Magic Weapons and Damage Inflicted

Magic Weapons and Damage Inflicted

Magical weapons may have a bonus ranging from +1 to +3. This bonus applies to any attack roll made while using the weapon. When determining damage inflicted by the weapon when used in the hand(s) of a hero, use the standard Scarlet Heroes rules and then choose to add the weapon's bonus to one die's result.

We always add a magic weapon's bonus to one of its die rolls, before converting to HD of damage. You can see, then, the desirability of magical weapons compared to their mundane counterparts.

We can see, from the above table, that in the hands of an average-strength combatant, a short sword (which deals 1d6) could, upon conversion of the die roll to damage, inflict 0 damage, 1 HD of damage, or (at most) 2 HD of damage. Even as that average-strength combatant gains levels, the best they can hope is to deal 2 HD of damage with a single attack. But what if that short sword has a +2 magical bonus? Now in the hands of the same average-strength combatant, that short sword can inflict between 1 and 2 HD of damage. And if that combatant has a +2 STR bonus? Now, that +2 short sword can inflict between 1 and 4 HD of damage. Even a massive ogre could be felled with a single blow by a strong fighter using such a magical sword.

When not using Scarlet Heroes-style damage, weapon dice may explode.