Yes, a warehammer is better than a mace generally, because it is faster -- maces are very slow. Your 2D4 is better than 1D6, even if they were the same weapon: 1-6 damage vs 2-8 damage. When comparing weapons, speed should always be a major consideration. For example, in BG2 the Tuigan bow is only +1, but because it grants 3 attacks per round it does more statistical damage than bows of much greater power.

Yeah, it's intended. But it's still undocumented or at the very least poorly documented. The description for Belm and the Scarlet Ninja-To say that they give an extra attack. Great. Kundane only says "Special: no speedfactor" or something like that. Which isn't helpful at all, especially since there are other weapons with 0 speedfactor. (For example, a plain dagger + 2) You need to know, from practice or external sources, that in this particular case the zero speedfactor translates to an additional attack.

My point is that weapons in BG aren't always very clearly described. But you're right that most of these are probably indeed working as intended, it's just the descriptions that aren't clear.

This, however, is not true. Maces and warhammers give exactly the same number of attacks per round. Speed Factor, except in the case of Kundane, does NOT affect your number of attacks per round. It just affects how quickly your first attack will come. (the Tuigan Bow does give an extra attack, but that's a unique property of this weapon, like Kundane and Belm we mentioned above. It doesn't have anything to do with its speed factor.)

So, suppose you have 1 attack per round. The engine may show you attacking 3 times, but only 1 of those is actually rolled. In this example, a guy with a dagger would make a real attack, then the engine would show 2 fake attacks. A guy with a warhammer might make a fake attack first, then a real attack, then another fake attack. The guy with the mace might make 2 fake attacks first, then a real attack.

The dagger guy has the advantage. He can more easily hit a moving target, for example, who might not be in range long enough for the engine to roll the fake attacks first. This is especially handy for thieves trying to backstab. But in the long run, all three guys attack 1 time every 6 seconds.

As for damage: Warhammers inflict 1D4 + 1, (i.e. between 2 and 5 points) maces 1D6 + 1. (i.e. between 2 and 7 points) So on average, maces inflict 1 point more damage. (Unless the enhanced edition changed this, warhammers do not inflict 2D4 damage. Morning Stars, however, do.) In practice, I'd say that neither this 1 point of damage nor the speed factor difference is very important, especially once you get magic weapons which have lower speed factors anyway. The more important factor is finding a cool magic version of your weapon.

Minor spoiler: both in BG1 and BG2, there are better warhammers than there are maces, i.m.o. But there's also a magic flail in BG2 that may actually be best of all.

You have completely missed the point. Speed is VERY important (I was not speaking of attacks per round). Let's take a hypothetical one-on-one battle:

Fighter A has a warhammer. Fighter B has a mace. Both fighters have 2 HP remaining. In this round both fighters roll a hit. Who wins? The fighter with the hammer wins: he/she hits first. It is VERY important, and that was my point. It is NOT incorrect.

If that is your point, you indeed are not wrong, and I was just confused by your example of the Tuigan Bow which does affect attacks per round. So to reiterate for those reading along: weapons with greater speed do not let you hit more often, nor do they inflict more damage statistically over time. They do, however, let you inflict your hit before the other guy gets to.

So, I take your point, but I still disagree. Speed is -not- that important. If your fighter is down to 2 hitpoint, you should be drinking a healing potion and/or running away, not trying to get a lucky dice roll in. (What if you miss? You'll still be dead.) Simply put, if you're ever in a situation where inflicting a hit 2 seconds sooner is crucial for victory, you've already made far too many mistakes.

Now, even when the fighters are not down to 2 hitpoints, having the lower speed factor helps. It might let you kill an Orc before he has another chance to hit your fighter, for example. It's not a huge deal, but little bits like that help and can add up over a long dungeon, letting you conserve healing spells and potions. So sure, getting a lower speed factor might be better than getting +1 damage.

However, being able to use the better magic items in the game is much, much more important than either of these. In Baldur's Gate 2, one fighter who has the Flail of the Ages will easily beat another who has something like the Dwarven Thrower from Trademeet. Nevermind that the warhammer has a lower speedfactor. The magic power of the flail (slowing the target down) will prove decisive every time. But if you then manage to assemble the Crom Faeyr late in the game, the story changes...
Likewise, a fighter/cleric with mace proficiency can use the Mace of DIsruption, which will help out a huge amount against all the undead you'll be facing. Even if maces are inferior weapons in general, being able to use this specific magic item is a great boon that pretty much negates the usual disadvantages.

In short: get a variety of weapon proficiencies in your party so you can use all the good magic weapons you find. That's more important than optimising stats.

One other place where a low speed factor IS useful is if you're trying to interrupt a mage's spellcasting, since if you don't manage to get the attack in before the spell's cast then you've failed anyway. For general purposes, though, and especially in the mid to late game when both sides tend to take more hits before dying, higher damage weapons tend to come out above low speed factor weapons in my experience.

On a related note, do mages automatically lose their spell if they take damage, or do they get to make a concentration check like in 3e?

Yes, disrupting spells is important, especially in BG1. (in BG2, you'll have to break their stoneskins and mantles and such first anyway, which is much tougher.) The best option, often, is to use bows: all bows have 0 speedfactor and give 2 attacks per round from the start. (or more, if you specialise in them.)

Casters automatically lose their spell. There is no concentration skill or concentration check. However... this is not completely reliable. I've seen casters take several hits and get their spell off anyway. I have no idea what governs this, nor have I ever read a conclusive explanation. Sorry. Perhaps it's just random.

Again, you are completely missing the point: my example was hypothetical, to illustrate a point. There was no fight with 2 HP remaining.

You failed there. Case closed.

I meant to address this earlier, but I forgot.

DEX does -not- help you hit with melee weapons. DEX only helps you hit things with bows and other missile weapons. It never boosts damage.

For melee weapons, STR boosts both your chances to hit -and- the damage you inflict. Even a thief wielding a dagger needs STR to hit things, not DEX. This is counter-intuitive if you're used to other games, but it's true.

STR also boosts the damage of -some- missile weapons. Throwing axes, those slings we discussed earlier. I -think- it helps with throwing knives, but I'm not sure. It does not boosts weapons like bows or crossbows.

Ahhh damn. I always thought in 2E that DEX did affect melee weapons as well. I never understood how it affected AC at a score of 16+

So in other words my 18 STR fighter who misses quite often can only increase his odds of connecting by leveling up which increases you die rolls?

I'm sorry I'm still not clear on all the rules and have being playing TOEE which is 3.5 and now BG which is 2E.

Thanks for keeping this thread an entertaining read on coffee breaks! :)

In Baldur's Gate (2nd Edition) Strength determines THAC0 (chance to hit vs AC 0), melee damage bonus, lock and door bashing chance, and carrying weight. Your fighter's THAC0 is also affected by his/her equipped weapon. A +3 weapon in 2nd Edition denotes a +3 bonus To Hit, whereas in 3rd Edition a +3 weapon denotes a +3 damage bonus. In 2nd Edition damage boosts come from any given weapon bonuses, or Strength modifiers. A Strength of 15 or less gets no STR bonus, A Strength of 16 or less gets no THAC0 bonus. For AC and THAC0, less is best in 2E.

If your fighter is missing quite a lot, then the weapon may not be sufficient (+X) for the armour class of the enemies you are encountering.

To hit chances are also boosted by adding more specialisation *** points to the weapon you're using (You get more *** points as you level up.) If you use a weapon you do not have any stars in, you get a pretty hefty penalty to hit.
You can also boost your chances by drinking certain potions or casting certain spells. For example, the cleric spell Chant boosts everybody's hit chances a little bit.

Magic weapons work just like they do in temple of elemental evil: a +2 weapon will give you both +2 to hit and +2 damage. However, in Baldur's Gate, magic weapons also boost your speed factor, which we discussed earlier.

It's also important to remember, as I mentioned before in this thread, that not every attack you see your fighter making is -actually- an attack. If you are starting out, you will have 1 or 1.5 attacks per round. That means you attack around every 6 or 4.5 seconds, respectively. But your character swings his weapon more often than that. Those extra swings are just to make fights look less boring, and will never hit at all. (Once you reach very high levels and get a lot of attacks, every swing you see will be an actual attack. But in BG1, this is not the case.)

To see whether you're actually missing the enemy, enable "to hit rolls" under feedback in the options menu. Then you'll see what dice rolls you got and whether they hit. If no dice roll shows up, it was a fake attack.

Note that this doesn't apply to missile weapons. Every missile you see flying across the screen has a chance of hitting. It's just melee attacks that get the cosmetic fake swings.

I have no dog in this fight (no pun intended based on your avatar), but you very much did speak of attacks per round when you brought up the Tuigan Bow. It's right there for everyone to see.

Anyway, I do see both sides of this debate. Speed factor can be very important, as can a weapon's special abilities. Apart from speed as an "attack initiative" (who goes first) concern, is the # of attacks per round, which I think is pretty important, too. This is especially nice to have when you have "vorpal" weapons or ones that disable enemies like the Celestial Fury or the Flail of Ages.

I'd think the main reason the Celestial Fury is so popular is because it combines a quick-attack (speed/initiative) along with a stun effect. It also makes an awesome backstab weapon for a high level F/T, often dealing 100+ points of damage.
According to in-game descriptions, bows have varied speed factors, few or none of which are 0 IIRC.

Yeah, bows do list a speed factor.

But try it out yourself. (In BG1, preferably, because it's easier to tell with fewer attacks per round) Enable attack roll feedback. Now, kite a monster by running around it, and then click to attack with a composite bow. Speed factor 7, they claim. But you'll note your character attacks almost immediately. An arrow flies, hits, misses. No delay. And the second arrow will follow quickly after. Then, you have to wait a bit before the next shot occurs. However, you can use that time to run away again. Kiting works very well like this.

Now try it with a bastard sword or something. Similar speedfactor. (8, I believe) You move up to the monster... your character swings, but no attack roll happens. Swing again... nothing. Third swing... whack. Attack roll. You need to wait several seconds before you actually have a chance to hit.

Now try with a dagger. Again, the attack roll occurs the first time your guy swings.

Bottom line: yet another reason why bows are so strong in BG1.

Edit: in case my earlier post was confusing, note that this "2 attacks" value is the -base- number of attacks. Fighters who specialise in bows and/or are high level will get even more attacks.