Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Can You Explain Some BG3/DnD Weapon Damages?

If you look to DnD 5e weapon damages as a person who is interested in weapons but not a DnD player (like me), it quickly raises the thought that the DnD makers have not much of a clue. BG3 does not seem to homebrew much here, except in one sad case, the crossbow.

Can you explain why there is sometimes such a strange relation between weapon damages in DnD?

1. Why is a longbow 1d8 and a heavy crossbow 1d10, although in reality they are about the same energy (about 150 Joules for a 160 lbs bow and a 800 lbs crossbow)? BG3 is even much worse, as bows and crossbow have same range and crossbows can use the second action at lvl 5, unlike in DnD which is much better here (only bows/longbows can use the second action and have more range than crossbows).
BG 3 should change it to DnD standards or give longbows also 1d10. Currently there is no use for longbows in the game.

2. Why are hand crossbows as strong as normal bows, stronger than slings (see below) and - in BG3 - have the same range as big bows and crossbows? Makes no sense.

3. Why has a thrown javelin 1d6 damage, with 30/120 range while it weights 2 lbs? Such a relatively heavy javelin would cause much more damage at lower distances than an arrow or bolt, so the low damage is utter garbage. If BG3 will introduce javelins as thrown weapons (hopefully strength based), they should at least have 1d10 damage when thrown, but low range.

4. Why are slings simple weapons, with just 1d4 damage? What is the sense of such a weapon? A sling is very difficult to master and surely not a simple weapon to use. In addition slings used by a mildly experienced slinger generate reliably between about 100 and 180 Joules of energy (mostly in the area of 140 to 150 Joules), that is on par with very strong longbows and heavy crossbows. You can also use a shield while slinging, so that should be the only ranged weapon (except javelins) where the magical +2 AC of a shield should permanently work. The DnD sling is such a nonsense, it's almost hilarious.

5. Why does a greataxe 1d12, but a halberd (which is essentially a long and heavy greataxe) does 1d10? Because of balance as the halberd has more reach? If that's the balancing, it would be a sad hint how primitive the DnD system actually is.The same could be said about twohander and glaive.

6. Why does a morningstar, with it's short spikes, 1d8 pierce damage, but a spear, the most often used war weapon during history especially for piercing, does 1d6 piercing damage? Did the DnD makers really assume that a morningstar is a more effective and dangerous weapon than a spear? Possibly. Sad.


There would be more to say but it's already too much.I don't have much hope in BG3 here (perhaps mods can help), but at least they should solve the longbow/crossbow problem, to not make it even worse than DnD.