Please help me with a weapon choice

mahe4

Hi there,
i wanted to create a Fighter/Illusionist to go through both bgee and bg2ee.
and i can't decide with what weapons to start.
i want to dual wield weapons.
i don't want to take longswords for bgee, because i want to take khalid in my party, and let him handle viscona.
i want to take belm as offhand for bg2ee, so sooner or later i take scimitars as prof.
i don't want to kill drizzt, and getting two other good scimitars in bgee isn't so easy and/or profitable.

with what weapon proficiency should i start?
i thought of getting two points in dual wielding from the start, so there is one weapon proficiency left.

what good weapons are there in bgee from pretty much the beginning of the game?

CaptRory

In the Katana Proficiency there's a weapon in BG2 that gives you extra spells. You might consider going that route. Plus one of the strongest swords in BG2 is a Katana. There are some really good maces across the games. There's the Stupifier in BG1 and the Mace of Disruption in BG2. Maces would be a good choice to work on then pick up Katanas in the second game. The Stupifier can be looted from an inn in Beregost so you can pick it up almost at the word 'Go'.

Fiendish_Warrior

Stupefier - Mace. It's right in Beregost. Crushing is always a great option for your character to have. If you feel like it's "out of character", then consider a ranged weapon. If you save up the money, the Army Scythe (also in Beregost) is a great crossbow.

Fiendish_Warrior

Along those same lines, the Ashideena is accessible early provided that you can kill Bassilus (area east of Beregost). It's a War Hammer. I'd do one or the other.

Fiendish_Warrior

Also the Dagger of Venom is available for a coin in Beregost too. If you feel like daggers are more in line with what your character would use, that's a great one.

CaptRory

Fiendish_Warrior said:

Also the Dagger of Venom is available for a coin in Beregost too. If you feel like daggers are more in line with what your character would use, that's a great one.

That's really good for a thief. Pop out and backstab a mage with it, if the damage doesn't kill him the poison probably will and it will disrupt his casting.

mahe4

thanks for the input.
i don't really care for the extra spells katana, but celestial fury would be nice, but that is bg2ee and katanas are pretty rare in bgee, so katanas for later, not the beginning.
is there a dagger like the venom dagger in bg2ee?
and i don't want to take any ranged weapons for this character, forgot to write that in the first post, sorry.
the stupifier is a good idea, haven't used that one in a while...
what would you say is better for bgee, stupifier or asheena?
i guess asheena would get rid of trash faster, but stupifier is a lot better for stronger enemies.

Fiendish_Warrior

mahe4 said:

thanks for the input.
i don't really care for the extra spells katana, but celestial fury would be nice, but that is bg2ee and katanas are pretty rare in bgee, so katanas for later, not the beginning.
is there a dagger like the venom dagger in bg2ee?
and i don't want to take any ranged weapons for this character, forgot to write that in the first post, sorry.
the stupifier is a good idea, haven't used that one in a while...
what would you say is better for bgee, stupifier or asheena?
i guess asheena would get rid of trash faster, but stupifier is a lot better for stronger enemies.

There are a couple of daggers that have poison qualities. One is a throwing dagger but the other looks like a psychotic serial killer's weapon (Neb's Nasty Cutter).

Fiendish_Warrior

The upshot of doing daggers too is that you can get DoV early and then throw a proficiency point in scimitars later. About halfway through the main quest, you can dual-wield the dagger and Rashad's Talon. Seems like a pretty decent BGEE combo.

CaptRory

mahe4 said:

thanks for the input.
i don't really care for the extra spells katana, but celestial fury would be nice, but that is bg2ee and katanas are pretty rare in bgee, so katanas for later, not the beginning.
is there a dagger like the venom dagger in bg2ee?
and i don't want to take any ranged weapons for this character, forgot to write that in the first post, sorry.
the stupifier is a good idea, haven't used that one in a while...
what would you say is better for bgee, stupifier or asheena?
i guess asheena would get rid of trash faster, but stupifier is a lot better for stronger enemies.

Stupifier is pretty Top Drawer as far as blunt weapons go. There's also a +2 Mace at some point for dual wielding purposes. Ashideena is very nice but the little bit of lightning damage doesn't add much, I think you'll have more overall success with the maces.

Jarrakul

Maces are a fantastic bet for BG1, but they fall off a bit in BG2, with the notable exception of the Improved Mace of Disruption (which is still situational). Not that big a concern, since you need scimitar proficiency anyway by BG2, except that there aren't really a ton of scimitars +3 in early BG2, which can be a real problem depending on what quests you do.

Note, though, that daggers are well-represented in both games (and provide you a ranged option, if you do change your mind about that). The Dagger of Venom is fantastic in BG1, of course, but I never see anyone mention the Pixie Prick in BG2. Which is interesting, since it's basically Celestial Fury as a dagger. At least, it's the part of Celestial Fury that anyone cares about, as a dagger.

Wowo

If scimitar is your only proficiency in BG2 then you'll be perfectly fine with Usono's Blade and Belm until you have pips for Celestial Fury.

Mace is the best choice for BG1 and stays strong in bg2 against undead.

So, perhaps something like:
1st level: Mace**, TWF'ing**
3rd: Scimitar* (2 copies of Rashaads Talon available)
6th: Scimitar**
9th: Katana*
12th: Katana**

hispls

Nobody has mentioned flail?

JuliusBorisov

mahe4 said:

is there a dagger like the venom dagger in bg2ee?

Actually in the new BG2EE content for Neera there's the Dagger of Venom itself.

Also, in the new content for Hexxat there's an excellent dagger Jade fang +3 (5% chance to stun for 10secs, restores 1 hp to user with each hit).

mahe4

hispls said:

Nobody has mentioned flail?

i'm glad nobody did.
the upgraded flail of ages is what would go against my build idea for this char.
i want to take belm as offhand, and the 1/2 attack bracers.
that way i would get 5 attacks without buffs.
then cast improved haste to double that.
10 attacks.
and use critical strike hla from fighters to always hit and crit.
10 crits per round would just be devastating, and it isn't possible with the upgraded flail of ages, since it prevents haste effects.
unless that was fixed, and i didn't noticed... but i doubt that.

and thanks for the dagger idea, never thought about that, those daggers all sound pretty interesting!

Jarrakul

Last I checked (which may have been before the latest patch, so take this with a grain of salt), you could switch to a secondary melee weapon, cast Improved Haste, and switch back to the FoA without losing the extra attacks. Whether or not you consider this fair is another matter. Also, flails are pretty bad in BG1.

mahe4

Jarrakul said:

Last I checked (which may have been before the latest patch, so take this with a grain of salt), you could switch to a secondary melee weapon, cast Improved Haste, and switch back to the FoA without losing the extra attacks. Whether or not you consider this fair is another matter. Also, flails are pretty bad in BG1.

really? thanks i didn't know this!

Jarrakul

Just tested, and it still works as of the current build.

simples

neb's nasty cutter is evil only

Belanos

mahe4 said:

i wanted to create a Fighter/Illusionist to go through both bgee and bg2ee.

I could very well be wrong, but I don't think you can do that without using EEKeeper. A multi-class character doesn't get any kits or schools, just the straight classes, and a dual-class character can only select a kit/school with the first class. The second class has to be a straight class.

Gallowglass

Belanos said:

mahe4 said:

i wanted to create a Fighter/Illusionist to go through both bgee and bg2ee.

I could very well be wrong, but I don't think you can do that without using EEKeeper. A multi-class character doesn't get any kits or schools, just the straight classes, and a dual-class character can only select a kit/school with the first class. The second class has to be a straight class.

Hmm, as you suspected might be the case, you're wrong. Provided he chooses to be a Gnome, then any part-Mage multi-class will automatically be an Illusionist instead of a plain Mage. This isn't a bug, it's a deliberate "racial feature" of being a Gnome, because Gnomes are documented as having a special affinity with Illusion magics.

Gallowglass

@mahe4 - I'd create the character with Dagger ** and 2WS **, then at level 3 I'd go to 2WS ***, and at level 6 I'd add Mace *. For levels 1 and 2, I'd use a dagger with a shield (those early characters need the protection!), maybe I'd still do that for level 3. From level 4 onwards, I'd dual-wield Dagger of Venom +2 (main-hand) with Heart of the Golem +2 (off-hand), until getting Longtooth +2 as an off-hand upgrade in Chapter 7. I'd switch to Maces when facing an enemy which has a resistance against sharp weapons but not blunt weapons (e.g. skeletons, etc.), but otherwise I'd stick to the Daggers ... the poison effect of the Dagger of Venom is very powerful.

BTW, it's not so hard getting good Scimitars without killing Drizzt. There are two copies of Rashad's Talon +2 in BG1ee ...

one lying on the ground in the Spider's Nest zone of Cloakwood, the other in a trapped container on the roof of Durlag's Tower

... which aren't quite as excellent as Drizzt's Scimitars, but are nevertheless very adequate weapons to take out any BG1ee enemy. If you're really sure that your character will never want to fight at range, then I'd recommend Scimitars instead of Daggers, and dual-wield Rashsad's Talons ... but I recommended Daggers because there are times when being able to use throwing daggers is very useful.

In BG2ee, I'd add Axes (because there are some great Axes), and Warhammers if you're going to use this character in the front row (because Crom Faeyr in the off-hand dramatically increases the striking-power of any dual-wielding character). If you're not going to use him in the front row, then I'd wonder why you're bothering with a dual-wielding build at all, so I assume front row is your plan ... but if nevertheless that's not your plan, then I'd save Crom Faeyr for someone else and give this guy Longswords (because there are several Longswords with useful bonus effects).