I mean its a sword you should still be able to damage humans with it
anyone know why the devs did this?

I find it weird as well. I'm pretty sure if you smacked someone up side the head with a silver implement, you're going to draw some blood.

You can. And you can use a Steel sword on monsters. They just have a much less powerful effect if used for the wrong purpose.

It's how it is in the books, maybe someone more familiar with them can give a definite answer to why?

It's weird that silver swords deal so little damage to humans. I sold all my steel swords by accident and let's just say fighting wasn't easy :|

I haven't read the books. *the shame*

But silver is a very soft metal; makes sense that it wouldn't do the job of steel. The reason is it is effective against monsters is an allergy, for lack of a better term.

Exactly! It surely won't do much against human steel armor, but against monster skin it's much more potent..

I understand why its effective againist monsters but if you got a sword that deals 40-44 to monsters you should be able to deal least half of that to humans, lol its not like the sword becomes foam when i hit humans. But what about humans without armor.

humans without armor go down easily either way.

For an RPGer, I am so not in to numbers, but I am gonna go hit some peeps with a silver sword and jot down the results. :P

It doesn't do zero dmg, from my experience. I remember some fight that I started out of a cutscene. I finished it and thought, "Man, what were those guys on?!" Well, I just killed them all with my silver sword. Took a while, but yet they are dead.

Edit: it does slightly more than 50% damage, at least with Riposte. More than it should, really. :)

Probably this take in also in account that if you cross a silver blad with a steel blade, probably the first will broke in pieces, but since there is no "durability" concept in this game they should "dissuade" using "Wrong" blade on different foes in some manner...

That's it exactly. The books and the first game both point out that silver swords can't be wielded in the same way as steel swords because of the weakness of the metal--no blocking, more emphasis on dodging and precise striking.

I'm not really sure about Witcher 2, but in the first one the Steel Sword was a larger, two-handed sword while the Silver Sword was smaller and one handed (Steel Sword was over his right shoulder, being drawn with the left hand). Thus, it makes perfect sense that the Steel Sword inflicts greater damage upon humans, it's just a more powerful weapon.

For monster, of course, there is their special susceptibility against silver, as has been mentioned already.

Exactly right. I'm a jeweller and i can confirm that silver is not a metal suitable for swords. Silver is very soft. Any contact with harder objects (armor, even bones) would damage the sword beyond repair.

Steel is more dense. I guess it's generally a bad idea to use a sword made of silver because the metal is relatively weak. But as monsters are especially susceptible to silver Witcher use it anyway.

There is probably much more effort involved in repairing the sword after a fight (in theory), but I guess the advantages are bigger than the disadvantages.

I never read the books (but intend to soon), but I guess that's a good explanation...

copied from Witcher Wiki

"A silver sword is one of the two main tools of the witcher. It is a delicate blade only used against creatures who are vulnerable to silver, such as the undead and most types of monsters. It is light enough to be wielded in only one hand, leaving the other hand free for another weapon or for the casting of Signs.

The witcher's silver blade actually has a steel core which is plated with a thick layer of silver which is lethal to magical beasts. This weapon was made specifically for slaying monsters born of magic, those which can not be hurt with common steel weapons. "