Help with my party

knight1337

PC (Fighter/Mage dual)
Minsc (Ranger)
Jaheira (Fighter/Druid)
Viconia (Cleric)
Imoen (Thief/Mage)
6th slot is for NPC quests

- If i'm going to dual my main to mage at lvl 9, it's better to start with Kensai or Berserker?

- Should I get grandmastery with longswords or katanas? Ingame it says that katanas are 'hard to find'.

- How should I build Minsc and Jaheira? (best weapons, proficiency points, etc) They will be tanks.

DrHappyAngry

Kensai and berserker are both fine choices. It just depends on what you like, a rage mage or a more monk like mage. I had a great time with a kensai dualled to thief.

I'd do long swords. There's a couple really nice katanas, but they cap out at +3 in SOA and at best you can upgrade one to +4 in TOB. In any D&D based game, you can always assume there'll be nice longswords.

I'd have minsc rocking a greatsword, with flail or mace for those necessary blunt weapon fights. In my last playthrough Jaheira used clubs and scimitars.

kryptix

At 9 kensai doesn't have any benefits over berserker so go berserker and I would use axes, did that this time and the progression of weapons is much better than katana, even though celestial fury is amazing. Azuredge and the axe from Nalias keep will work til late game.

Short sword off hand for kundane or hammer for crom feyr.

Belm goes to jaheira.

Might want defender of east haven offhand too.

Minsc I guess goes two hand sword or halberd? Maybe dual long sword.

Lapetus2000

kryptix said:

I would use axes; the progression of weapons is much better than katana, even though celestial fury is amazing. Azuredge and the axe from Nalias keep will work til late game.

Agreed. Axes are my favourite weapons. There are several +3 options available really early on, plus the proficiency also includes throwing axes. That means that you can attack effectively at range, without having to spend extra points.

In ToB The axe of Unyielding is awesome. When upgraded it gives +1 con, +1 AC, +5 THAC0 and damage, plus 10% chance of an instant kill each hit. Very tasty.

Corvino

Minsc starts with ++ in maces and 2-weapon style, so he can be built into a mean dual wielder. Proficiency in flails, hammers, longswords, axes or similar for a solid mainhand can be picked up at levels 9 & 12. I currently have him using the FoA and DoE as a nasty combo. He can just use 2-handed swords until you get him a new proficiency though.

Jaheira starts with ++ in clubs. If you do the druid grove quest you get access to a couple of nice clubs, but it's worth putting points in scimitars and 2-weapon style for later in the game.

For a level 9 dual it doesn't make a huge difference going Kensai or Berserker. Kensai get more passive bonuses but can't use helmets or bracers. Berserkers get an on-demand damage boost and immunities and better gear selection.

artyom

i highly regret making my kensai/mage master in katanas. They only look cool. Theyre not "rare", because "rare" would imply they exist. No, they dont even exist. you can buy an ok early katana from the copper coronet I think, and theres a +2 katana somewhere in the graveyard I believe. But that seems like it.

Thats why I recommend long swords. Pretty popular but no NPC uses them

kryptix

artyom said:

i highly regret making my kensai/mage master in katanas. They only look cool. Theyre not "rare", because "rare" would imply they exist. No, they dont even exist. you can buy an ok early katana from the copper coronet I think, and theres a +2 katana somewhere in the graveyard I believe. But that seems like it.

Thats why I recommend long swords. Pretty popular but no NPC uses them

This is the worst advice I've seen in a long time... There's a very good reason why kensai9/Mage with mastery in katanas was considered the power build in SOA before TOB came out and that was because celestial fury was easily the best weapon in SOA and only has issues in TOB because it's only +3, however the stun and extra abilities make it by far the best weapon against anything not immune to +3.

You can also get it right out of chateau irenicus, the fight in the guarded compound is hard but not impossible.

Also, dakkon zeroth blade is an ok off hand in SOA for the extra spells but I don't like giving up belm/kundane.

artyom

so, is katana still the best type for example in SOA-TOB?

And Iam sorry, I guess my playstyle doesnt involve cheesing hence i had no idea bout this celestrial fury you can get at start. Hell, I guess I might as well just use the cheat console because it's ultimatly the same thing as cheesing. (hard but not impossible fight you say, you mean if you cheese and restart the fight 10 times you might win?)

Corvino

As @Kryptix days, Celestial Fury makes Katanas attractive early on. For most of SoA its save-or-stun effect is great but it begins to lose out as enemy saves improve.

The biggest problems with katanas are the underwhelming selection of endgame options and lack of variety in midgame weapons.

Overall Longswords are usually a better choice due to the plethora of +2 weapons with immunities and special abilities and 2 great high end weapons in Watcher's Keep & ToB.

kryptix

artyom said:

so, is katana still the best type for example in SOA-TOB?

And Iam sorry, I guess my playstyle doesnt involve cheesing hence i had no idea bout this celestrial fury you can get at start. Hell, I guess I might as well just use the cheat console because it's ultimatly the same thing as cheesing. (hard but not impossible fight you say, you mean if you cheese and restart the fight 10 times you might win?)

Not sure what your definition of cheese is, this play through I did it with a level 10-11 party but it took 5-6 reloads because I couldn't get a win until I had one where I made a certain save and the Mage failed one.

However I play on insane with SCS and so the Mage comes prebuffed and the kensai hits for 40 and 80 crits...

The cheese way is to go up and down the stairs to break up the fight but I don't think that's even possible with SCS.

There's no storyline reason to go there but there's no storyline reason to get a lot of things in the game. It's the headquarters of the slavers though so it's worth clearing out for cash. Just like the twisted rune is worth a visit.

What it comes down to is that you have to beat a kensai a berserker an assassin a priest and a Mage I believe and all with +2 and +3 weapons, the Mage has some 9th level spells, it has pit fiend, and the cleric I'm not sure I always squish him fast.

If you try it make sure you notice the traps, also fire elementals and skeleton warriors are your friends so is true sight.

When you bump up the difficulty, the boarder between cheese and strategy blurs a bit though because my mages get chunked in one hit so I have to have stone skin and contingencies up etc. if that's cheese in your book then yes I have to cheese every fight.

Also because of SCS buffs to mages each of my mages runs with a full book of counter magic, but fighter Mage with improved haste and belm with a constant8-10 attacks and -8 AC is pretty strong always but without protections or defender of east haven at least, pre hardiness etc it is very easy to get chunked still.

I would still say that going katana is better than most other weapons in the game because you can dominate from chapter 2 through early TOB and hindo's doom isn't that bad. In the meantime a couple of pips in mace for MOD or flail for defender and FOA will carry you through the game.

artyom

thanks for info I will pay that place a visit. Cheese in my games is like casting an aoe spell and leaving/closing door or just summoning stuff from afar.