Hi...

Wanted to know how exactly "smite evil" ability works - does it give bonus physical / magic damage on top of regular damage (like charge of horse units) or is it added to the regular attack / counterattack?

Context: I was trying to use a solo warrior to clear out a 'lands of dead' which contains a ghost. I don't have anything that can punch through the ghost's armor (no magic weapon or armor pierce high weapon - I need attack high enough to get through the 20 def of the ghost). But I can purchase 'elven blades' or wear three pieces of 'paladin set' which gives 'smite evil' as a bonus ability.

So - would a warrior with 'smite evil' be able to do enough damage? IIRC each level of smite evil should do 3 damage versus ghost as it is evil incarnate (evil level 3) but how exactly does this bonus damage occur?

@tuxutat so if the warrior is doing (just as an example) 10 attack, then smite level 2 will add another 6 damage - so cumulative is 16?

So basically it still won't be able to take care of ghost... any ideas?

There are more things to take into account. For once, there is a +/-20% randomness for each attack, so even around 19 attack should be enough to reliably do some damage to the ghost. In that case you'll want quite a few astral energy spells for +resistance and stamina, to outlast him.
Then there's also your precise strike skill which will lower his defense (only when you attack, not on counterattacks), spells like magic weapon or bless, plus your attack values will be a bit higher than what you see on the strategic map (around +20% maybe) because as a solo warrior you'll have very high morale.

Suggestions:
1. Fire weapon spell
2. Vulnerability. It is cumulative. First will decrease def to 16, second to 12, third to 8...
3. Activate berserk (even better if you use weapon with berserk for this, they are pretty common). At 20th level Chieftain +8 damage, with Smite evil - another +6, and with precise strike 5 - penetrate 7 armor. = guaranteed damage
4. Morale bonus pretty significant for warrior. At morale 30 you get 1,25 multiplier to damage
5. Warrior have own charge on Athletics.

Thanks for the clarifications... so basically if I can stand in the corner I could probably chip away at the ghost?

Just one more question - do un-dead attacks lower morale on-hit? I think I saw that in morale description?

Only units with this ability. zombie and ghoul can get it on 10+ level.

If you could be able to activate berserk, you will be immune to morale decrease.

If you take smite evil, you, probably, would be able to damage ghost with straight attacks.

I know you probably mean that those spells will increase his attack making it possible to damage the Ghost, but I just want to make sure it's clear that even "Magic Weapon" skill doesn't actually make the weapon do magic damage :)

No "Magic Weapon" does NOT make you do "Magic" damage but does increase your atk values by +2, however "Fire Blade" DOES give you this ability, along with increasing your Atk values by +4

Also Stone Skin increases your Def by +5 and your Resistance by +3.

It's because of these 2 spells ideally that I decided to try the Dark/Death Knight, Warrior/Wiz, class and getting him lvl 3 Concentration to make these spells, along with Vampiric spell last 3 turns longer and have more casts.

Thanks for your suggestions Tuxutat, Gremlion, Kazper & EvilLoynis

In my current game I don't have access to these spells right now - as in neither slots on the warrior or spells in the library (though I did get 'vampirism' scroll dropped; I will be able to use it once I get the warrior a couple of levels more - he is my second hero but got handed some nice stuff from the first one)

Just to understand the solo warrior - he needs some spells on top of his intrinsic abilities (at least in the initial phases). I was mainly concentrating on 'astral energy' to keep stamina from running out!

Well right off he only needs 2 spells filling up the first 3 or 4 slots. 2 Magic Armor and Astral Energy, I usually get the 2nd Astral ounce that 4th slot opens up.

Also I find that a First strike weapon is really good to level up with, especially vs Demon sites (imps 4-6) as he will only take 3-4 damage times the number of imps ounce he has astral on him from their shots. After that the first strike pretty much prevents you from taking more than say another 4 damage or so because they die first.

The first 2 skills you should always max first on warrior going solo is Armor Mastery and Weapon Mastery, although which you focus on first depends on your gear ofc but usually I try for Weapon first. Also after or during that Blacksmithing is good to get a bit of income and not to have to repair the weapon so often.

Agreed on your other points, but blacksmithing is probably the worst warrior skill. Other ways of generating income are better, the best of which is having 12500+ gold and a treasury + money lender (= +500 gold per turn). For equipment breaking, building storehouses when needed and carrying spare weapons around is better than skipping the vital combat skills. Especially if you intend to remain a pure warrior, every single combat skill is very much essential but blacksmithing is not.

How about the skill which give bonus stamina/health (sorry forgot the exact name)? It gives regeneration at level 3 and 5... I kind of try to get that first as it allow the warrior to keep fighting without stopping for heals.

Is there any other way to get heals? I normally manage to get hammered to about 50% health on average as I keep fighting tougher enemies (to keep getting levels quickly and money for equipment / buildings).

Ghost: Hire a throwaway magic unit like Shaman, or lob 2 magic arrows at it (or cast a flame weapon). Don't make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Yes, constitution is a very useful skill and it's often a good idea to get it to level 3 quickly, but not before maxing armor master if possible.
You're playing on beginner difficulty, otherwise 2 magic arrows won't do. It would also not work against higher level ghosts with more resistance than their base value of 3.