Are stacked one-handed damage perks additive or multiplicative?
Solution 1:
Multiplicatively. (Otherwise, it would take 5 ranks to increase dagger sneak attack damage from 15x to 16x.)
First off, this is the damage formula:
displayed damage = (base damage + item quality) * (1 + 0.4 * skill/100) *
(1 + perk effects) * (1 + item effects)
and for sneak attacks, most damage except that from poison or enchantments should be multiplied.
So assuming the no-ranks-in-Armsman, non-sneaking attack is x
, then it breaks down like so for one-handed weapons:
+--------------+-----------+-----------+
| | armsman 0 | armsman 5 |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+
| regular | x | 2x |
| sword sneak | 6x | 12x |
| dagger sneak | 15x | 30x |
+--------------+-----------+-----------+