What weapon proficiencies to give Dorn?

Oxford_Guy

Dorn has just reached level 3 in my game, I was wondering what weapon proficiency to give him next, he has 2 pips in 2H swords and 2HW style currently, perhaps bows (for composite bow) or crossbow even (for the good heavy crossbow), or are there any decent halberds or other two-handed weapons in the game (apart from staves, as others in my party use staves)?

gokke

i would say Def Xbows ( if u havent found one that takes the speed one) if you have then Composite bow for certain!

Oxford_Guy

I was going to give my thief the light crossbow of speed, hough there's a decent heavy crossbow (+5 THAC0 or something ridiculous) late game, which Dorn could use. I also thought maybe bastard swords, so he can use the one that's +x vs. shapechangers for the difficult werewolves... Or axes, though I think throwing axes no longer get strength damage bonus.

Quartz

Definitely Crossbow! Dorn + Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy is AWESOME trust me I did it.

Oxford_Guy

Quartz said:

Definitely Crossbow! Dorn + Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy is AWESOME trust me I did it.

It's tempting!

Wanderon

I went with longbow just in case I want everyone using ranged at some point - lots of composite long bows dropping it seems... I'm guessing nothing melee is going to be better than his own sword.

elminster

I gave him halberd. Its actually the weapon I've been having him use for a lot of the game. My party is very fighter stacked, so when the time comes when I think I'll need ranged weapons I can still just give them all bows with very excellent arrows. Its not like money is ever really an issue.

wissenschaft

Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy on a Warrior is ridiculous. Of course, Composite Longbows are great as well but I reserve that for my Fighter/Thief. Part of what makes that multiclass awesome is that it can use Composite Longbows which are god like in BG1's low levels.

Quartz

elminster said:

I gave him halberd. Its actually the weapon I've been having him use for a lot of the game. My party is very fighter stacked, so when the time comes when I think I'll need ranged weapons I can still just give them all bows with very excellent arrows. Its not like money is ever really an issue.

Halberd is definitely good from a role-playing standpoint.

I can see a lot of people handing Dorn Ravager in ToB.

wissenschaft

LoL, even the name itself, "RAVAGER" fits Dorn to a T.

Mortianna

I think it depends on the proficiencies of everyone else in your party. Since Kagain has proficiency in crossbows, I gave Dorn 1 proficiency in Longbow and 1 in Halberd

(due to finding the Chelsey Crusher)

. I don't use him for ranged attacks very often, but it's nice to be able to fire arrows when it's needed.

I have Eldoth in my party as well, who can use standard longbows, but cannot use composite longbows. So, Dorn has the magical composite longbow and Eldoth has the Dead Shot +2, which I've found works out well.

Guarocuya

Halberds or Spears would be my recommendation. Two-handed ftw

[Deleted User]

I gave him a ranged proficiency. Longbow, because my particular party is over-loaded with Slingers and so there was no competition for the Composite Long Bow +1 or the Longbow of Marksmanship. Crossbow works just as well.

I figure his starting 2-H sword is plenty good and has enough reach that he can stand behind someone else and attack if the front line is crowded. And then eventually there's that 2H sword +3 in Durlag's Tower.

wissenschaft

isn't that a cursed +3 2h sword in Durlag's Tower?

[Deleted User]

Not to my recollection. Maybe you're thinking of Brage's Cursed Berserking Sword? I'll admit I still haven't gotten to Durlag's Tower yet in my recent playthroughs, so I might not be remembering things correctly.

GoodSteve

The +3 two-handed sword in Durlags tower isn't cursed. The Berserking one from the Brage quest line is +3 and cursed.

I personally gave him longbow prof. I figure that in the late game ranged attacks aren't as great as they are versus lots of low-level enemies and the 1 attack per round with a crossbow with 1 pip vs. the 2 attacks per round with a longbow with 1 pip sealed the deal. Having the longbow prof. he's firing twice as much as the crossbow would be until I get yet another weapon proficiency pip and by that time I have found I'm using him as straight up melee and forgoing the ranged attacks. Early on everyone had a ranged weapon but now it's not needed. Definitely go for longbow.

Carston

Alongside my own blackguard he is the other fighter I have in one of my groups. I perhaps overdid him with gauntlets of dexeterity and putting one pip in longbows and now he is using Longbow of Marksmanship. This gives him lot of flexibilty in certain encounters and he doesn't have to chase after kobolds, xvarts and taslois in their morale failure.

wissenschaft

Must have forgot about that weapon then. I shall keep that in mind when I get to Durlag's Tower.

Oxford_Guy

Okay, looks like a ranged weapon is the way to go for Dorn, my current party weapon setup looks like this:

CHARNAME (elf fighter/mage) - is not taking a ranged weapon proficiency (dual wields londswords, then will go scimitars or katanas to prepare for BG2EE), but using long bow of marksmanship - still hits often with elf +1 bow bonus and the +1 from +3 the longbow

Dorn - no current ranged weapon (2H swords/2H weapon style)

Montaron - short sword, sling, quarter staff

Viconia - mace, hammers, sling

Imoen - short sword, short bow, cross bow (then dagger, for dagger of venon)

Xzar - daggers, then probably darts (or might swap for Edwin - staff, then darts)

So, as CHARNAME is using the long bow of accuracy, and Imoen the light cross bow of speed (or later the eagle bow, depending on ammunition the situation needs), there are only the +1 long/composite bows and +5 THAC0 (but *not* +5 damage) heavy crossbow of accuracy (though you get that quite late) left as magic launchers, given that slings are already well-covered, There is also the +2 throwing axe, but you can't that until very late, and it doesn't get the strength bonus anymore, I think.

Am also possibly considering darts for Dorn, as with his poison ability that would give a base 3 poisioned attacks/round (up to 3.5 attacks per round at level 6 and 4 at level 7), and there are now Darts of Acid/Fire/Ice available in High hedge, as well as the +1 darts and darts of stunning and wounding, or is that just not worth it, as can only use poison once day?

[Deleted User]

With that party, I'd say give him Longbow proficiency. The Composite Longbow +1 you can get from Feldepost's Inn is +2 THAC0/+3 Damage, compared to the +3 THAC0/+2 Damage of the Longbow of Marksmanship, so they're practically equivalent.

Oxford_Guy

Kaigen said:

With that party, I'd say give him Longbow proficiency. The Composite Longbow +1 you can get from Feldepost's Inn is +2 THAC0/+3 Damage, compared to the +3 THAC0/+2 Damage of the Longbow of Marksmanship, so they're practically equivalent.

That's true, the extra attack of the composite bow is probably worth it over the crossbow, especially with the poison weapon ability

CoM_Solaufein

He doesn't strike me a ranged weapon kind of guy. He likes it up close and personal. Give him something in halberds, axes or even hammers.

Oxford_Guy

CoM_Solaufein said:

He doesn't strike me a ranged weapon kind of guy. He likes it up close and personal. Give him something in halberds, axes or even hammers.

Nah, Vicky is getting the hammer and there doesn't seem any benefit to using halberds over two-handed swords in BGEE (the siutation in BG2EE may be different) for a character with multiple attacks. Axes would only be worth it if the throwing ones still got the strength damage bonus, which they don't seem to in BGEE.

Am still thinking about crossbows, though, as the +5 THAC0 one would have a high chance of scoring a nice poisoned hit in the few ranged attacks Dorn would get before entering melee.

alaundo

What strength requirement does the heavy xbow of accuracy have?

Oxford_Guy

I'd imagine the same as normal heavy crossbows, i.e. 12 (see the useful table of weapon/armour strength requirements here: http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/strreq.htm )

Oxford_Guy

Am currently leaning towards crossbows, seems more like a weapon a half-orc would use than a bow, and the crossbow of accuracy might actually score a hit or two before Dorn enters melee

Helias

Why do you give Montaron a sling? He can use a crossbow or a short bow.

And why darts for Xzar? Like daggers, they have a shorter range. That means when you start pelting away at the enemy, Xzar will be the closest to them. That doesn't seem like a good idea.

Ideal missile combination for a party is
- 1 crossbow (who can use the Army Scythe, all the other crossbows are too slow)
- slings for those that can't use a bow (mages and clerics)
- longbows for the rest (1 shortbow for the Eagle Bow is also good)

So for Dorn: defintely longbow.

Oxford_Guy

Helias said:

Why do you give Montaron a sling? He can use a crossbow or a short bow.

Because he starts with 2 pips in slings and gets the halfling +1 THAC0 bonus, and others wil be able to use a bow or crossbow, I also like slings from a RP perspective (he's a halfling...)

Helias said:

And why darts for Xzar? Like daggers, they have a shorter range. That means when you start pelting away at the enemy, Xzar will be the closest to them. That doesn't seem like a good idea.

Because that's the profiency he starts with, I might give him darts later, though, as indicated.

BTW it sounds like you change the proficiencies the NPCs start with using an editor, I don't want to do that, I want to play with the limitations the game gives me, half the fun is trying to make the best of these

Helias said:

Ideal missile combination for a party is
- 1 crossbow (who can use the Army Scythe, all the other crossbows are too slow)

- slings for those that can't use a bow (mages and clerics)
- longbows for the rest (1 shortbow for the Eagle Bow is also good)

So for Dorn: defintely longbow.

I've gone with crossbows :-)

I like the idea of Dorn getting in one or two poisoned shots with the +5 THACO heavy crossbow before he enters melee...

Helias

@Oxford_guy

No, I didn't change the proficiencies. I was relying on my memory of what I used to do with these NPC in the original game. Of course, a lot of things have changed. Montaron having to use slings, that makes him less useful than I remember him.

So, my advice was based on faulty knowledge.

I don't know if I will use Shadowkeeper to change the proficiencies. Some of them are OK, but others are so counter-intuitive, like those of Shar-Teel or Kivan, that I might yet.