage with their number or do they totally enchance my attacks so that they get branded?

[Slow]

They work just like a brand on a weapon, the number [x] is just the bonus it gives to your armor class. Ring brands only work for melee attacks, though. Also worth noting is that they activate for both the damaging spell and temporary resistance to the element in case.

[tummychow]

Read the spoilers if you're hopelessly confused. I assure you, they are *not* cheating.

Anyway, to-dam bonuses count every single time you hit. That's why a weapon's dice begin to matter very little in the later game, while the dam bonuses matter hugely. When you're scoring 7 blows with a +2 extra attacks weapon, +10 is quite different from +15.
As other people have said it, I don't need to give a primer on item format. Basically, for a Dagger(+5,+6) the +5 is to hit. It increases your chance of accuracy. I'd say that a tohit of 10 or more is quite liveable. The +6 is to damage. It literally adds six points of damage to every blow you inflict. This makes a huge difference later on, way more than the diff between 4d3 and 3d8 (Leadfilled mace and Lochaber axe come to mind if you're wonderiing). In addition, strength adds a certain amount of +to dam. Dexterity, I *think*, adds some amount to dexterity. Those amounts, obviously, increase over time. Don't worry - it starts out really confusing. When you play more you get accustomed to the system. That's how it started for me, at least.
Eventually, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get every single spell in existence for your class. It's probably that way for all classes (except warriors, of course), if I'm not mistaken.
Rings of Ice/Flames/Lightning/Acid brand your weapon with that element. They also have ball-resistance activates and improve your armor somewhat. Not that useful, in my opinion, but...

[Sirridan]

Read the spoilers if you're hopelessly confused. I assure you, they are *not* cheating.

Anyway, to-dam bonuses count every single time you hit. That's why a weapon's dice begin to matter very little in the later game, while the dam bonuses matter hugely. When you're scoring 7 blows with a +2 extra attacks weapon, +10 is quite different from +15.
As other people have said it, I don't need to give a primer on item format. Basically, for a Dagger(+5,+6) the +5 is to hit. It increases your chance of accuracy. I'd say that a tohit of 10 or more is quite liveable. The +6 is to damage. It literally adds six points of damage to every blow you inflict. This makes a huge difference later on, way more than the diff between 4d3 and 3d8 (Leadfilled mace and Lochaber axe come to mind if you're wonderiing). In addition, strength adds a certain amount of +to dam. Dexterity, I *think*, adds some amount to dexterity. Those amounts, obviously, increase over time. Don't worry - it starts out really confusing. When you play more you get accustomed to the system. That's how it started for me, at least.
Eventually, I'm pretty sure you'll be able to get every single spell in existence for your class. It's probably that way for all classes (except warriors, of course), if I'm not mistaken.
Rings of Ice/Flames/Lightning/Acid brand your weapon with that element. They also have ball-resistance activates and improve your armor somewhat. Not that useful, in my opinion, but...

Actually in the cases of slays, big dice weapon are far better. In the end, you can get 5 blows with nearly any weapon (unless mage/priest) and six with most except the 3 or 4 heaviest types with a warrior.

Slay's only multiply base dice damage, (however launchers multiply everything...). So sting with 8 attacks at 1d6+whatever, is worth less than 5 attacks with a mace of disruption at 6d8 with the same slays. Although possibly finding a very large amount of +damage will eventually eclipse the value of the slay, making sting better, I don't think it can happen with a character besides a priest or mage, if then.

[Pete Mack]

The very best ego weapons are +attacks/Fury & Holy Avenger MoD and BoC. Sting won't come close, especially if you wear a branding ring. The top artifact weapons have big dice as well as big to_dam. Sting, or even Haradekket, doesn't come close.

[tummychow]

+ attacks is definitely one of the best egos. +shots is also great. I don't find that much use for Holy Avenger personally, but I've seen it and it isn't bad. Defender is great except I hate rapid regeneration (I need to use satisfy hunger so much more. It ticks me off.). Westernesse is... surprisingly weak for its cost, honestly... I've seen so many and none of them stacked up to my last good weapon. (I'm currently using cheap artifacts i created to have more fun. +40 to dam and 5d9.) However, Gondolin is great.. free action, see invis and permalite. Just need some good damage, which is not all that common. (Tenser where are you?)

[Pete Mack]

Holy Avenger in the early game is good but not great. In the late game (when weapons can have ~20 base damage and ~20 bonus damage) they can be better than all but the top few artifacts. MoD of Fury (+2) is as good as the very best.