Useful weapons.

yksimalt

I have found the mace that stuns opponents on a 25% chance per hit, no save, to be very useful throughout the game and against all opponents met.

A tanking cleric wielding that mace allows for all other party members to follow up with different kinds of damage, once the opponent is stunned.

Any other gives on interesting weapons?

Jarrakul

Spider's Bane is pretty fantastic. It's a two-handed sword +2 that gives free action while equipped. Perfect for combining with Web spells, or just fighting ghouls.

The Dagger of Venom is also notoriously amazing, partially for being high-damage, but partially for its ability to seriously shut down enemy spellcasters.

Hangard's Axe is quite useful, since it's the only returning throwing axe in BG1. It's a real game-changer for the axe-user, since normal throwing axes are generally too heavy to carry many around.

Hudzy

I find the Burning Earth long sword quite useful. It makes me feel ok using a non-blunt against undead, and comes in handy against certain regenerating creatures in the expansion.

Plus it looks cool, which is always useful.

Jarrakul

Looking cool is often underestimated. Lots of folk can beat the game, but only some can do it in style.

yksimalt

The Spider Bane is great I believe especially against the Greater Ghouls in Durlag's lower levels.

With the stun-Mace I slew Drizzt (I am playing Chaotic Evil) in melee combat (no cheats) within a few rounds.

The Burning sword I find to be just another damage giver, better against some opponents but with no special abilities above that.

DreadKhan

Throwing daggers are often very underrated in BG1. You can get an unlimited supply for free, offer base 2 apr, add strength to damage, and they're ranged. You also can use daggers in melee, making them an easy solution for proficiency-restricted characters, ie mages, rogues and bards. There are 3 very good melee daggers, DoVenom is a particularly beastly one, but two other good ones exist, and magic daggers are easy to get. No magic throwing daggers is so-so though; not many foes require magic, but a few do!

Another amazing weapon are the stunning darts. Very nasty to force 3 saves. You can also use the wounding variant, very nasty too. A fighter or assassin (or a dualed assassin to fighter) with darts can be a very, very nasty enemy.

A magic sling can totally anihilate... very high damage if you can buff your str up high; a cleric can usually take out nearly anyone with a trusty sling and his buffs. I've offed Sarevok with a solo cleric that way.

elminster

Beruel's Retort +1. Its basically a +1 axes that you can buy for really cheap in the beregost smithy. Despite it being a throwing axes you can even use it for melee and on average it only does 0.5 damage less than a +1 battle axe. Overall very good for Kagain

Francois

The most useful are the long sword +2 (from Greywolf) and the hammer +2 (from Bassilius) simply because you can get them very early. Apart from that I never cared much about specific weapons in BG1, unlike in the sequel.

The most powerful weapon in the first game is a simple +1 bow in the hands of an elven archer (ranger kit). You get amazing THAC0 very early on and it keep getting better (Racial +1 bonus for bows, 19 DEX bonus, +1 extra per 3 levels for archer kit).

DreadKhan

Berserker with lowly throwing daggers can deal terrific damage at range too, and vs anyone immune to jormal weapons, you can DW daggers in melee.

D4+7+2+2=12-15 damage per dagger for a level 1 half orc berserker is some real firepower out the gate!

yksimalt

The name of the mace I am referring to is The Stupifier. Even the name is cool.

Jarrakul

My main problem with throwing daggers is a lesser version of my problem with throwing axes: they're heavy. Sure, you can cart around a decent number, but not really enough for prolonged expeditions. Although admittedly it's not so bad if you're a half-orc with a 19 strength. And of course they make a great backup weapon in any case.

DreadKhan

Yeah, but you'll be killing things quicker than a biw, thus requiring less ammo. Daggers are wwaayy lighter than throwing axes though. Axes are impossible to haul!

I would say you should use darts if you don't have an str bonus thats significant, especially later when magic darts feel affordable.

dunbar

When it comes to ranged weapons in BG1 I like nothing better than for one of my party to be equipped with the Army Scythe and another with darts of Stunning/Wounding (specifically for use against those pesky mages).

JuliusBorisov

The Bala's Axe should be mentioned in this thread as well. It basically gives your warrior powers of the wizard slayer.

Now when the transfer of weapons between BG1 and BG2 is available, finding this axe in the Durlag's Tower and then importing it to BG2 can be useful a lot, especially taking into account a BG2's focus on magic.

Jarrakul

I actually found Bala's Axe in BG2 in the Planar Sphere on my most recent playthrough. It could be a mod, but I don't think I have any BG2 mods installed that add items. So while importing it would get you access to it sooner, it seems that now you can get it anyway.

Quartz

bengoshi said:

Now when the transfer of weapons between BG1 and BG2 is available, finding this axe in the Durlag's Tower and then importing it to BG2 can be useful a lot, especially taking into account a BG2's focus on magic.

Importing weapons to BGII? How do you mean?

Gallowglass

Quartz said:

Importing weapons to BGII? How do you mean?

See the release notes for BG2ee v1.3 - there's now a mechanism for carrying one weapon (from a limited list) from BG1ee into BG2ee, in the same way that there's always been a mechanism for carrying forward the Golden Pantaloons, plus one armour and one other item (both also from limited lists).

JuliusBorisov

Quartz said:

bengoshi said:

Now when the transfer of weapons between BG1 and BG2 is available, finding this axe in the Durlag's Tower and then importing it to BG2 can be useful a lot, especially taking into account a BG2's focus on magic.

Importing weapons to BGII? How do you mean?

To add to what @Gallowglass has said, I'd like to mention the http://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/37637/now-when-the-weapon-transfer-is-available-what-would-your-choice-be thread, where the mechanics of the import choice and BG2 equivalents are discussed by the Devs and the forumites.

batoor

Just using this thread, because it's active at the moment.

Just wondering if the Import bg1-bg 2 savegame or character file is stable at this point. Or if there are still any bugs/issues remaining in the current 1.3 patch.

Do the imported characters have all their statistics, thaco, hp and ac or experience level intact?

Jarrakul

Importing works fine for me, but I don't think I've ever had problems with it.

Son_of_Imoen

Jarrakul said:

My main problem with throwing daggers is a lesser version of my problem with throwing axes: they're heavy. Although admittedly it's not so bad if you're a half-orc with a 19 strength.

Dorn makes a perfect carrier boy for Xan, giving Xan a weapon that fits the same proficiency as his Moonblade. The downside is: getting those daggers for free can be a dangerous undertaking for a low-level Xan.

DreadKhan

Xzar imho is a pretty good fit for throwing daggers, but Xan isn't bad either.

Mathsorcerer

I made a returning throwing dagger and a returning dart for BGEE--very useful for low-strength mages. Now that I think about it I should make a poisoned retuning throwing dagger which only assassins may use, specifically my assassin/mage.

OlvynChuru

Hudzy said:

I find the Burning Earth long sword quite useful. It makes me feel ok using a non-blunt against undead, and comes in handy against certain regenerating creatures in the expansion.

Plus it looks cool, which is always useful.

What do you mean "it looks cool?" It's a fire sword; it looks warm to me! If you want a sword that looks cool, try out the Snow Maiden's Reaver in Icewind Dale.