EDIT: sorry, I meant to ask what the effect of a given damage type is. For example, if my sword says "50 armor piercing," does that mean 50 points of its damage will bypass armor? Does that mean 50% of its damage will bypass armor? Does that mean it does an additional 50 points of bonus damage, on top of its regular damage, that bypass armor?

The manual is 9 pages with no information.

I wonder if it's in the in-game glossary or something.

In the inventory: hover over any item, and you'll get the basics (DPS, runes involved, damage from signs, etc.).

Thank you for the quick reply. I think (?) I was trying to ask about information that is not given in the inventory - I have updated the OP to clarify if that is the case.

No problem, but - using your example - if your weapon would do 50 armor piercing >> against ?? armor, leather, scale mail, cloth, plate?

You have your DPS, and you have your additional stats, depending on added runes and/or oils.
Can all of them be added?
There is a summary of how much damage your swords can do (silver/steel), how strong your signs will work, what your armor can endure.
Maybe this can help?

I too wonder how armor piercing works. Also, what does armor piercing mean when applied to a monster since only wild hunt warriors wear armor.
I am of the opinion that some of the "extras" included on swords sound good but do not mean much:
"Percent Improved critical hit chance", what good is it when Superior Thunderbolt potion gives you 100% chance of a critical hit.
Bleeding and poison (admittedly I do not play with cat gear), I do not think they do enough damage to make a difference. I kill downers and the like in 1-2 hits they do not have time to bleed to death and tougher monsters have so many hit points that bleeding and poison are like pin pricks and bee stings.
Dismember provides a nice graphic, but despite having at least a 10% chance, I have never dismembered a large monster (fiend, dragon, elemental, golem, etc) and I have killed more than 30 which means I had more than a 95% chance to dismember at least 1 of them. It seems dismember only works on normal size opponents like bandits and downers.
stagger, stun, freeze, burn might be good for crowd control but isn't that what aard and igni are for?

The "extras" that I believe add to the sword's deadliness (not necessarily in order of preference):
increases critical damage,
increases sign intensity,
increases adrenaline points
increases stamina

This is a good idea. Maybe the dps will provide the answer.

Not only the wild hunt wears armor (plate), there are bandits, pirates and other types that are wearing a mix of armor.
And, if you ever decided to quarrel with a witch hunter >>> the things that they are wearing - first class, hart to beat.

Oils on the sword?
Just for the fun of it, all the time, changed for the monster that will be encountered.

What of the arsenal to use, when to use is a constant kind of calculation, but I like this.
Gives Geralt something to think about.

Bleeding and poison - well if you kill your opponent with two strikes/hits, there really is no chance that the effects will show in any significant way. Maybe you just feel somewhat safer when you have these options: while they might not do anything in a physical way, they could bolster up Geralt/you as a gamer in a mental way by just feeling more protected.

Might give the player the notion of playing in her/his own special way ("... we all are different!" voice from the off "... I'm not!" Monty Python, the life of Brian) :).

When it comes to bandits, pirates and other brigands, I find a dose of igni, or a fire bomb makes them easy to kill.
When fighting witch hunters (plus priests and soliders of the infernal flame), I avoid killing them with a sword and try to use igni exclusively to burn them to death like the vermin they are (poetic justice in my opinion). Yes I constantly keep both swords oiled (it is annoying when the oils disappear after a cut scene). Also, I have used the alchemy skill which provides protection from monsters of the same type as the oil. I wish I could put Hanged Man's Venom on my Gauntlets, for use when I am forced into a senseless fist fight. Bleeding and poison might be worthy additions to a sword, but the mechanics are hidden and I have no way to evaluate how much damage they cause. If these effects provide a fixed amount of damage without regard to your level, then they become less effective as your DPS increases. If the damage scales as your DPS increases then they might not be bad additions to a sword. Without concrete knowledge, I take the view that they do not scale. Therefore, when evaluating what sword to use (after level 10), I do not take them into consideration.

I too would like to know. I don't want to spend the coin buying a diagram if it doesn't add anything. I ignore 95% of the glyphs except for those that add to sign intensity (I favor the one that increases all signs), adrenaline, attack power (another one that provides no info on what it really does). I prefer using any blade that adds special damage like 25 ice damage. Most of the time, I don't even slot any glyphs because most of the time they are useless.

Not just armor you put on, but also natural armor. Endrega are armored as are most insectoids and dragonoids. Scales will protect like armor and likely grant an armor rating.

Good day, sirs. Bumping. Curious if anyone has dug through the scripts to make sense of these.