Blackguard help

Darthvegeta800

I'm a returned BGI-BGII veteran. The first one i finished a handful of times over the years.
With the enhanced edition out i'd thought i'd return to the fold.
Remarkably i never managed to play an evil side character despite my love for 'Dark Knights'.
Mostly I suspect because I rather liked many a good-aligned BG character and found little advantage out of being 'evil'. The plot kinda pushes me usually towards being 'nice'. That and next to Blackguards and mercenary warriros I tend to play Paladins in pencile and paper rpgs... (talk about polar opposites within the same theme)

With the Blackguard out i'm stopping my campaign which has been developping as every campaign before it. (me Paladin, usual team etc) - I made a BG and i'm going to go the ruthless mercenary route.

Now my question:

My char has stats 18 str, 18 dec, 18 con and 18 char. But 9 wis and 9 int. Is this bad? I tended to max stats I associate with the BG like char. But i'm not sure it works here like that. With my paladin i know i have a lot of trouble having good scores alround but with a BG this does not seem as important.
I gave him a zweihander because it does seem to suit the archetype.
Did I do right in how i tackled the stats or was it a mistake?
And if so can I still salvage it by putting attributes in another stat?

Madhax

You should be fine. Wisdom has no effect on paladins/rangers spellcasting abilities, so a 9 in that score won't hurt you. A 9 int is enough to read spell scrolls, so you're okay there, too.

If you're looking for a strictly powergaming stat spread, though... well, I'll put in a minor spoiler field since this is the New Players subforum:

You can get +1 int and +3 wis in BG1, so to plan for that I'd make your mental scores 10 int and 8 wis. This way, you can reach 11 int, giving you another layer of defense against Mind Flayers in BG2. That's assuming a Blackguard's wisdom can drop that low, which I'm not sure of.

2-hander with the 2-handed weapon style sounds great. I've also heard great things about a blackguard's potential as an archer due to Poison Weapon, so consider giving him points in some form of bows as he levels up.

Quartz

That roll is great. Be glad you got it. =P

TJ_Hooker

Huh I didn't know until know that Blackguards don't have minimum 13 wisdoms like normal paladins/paladin kits. Should almost be listed as a benefit on the kit description, seeing as how useless wisdom is for paladins.

Also I'd recommend the following weapon proficiecies:
** Two-handed sword
* Two-handed weapon style
* [ranged weapon of your choice, longbows are probably a good idea]

The second pip in THWS provides a tiny bonus compared to the first, and I always like to be proficient in at least one ranged weapon. You could also put a point in quarterstaves for pesky enemies like skeletons that are resistant forms of damage other than blunt (in my previous playthrough I had no party members wielding blunt weapons and it could be a real pain at times).

Rajick

I've got my blackguard(roll playing as a tiefling) with three ticks in two weapon style and two ticks in basterd swords cuz I think it's awesome

Dexter

blackguards will definitively, well, hopefully be a widely used class in BG2EE. That fighting power coupled with immunities and abilities... ouch

zur312

TJ_Hooker said:

Huh I didn't know until know that Blackguards don't have minimum 13 wisdoms like normal paladins/paladin kits. Should almost be listed as a benefit on the kit description, seeing as how useless wisdom is for paladins.

Also I'd recommend the following weapon proficiecies:
** Two-handed sword
* Two-handed weapon style
* [ranged weapon of your choice, longbows are probably a good idea]

The second pip in THWS provides a tiny bonus compared to the first, and I always like to be proficient in at least one ranged weapon. You could also put a point in quarterstaves for pesky enemies like skeletons that are resistant forms of damage other than blunt (in my previous playthrough I had no party members wielding blunt weapons and it could be a real pain at times).

TJ_Hooker said:

Huh I didn't know until know that Blackguards don't have minimum 13 wisdoms like normal paladins/paladin kits. Should almost be listed as a benefit on the kit description, seeing as how useless wisdom is for paladins.

Also I'd recommend the following weapon proficiecies:
** Two-handed sword
* Two-handed weapon style
* [ranged weapon of your choice, longbows are probably a good idea]

The second pip in THWS provides a tiny bonus compared to the first, and I always like to be proficient in at least one ranged weapon. You could also put a point in quarterstaves for pesky enemies like skeletons that are resistant forms of damage other than blunt (in my previous playthrough I had no party members wielding blunt weapons and it could be a real pain at times).

i think you are wrong about 2handed weapon style
** gives you critical at 19 so it is much much much better!

Wisp

Yeah, it's Single Weapon Style for which the second pip is a waste of a proficiency point.

zur312

i agree single weapon style * is very cool especially for someone like archers who mainly use bow and only occasionaly use melee weapons

elminster

Wisp said:

Yeah, it's Single Weapon Style for which the second pip is a waste of a proficiency point.

The only thing a second pip for two handed weapon style does is lower the speed factor of your weapon by 2. You get the critical bonus (and a few other bonuses) with only * pip.

Wisp

elminster said:

The only thing a second pip for two handed weapon style does is lower the speed factor of your weapon by 2. You get the critical bonus (and a few other bonuses) with only * pip.

Hmm, either it works differently in BG2 or the BG2 description is wrong. Does anyone know?

TJ_Hooker

For me both the description in the proficiency selection screen, as well as the Weapon Style Bonuses section on the character record screen state that you get +1 damage, +1 critical hit, -2 speed factor with a single point in Two-handed weapon style, in both BG:EE and BG2. I do have BG2 fixpack installed though, so the description could be wrong in vanilla BG2.

Wisp

Doh, I was the one who corrected the description and I still got it wrong -.-

Kaltzor

All Intelligence does non-mages in BG:EE is a little Lore score... Which will prolly still be too low to indentify anything for anything that isn't a bard, mage or thief... And when you meet the Blackguard NPC Dorn if you have 16 or more intelligence CHARNAME can recognize that he's a Blackguard.

Wisdom doesn't really do anything besides a little lore aswell, and Cleric/Druid Spells... Ranger and Paladin spellcasting is unaffected.

zur312

Wisp said:

Doh, I was the one who corrected the description and I still got it wrong -.-

i am sad

karl_maulder

Shouldn't the Blackguard be able to wield the +4 antipaladin sword found in SoA?

blackchimes

Wisp said:

Yeah, it's Single Weapon Style for which the second pip is a waste of a proficiency point.

I wish I could waste every spare proficiency point into -1AC. I'd be wasteful all over the place.

Dasieq

hey all,what about stronghold for Blackguard. I just started the game with this profssion and im confused if its D'arnise Caste or Radiant Heart Temle. If the temple then what about the quests within?

JuliusBorisov

@Dasieq‌
It's the de'Arnise Keep. No specific quests based on your Blackguard class. It's somewhat sad that Blackguards didn't get their own stronghold.

Dasieq

Aye,should be something grim and bloody in the Temple,this is still paladin class,or just something new as you say. Thanks for answer by the way