+1[W] , lil help please

[Abilbo]

Ok, I'm just looking for a little clarification on the way damage is calculated here.

If I have a bow that does 1D8 and I have the feat PBS it bacially makes the weapon a 2D8. That sounds simple enough, but I was wondering if it Doubles the weapon damage, or simply adds an additioal die of damage based on what the original die number is. The reason I ask, is that if you add multiple sources of +1[W] to the equation, how do the numbers add up?

If the base weapon is 1D8, PBS makes it 2D8, does then each additional +1[W] just add 1D8 to the damage?

or....

If the base weapon is 1D8, and PBS makes it 2D8, if the +1[W] is a multiplier of the damage, would the next +1[W] make it a 4D8 weapon?

I know that much of the damage in the game is based off of Die rolls, so trying to determine the damage numbers are difficult as a 1D8 weapon can do 1 to 8 damage, but what im trying to figure out is how to explain the very high crit numbers that I see comming off of weapons that are affected by more than one +1[W] modifiers.

Thanks in advance, please use small words to help explain this, the morphine i take gives me a serious -INT penalty.

[RandomKeypress]

You add up the [W] numbers and then multiply by the base. So +1[W] + 1[W] + 1[W] on a 1d8 weapon adds up to 3d8 base damage. Each additional [W] increases the damage by one die.

[WielderofGigantus]

Point Blank Shot doesn't double the damage, it just adds +1[W]. In fact nothing in this game doubles the base damage anymore (aside from crits), they just add [W].

[Abilbo]

PBS - Grants a +1 bonus to hit within 45 feet, and your ranged weapons deal +1[W]. (A weapon that deals 1d6 damage per hit will deal 2d6 damage per hit instead, while a weapon that deals 2d8 damage per hit will deal 4d8 damage per hit instead. This affects the base dice of the associated weapon any time they are rolled, including critical hits.)

Ok, so while the intent may not be to "double" weapon damage, taking a 2D8 damage, and making it a 4D8 damage, is in fact, doubling the weapons damage.

If the intent of of +1[W] is to add the base die damage of the weapon, adding multiple sources of +1[W] only adds those additional Die of damage, that means a 2D8 weapon with 3 sources of +1[W] would then do 8D8 damage.

The reason for the confusion is that i have a low level bow user, doing an average of 30ish damage with each hit. Sometimes a bit higher, sometimes a bit lower. When my crits come in, they are typically in the high 60's to 80's in damage, but everynow and then I am seeing Crits in the 160's range, and I can't explain the numbers for that, unless the additional sources of the +1[W] do more than just add the base weapon damage to the die roll...example....

A 1D8 with with 3 sources of +1[W] would result in the following ....
1D8 Base, PBS makes it a 2D8, the next +1[W] makes it a 4D8 and then adding a 3rd +1[W] would make it an 8D8.

Just confused as to how I am getting the extra damage, and the ONLY thing i can see that would explain this, is what i stated above... but again, i am working with the penalty to INT.

[RandomKeypress]

3 sources of +1[W] would result in a 1d8 weapon doing 4d8 damage - (1 base + 3[W] = 4).

There are plenty of effects that can impact the critical damage. If you have a seeker item / weapon, the damage can be increased. Some effects only happen when the critical is a vorpal (on a roll of a 20 and not 19, even if that would be a critical strike). Some effects only happen on a range within the crit range - normal crit on 17-18 and increased crit damage between 19-20.

Do you get this effect when only wielding a bow, with no other gear? You could go to Korthos and experiment, if you're curious.

[Abilbo]

No, i seem to notice it more often when im on a Ranged character, and that could be a result of not being distracted by the mob punching me in the face. This is going to sound strange, but its almost as if its a Critical Critical. The one time i saw the damage, i had rolled a 20, and pretty sure that it was a 20 to confirm critical damage as well, and what i ended up with was a damage number that was twice as high as my typical critical hits.

I know that im not the only player to experiance this, i have talked to alot of players in my guild and they notice the same thing, I was just trying to figure out a way to repeat it.

Thanks all for the info.

[Glenalth]

No, i seem to notice it more often when im on a Ranged character, and that could be a result of not being distracted by the mob punching me in the face. This is going to sound strange, but its almost as if its a Critical Critical. The one time i saw the damage, i had rolled a 20, and pretty sure that it was a 20 to confirm critical damage as well, and what i ended up with was a damage number that was twice as high as my typical critical hits.

I know that im not the only player to experiance this, i have talked to alot of players in my guild and they notice the same thing, I was just trying to figure out a way to repeat it.

Thanks all for the info.

I can't say that I've noticed anything like this.

Sometimes you'll get numbers that are out of line with normal due to helplessness.

You will also get a pretty big swing in damage ranges when you start increasing your weapon damage to +2[W] and higher. These will be an even larger range when crits are taken into account.

For example, let's look at crit damage ranges on a low level ranger with +25 damage from their bow.
Weapon base, crit damage range, helpless max damage
+1[1d8] = 78-99 (148)
+2[1d8] = 81-123 (184)
+3[1d8] = 84-147 (220)

[Seph1roth5]

Were the monsters helpless, like held, stunned, etc.? Helpless monsters take 50% more damage. There are also a couple other things that would make an enemy take more damage from regular attacks, like fatesinger stuff off the top of my head.