you can mod the weapondescriptions.

2d10 will average to 11 - always half of the dice +1 and then divided by the dice, always rounding down (no 10.25 or 10.6) -- only +1 if its more than 1 dice, and when they are the same dice (not 1d6 and 1d4)
meaning a d20 will average 10 2d20 will average 21 (2x 21 / 2 as they will average at 10 and 11 the more often you throw them)
2 d6 will average 7

Originally posted by Flying Fox:

you can mod the weapondescriptions.

2d10 will average to 11 - always half of the dice +1 and then divided by the dice, always rounding down (no 10.25 or 10.6) -- only +1 if its more than 1 dice, and when they are the same dice (not 1d6 and 1d4)
meaning a d20 will average 10 2d20 will average 21 (2x 21 / 2 as they will average at 10 and 11 the more often you throw them)
2 d6 will average 7

And the more dice, the more the results will gravitate towards the average, and the rarer extreme results will be.

that bites i love the d&d pc games so im screwed i just guess and pick a weapon

Originally posted by Tachikoma:

that bites i love the d&d pc games so im screwed i just guess and pick a weapon

I mean, it's really easy... just basically take the middle number of each die and add them up. You will get enough idea of the good vs bad weapons based on that already.

In Dungeons & Dragons, weapon damage is determined by various dice rolls. Neverwinter Nights is a D&D game, so weapon damages are shown as the same dice values.

1d4 is 1 roll of a four-sided die (giving you 1 to 4 points of damage). 1d6 is 1 roll of a six-sided die (1 to 6 points of damage). There's also 1d8, 1d10, 1d12, and 1d20.

At least one weapon (greatsword), used 2 die rolls for damage (2d6). This is 2 rolls of a six-sided die (2 to 12 points of damage).

You won't have any weapons that give the same amount of damage on every hit, it's always a random number based on the weapon type. That's just the way D&D works.

damage is more complicated than that too.

a +1 weapon is the die value +1 damage. This also determines bypass on damage resistance for some enemy types and some spells. bigger is better.

your stats affect it; if you have 20 strength, you add 5 to all melee hits. so your half orc thug with a longsword +3 now does 5 (strength) + 3 (enchanted weapon) + 1 to 8 for a total of 9 to 17

and dps is a whole different ballgame. This is tied to how often you can crit and how much that is for, which changes with gear and feats and whether or not you are a weapon master and some spells etc.

and some weapons have even more damage, like 1d6 acid.

all that to say you either go for something that crits often or hits hard, and if dual wielding, the weapon size matters as well. This makes the katana and bastid swords solid 1h weapons with rapier and scimitar being high crit chance choices, while a dagger is less than impressive. The exotic double weapons are best in class for dual wielders. 2h .. scythe is an interesting one esp for weaponmaster, greatsword is the most common (read, easy to get better one), and so on.

You may love katanas but good magic ones are hard to find whereas every idiot sells a longsword. Keep that in mind. Module matters as to what is even available.

my weapon list isnt a recommendation. Its just a highlight of some of the weapons so you can see what to look at when comparing them.

It gets even more complicated when you take into account damage types and what might have damage reduction or damage immunity to the weapon you're using. Blunt tends to be the least resisted and Piercing tends to be the most resisted. Maybe that 1d8 20x3 warhammer doesn't look as good as that 1d10 19-20x2 katana. But if you're trying to kill a Bone Golem, the warhammer isn't having its damage reduced. IIRC, there used to be a bug where weapons that did multiple damage types had their damage reduced if either of those damage types had reduction, I don't know if that was ever fixed.

Then if you're dual wielding you have to consider weapon sizes for penalties and whether a weapon can be used with Weapon Finesse. E.g. Weapon Finesse can be used with any small or tiny weapons (+Rapier). However you only get minimum dual wielding penalties if you're using a weapon that is one size category smaller than your character in the off-hand. So small or tiny weapons for medium sized characters and tiny weapons for small characters (halflings beware).

My rules of thumb are:

• All around the warhammer is probably the most versatile weapon.
  Good damage, rarely resisted damage type, good multiplier. The downside is it has a low threat range.
  
• For a character who is taking Devastating Critical, go for the threat range, so Scimitar (or Kukri).
  
• +1 AB=+1 AC=+2 damage. It's situational, but there is math to back it up based on DPS calculations vs. various ACs. This should help you out when you're trying to figure out if that +1 weapon is better than the weapon that offers +1D6 bonus damage.
  
• As Jonin mentioned, availability can be a big factor. Some mods don't spread the love around. This is less of an issue if have a character who can enchant his own weapons (Greater Magic Weapon, Flame Weapon, Darkfire, Keen Edge).
  
• Most of the time, having a shield is better than the two-handed damage bonus. Unfortunately NWN doesn't implement the two-handed damage bonus for weapons the same size as your character wielded with an empty off-hand. Unless I'm playing a character who can cast some DR spells, I tend to skip two-handers.
  
• I prefer dual wielding two-weapons to using a double weapon. Again this gives me the option to swap one out for a shield if I need an AC/AB boost more than the extra attacks.
  
• If you have sneak attack, think about how you'll damage critical hit immune enemies. This probably makes maces the best choice for finesse sneakers and warhammers the best choices for strength rogues.
  
• None of the exotic weapons are worth spending a feat on, unless if you're making a pure Fighter who has feats to burn. There may be some exceptions, e.g. if you're playing a module set in Japan or Kara-Tur.