Check out this amazing roll - question about proficiency

Stormvessel

I really lucked out on this roll, and no sooner did I get this fabulous roll did I probably noob it up and ruin it with the proficiencies I chose (I just started playing).

http://i1137.photobucket.com/albums/n511/Samuel_Rosenbalm/Fighter_zpsc37647ab.jpg

Str 18/00
Dx 18
Cn 18
Int 12
Ws 12
Ch 18

I put two points in bastard sword and two points in two weapon fighting. I figure dual-wielding bastard swords would be awesome with these numbers. PLEASE tell me I didn't just ruin this awesome roll!

Corvino

Bastard swords don't have many great examples in BG1 or BG2 at present, unfortunately. There's 1 good Bastard sword as part of Dorn's quest but it's still only +1 really. There's one +1/+3 vs shapeshifters too, but is of situational use. It might be worth putting a further point into Bastard Swords at level 3 for the easily available mastery bonuses and then differentiating a bit to another 1-handed weapon for your level 6 prof point.

*Edit* You can pick up a +3 Bastard sword on the first level of Watcher's Keep, accessible in chapter 2 of BG2. The first level isn't too hard and the sword will last a fair while. It's also upgradeable come TOB.

elminster

Keep the roll. The proficiency is kind of meh but you can work with it. Bastard Swords aren't bad but magic versions are harder to come by than most swords. There are a few in both games that you can use. You may want to consider going through Dorn's quest line as that will give you a good one (you can still get magical bastard swords without going through his quest however).

FinneousPJ

If you're going pure fighter (as your stats would suggest), you'll get so many proficiency points you can't ruin it on the first level, lol. Don't worry, just play the game. If you want to metagame, look up the top best weapons online and plan accordingly.

lunar

I strongly advise you to specialise in another melee weapon as fast as possible, longsword or mace is worlds better. Or go flails for flail of the ages in BG2. You can specialise in a few weapons but you should grandmaster one weapon for bg2. That, however, is up to much debate but it definitely shouldn't be bastardswords.

FinneousPJ

I sincerely recommend you play the game and don't worry about. Too much metagaming and game guide crawling kind of ruins the experience.

magpie

Foebane in BG2 is really cool, but the other end-game bastard sword, Purifier, is only usable by paladins (or use-any-item thieves). In BG1 bastard swords are.. not so great, though the one you get from Dorn's quest is nice (only +1, but some interesting other abilities).

What are your plans with the character? Just BG1? Also BG2? Stay single class or are you going to dual class? If you are going to stay single class fighter, don't worry about it, plenty of proficiency points to come, especially if you plan on also playing BG2.

And finally, you can also either use EEkeeper to edit your proficiencies, or use the CTRL-8 cheat to get your roll back (which you rolled fair and square) and just reassign proficiency points.

doomdoomdoom

You'll be fine, don't worry and enjoy your playthrough

There will be enough points to invest in another weapon proficiency anyway.

Sure, bastard swords are rather under-represented throughout the series, but lack of choice sometimes isn't a bad thing.

Upgraded Foebane with Greater Whirlwinds is ridiculously good for 1H, so if you plan to take this toon through the entire story, you have that to look forward to towards the end. And if you only intend to play BG1, you'll get some +1 and it will be more than enough to plow through, considering high base damage and your high strength.

Stormvessel

No, Baldur's Gate 2 EE is a day one purchase for me, so I definitely plan to take both this chaotic good Fighter all the way through both games and my lawful good Cavalier through both games as well.

I am relieved. No sooner did I get that fabulous roll that I chose those proficiencies. I was going to alt-tab out and check the forums first but was worried the game would crash and that roll was too good to chance it. Spent all night rolling for it.

Thanks guys.

LordRumfish

For what it's worth, I recall Feldpost's Inn selling a bastard sword +1, either that or Thunderhammer's Smithy has one. You will be able to kill flesh golems and function for the most part. ^_^

FinneousPJ

Who knows, maybe BG2EE will add more bastard swords in the game

Stormvessel

Hey, thanks guys. Everyone who took the time to respond. I really appreciate it. I am going to go with it and sink another point in Bastard sword just for the short time (when I hit level 3) and after that I am going in another direction entirely. Maybe Flails for when I hit BG2 (that awesome Flail was mentioned).

I feel better, now. Thanks again.

Stormvessel

Rather than create a new thread, I will try and ask here...

I have a bit of a problem. I used a custom portrait and now the portrait is going to also be used for the NPC of the same name. Ajantis. I know that Ajantis is a good Pally and I was kinda counting on having him in my party. Is there any way of changing his portrait so he doesn't use my character's portrait?

Edit: Okay, I am dumb. Figured it out - merely changed the bmp file names from Ajantis to something else and then customized my character's appearance in-game. That solved it. Now I can use Ajantis with no problem.

Wanderon

LordRumfish said:

For what it's worth, I recall Feldpost's Inn selling a bastard sword +1, either that or Thunderhammer's Smithy has one. You will be able to kill flesh golems and function for the most part. ^_^

I believe both have one -

Feldpost has one for sale and Thunderhammer has one that can be stolen when no one is around.

Stormvessel

Thanks Wanderon. Sure wish I had a second chance at choosing my proficiency. Would have went with longswords instead. Or flails.

elminster

Stormvessel said:

Thanks Wanderon. Sure wish I had a second chance at choosing my proficiency. Would have went with longswords instead. Or flails.

Meh don't worry about it.

element

bastard swords are absolutely fine I think people on here are making more of it then need be I recently played with a character dual wielding them and at no point did I feel like it was a bad choice

Stormvessel

Thanks Element. I will keep that character saved!

PugPug

There's no telling what items will be added in the Enhanced Edition of BG2. In vanilla, there is the Foebane +3, which can be upgraded to +5 in TOB, and it is a nice weapon.



While that is the only +5 weapon at present, another may be added, you never know. If not, there are a couple of +3s you could equip in your offhand.

jhneoh

Once you can handle Ankhegs, you can head to Ulgoth's Beard for a Bastard Sword +1, located in the rightmost house.

Stormvessel

Thanks guys

KidCarnival

Go to Beregost at night. There is a Bastard Sword +1 in a chest in the Smithy. Needs a thief or someone with high strength to bash in the lock, but it's the earliest (and free) one you can get. Later, there's the very neat one in Dorn's quest (poison immunity, dispel invisibility/day).

Stormvessel

I will keep that in mind!

Rather than create a new thread, I will post my new roll:

Cavalier.

18/92
18
18
12 - put it at 12 for the mindflayers
13
18

Here is the thing - I know there is an awesome two handed pally sword - the Avenger or something. But I am going to get 10+ proficiency points, and 3 points can be put in two weapon fighting. My goal is to dual wield Flail of the Ages and Purifier, as well as be able to wield the Holy Avenger.

My proficiencies are thus planned:

Two-Weapon Fighting ***
Two-Handed Fighting *
Bastard Swords **
Morning Stars/Flails **
Two-Handed Swords **

I should have that achieved around the time I hit ToB. I plan to be finished with my Two-Handed FIghting and Two-Handed Swords proficiencies around that time, and use the Eye of Tyr to make the Holy Avenger really sweet. In the mean time I will have to get by on dual-wielding morning stars and flails.

Hope it works!

LordRumfish

@Stormvessel There is such a thing as being overeducated, metaknowledge can never tell you if you enjoy a certain playstyle. I learned an incredible amount from blindly entering the game the first time as a dwarven fighter (no EE so no kits). I named him Reggie, and he earned the title Reggie the Highly Annoyed.

I specialized him in warhammers, because I figured it was that or axes for a dwarf (I think he could also use slings). He was a shield user obviously. When I made him, I neglected to look at the stat menu in detail and never noticed the REROLL button. I didn't know how 2nd edition rules worked, but I moved the numbers around and he got something like

STR: 18/37
DEX: 13
CON: 19
INT: 13
WIS: 8
CHA: 6

I had to figure out what THAC0 meant on that playthrough, that numbers like THAC0, AC and Saves were better when they were lower, etc. I missed a lot of quest rewards with that CHA and everything cost a considerable amount more. I didn't know the dialogue trees so I ended up killing Marl (even though I was trying not to), and because I didn't know the world I had no idea Ashideena existed. It took forever before I even found a warhammer +1 to use.

Ultimately, I wasn't careful enough with my save games and I got Reggie into a position where he didn't have enough time to get un-poisoned in Baldur's Gate (I didn't know how I was supposed to cure it and hadn't kept very good notes) and his quest ended there.

While that might sound frustrating, I didn't just throw my hands up and ragequit, in my future playthroughs I learned a lot about how to play the game and I kept improving. Now, I imagine what happened to me with Reggie will never happen the same way to you because you have foreknowledge of the subject. Still, if you had just gone into the game world with your first character and didn't second-guess it, it's a fun ride (and an educating one). Honestly, I wouldn't be telling you a story about Reggie if I didn't have fond memories looking back.

Stormvessel

I understand what you are saying. I understand your point.

Maybe all the time I spent playing World of Warcraft has utterly ruined my ability to play games for what they are.

Durenas

I don't think cavaliers can put more than 2 stars in 2 weapon fighting in an unmodified game.

Ah, you can't upon character creation, but you can when levelling up. That's an unusual distinction.

Stormvessel

It said in the character creation screen that Paladins could add a third. And under Cavalier disadvantages it didn't say otherwise. I figured that class specifics also applied to kits, unless otherwise stated under advantages/disadvantages. If I goofed up again to hell with it - I am just going to play it anyway and enjoy myself. Enough is enough.

KidCarnival

What you're not considering anyway - items that are not weapons. Those can make up for "messed up" profs or stats. For example, some people semi-dump dex because there's an early, easy to get item to set dex to 18. Same with charisma - prime stat for bards, but most people go with 15 (minimum) because the tome and cloak(s) bring it to 18 very soon, or depend on Friendship spell/scroll for bigger purchases.

If you are concerned about your damage output - keep in mind that there are also items like Legacy of the Masters (THAC0 & damage) that can make a difference.

10thLich

@jhneoh
You don't have to deal with those Ankhegs at all.
When you enter the Ankheg map, head left to the edge, walk upwards to the river and keep close to the riverbank. That's how you avoid all Ankheg spawn points.

The Ankheg behind Tenya's house can be avoided by simply running past him.

Which means that with sufficient pick pocket and pick locks skills, you'll get access to the treasure trove of Shandalar's scrolls, Dushai's ring of free action and scrolls, a +4 Hammer, some gems and jewelry and the bastard sword you mentionend.