Attack bonus vs. Enchantment bonus

[Helaman]

One of my characters recently acquired Hectors Kutter. An item that grants a +1 Attack bonus (much like Falkovnian Swords).

What is the mechanical difference apart from a generic +1 to hit, particularly with regards to hitting vampires, shadows, werewolves etc or is an enchantment bonus (as I gather quite rare in magic items) needed via varnishes, spells etc

Is a +2 to hit bonus needed to get through DR? I notice that my Whitestag composite bow seems to go through crypt undead DR with its +2 to hit and my silver gilded sword seems to do the job on werewolves.

Yesterday I was fighting a single werewolf (thank god!) and had magic weapon on my sword - it also seemed to perform properly

[Fungal Artillery]

Attack bonus and Enhancement bonus work identically vs Damage reduction as far as I know. With a +1 AB sword you're equipped to kill a lot of monsters, but some will require +2 weapons or higher to kill.

The only difference between AB and EB that I'm aware of is that EB adds physical damage as well as an attack bonus. The physical damage type is the same as the weapon base damage type. Slashing for longswords and axes etc.

A simple attack bonus is also cheaper.

Enhancement bonus will override physical damage of the weapon's base type if the game considers the EB's bonus to be "higher", which in practice means that if you cast Greater Magic Weapon on a steel long sword (+1d4 slashing), the slashing damage will be overridden and you might aswell had used a plain starter longsword  to cast that spell on.

[Crimson Shuriken]

Nwn does not differentiate between the two AFAIK. Shame,  but hard-coded and unchangeable. So a masterwork sword and a magic sword are identical in NWN

[McNastea]

No, it does differentiate between the two. As Fungal said, EB adds dmg as well as the ability to bypass DR's

[Syl]

What Fungal said is pretty accurate,

The reason thought that it might as well be better to use GMW on a normal sword instead of a crafted one is if the spell is better than the average extra damage of the weapon it will just override the crafted bonus and deal that damage instead of the crafted.

I'll give some examples since I don't think I don't think I used the right words

A steel crafted long sword gets a 1d4 extra damage. so if GMW was applied anything that is a +2 or higher removes the extra damage since you'll most likely deal more damage with the spell active.

Steel crafted bastard sword 1d6 extra damage needs +3 or better.

and any crafted weapons with a extra 1d8 will only be over rided by +4 GMW if I'm correct.

Attack Bonsue weapons will cut through the DR depending on what kind of monster it is. your Whitestag bow will cut through most undead DR accpt Bone Golems? I think those are +3 required?  And the enhancement bonsue cuts through the DR and gives extra damage.

but I'm sure in a Table top campaign a +1 AB weapon or masterwork weapon probably is just that. +1 to attack and wont cut the DR

[Crimson Shuriken]

Exactly, Nwn makes no such distinction.

[Syl]

I do remember before when GMW didn't override the crafted extra damage hehe.

[Fungal Artillery]

A steel crafted long sword gets a 1d4 extra damage. so if GMW was applied anything that is a +2 or higher removes the extra damage since you'll most likely deal more damage with the spell active.

Steel crafted bastard sword 1d6 extra damage needs +3 or better.

and any crafted weapons with a extra 1d8 will only be over rided by +4 GMW if I'm correct.

If I remember correctly, the physical damage of the enhancement bonus is wasted if it doesn't override the physical damage on the weapon. So if you have access to Greater Magic Weapon or equivalent varnishes, you're better off using something an elemental weapon or something else that doesn't get overridden to get the maximum effect out of your weapon.

[Syl]

A steel crafted long sword gets a 1d4 extra damage. so if GMW was applied anything that is a +2 or higher removes the extra damage since you'll most likely deal more damage with the spell active.

Steel crafted bastard sword 1d6 extra damage needs +3 or better.

and any crafted weapons with a extra 1d8 will only be over rided by +4 GMW if I'm correct.

If I remember correctly, the physical damage of the enhancement bonus is wasted if it doesn't override the physical damage on the weapon. So if you have access to Greater Magic Weapon or equivalent varnishes, you're better off using something an elemental weapon or something else that doesn't get overridden to get the maximum effect out of your weapon.

Yeah. but i'll sacrifice the 2 points of extra possible damage to cut DR.