ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So 2 out of the 4 times I fought bosses and rares in the maze I'd do virtually no damage. I hit them at least a dozen times. The other two times I fought them and completely owned them. Is this some sort of bug?

Rares/bosses can have unusual resistances to a couple of elements. If he/she gets 90% resistance to,say, fire and that you deal fire damage, il may explain the lack of damage. Also affinity (that heals part of a given damage type) can also virtually suppress a certain type of damage.

Try looking at what effects or talents they have active.
The combat log usually gives a hint as to what is reducing the damage.

The last time I did check if they had anything, but I didn't notice anything. I guess I can take a screenshot if this happens again. One time it was the horned horror and I escaped. Then I came back a few levels later and had no trouble beating him. This time it was a minotaur rare so maybe something is going on with minotaurs in that area.

low accuracy vs very high defence?

Horned Horror is a Brawler, I believe. Thus, he has striking stance which grants him flat damage reduction. Shouldn't be more than 15-20 tops, though.

Micbran wrote:Horned Horror is a Brawler, I believe. Thus, he has striking stance which grants him flat damage reduction. Shouldn't be more than 15-20 tops, though.

That might be possible if it was applied to each damage type. So that without resistances and an average of 5 damage types I'd normally do 5*20=100. I often go with weapons that do different damage types and then with classes like shadowblade it adds an extra damage type.

Yes, that's exactly what it does. It reduces each instance of damage taken.