F/C solo. Dualwield or shield?

Shire

Im addicted to BG, specially the 2nd.
My last playthroughs has been solo sorc and F/T + F/M duo. They are all very fun, and the duo turned out patheticly good.

I wanna solo same char in both BG1 and 2.
For some odd reason i havent done that yet.
Im leaning towards F/C since i havent played much cleric at all.

Any tips?
My biggest wonder right now is dualwield or shield. Will for sure be a dwarf with hammers.

Lord_Tansheron

In BG1, shields may be a good idea. There aren't many weapons with good passive bonuses to dual-wield with, and AC actually matters.

In BG2 however, things are different. AC becomes less and less relevant as enemy THAC0s progress to ludicrous levels. In addition, you have a wide selection of very powerful weapons with all manners of passive bonuses. I would definitely recommend dual-wield for BG2! Hammers on a dwarf is not a bad choice either, as that gives you access to the Dwarven Thrower.

Corvino

You don't really miss out on much by dual-wielding. Hammers are a solid choice for BG1, probably worth spending points in Flails and Maces once you get to BG2 to give you a few more options.

Even if you need to use a shield at some point, you don't need to spend points in sword and shield style to do so.

One thing - you may struggle on the Werewolf isle due to not being able to use Bastard Swords and Daggers. Wand of the Heavens spam is often the only way to take down greater werewolves/wolfweres. You can always skip the werewolf island though.

Eudaemonium

Also bear in mind that Sword and Shield style is basically worthless, and that DW really needs 2 points in to be effective. Basically put profs in DW but use a shield in much of BG1 until you can dual-wield effectively.

nano

Dual wield all day erryday, even in BG1

GemHound

What's more important to you as a player? Getting more damage out, or being able to slightly aid in blocking more damage from coming in?

Eudaemonium

GemHound said:

What's more important to you as a player? Getting more damage out, or being able to slightly aid in blocking more damage from coming in?

The latter option would make more sense if it wasn't for a certain 20% damage reduction flail :P

Corvino

BG2 comes down heavily in favour of dual wielding. The immunities, stats and resistances you can get from an offhand weapon tend to massively outweigh even a very good AC boost. Sometimes you may need to use a shield temporarily. But you never need to spend proficiency points to do that effectively.

Using the Defender of Easthaven as an offhand combined with the Hardiness HLA and Armor of Faith makes AC a bit of a moot point.

Shire

Cheers guys. Ill keep shield close in BG1.
A few points in flail for 2nd sounds smart.
Ages in mainhand and Crom in off.

Lord_Tansheron

Keep in mind that Crom's 25 STR bonus is largely redundant on a cleric due to Draw upon Holy Might, which quickly becomes strong enough to get you to 25 STR anyway. Crom's not a bad weapon even without the STR benefit to be sure, but there are probably better offhands to choose from (like Defender of Easthaven). You can of course still use Crom if you're worried about dispels, or if you simply don't want to keep re-casting DuHM (but you should, it gives massive DEX/CON, too).

Flail of the Ages is, of course, an excellent choice. It's *the* BG2 weapon, really, being good from early on to the very end.

Shire

You are right. Crom loose a little of Its use when Im FC. Im used with FM and FT where it is fantastic for both.

Corvino

For offhands on a Fighter/Cleric you miss out on +APR weapons, but get enough proficiency pips to max out dual-wield, warhammers, flails and maces through the game. Your offhand can then give you either 25 STR, Negative Plane Protection or +20% damage resist. Or some elemental and fear resists on TOB weapons.

Crom Faeyr is only slightly behind the FOA in terms of raw damage, so it's a viable mainhand too.

mackos

R/C - free dual wield and druid class spells

EDIT: o sry u want to play dwarf!! dualwield anyway

Shire

Hehe yes i read about RC abit.
But ive never played Dwarf so figured that was about time also!

Corvino

I'd never played as a Dwarf until a played a F/C recently. Shorty saves are easy to overlook, but when Bassilus casts hold person on you twice and you save both times they become significant.

Shire

Cool! Good places in bg1 for easy early XP? Beside the basilisks, i always run there first.

moody_mage

Shield in BGEE (but spending no points on Weapon+Shield), scaling up to dual-wield in BG2EE.

Corvino

South and West of Beregost you'll find Bassilus. If you choose the right dialogue options his skeleton horde collapse and you fight him solo for 900 XP. If you use Command (1st level cleric spell) you can knock him down and out in a couple of rounds. He also has a particularly nice warhammer. The same map has Melicamp on it whose quest yields good XP and rep.

If you get hold of the Potion of Clarity from upstairs in the Candlekeep Inn you should be able to take out all 6 Sirines around the Golem cave on the coast before it expires for an easy 12k XP and some pearls, which should set you up well.

Silence

There is no reason not to dual wield. A dual wield character can always opt to use a Shield.

In contrast, there is little reason to invest in Sword and Shield style. The AC bonus is slight and only applies to missile attacks. You can already get great missile protection from items (e.g. boots of missile avoidance).

Though everyone is rightly excited about Hammers, maces are also an option. The Stupefier +1 is an exceptionally useful weapon because it can stun enemies - very helpful against pesky spellcasters and powerful boss opponents. You can find this weapon in the 2nd floor of the Burning Wizard Inn, Beregost. You may need to break open a locked chest; use Draw Upon Holy Might if you have problems).

Dwarf, gnome and half-orc are all great choices for a Fighter/Cleric.

Shire

Thanks alot for all input guys!

HandofCrom

Lord_Tansheron said:

Hammers on a dwarf is not a bad choice either, as that gives you access to the Dwarven Thrower.

Is that a hammer thrown by dwarves, or a hammer that throws dwarves?

Elendar

Shire said:

Cool! Good places in bg1 for easy early XP? Beside the basilisks, i always run there first.

Go South of High Hedge and rescue the talking chicken, then bring him back to the mage. Save and reload until the chicken is properly restored to a dude. Quite a bit of quest experience from that one for soemthing you can get so early in the game.

Yuwee

I recently finished a two man run with a dual wield Dwarven Fighter/Cleric and even without a shield he hit -6 AC that's pretty damn tanky. The only thing I find mildly irritating while dual wielding is not being able to quickly switch to ranged weaponry without entering the inventory screen. The journey for me continues at 12:02am!

Lord_Tansheron

HandofCrom said:

Is that a hammer thrown by dwarves, or a hammer that throws dwarves?

Funny you should say that. If you read the Dwarven Thrower's item history, it actually mentions that it should not be confused with the similarly-named "Dwarf Thrower", apparently made by elves for a rather nefarious, if eponymous, purpose.

Shire

My brave dwarf killed Sarevok yesterday.
Sling was very useful in BG1.
My biggest trouble was the palace where i had to load a few times before changing strategy. Those doppelgangers totally ignored me and my summons.

With 19str, 18dex, 20con and 21wis he is a very tasty dwarf. 11int i consider enought and my 10car will be easily fixed with ring, cloak and plate of balduran.

I started BG2 a little also. Fleed the dungeon. Tent easily cleared. Gave the church a few coins to get 15rep.
Did the thiefquests with ease, only the mage was a tad annoying. Very good early XP and gold. Ran into the sewers and killed the big party. They got humiliated by skeletons, hold person, silence and alot of buffs. Also got the nice sewercloak that "ignore" magic items.
Im dualwielding the hammers from Marts for now. As soon as I get my second point in flails im running for FOTA.

My next move tonight is freeing haerdalis so I can do the planarprison, i want the boots of speed asap.

This time i will remember to make a extra save. Om my multiplayer game with a friend the quest bugged and the Npcs that open the portal was gone. Not even the console could fix it.