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Dual Wielding and Half-Orc Question

DaNiMaLDaNiMaL Member Posts: 7
Wanted to ask on the forums from a veteran/expert BG player as a last resort because Ive been searching from other sites for a while now and I keep seeing mixed opinions , its hard finding stuff for only BG:EE since BG2 is already been out for a long time.

But on to the topic, I wanted to ask if dual wielding is viable in BG:EE? I wanted to make a Fighter/Thief since most posts say its better than going pure thief. But I also want to pretty much be a jack of all trades, like backstab, dual-wield, find traps, pick locks and be able to go invisible for backstabs often. Dont care much for pickpocketing or detect illusions(wouldnt mind having this one tho for the mages).

I was also planning to get Drizzt's gear since its the best for a Fighter/thief, or am I mistaken and there is better stuff to get? For example I know of the 2 items which keep being said like Shadow Armor and Worn Whispers.

My other question is about races, would I lose out much if I went with Half-Orc? I know its prefered to go Hafling or another shorty race for optimal thief skills and saving throws, but I would rather play a Elf or Half-Orc for RP purposes.

Thx for any help in advance. =)

Comments

  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    I am no veteran or expert, so I'll leave the dual-wielding question to others.

    Regarding gear... Drizzt's armour and scimitars are the best armour and melee weapons ingame. Of course a pure thief is not allowed to use Drizzt's armour and his weapons can only be used by Good aligned characters (which is ironic, since killing him is a very evil act).

    Shadow armour is very good for a pure thief who cannot use heavier armours, so if you stick with Imoen (and I see no reason why anyone would drop her unless they play evil party) she should get it.

    Worn whispers is just a boot that improves stealth. But I prefer boots of speed for Imoen/thieves. But then I don't use her for assassination, so for me, getting caught is less important if she can get away after her cover is blown.

    Finally regarding race... again no expert here, but from RP perspective, it's kinda hard to imagine a hulking Str 19 Half-Orc sneaking around trying to pick pockets and locks.
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    you will lose some ST as non shorty race but for RP purpose i would not worry about it
    i think you can dual wield and with half-orc it should be quite effective but i don't know if better compared to 2handed weapons

    drizzt weapons are the best in bg1 you don't even have to kill him to get one scimitar +3
  • DaNiMaLDaNiMaL Member Posts: 7
    edited July 2013

    I am no veteran or expert, so I'll leave the dual-wielding question to others.

    Regarding gear... Drizzt's armour and scimitars are the best armour and melee weapons ingame. Of course a pure thief is not allowed to use Drizzt's armour and his weapons can only be used by Good aligned characters (which is ironic, since killing him is a very evil act).

    Shadow armour is very good for a pure thief who cannot use heavier armours, so if you stick with Imoen (and I see no reason why anyone would drop her unless they play evil party) she should get it.

    Worn whispers is just a boot that improves stealth. But I prefer boots of speed for Imoen/thieves. But then I don't use her for assassination, so for me, getting caught is less important if she can get away after her cover is blown.

    Finally regarding race... again no expert here, but from RP perspective, it's kinda hard to imagine a hulking Str 19 Half-Orc sneaking around trying to pick pockets and locks.


    Ya i was planning on an a Mixed party actually, but since its the allignment and not the rep that counts, its not a problem.

    For the Orc, plz dont flame me for this but i got the idea from World of Warcraft Lore, if you know of Garona the rogue female orc.
  • DaNiMaLDaNiMaL Member Posts: 7
    edited July 2013
    zur312 said:

    you will lose some ST as non shorty race but for RP purpose i would not worry about it
    i think you can dual wield and with half-orc it should be quite effective but i don't know if better compared to 2handed weapons

    drizzt weapons are the best in bg1 you don't even have to kill him to get one scimitar +3

    Well I was thinking of stealing it too but i wasnt sure if I should get his armor, or use shadow armor. Also my main question was about dual wielding tho if its viable, so I could make use of both scimtars. Planned to go 3 points into two-weapon style and 2 into scimtars.

    Also its not even about drizzt's gear, i would even use other weapons, i just wanted to know if dual wielding is viable or is it so much of a penalty that it would make my fighter/thief suck with 2 weapons?
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    DaNiMaL said:


    Ya i was planning on an a Mixed party actually, but since its the allignment and not the rep that counts, its not an problem.

    For the Orc, plz dont flame me for this but i got the idea from World of Warcraft Lore, if you know of Garona the rogue female orc.

    I never played WoW so...

    And you probably know this already, but encase u didn't... Mixed parties can be tricky cos good and evil characters will quite literally kill each other, especially if they have any ingame 'history'. In my game, I had Xzar and Montaron (evil) early on and picked up Khalid and Jaheira (good) shortly afterwards. A day (ingame day) later, my party walked into Beregost and suddenly an argument escalated quickly, I lost control of my party and Khalid/Jaheira killed Montaron/Xzar in the street...

    Also with mixed parties, you need to keep an eye on your reputation so as to not overly annoy either faction. It just all seems so tedious to me.

  • DaNiMaLDaNiMaL Member Posts: 7
    It depends how you go about it i guess, I already did a semi playthrough with the first 2 pairs, i simply got jaheira and xzar killed during one of the beregost quests hehe but neither of them shown any real hostility when i arrived there.
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    i don't really know what is the _most efficient_ but i played with dual wielding and it worked
  • DaNiMaLDaNiMaL Member Posts: 7
    zur312 said:

    i don't really know what is the _most efficient_ but i played with dual wielding and it worked

    Thank you, all i needed to know. =)
  • HeindrichHeindrich Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
    DaNiMaL said:

    It depends how you go about it i guess, I already did a semi playthrough with the first 2 pairs, i simply got jaheira and xzar killed during one of the beregost quests hehe but neither of them shown any real hostility when i arrived there.

    Those clashes happen with a random chance I think. In the case of Xzar and Jaheira, it was those two that triggered the clash, given that both have assertive/dominant personalities. Khalid and Montaron are more sidekick-ish, so I suppose if u removed their partners, they'd be less likely to clash. There are some pairings that never work though, like Minsc and Edwin, for example.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,268
    The really, really, REALLY nice thing about Drizzt's armor is that you can still use your thief skills while wearing it. That makes it PERFECT for fighter/thieves. Shadow armor on a F/T is best if you need help with stealth, but from my perspective you should have good stealth anyway since the F/T has a supercharged backstab. I actually have exactly what you described in one of my playthroughs: a half orc F/T that dual wields Drizzt's scimitars and wears his armor. He is quite the butt kicking machine; especially once he gets his stealth high enough to the point where he usually succeeds at hiding.
  • WispWisp Member Posts: 1,102


    Those clashes happen with a random chance I think. In the case of Xzar and Jaheira, it was those two that triggered the clash, given that both have assertive/dominant personalities. Khalid and Montaron are more sidekick-ish, so I suppose if u removed their partners, they'd be less likely to clash. There are some pairings that never work though, like Minsc and Edwin, for example.

    Certain NPCs, or pairs of NPCs, are scripted to dislike each other for different (more or less non-arbitrary) reasons and eventually come to blows. Jaheira and Khalid (Harpers) don't like Xzar and Montaron (Zhents), Shar-Teel (disdainful of men) doesn't take to Eldoth (misogynist pig), Dynaheir and Minsc (being, or wanting to protect, Dynaheir) don't like Edwin (wanting to kill Dynaheir), and so on. You can mix and match as you please, otherwise.
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    kagain doesn't like yeslick
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    There aren't many NPCs that actually fight. Yes there are a few but not many. Mixed parties aren't actually that risky, Reputation management is honestly more risky. The fights I have had in my parties have been few and far between.

    Anyway, I will let you know what NPCs will, on a bad, rare chance, attempt to fight to the death. Most of them are bloody obvious anyway.

    Quayle vs. Tiax
    Yeslick vs. Kagain
    Xzar vs. Jaheira, their companions will also join in if they are available
    Eldoth vs. Shar-Teel
    Kivan vs. Viconia (This one seems especially unlikely, they verbally abuse each other a lot but I've never actually witnessed the fight myself)
    Ajantis vs. any evil character
    Edwin vs. Dynaheir
    Faldorn vs. Jaheira
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited July 2013
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • DaNiMaLDaNiMaL Member Posts: 7
    edited July 2013
    Just wanted to say this community is awesome , haha. But ya thx for the help guys, ya I went ahead and made my orc, and ya i saw i had less theif skills but thats ok. Im hoping that the potions will cover that. As for mix party, after some planning it turns out i ended up with an evil party instead of "mix" lol. I have Kagain, Dorn, Viconia, Edwin, and saving my last spot for Baeloth. So far having a blast but trying really hard not to get too high on my rep, I like to keep it as an RP evil party but its hard to pass up on those quests that give nice rewards that come with +1 Rep. Also since I started with Chaotic Good for the Drizzts gear.
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    evil is strong with this one
  • EdwinEdwin Member Posts: 480
    If you plan to play through as a Fighter/Thief, I can't recommend a Kensai/Thief strongly enough.

    Kia Backstabs make chunks.
  • WispWisp Member Posts: 1,102
    thespace said:

    Half orcs don't get bonuses to any thief skill as far as I know,

    They do get bonuses (equal to the bonuses humans get), but they are more modest than the bonuses halflings, gnomes and elves get.
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    how about improved invisibilie hasted kai backstab from staff of striking?:)
  • TyranusTyranus Member Posts: 268
    Wisp said:

    thespace said:

    Half orcs don't get bonuses to any thief skill as far as I know,

    They do get bonuses (equal to the bonuses humans get), but they are more modest than the bonuses halflings, gnomes and elves get.
    Neither Humans nor Half-Orcs get any increases to their thieving skills, so you're half right.

  • WispWisp Member Posts: 1,102
    Tyranus said:



    Neither Humans nor Half-Orcs get any increases to their thieving skills, so you're half right.

    Maybe you want to check again? In BG2/BGEE, they get +15 to PP, +10 to locks, +5 to traps, +10 to MS and +5 to HIS.
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