Dynaheir and the Claw of Kazgaroth: Good Idea or Not so Much...

Carl_L

Hey,

Thinking of getting the claw for Dynaheir. Just curious if you guys think that's a good idea or if the hit to her Constitution is too much of a negative to be worth it. Thanks.

JuliusBorisov

The penalty to CON at -2 is severe for anyone who loses HP. And more so for those mages in BG1 who has 15 or 16 CON, taking into account they (being wizards) have little rolls.

For e.g., Dynaheir sits on 16 CON and that gives her 1D4 rolls + 2 HP every level. If you decrease CON to 14, she'll lose that "+2 HP" bonus per her EVERY level. It's 18 HP for 9 levels. And 18 HP in BG1 can be very decisive.

Not worth it, IMHO.

The Claw of Kazgaroth is much better on your fighter who has low CON: Coran, Dorn, Kivan, Shar-Teel. The extra saving throws will help a fighter better, I think, because it's the fighter that faces enemy magic in the first place.

You can also check a good thread: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/12423/to-claw-or-not-to-claw

Carl_L

@bengoshi Thanks for the feedback. Would you happen to include Minsc in that list of "fighters"? With a 15 CON he would miss out on +1 HP per level (as I understand it), but the tradeoff still might be worth it... Thoughts?

elminster

Honestly I think who you choose to take it can go either way. A fighter would be good in terms of the saving throws vs spells/wands, but since they are in the front lines they are also the most likely to get poisoned, paralyzed, or diseased so a save vs death hit isn't good. A mage (being hopefully away from enemies) is less likely to be in the position of being poisoned but he does benefit from the +4 to missile AC that the claw provides as well as the saving throw boosts (though if you plan on taking Blur there isn't much point to wearing the claw since if you are wearing the claw Blur will not do anything). You can cast Blur and then equip the claw and get benefits that way though (but this is impractical). But mages also have the worst save vs death already so giving it to them has its own risks.

JuliusBorisov

@Carl_L‌

Well, I deliberately haven't mentioned Minsk because using the Claw is not harmless for him.

But having given it a second thought: with a Claw Minsk will lose only 8 hit points at the maximum level for BG1 that can be tolerable taking into account he's a ranger and gets a 1d10 HP rolls every level.

So, go for it! Just don't forget to carry antidotes for him in case of a failed save vs death.

SharGuidesMyHand

elminster said:

A fighter would be good in terms of the saving throws vs spells/wands, but since they are in the front lines they are also the most likely to get poisoned, paralyzed, or diseased so a save vs death hit isn't good.

This is true, unless the fighter in question isn't necessarily at the front line, i.e.: a flanker or backup archer.

During my most recent playthrough, I used the claw on Kivan (2nd row flanker) for most of the way, and never really had any issues that I can remember.