Neverwinter Nights 2

[A Black Falcon]

Equipment is really important, DJ! But the differences between weapons is more similar and once you reach a certain point you definitely start to see less improvement in your weapons. Let's take BGII. It's 2nd edition D&D, remember... so each weapon type has a seperate proficiency. So with my mages I really have to stick with the weapons I'm proficient in if I don't want a big damage hit... when you combine that with class weapon use restrictions, you get limited upgrade potential. And when you do find a weapon that does more damage, it well might have other drawbacks. Like, say, the one you have gives you some skill you really like, or it gives you an extra attack, or something like that... for reasons like that you may want to keep the 'inferior' weapon because of something that it does better. It's a complex system, certainly more complex than console game equipping... yes, in console games you change more, but it's a whole lot simpler to figure out what is best. In D&D PC RPGs there isn't a 'best'. :)

So, 1d6+4+1fire+1cold+1acid, 1d8+3+1acid+1cold, 2d4+4(+ 1 to 4 cold)(also has +20% fire resistance when equipped), or 2d4+3(+6 vs undead and demons)... all proficiencies are equal, and they all have about the same speed factor (ie how many attacks you make in a turn). Which two do I equip)? :) And should I pull my 1d8+2 (double damage against dragons; Fear immunity; +1hit point regeneration per 10 seconds; special ability: detect evil once per day) sword if I fight any of said monsters?

Equipment is definitely extremely important... you don't change it as much, that is certainly true, and upgrading your items is not as much the focus, but deciding exactly what you want on your character is. It's called player choice (to build your character(s) in the direction you want them to go in), something PC RPGs have quite a bit of and console ones lack greatly in. Oh, and you constantly get weapons and armor in D&D RPGs... it's the most common things monsters drop when you kill them... it's just that most of the time they're not as good as the stuff you have. Only 'boss' (tougher)-type monsters will probably have stuff worth getting.

Oh, that's one other key difference. In PC RPGs you get most of the loot worth getting off monsters. Shops in towns? They sell generic weapons, not the really good magic stuff (or in higher levels, generic magic weapons that just have a +1 or higher enchantment and nothing else). Towns are for buying some healing potions, maybe some spells if you need some... but armor and weapons? You'll probably find most of it on baddies.