Montarton next proficiency - daggers or staves?

Oxford_Guy

Hi - in my cuurent party Monty is going to get level 3 fighter soon (is already level 3 thief) , and will get an extra weapon proficency, and will get another one at level 6. He currently has 2 pips in short swords and 2 in slings (which get the halfling +1 THAC0 bonus). Monty's main roles in my party is as primary backstabber and scout, and most of his thief skills are in hide shadows/move silently.

There seem to be two good choices for his next proficiency pick, daggers or quarterstaves. Daggers because of the Dagger of Venom (+2, injects poison 6 damage/round up to 15 damage - 6/6/3, I guess), Quarter Staves mostly because of the Staff of Striking (+3 THACO, does 1D6+9 damage, uses a charge for each strike), though the +2 Staff Spear is also nice. The Staff of Striking will do *much* more backstab damage, but the Dagger of Venom is great for disrupting mages and is available much, much earlier (though I'll probably keep using the shortsword for most attacks until I get 2 pips in the other weapon) - the Staff of Striking isn't available until the dungeons on Durlag's Tower, though there's +3 Staff for sale at Ulgoth's Beard

I can't decide which is best to go for - the Staff of Striking is the more powerful weapon, especially for backstabs, but I won't get it until very late in the game. The dagger of venom is probably more suitable roleplay-wise, and I quite like the idea of it, but it's non-poison (and therefore backstab multiplied) damage is less than a shortsword...

I'm not interested in giving him longswords or scimitars, as other characters are using the best ones, and I'm happy with him using slings for his ranged weapon,

Jaxsbudgie

Only reason for choosing dagger is so he can remain one handed and make use of some of the awesome bucklers out there, the notable two being the new buckler you can buy at the FAI which adds +1 to constitution (brining Montaron's up to 16 meaning an extra hit point per level) and the other being Kiel's buckler in Durlag's Tower which adds +1 to dexterity (bringing Montaron's up to 18 which means increased AC, ranged THAC0 and thieving skills)

Oxford_Guy

Have voting "other", so that I can see what other's have voted, but will let people know my final choice when I've had more responses! :-)

Oxford_Guy

Jaxsbudgie said:

Only reason for choosing dagger is so he can remain one handed and make use of some of the awesome bucklers out there, the notable two being the new buckler you can buy at the FAI which adds +1 to constitution (brining Montaron's up to 16 meaning an extra hit point per level)

Yes, he's using that currently, though he could just use a staff for backstabbing, then switch back to shortsword and buckler straight afterwards, so it's not a big deal either way, as regards how the weapon choice would affect buckler-usage

Jaxsbudgie said:

and the other being Kiel's buckler in Durlag's Tower which adds +1 to dexterity (bringing Montaron's up to 18 which means increased AC, ranged THAC0 and thieving skills)

Yes, but see above...

Corvino

Depends on the rest of your group. I quite like longsword or scimitar for backstabbing - there aren't too many NPCs who use them, there's a couple of nice ones around and they do solid top-end damage.

The_New_Romance

Something one-handed (like daggers or longswords, that depends on the rest of your group), or even put points in a fighting style (Sword & Shield, maybe).

Mortianna

Darts. 3 attacks/round. All of the various magical darts that are available (especially the new ones) make this a great proficiency to have, especially since he can use a buckler while he's throwing them.

Oxford_Guy

Corvino said:

Depends on the rest of your group. I quite like longsword or scimitar for backstabbing - there aren't too many NPCs who use them, there's a couple of nice ones around and they do solid top-end damage.

CHARNAME is dual-wielding long swords (elf fighter/mage), so the best one's go to her... Scimitars, well there aren't any really good ones until Durlag's Tower, if you don't kill Drizzt, which I don't want to

Oxford_Guy

The_New_Romance said:

Something one-handed (like daggers or longswords, that depends on the rest of your group), or even put points in a fighting style (Sword & Shield, maybe).

The only fighting style I would use with a thief would be single weapon style, but if only using a one-handed weapon, I'd rather have shield for Monty

Oxford_Guy

Mortianna said:

Darts. 3 attacks/round. All of the various magical darts that are available (especially the new ones) make this a great proficiency to have, especially since he can use a buckler while he's throwing them.

I'm not really interested in another ranged weapon, am happy with him on slings, am looking for another backstab tool

Tuth

I usually give him additional proficiency in axes, then he uses axe +2 (or Bala's axe to take care of mages) and a crossbow - then he becomes really deadly, with both ranged and melee weapons.

The_New_Romance

Axes might be worth a try, if the Sword & Shield style benefits aren't your cup of tea (I know they suck a little).

Anduin

Daggers are great for stabby stabby action... Do you need any more information as to why?

revaar

I'd say go for single weapon style. Added crit chance is always good.

Oxford_Guy

The_New_Romance said:

Axes might be worth a try, if the Sword & Shield style benefits aren't your cup of tea (I know they suck a little).

But there aren't many good axes, you can't backstab with them, and in BGEE you don't get the strength damage bonus for the throwing ones...

Oxford_Guy

revaar said:

I'd say go for single weapon style. Added crit chance is always good.

It's a thought, thought I'd lose the +1 Con or +1 Dex from bucklers whilst they were unequiped, though I could just unequip them for backstabs I guess. I'd rather pick daggers or staves, though...

Oxford_Guy

I'm actually veering towards staves, here's my logic:

Firstly I'm not likely to actually use *either* staves *or* daggers much until I get my second proficiency point at level 6\6, as there's not much point in losing the 0.5 attack or the to hit/damage bonus I currently get with short swords until then, so it doesn't matter *so* much that the good staves are later. I currently have a +2 short sword and there is a +3 one later in the game.

Staves are blunt weapons, which would be nice to have as a complement to the piercing damage of short swords, whereas daggers are another piercing weapon. Some enemies are immune to piercing damage or it has reduced effect. I only have one other character (Viconia) who currently has proficiencies in a blunt weapon (if you exclude any mages).

The actual *damage* when backstabbing with the better staves will be more overall than the dagger backstab damage, even with the poison damage (though wouldn't give the spell caster distrupting effect).

Lastlty, I might give daggers (and the dagger of venom) to Imoen for here last weapon proficiency (I took crossbows as the first new one, so could give her the crossbow of speed)

elminster

Personally I went with single weapon style for him.

Oxford_Guy

elminster said:

Personally I went with single weapon style for him.

I guess that is useful as soon as you take it, but I'd probably only use it for backstabs, as like the +1 Con / + 1 Dex from the magic bucklers...

Elendar

Oxford_Guy said:

Corvino said:

Depends on the rest of your group. I quite like longsword or scimitar for backstabbing - there aren't too many NPCs who use them, there's a couple of nice ones around and they do solid top-end damage.

CHARNAME is dual-wielding long swords (elf fighter/mage), so the best one's go to her... Scimitars, well there aren't any really good ones until Durlag's Tower, if you don't kill Drizzt, which I don't want to

Actually, there's a Rashad's Talon +3 sitting around in Cloakwood 2 (the area with the spiders) in the southern part of the map near the lake..

Mortianna

Oxford_Guy said:

I'm not really interested in another ranged weapon, am happy with him on slings, am looking for another backstab tool

Then daggers would be the most reasonable choice, for both roleplaying (he's a Halfling and is wielding daggers in his portrait, after all) and because the Dagger of Venom is the best backstabbing weapon in the game (imo).

*btw, it's Montaron, not "Montarton" Montarton sounds like a Scottish garment.

Oxford_Guy

Elendar said:

Oxford_Guy said:

Corvino said:

Depends on the rest of your group. I quite like longsword or scimitar for backstabbing - there aren't too many NPCs who use them, there's a couple of nice ones around and they do solid top-end damage.

CHARNAME is dual-wielding long swords (elf fighter/mage), so the best one's go to her... Scimitars, well there aren't any really good ones until Durlag's Tower, if you don't kill Drizzt, which I don't want to

Actually, there's a Rashad's Talon +3 sitting around in Cloakwood 2 (the area with the spiders) in the southern part of the map near the lake..

I thought that was +2?

Elendar

Oxford_Guy said:

I thought that was +2?

Is it? I never used it.

Oxford_Guy

Okay, I still haven't levelled Monty yet, even though he can level up to fighter 3 now, think I will go quarter staves or single weapon style, not daggers, but can't decide betweem the two...

Luthore

Daggers of Venom are a sick option. Especially if he's the sneaky backstab character. You can lead him right up to a pesky mage pre fight, stage, poison, and have less spells to deal with. Excellent option imo

DarkDogg

single weapon