Equip Ogre Mages with katanas
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The Oger Mages in BG should be equipped with katanas to better reflect their ADD monster design. Also, this would be a simple way to include more katanas (magical) in BG.
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Comments
-Prince_of_Lies
If Ogre Mages traditionally wield katanas, this seems like a reasonable way to implement them more thoroughly into BGEE.
Also, Kara-Tur is part of Forgotten Realms... It's like an oriental continent of Abeir-Toril.
And I don't know...Ogre Magi are actually very powerful and high level creatures with a bunch of at-will spell like abilities, and several other per day abilties. It seems pretty likely they'd have at least a +1 or 2 katana, especially the really powerful ones, like the one in the sewer. Though generic ones without a name, yes a plain katana is fine. Maybe a +1 one for weaker named ones (that one with the Neirid), and then a +2 for the one in the sewer.
+2... Your crazy. Normal +2 weapons are included as mid-late to late game loot... Katana are supposed to be extremely rare in Faerun (the completely opposite side of Abeir-Toril from Kara-Tur).
I agree with @Madhax maybe a +1 named katana with a fancy enchantment for the named one in the sewer, but normal katana for the others.
Magic in Kara-Tur is also rarer than it is in Faerun.
-Prince_of_Lies
EDIT: @ZanathKariashi, Sorry, I sped-read and thus misread the first bit, disregard the beginning bit. That being said, only the Forgotten Realms lore applies to Ogre Magi in Baldur's Gate.
If it was +3 though, that stuff is national treasure artifact level for Kara-tur.
And that really fails to account for the glut of magical katanas down in Amn. Yes, Amn is a trade heavy nation with the biggest temple of Waukeen in all of Faerun located in Athkatla (that is for some reason missing from BG2, it's not the promenade since there's no priests of Waukeen anywhere around there, and would actually be in the dock district according to the city description), but BG is just as cosmopolitan with trade for the sword-coast area as Athkatla is for Amn and should have similar access, or if nothing else the Ogre magi would've simply brought it with them, I mean hell the one in the sewer has literally all the abilities and Ogre magi possesses (except flight, for obvious reasons), and by the treasure guide in the manual would have access to +2 items easily, and +3 more rarely. The other Ogre magi display fewer and fewer abilities, so would be overall weaker and have less goods.
I can assure you, no ogre-mage (except for perhaps, an ogre-mage chieftain) has a +3 magical weapon. +2 is rare, but +1 or unenchanted is most likely.
-Prince_of_Lies
Giving magical katanas to the more "well-known" ogre magi would also put more magical katanas in the game, which would still leave them at a lower number than other weapons, while giving a decent lore reason why they exist in the first place.
In this case, it's a monster that isn't very common, and it matches both the lore and the creature's given animation.
In fact, I would posit that the ogre mage has a bastard sword in its dropped inventory not because it's more balanced, but because it was the best reasonable substitute for a katana in a game that did not yet include katanas (and then in BG2 it was maintained for continuity, which doesn't make it a good design choice).
We've already got modders putting +5 weapons into BGEE. If you want BGEE to be an embarrassing Monty Haul, just be patient, but I don't think it should ship that way.
Four weapon types aren't represented in BG2 above +4: katanas, wakizashis, ninja-tos, and darts.
[spoiler]1. Dude in sewers
2. Dude in cloakwood
3. Dude in the Firewine Bridge canyon, though I'm not certain that was meant to be an Ogre Magi.[/spoilers]
Are those all?
They are not, however, described as wielding katanas: "In battle, ogre magi prefer the naginata (75%) or scimitar and whip (25%)." The naginata is a very heavy two-handed bladed weapon described in Oriental Adventures.
Now, if we want to be P&P accurate we should assign ogre magi (or the vast majority of them) scimitars, which also happen to be common along the Sword Coast as mentioned by @Ardanis. This would assist in making ogre magi P&P accurate, as well as in increasing the number of scimitars in the area (which is also P&P accurate). Special ogre magi might possess magical scimitars.
Katanas are described in Oriental Adventures as swords of superior craftmanship and spiritual value, but not as especially rare. It makes sense, however, for them to be rare in non-oriental settings—and all the more so in BG given their power (which is P&P accurate, in case you were wondering: Katanas are indeed one-handed 1d10 weapons).
It makes absolutely no logical sense for Winthrop to have one for sale in Candlekeep from any standpoint; I also don't see Taerom Fuiruim crafting one either, as he is never described on any source as having the kind of knowledge or expertise it takes to make a Katana; besides, I guess the market for that kind of weapon wouldn't be all that great in Beregost and its surroundings.
But the main thing is to just let katanas be a viable weapon in BG. Giving them to an Oger Mage or two wouldn't break anything.
[spoiler]
EDIT: Ok, his name is Kahrk (kahrk.cre) and he gives 3500 xp, has way more hp and better spells then the typical OM. Weirdly equipped with a longsword.