How good are darts in BG1?
RedWizard
Member Posts: 242
Tired of always using bows for my fighter mage dual.
Any decent darts in BG1 and perhaps BG2?
Any decent darts in BG1 and perhaps BG2?
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Darts of Stunning and Wounding are pretty common and fairly effective. In BG2 you've got the Cloak of the Stars that you can get pretty early on that will summon Darts +5, which is not too shabby at all.
One fun character could be an Elven Wizard Slayer: Give yourself 19 DEX and GM in Darts and watch as enemy mages become utterly useless as every hit from your darts applies 10% cumulative spell failure, even if they don't do damage (i.e. blocked by Stoneskin or Mirror Image). Since most of the really difficult fights are against spellcasters, this has actually got the potential to be a useful character.
Or for the truly absurd, make a Human Wizard Slayer and dual him over to a Mage.
@RedWizard, darts are good. Most of my charname thieves use them (or a mage). You get a decent variety (stunning and wounding are the best; acid and other elemental damage types are rare, unless you buy them from High Hedge, which as KidCarnival said, are a bit pricey). Arrows are always better simply because they do more damage and have more variety (dispelling, explosion, elemental damage is much more available) and arrows of all kinds are generally easier to get.
I've heard that certain fighter builds are very good with darts. The big advantage with darts is their speed factor, which added with an assassin or blackguard's poison can be lethal against mages. Plus, it takes a strength modifier for damage, I believe.
1) They don't stack with a launcher +x To hit/Damage bonus, unlike bows and slings
2) The range is short, so can put vulnerable characters too close to the action
3) The ammo is more expensive than for bows and less varied
@bhaaldog I think so. Load up on darts of stunning and wounding and pick off your targets as you stun them. Cheata boots is a must though to keep a good distance. I'd probably roll it with an Archer though to get some called shots just to break up the repetition. That or a gnome. Something about a gnome tossing darts just seems appealing.
They *are* good in some situations, though e.g. an Assassin or Blackguard throwing poisoned darts under Improved Haste would be nasty...
Those times basically went, "Haha, ow, what a dweeb. Darts. Ow. I give these - ow - to my mage! Ow, ow, ow. Is that...hssssshhhrrrhhhh.", and then I had to reload because darts.
But yes. Darts, combined with some degree of specialization (or proficiency, or proiciency and those neat gloves that help your THAC0 and/or damage out) and a haste effect, are obnoxiously beautiful. In my very first successful save game, it was DARTS that turned the tide in the final battle! Seriously, I had CHARNAME, Alora, and Imoen hurl darts of wounding at Sarevok until at least three were in him, had Shar-Teel pepper him with a few bolts of biting, and then laid into him with )even more) dangerous things. Alora just sort of hung in the back with Imoen and threw more darts.
They're really good for shutting spellcasters down, especially those elemental beauties! I hope they end up in BG II: EE, for those mages who like to stoneskin themselves.
Darts of Wounding do a whopping 20 points of poison damage in 20 seconds--each. Then with High Mastery or Grandmastery? And Hasted? Do the math.
I'm eventually going to try out either a dual-classed Assassin/Fighter who specializes in Darts (although in my game she won't Haste because it'll be a party that doesn't use arcane magic or items with arcane enchantments.)