Katanas outside of Candlekeep?

BlackBrilliant

Anyone know if standard, non-magical katanas are outside of Candlekeep? Or did I just screw myself over by being unable to buy one during the prologue and now have to wait later in the game to run into a +n or magical one?

Deucetipher

Next katana is magical, found

bottom level cloakwood mines

Non magical katanas are sold in Baldur's Gate, but that isn't till later anyway.

AlexDeLarge

Kind of ridiculous that you have to play for half a game without a specialized weapon, if you chose katana proficiency at start. I liked the mod that introduced exotic weapons in BGT (the blacksmith in Beregost sold 2 basic katanas), hope they will bring this back for BGEE.

Alternatively, Wakizashis could be moved into the Katana proficiency, seeing as they are very similar in aesthetic and combat style.

Or another idea would be to start the game with the weapon you specialized in.. this would also make sense from a roleplaying perspective.

BlackBrilliant

I like the idea of starting out with the weapon you specialize in. I don't get why they have a katana at Winthrop's but there's no way in hell you can afford it, unless it's another play through with a character.

Bah. I dumped my proficiencies into katana. Now I'm not sure whether I should keep going or restart. I'm only at Beregost but I hate restarting.

Cragspyder

My girlfriend's Thief was able to afford a Katana in Candlekeep due to having Charisma 18, which lets her get a Dagger +1 from one of the quest rewards. Selling that gets you enough for 1 Katana. Then she had to export/restart to get the second, since she was a swashbuckler. So i guess you could do that, shouldn't throw off your exp curve too much. Or make a Cha 18 character, trade it to your character in multiplayer, then continue with that one.

LordsDarkKnight185

Cragspyder said:

My girlfriend's Thief was able to afford a Katana in Candlekeep due to having Charisma 18, which lets her get a Dagger +1 from one of the quest rewards. Selling that gets you enough for 1 Katana. Then she had to export/restart to get the second, since she was a swashbuckler. So i guess you could do that, shouldn't throw off your exp curve too much. Or make a Cha 18 character, trade it to your character in multiplayer, then continue with that one.

...If you are going to go through all of that trouble, you might as well just use CLUA. Seriously.

CutlassJack

If you are playing a Thief its probably easiest to invest a little in pickpocket and steal one.

Cragspyder

LordsDarkKnight185 said:

...If you are going to go through all of that trouble, you might as well just use CLUA. Seriously.

See, since I don't have the slightest clue what "CLUA" is, I offered a solution with the knowledge I had available to me. Fancy that.

Nukenin

Katanas Outside Candlekeep would make a great band name (or adventuring company name, or performing troupe name).

The price is a bit steep. I suspect Winthrop is setting extortionate pricing because he's hoarding his stock for some illicit underground kenjutsu ring staged in the deep cellars beneath Candlekeep.

Offer to trade your staff for two katanas. When Winthrop looks perplexed, explain that your quarterstaff can be broken in two and whittled into two serviceable bokken. Any skilled competitor of Candlekeep Kenjutsu Club (CKC) worthy of the title of Candlekeep Kenjutsu Club Champion (CKCC) would be even worthier if said title was won with a pair of bokken.

Winthrop will argue that if you're so keen on getting a pair of katanas, then you must think you're hot stuff with the kenjutsu, thus challenging YOU to compete in the CKC for the title of CKCC. Thus you now know the location and secret passphrase to gain entry into CKC. At which point you can compete and earn the title of CKCC, but more importantly you can just run around and pickpocket katanas at your leisure off the befuddled CKC members who can't remember what the sixth rule of CKC is.

Or someone can just make a mod that drops the price to a slightly saner 100gp per katana. Or introduce bokken at 1gp that use katana proficiency but only do 1d4 damage. (Any skilled katana wielder should be able to complete the entirety of BG1 through ToB with just a pair of bokken, after all.)

Wooz

BlackBrilliant said:

I like the idea of starting out with the weapon you specialize in. I don't get why they have a katana at Winthrop's but there's no way in hell you can afford it, unless it's another play through with a character.

Bah. I dumped my proficiencies into katana. Now I'm not sure whether I should keep going or restart. I'm only at Beregost but I hate restarting.

Don't restart. I went through the same issue and had no problem using Varscona +2 for the duration. No big deal.

Fredjo

I was able to afford the Katana in Candlekeep just through pickpocketing and stealing the 300-or-so gp in the second floor of the Elven Arse Inn.

Nukenin

Firebead's little "bonus"

talk to him exactly 30 times, then wait

can also help defray the expense of that venerable katana.

State_Lemming

LordsDarkKnight185 said:

Cragspyder said:

My girlfriend's Thief was able to afford a Katana in Candlekeep due to having Charisma 18, which lets her get a Dagger +1 from one of the quest rewards. Selling that gets you enough for 1 Katana. Then she had to export/restart to get the second, since she was a swashbuckler. So i guess you could do that, shouldn't throw off your exp curve too much. Or make a Cha 18 character, trade it to your character in multiplayer, then continue with that one.

...If you are going to go through all of that trouble, you might as well just use CLUA. Seriously.

Nonsense, that is all in the swashbuckling spirit.

CamDawg

The Exotic Item Pack of BG2 Tweaks adds a few katanas (amongst other things) throughout the Sword Coast, but I think I take an even more restrictive view of their availability than BGEE.

Another option is the Rebalanced Weapon Proficiency component. It clusters wakizashis and katanas under the same proficiency, giving the player a little more weapon flexibility as they search for a katana.

AlexDeLarge

@CamDawg you do realize i said the exact same things at the top of the thread, right? )

CamDawg

@AlexDeLarge
What, I'm expected to read the thread?

BG2 Tweaks doesn't add any katanas to stores (I think that's BGT Tweaks) which is why I was mentioning the option (plus BG2T is actually available for BGEE, meaning it's a practical solution). I find the rebalanced weapon profs (which do exactly what you suggest, amongst other changes) to be a far more sensible grouping--but that's my natural bias, since I coded it.

Moomintroll

Katanas outside of Candlekeep?
Sounds like an invitation to a duel.

Only girls fight with swords these days, we fight with cannon! Choose your stoker.

elfuego

Nukenin said:

Firebead's little "bonus"

talk to him exactly 30 times, then wait

can also help defray the expense of that venerable katana.

Ehm... Tried that but nothing happened. Did anyone have any better luck? Do you speak to him after or before finishing the mini quest?

ajwz

elfuego said:

Nukenin said:

Firebead's little "bonus"

talk to him exactly 30 times, then wait

can also help defray the expense of that venerable katana.

Did anyone have any better luck?

Yeah, I beat him round the head with a club and he generously dropped a magical robe.

moopy

Cragspyder said:

My girlfriend's Thief was able to afford a Katana in Candlekeep due to having Charisma 18, which lets her get a Dagger +1 from one of the quest rewards. Selling that gets you enough for 1 Katana. Then she had to export/restart to get the second, since she was a swashbuckler. So i guess you could do that, shouldn't throw off your exp curve too much. Or make a Cha 18 character, trade it to your character in multiplayer, then continue with that one.

If she was a thief she could have just started with a high enough lock picking skill to get the star sapphire on the second floor of the inn. That should sell for more than it costs to buy the katana.

Edit: Or if you are role playing an evil character. Get a watcher alone and kill him. If no one sees you kill them it doesn't hurt your rep or turn Candlekeep hostile. Their plate mail should sell for around 300gp each. Do that three times and you can buy a katana.

Nukenin

elfuego said:

Nukenin said:

Firebead's little "bonus"

talk to him exactly 30 times, then wait

can also help defray the expense of that venerable katana.

Ehm... Tried that but nothing happened. Did anyone have any better luck? Do you speak to him after or before finishing the mini quest?

You have to talk to him exactly

30

times, no more (well, until you

receive the 300gp he somehow quietly slips into your coinpurse

), no less. If you get his quest and go do it and come back you're just mucking up your own tracking of your count. I talk to him once, get the quest

and then talk to him 29 more times, then wait patiently

then go about my business.

Quineloe

AlexDeLarge said:

Kind of ridiculous that you have to play for half a game without a specialized weapon, if you chose katana proficiency at start. I liked the mod that introduced exotic weapons i

Here's your clue. Exotic means exotic.

CutlassJack

Quineloe said:

AlexDeLarge said:

Kind of ridiculous that you have to play for half a game without a specialized weapon, if you chose katana proficiency at start. I liked the mod that introduced exotic weapons i

Here's your clue. Exotic means exotic.

While certainly true, if you started the game specialized in one, it's not at all unreasonable to assume you had one you were practicing with. But thats true of any weapon.

Nukenin

For some reason katanas in BG2 (and thus BG:EE) are priced 3-5 times what they should be, considering they're not masterwork or silver or the like. I imagine it was an overcorrection, inflating the price to account for the exotic nature of an item that had already had its price inflated to account for its exotic nature.

The ninjatō is a superior choice anyway. Cheap, efficient, stylish. Cheap.

BlackBrilliant

Nukenin said:

Katanas Outside Candlekeep would make a great band name

Dear goodness YES!

toanwrath

Nukenin said:

For some reason katanas in BG2 (and thus BG:EE) are priced 3-5 times what they should be, considering they're not masterwork or silver or the like. I imagine it was an overcorrection, inflating the price to account for the exotic nature of an item that had already had its price inflated to account for its exotic nature.

The ninjatō is a superior choice anyway. Cheap, efficient, stylish. Cheap.

Also, perhaps Winthrop knows more about the Iron Shortage then he lets on, considering his Katanas don't break (that's why they are so damn expensive).

Wulfy

If katanas were readily available, they'd be way overpowered. Dual-wielding two-handed swords with lower speed factor? C'mon. At least this way, they retain an air of mysticism, and by the time you get two, you're a chunk of the way through the game. Unless you restarted a couple of times, which is a fairly easy workaround.

Syntia13

@toanwrath

toanwrath said:

Also, perhaps Winthrop knows more about the Iron Shortage then he lets on, considering his Katanas don't break (that's why they are so damn expensive).

Well, katanas are exotic weapons, which means they are imported from far-away-lands, which means they were not forged our of the Sword Coast's tainted iron, so... there's no reason for them to break, apart from the normal wear. ;-)

Nukenin

Oddly, examining the katanas, ninjatōs, and wakizashis found in BG:EE—all had the "Breakable" flag set in their Melee ability, even their enchanted counterparts.

Even if BG:EE used some other mechanic for determining breakability that ignored that flag, I sure would feel more at ease if that flag were not set (especially for the enchanted versions).

Southpaw

Moomintroll said:

Katanas outside of Candlekeep?
Sounds like an invitation to a duel.
Only girls fight with swords these days, we fight with cannon! Choose your stoker.

MWUHAHAHAHA...good one.
Aye, katanas are hard to find, but since there has been so many tips now on how to afford one (get money from Firebead, shank him, kill guards, open chest, cheese your way thru importing a char...) everyone who would want to have a katana...will.

CutlassJack

Nukenin said:

Oddly, examining the katanas, ninjatōs, and wakizashis found in BG:EE—all had the "Breakable" flag set in their Melee ability, even their enchanted counterparts.

Even if BG:EE used some other mechanic for determining breakability that ignored that flag, I sure would feel more at ease if that flag were not set (especially for the enchanted versions).

That's odd though. Those are the only weapons I've never had break in my playthrough. And I was dual wielding them, with both Safana and Rasaad using them too. I kept them on hand for whenever I broke my scimitars...which was quite often.