two-handed weapon strength bonus

dunehunter

Since in BG series two-handed weapons are relatively underpowered compared to dual weapon style, so can we expect a X1.5 strength bonus like it is in 3E in the BGEE?

Schneidend

For classes that can use either style, I'd say two-handed swords are superior to dual-wielding in BG1 due to having better magical versions. And, with the addition of the BG2 engine, you can put proficiencies into Two-Handed Weapon style to double your crit chance from 5% to 10%

Silence

In BG1, two-handed weapons are pretty awesome. The sword in Cloakwood forest is great - too bad there are not more of them. I think in the long run (e.g.) BG2, dual wield is better.

The problem with the 3.5E damage rule is that it would lead to insane damage bonuses. It's easy to get an additional bonus of +3 at level 1. In other cases, it can be even higher. If you're a barbarian raging, you can get an additional bonus of +7! It's a wonderful rule for 3e, but it doesn't work well in 2e, IMO.

I'd settle for better swords in BG2.

Boaster

TWO WEAPON style offers better bonuses. With two weapons, your Critical is doubled, you can potentially have more protections or bonuses, depending on the weapon, AND you get an extra attack per round.

I'd say a 3rd point placement in TWO HANDED style should offer a -2 AC bonus. This would make it far more attractive.

Spears and Halberds are under represented weapons. BG1 does have a +3 two handed sword.

dunehunter

In 3.5e, two-handed weapons are superior to dual weapons because the DR in 3.5e is calculated by amount not by percent, sorry for my poor english. And i think it is a good idea to add more magic two-handed weapons in BG1 like they did in TOB to balance different kind of weapons.

Schneidend

Boaster said:

TWO WEAPON style offers better bonuses. With two weapons, your Critical is doubled, you can potentially have more protections or bonuses, depending on the weapon, AND you get an extra attack per round.

I'd say a 3rd point placement in TWO HANDED style should offer a -2 AC bonus. This would make it far more attractive.

Spears and Halberds are under represented weapons. BG1 does have a +3 two handed sword.

Your crit chance isn't doubled by dual-wielding. You just get an extra attack. While this does increase your chances of a crit over time, each individual roll is still only a 5% chance. You have to roll a 20.

Two-handed style actually does double each individual roll's chance of a crit, because it allows you to roll crits on 19 AND 20. That's 10%.

In BG1, dual-wielding doesn't offer much exra protection or bonuses unless you're using Twinkle, as most one-handed weapons in BG1 don't provide any bonuses the normal to-hit and damage bonuses. Obviously, BG2 changes this, where just about every named one-hander does something neat.

Spears and halberds are indeed under represented in BG1. Hopefully Overhaul added some new items to rectify this. Two-handed swords have two +3 instances, and a +2 that makes you immune to hold, slow, paralysis, stun, and other similar effects.

I do agree, though, that a third pip should be allowed in Two-handed Style, and it should do something cool.

Boaster

Wielding two weapons doesn't double Criticals like I thought. You were correct. I was misthinking.

Dee

Personally, I think all of the weapon styles should have a third slot for proficiency. Two-Handed Weapon Style might grant an additional 1/2 attack per round, or an additional speed factor bonus (to further offset the slowness of large weapons). Single Weapon Style would be fine with an even greater bonus to AC (-3 is probably enough), or possibly a THAC0 bonus. Sword and Shield Style is kind of okay as it is, although I might say that at the third pip, it also grants the character a -2 AC vs. melee attacks (so it's -2 against melee, -4 against ranged).

I also think that "unarmed" ought to qualify as wielding a single weapon for the purposes of Single Weapon Style's benefits, largely because monks end up taking a penalty for not wielding a weapon. But that's neither here nor there.

For myself, I usually go with long swords because of Varscona - but I'm lately feeling the desire to roll up a zweihander Blackguard...

Schneidend

Aosaw said:

For myself, I usually go with long swords because of Varscona - but I'm lately feeling the desire to roll up a zweihander Blackguard...

I dunno. A Blackguard dual-wielding Varscona and the Dagger of Venom would be pretty thematic and awesome.

beerflavour

Two-weapon fighting style is simply superior because it increases the number of attacks. More successful attacks within the same time frame result in statistically more damage. I don't remember if the two-handed weapon fighting style offered a significant damage boost in BG2. But to be honest I didn't bother with maxing damage output.

When dual-wielding weapons with additional perks (e.g. life draining, poisoning and such) dual wielding gets even more powerful.

beerflavour

Boaster said:

Wielding two weapons doesn't double Criticals like I thought. You were correct. I was misthinking.

Dual wielding will still increase the potential for critical hits (due to more attacks). Whether it doubles the critical hit rate or not depends on closer examination of the circumstances.