Sling Dammage - STR bonus?

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As I am playing BG2, I have noticed something about sling dammage:
It seems that all slings add the STR bonus to dammage, not just the sling of seeking.
I have Anomen and Jaheira use slings: one with the sling of seeking, the other with a +2 sling, and the same kind of bullets. Both dish out around the same amount of dammage. FYI, Jaheira has the belt of STR so her STR is 19. So logically, Jaheira's dammage from the sling of seeking should be much higher than from Anomen and the sling +2?
Is this a bug?
If not, then slings are truly powerful weapons in the hands of hi STR char, making bows kind of weak in comparaison.

 

Theoretically, slings should add Str to the damage roll. It works that way in PnP game (though 3e, which is all I've played). It makes sense because you're hurling a cut stone and putting your body behind the toss. The same should be said for darts as well.

But, not all computer games translate the PnP rules decently.

 

hmm... so if all slings add STR bonus to dammage, why the sling of seeking?
Anyhow, slings + STR bonus makes slings the most underrated weapon in the game.
Slings for all strong warriors!!

 

I don't think all slings are suppose to give bonus for Str in their damage, not in CRPGs anyway.

 

Actually, except for the Sling of Seeking, it is the magic sling bullets that are giving the STR bonuses to damage.

 

Ok so let me get this strait:

- if you use any sling, except for the sling of seeking, with a normal bullet you get no STR bonus to dammage

- if you use any sling with any kind of magic bullet (+1, +2, etc) you get the STR bonus.

- if you use the sling of seeking with normal or magic bullets you get the STR bonus to dammage.

=> if this is the case, then Bow and Arrows kind of suck in comparaison (aside from the fact you get more kinds of magic arrows) if you are not an archer. Same goes for crossbow.
A good sling in the hands of a high STR character is the best missile weapon then.

 

Yep, you've got the idea with the damage bonus.

The advantage bows hold is the variety of extra damage they can inflict, and that there are no Bullets of Dispelling or of Biting.

Crossbows I've found are not too bad with GWW and Firetooth. The also have Bolts of Lightning (4D8 Electrical damage) and Kua-Toa Bolts (which rock).

 

Another advantage that bows/crossbows have is the rate of fire - true, crossbows only fire one bolt/round, but at least there's the light crossbow of speed. From what I understand, the sling bullets weren't supposed to give a damage bonus, but it got overlooked. In addition, I believe that I've read that this was hard-coded into the game so that no mod can fix it.

 

I doubt that. All the "allow STR bonus" things I've seen are coded directly onto the item files; I could probably change it in under a minute with Cromwell's Smithy. There's the possibility that it's also coded deeper in the program for this one thing, but that wouldn't make any sense.

 

Actually, this behaviour is already fixed in the G3 fixpack.

 

Somewhat off topic:

Why don't sling bullets classify as "blunt damage" when applied to clay golems? This annoys the crap out of me. Anybody know the whys and wherefores?

 

They are slung with high velocity, so they would classify as piercing damage I think.

 

They should qualify as blunt damage (per PnP), but are instead "missile" damage. And "missile" damage counts as piercing due to every other missile weapon (arrow, bolt, dagger, dart) being rightfully piercing. I don't know what possessed them to make this fourth physical category (likely ease of coding, possibly with respect to missile AC on shields), but they did and we're stuck with it.

 

Hello,
It seems that sling +5 with infinite bullets from Bonus Merchant adds str damage too. I think its bullets are considered magical. IMHO it's the best sling in the game.

 

That's Everard's sling, and yes, the item description says it fires magical +2 bullets, so it would make sense that you'd get the strength bonus.

Given this appears to be true, the Sling of Seeking is a pretty worthless item. If you get the strength bonus regardless, then any character using slings can be equipped with a strength enhancing item, so even things like mages would be better off with a sling.

The only bow that might be able to compete is Gesen, because you can equip it to fire arrows in addition to getting all the other bonuses. Although the way Gesen works is kind of strange. The magic arrows it fires if you use no ammo will do damage against just about everything. I think they are considered +4, so they will do damage to golems and the demi-lich (although typically only one point). However, if you equip Gesen with arrows, since the arrows aren't +4, you will get the weapon ineffective message if you use it on something that is immune to that type of damage. Still, barring things like golems and the like, I imagine that Gesen is very competitive damage wise when equipped with some type of arrow.

 

Ok thanks for all the info.
I guess it'all a choice then.
Slings for more dammage in the hands of strong characters. Bows and Crossbows, for more sneaky and less gifted fighters.
Good point about the special arrows.
Lighning bolts are powerful, as well.
Actually crossbows are pretty powerful if you get the one that adds 5 to dammage with lighting bolts!