@Delvarian, NWN actually has a mechanic that makes you "holster" your weapons in order to talk to some NPC's. I just assume that my BG toons have their weapons holstered most of the time, because actually getting rid of the weapon-holding animations while not fighting would amount to a lot of useless clicking, where the game was clearly not designed for that level of role-playing.
In Neverwinter Nights, you can actually set a quick-button to sheathe-unsheathe your weapons, but, I don't use it there either, because those quick-buttons are few and precious.
Your idea is right on the money, though - I always pretend that my weapons are not carried constantly drawn the way the animations suggest.
@LadyRhian, I love the "staff as walking stick" idea, and I have searched for a way to believe it and use it while playing casters. The trouble I have with that is that the casters are supposed to be using slings most of the time. You'd have to be throwing the staff down every time there was a fight.
Also, for a non-caster staff fighter, that would preclude any ranged weapon use unless the staff were constantly being thrown down and then picked up later - *not* while under attack.
As far as I'm concerned in my own games, the sling is a two-handed weapon. There is absolutely *no way* you could fight with a sling without both hands free. I don't really know what the original devs were thinking by implementing the sling as a one-handed weapon.
Somebody around here made a mod where the mages can get staves that throw magical projectiles that are of exactly the same effectiveness as a sling. I thought that was a huge step in the right direction.
EDIT: Darts are a great way around this problem. It's not unbelievable at all that you could carry a staff with one hand while pulling darts out and throwing them with the other. Now, if only BG allowed clerics to use darts!
Ah yes... I think we've had this sling discussion before. It's a really strange concept to make slings such widely used weapons in BG, and make it the backup ranged weapon of choice for characters that don't typically use other ranged weapons.
I don't know if it is an accurate implementation of AD&D 2, but I personally never used slings in BG 1 at all, which partly explains why my Jaheira was so ineffective, and spent a lot of time hanging around with Dynaheir doing nothing after her spells were exhausted. I kinda saw her as a druid/caster more than a warrior, so also refused to have her 'scimitar and shield', so she wasn't very good in melee until BG 2 either. For my next playthrough I intend to have her fight more as a melee tank, especially in BG 1, cos Jin as a Kensai isn't going to be holding the line any time soon, and I also kinda like the idea of the husband and wife team fighting side by side. lol
I think I will abandon slings altogether again, for both BG 1 and BG 2... it just seems like a really unrealistic implementation. Maybe I'll look into the mod of 'quarter-staff projectiles'... that will allow Neera and Aerie to be somewhat useful when they run outta spells.
I'd love to have it for my MP game. Currently my sorcerer uses slings quite a lot, cos at low levels he doesn't have many spells to use, and doesn't use them unless necessary. But since I only control one character, it'd be extremely boring if I stand around doing nothing when my spells are exhausted or isn't needed.
@Heindrich1988, here's that mod for mage staves for you and anyone who's interested. I've tried installing it, but it doesn't appear to write over saved games, so I'll have to wait until I start a new game to see if I have it working properly. The people posting in the thread don't seem to be having any problem.
It's supposed to make the special staves available in Thalantyr's store for BG1, and at the merchant woman on the top of Watcher's Keep in BG2. I guess you need to buy all the special modded equipment *before* you complete Watcher's Keep, because I'm pretty sure that merchant goes away after you finish it.
There are two separate mods, one for BG1 and one for BG2. The link below is for BG1, and it contains a link to the BG2 mod.
EDIT: I read all the way through the threads, and you can install the mods on a saved game only if you haven't visited Thalantyr's store or the WK merchant's store. Apparently, it's opening the merchant's inventory that locks in a save variable, and if you've already done that in your saved game, then the mod won't change it. The threads have some CLUA create item instructions if you want to console them into a saved game.
Ah yes... I think we've had this sling discussion before. It's a really strange concept to make slings such widely used weapons in BG, and make it the backup ranged weapon of choice for characters that don't typically use other ranged weapons.
I don't know if it is an accurate implementation of AD&D 2, but I personally never used slings in BG 1 at all, which partly explains why my Jaheira was so ineffective, and spent a lot of time hanging around with Dynaheir doing nothing after her spells were exhausted. I kinda saw her as a druid/caster more than a warrior, so also refused to have her 'scimitar and shield', so she wasn't very good in melee until BG 2 either. For my next playthrough I intend to have her fight more as a melee tank, especially in BG 1, cos Jin as a Kensai isn't going to be holding the line any time soon, and I also kinda like the idea of the husband and wife team fighting side by side. lol
I think I will abandon slings altogether again, for both BG 1 and BG 2... it just seems like a really unrealistic implementation. Maybe I'll look into the mod of 'quarter-staff projectiles'... that will allow Neera and Aerie to be somewhat useful when they run outta spells.
I'd love to have it for my MP game. Currently my sorcerer uses slings quite a lot, cos at low levels he doesn't have many spells to use, and doesn't use them unless necessary. But since I only control one character, it'd be extremely boring if I stand around doing nothing when my spells are exhausted or isn't needed.
Druids were kind of poor in BG anyway. They lacked most of the awesome spells of Mages and Clerics, and also had somewhat poor combat abilities.
@booinyoureyes Exactly! Crossbows were precisely designed so you could give one each to 100,000 peasants, tell them to point it at the vague direction of the enemy and pull the trigger!
With a sling, you get the basic problem of each man needs quite a lot of space to swing it above his head without having slingers getting in each other's way and causing each other injury. Oh and it took a lot of skill to use with much accuracy and power. All that time a man's practising to swing a sling, he ain't farming!
I just watched a Voyager episode where Tuvok, stranded on a barren planet with no technological devices, carried a staff while also carrying a bow and a quiver.
He did it by placing his arm through the bow, between the string and the bow staff, such that he could rest the bow on his shoulder.
They never showed him fighting with the staff, though. He would have needed to throw it on the ground in order to use the bow, which would have precluded his picking it back up again during combat. They showed him poking and digging with the staff as a tool, but in the scenes where he was fighting, it was only with the bow, and the staff was nowhere to be seen.
Comments
In Neverwinter Nights, you can actually set a quick-button to sheathe-unsheathe your weapons, but, I don't use it there either, because those quick-buttons are few and precious.
Your idea is right on the money, though - I always pretend that my weapons are not carried constantly drawn the way the animations suggest.
@LadyRhian, I love the "staff as walking stick" idea, and I have searched for a way to believe it and use it while playing casters. The trouble I have with that is that the casters are supposed to be using slings most of the time. You'd have to be throwing the staff down every time there was a fight.
Also, for a non-caster staff fighter, that would preclude any ranged weapon use unless the staff were constantly being thrown down and then picked up later - *not* while under attack.
As far as I'm concerned in my own games, the sling is a two-handed weapon. There is absolutely *no way* you could fight with a sling without both hands free. I don't really know what the original devs were thinking by implementing the sling as a one-handed weapon.
Somebody around here made a mod where the mages can get staves that throw magical projectiles that are of exactly the same effectiveness as a sling. I thought that was a huge step in the right direction.
EDIT: Darts are a great way around this problem. It's not unbelievable at all that you could carry a staff with one hand while pulling darts out and throwing them with the other. Now, if only BG allowed clerics to use darts!
Ah yes... I think we've had this sling discussion before. It's a really strange concept to make slings such widely used weapons in BG, and make it the backup ranged weapon of choice for characters that don't typically use other ranged weapons.
I don't know if it is an accurate implementation of AD&D 2, but I personally never used slings in BG 1 at all, which partly explains why my Jaheira was so ineffective, and spent a lot of time hanging around with Dynaheir doing nothing after her spells were exhausted. I kinda saw her as a druid/caster more than a warrior, so also refused to have her 'scimitar and shield', so she wasn't very good in melee until BG 2 either. For my next playthrough I intend to have her fight more as a melee tank, especially in BG 1, cos Jin as a Kensai isn't going to be holding the line any time soon, and I also kinda like the idea of the husband and wife team fighting side by side. lol
I think I will abandon slings altogether again, for both BG 1 and BG 2... it just seems like a really unrealistic implementation. Maybe I'll look into the mod of 'quarter-staff projectiles'... that will allow Neera and Aerie to be somewhat useful when they run outta spells.
I'd love to have it for my MP game. Currently my sorcerer uses slings quite a lot, cos at low levels he doesn't have many spells to use, and doesn't use them unless necessary. But since I only control one character, it'd be extremely boring if I stand around doing nothing when my spells are exhausted or isn't needed.
It's supposed to make the special staves available in Thalantyr's store for BG1, and at the merchant woman on the top of Watcher's Keep in BG2. I guess you need to buy all the special modded equipment *before* you complete Watcher's Keep, because I'm pretty sure that merchant goes away after you finish it.
There are two separate mods, one for BG1 and one for BG2. The link below is for BG1, and it contains a link to the BG2 mod.
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/18108/item-mod-more-style-for-mages-ranged-wizard-s-staffs-circlets-robe-visual-tweaks-for-bg-ee/p1
EDIT: I read all the way through the threads, and you can install the mods on a saved game only if you haven't visited Thalantyr's store or the WK merchant's store. Apparently, it's opening the merchant's inventory that locks in a save variable, and if you've already done that in your saved game, then the mod won't change it. The threads have some CLUA create item instructions if you want to console them into a saved game.
ah... thank god for Imoen!
Exactly! Crossbows were precisely designed so you could give one each to 100,000 peasants, tell them to point it at the vague direction of the enemy and pull the trigger!
With a sling, you get the basic problem of each man needs quite a lot of space to swing it above his head without having slingers getting in each other's way and causing each other injury. Oh and it took a lot of skill to use with much accuracy and power. All that time a man's practising to swing a sling, he ain't farming!
He did it by placing his arm through the bow, between the string and the bow staff, such that he could rest the bow on his shoulder.
They never showed him fighting with the staff, though. He would have needed to throw it on the ground in order to use the bow, which would have precluded his picking it back up again during combat. They showed him poking and digging with the staff as a tool, but in the scenes where he was fighting, it was only with the bow, and the staff was nowhere to be seen.