Talk:Guidebook

Weapons - Does it tell us anything to compare Nethack weapon stats with the d20 system?

What is supposed to be shown by this comparison?

The d20 system referred to is edition 3.5 of the (A)D&D rules. Without cross-checking release dates, the reference to AD&D in the guidebook must be to first or second edition, because these were the only versions that included the word "Advanced" in the title. http://www.mjyoung.net/dungeon/char/weap033.html contains one person's report of the contents of the weapons table in first edition AD&D. As you can see, the table contents correspond much more closely to what can be seen in nethack.

Following the data in the above link to make the more relevant comparison of nethack to AD&D edition 1:

d20 System			NetHack
Weapon	Dmg (S/M)	Dmg (L)	Weapon	SDAM	LDAM
dagger	1d4	1d3	dagger	1d4	1d3
axe, hand	1d6	1d4	axe	1d6	1d4
axe, battle	1d8	1d8	battle-axe	1d8+1d4	1d6+2d4
dwarven ugrosh	non-existent
light pick	non-existent		pick-axe	1d6	1d3
heavy pick	non-existent

Looks more comparable I think?

In essence, comparing nethack to d20 merely demonstrates how much the (A)D&D rules have changed, which is off-topic for a nethack wiki.

Also, from my recollection the small/medium and large damage categories in edition 1 did indeed refer to target size, not weapon size. I believe this change came in 3rd edition, so would not be in "Advanced" D&D, although the only support I have for this is a joke in the online comic Order of the Stick.