Unpopular opinions? Hmm, sounds interesting... Let me add something!
Kangaxx is easier to beat than most Demiliches in the game (provided you know the right way).
Incendiary Cloud can be much more deadlier than Horrid Wilting.
Stun is the most dangerous negative status condition as there are no spells to gain protection from it, and it is very difficult to be removed. (There's a weapon that grants immunity to it, though.)
You can get to 10 APRs without Whirlwind Attack.
Demiliches and Planetars should be friends. (If you're in doubt about this fact, you may ask @Shandaxx.)
Stun can be removed with the 3rd level divine spell "remove paralisis" .
Yes, an improved hasted fighter with kundane+belm can easily get to 10 attacks/round
Also possibly unpopular opinion: BG2 was just way too epic. I would've really preferred to level up a lot less and have liches dragons, beholders etc be a much bigger rarer deal.
Liches, Dragons, and Beholders only stop being big deals after we have learned how to deal with them. I doubt anybody playing for the first time ran into Firekraag and went, "Man a dragon in BG2. I wish these were a bigger deal."
I hate katanas and think they shouldn't roll a D10. They should be no better than a "long sword", since in reality, they aren't. They are worse.
Let me expand on that.
First let me start off by saying that I love the the Japanese sword (katana = sword, nothing special) it's the only real sword I own IRL.
Katanas shouldn't roll D10 due to the fact they are 1 handed weapons in BG. They could possibly roll a D10 if wielded in both hands, which is what the katana is—a two handed sword. Not because they are big and heavy—although there are rare variants—it's all about how the blade is balanced. The angle of the curve, length of the blade and handle place the center of gravity higher up the blade than a conventional 1 handed sword.
Try swinging a katana around with 1 hand, you can do it but it's going to feel incredibly awkward. Not because your some peasant with no sword skills, but because the balance is off. That high center of gravity is going to make changing the blades direction in mid flight more slow, sluggish and strenuous. #baeloth This is bad for parrying attacks and feigning strikes. Try parrying a heavy blow 1 handed with a katana. Unless you posses some herculean grip, there is a good chance the sword would be knocked out of your hand. The extra hand at the base of the handle is really needed for that extra support and control. Once wielded in two hands, you will feel the speed, agility and comfort return.
A Japanese sword compared to a long sword has less mass, and is much more vulnerable to breaking. The European swords had spring, meaning they would shake around during impact to keep them from breaking. Japanese swords didn't pose this trait—they would bend permanently or break. What sense does making a sword this way make, you might ask? Well, unless a true katana expert comes in here with the answers, I'll surmise based on my experience with my sword, and known facts about Japan.
Not only was iron scarce in Japan, but the ore they had was low quality, known as pig iron. This is why swords were folded thousands of times to work these impurities out. Which was necessary, or the impurities would create random weak points in the sword. How do you make thousands of weapons from a scarce resource? Make them long and slender. How do you make low mass swords formidable and durable? Jack the center of gravity as high as you can by placing some of the weight in front of the hand via sword curving. Harden the metal behind a softer edge and use slashing attacks. The curving should also help disperse the kinetic energy across the entire blade instead of a single point. The soft edge is easier to sharpen, and doubles as a shock absorber for the harder backside. Use two hands to counterbalance the weight.
Was the Japanese sword one of the best, or even close? Not in my opinion. But it was definitely, absolutely, a marvel creation—a genius attunement with nature and physics. How they figured all that out is beyond me, but they made the most of what they had and that's something to admire. One thing BG has right, however, is that the sword 'is a work of art.'
I guess if we are going to go so far as to say the katana needs to be a two handed sword, then we should also address that in reality, every character in the game would have 5 ticks in spears/halberds, a tick in long sword for back up, a tick in daggers for plated enemies, and maybe a tick in maces/war hammers/bows for funzies.
I think most people would agree that the proficiency system is messed up, and that complaints of it should be in a "Popular Opinions" thread.
Thankyou for the explaination, really interesting.
I tried out a katana once in RL (at an auction they had a genuine one, went for quite a bit of money, but auctions can be fun as they never really know if you are a serious buyer so you get to mess around).
Very disappointed because I usually have five pips in katana and I couldn't carry them over!!!! Life sucks.
I think you know you're in a fantasy forum, when Katana shouldn't do more slashing damage than a Long Sword... Damn you Beamdog making fantasy realistic!
It can be either, just like a Long Sword can. But if it was made Two-Hander it should make more "slashing" damage than one.
Neverwinter Nights 2 handles this well. It gives a damage bonus when wielding a medium sized 1 handed weapon in 2 hands. Not sure if it gave a to-hit bonus or not, been a couple years since my last play. Although IIRC, the katana still rolled a D10 regardless if used in 1 or 2 hands. So that discrepancy is still there.
In one play-through, I played a half-orc barbarian that wielded an axe in 2 hands. In his words, "Me not like big clunky axe. Normal axe with two hands beddar."
I'm curious if NWN1 has this same feature. Last time I played was early 2000's. And yes, I do have my eye on that EE version.
NWN2 also allowed using spear and shield with the right feat. Which is something that should be standard across all of Toril requiring no special monkey grip, but then of course, here we go again.
Sooo in 3.0/3.5 when you wield a weapon with 2 hands you gain a 1.5 strength bonus to damage. So if you have 14 str (+2 Modifier) then your axe will deal +3 damage. That's how it should work in NWN1 but I can't confirm if it does.
Yup. One reason why scythes have the best potential damage output in NWN1.
I remember reading somewhere that the build with the most damage output was somebody who dual-wielded kukris because it was so easy to land critical hits with them. I barely knew anything about NWN1 and it was still obvious to me that that was wrong: there were numerous ways to increase the chance of landing a critical hit, and there were numerous ways to increase base damage, but there was no way to boost your critical hit multiplier. That was the limiting factor in the equation, and the scythe's x4 multiplier made it very clear which had the greatest potential. The Improved Critical feat, the keen effect, and luck would all make a much bigger impact on a scythe than a kukri.
1. The Gnoll Stronghold is a breeze (I think I might have already said that one, but I don't know for sure) 2. Jaheria is much more suited to swashbuckling (scimitars) than staff wielding 3. Jan is the best thief in the series barring the creation of one: his Thief skills are unrivaled in Baldur's Gate 2 before Hexatt, his commentary is hilarious and his quest opens the game up to a multitude of bizarre theories
The character wields a weapon which requires (or at least accommodates) the use of two hands. Such weapons include those which require two hands (Two-Handed Sword, Polearms, and Quarterstaff, for instance) and those which can be used one-and two-handed (Bastard Sword and Spear, for example).
One-Handed Weapons Used Two-Handed
Some players don't realize that many other one-handed weapons can also be used two-handed. Since these weapons don't do any more damage two-handed, there usually isn't much reason to use them this way; however, with Style Specialization in Two-Hander Style, now there's a reason. If you specialize in Two-Hander Style and then use a one-handed weapon in two hands, you also get a bonus of +1 to damage. Thus, if you take a Two-Hander Style Specialization, when using a long sword two-handed, you do 1d8+1 damage instead of the base 1d8 (or 1d12+1 vs. large targets, instead of the base 1d12). The one-handed weapons which can be used two-handed in this fashion include: Battle axe, Club, Footman's flail, Footman's pick, Horseman's flail, Horseman's mace, Horseman's pick, Morning star, Long sword, Warhammer.
Style Specialization
You can, by devoting a weapon proficiency to it, take a Style Specialization with Two-Hander Style. Style Specialization with Two-Hander Style gives you a very specific benefit: When you're using a weapon two-handed, that weapon's Speed Factor is reduced by 3.
For example, a fighter with Two-Hander Style Specialization and wielding a Bastard Sword can wield his weapon faster in two-handed style than in one-handed style. Used in one hand, the Bastard Sword has a Speed Factor of 6. In two hands (normally), it has a Speed Factor of 8. But used in two hands by someone with Two-Hander Style Specialization, it has a Speed Factor of (8–3) 5.
This is because when a fighter wields such a weapon with both hands on the hilt, he has more leverage on the blade and can move it faster. That's what Style Specialization in Two-Hander Style will do for the character: It teaches him how to use the weapon much faster and more aggressively than someone with less specialized training in the weapon.
TL;DR: You gain -3 SF with Two-Hander Style and an additional 1 damage if you're using a single-hander weapon as a Two-Hander.
3. Jan is the best thief in the series barring the creation of one: his Thief skills are unrivaled in Baldur's Gate 2 before Hexatt, his commentary is hilarious and his quest opens the game up to a multitude of bizarre theories
Strongly disagree.
His thief skills are still unrivalled after Hexxat.
The victim of the spell is utterly comatose and sprawled helpless on the ground. Assuming someone attacking the victim isn't currently defending themselves against someone else they shouldn't simply be hitting the victim, but performing a coup de grace to kill them cleanly and instantly in a single strike, slit throat, helmet removed and perfect golf swing to the temple, sword through eye socket, what have you.
To model that, sleep should probably have included a massive penalty to physical damage resistance. Same should happen with Paralysis and Hold, but not Stun, if I recall the rules since a stunned victim isn't "helpless", just unable to do anything meaningful.
The victim of the spell is utterly comatose and sprawled helpless on the ground. Assuming someone attacking the victim isn't currently defending themselves against someone else they shouldn't simply be hitting the victim, but performing a coup de grace to kill them cleanly and instantly in a single strike, slit throat, helmet removed and perfect golf swing to the temple, sword through eye socket, what have you.
IIRC that's how PnP (at least on AD&D) handles this kind of situation.
Khalid isn't a bad NPC at all, in fact I think he's one of the best NPCs in the first game, despite his low strength score he really holds his own in battle and was responsible for a decent percentage of my parties kills even with more powerful characters such as Minsc and Dorn.
Khalid isn't a bad NPC at all, in fact I think he's one of the best NPCs in the first game, despite his low strength score he really holds his own in battle and was responsible for a decent percentage of my parties kills even with more powerful characters such as Minsc and Dorn.
He’s also versatile. You can develop him into a good frontliner or a good archer. And he doesn’t have a ‘special ability’ or illegal stat to make him more powerful, either
The Kensai concept is dumb. Would a turtle ditch its shell so it could run faster? Would a dragon remove its scales to boost its offensive power? At least monks go all the way with the concept and forsake weapons as well. At the very least, the monk's lack of arms and armor would let them pass as harmless peasants.
And mages have several spells that replace armor, and that's not even referring to Mirror Image/Stoneskin/PFMW/Absolute Immunity. Kensai ditch their armor and don't get any direct replacements to it, as far as I know (don't play them myself).
The only form of RL training I went through in related weapons was with the katana. I spent a year training in Iaido. The only time we used it one handed was the very short and times of drawing and sheathing the weapon. Everything else was two handed and it focused on a quick draw to immediate moves to dismember or slice. All two handed movements. As far as that goes, all parrying moves were meant to take the hit on the flat of the blade as well. Much of the time was spent mirroring the opponents stance in a way to prepare to defend and attack quickly. Just my 2 cents worth on the style I used with the katana.
Comments
Yes, an improved hasted fighter with kundane+belm can easily get to 10 attacks/round
First let me start off by saying that I love the the Japanese sword (katana = sword, nothing special) it's the only real sword I own IRL.
Katanas shouldn't roll D10 due to the fact they are 1 handed weapons in BG. They could possibly roll a D10 if wielded in both hands, which is what the katana is—a two handed sword. Not because they are big and heavy—although there are rare variants—it's all about how the blade is balanced. The angle of the curve, length of the blade and handle place the center of gravity higher up the blade than a conventional 1 handed sword.
Try swinging a katana around with 1 hand, you can do it but it's going to feel incredibly awkward. Not because your some peasant with no sword skills, but because the balance is off. That high center of gravity is going to make changing the blades direction in mid flight more slow, sluggish and strenuous. #baeloth
This is bad for parrying attacks and feigning strikes. Try parrying a heavy blow 1 handed with a katana. Unless you posses some herculean grip, there is a good chance the sword would be knocked out of your hand. The extra hand at the base of the handle is really needed for that extra support and control. Once wielded in two hands, you will feel the speed, agility and comfort return.
Not only was iron scarce in Japan, but the ore they had was low quality, known as pig iron. This is why swords were folded thousands of times to work these impurities out. Which was necessary, or the impurities would create random weak points in the sword. How do you make thousands of weapons from a scarce resource? Make them long and slender. How do you make low mass swords formidable and durable? Jack the center of gravity as high as you can by placing some of the weight in front of the hand via sword curving. Harden the metal behind a softer edge and use slashing attacks. The curving should also help disperse the kinetic energy across the entire blade instead of a single point. The soft edge is easier to sharpen, and doubles as a shock absorber for the harder backside. Use two hands to counterbalance the weight.
Was the Japanese sword one of the best, or even close? Not in my opinion. But it was definitely, absolutely, a marvel creation—a genius attunement with nature and physics. How they figured all that out is beyond me, but they made the most of what they had and that's something to admire. One thing BG has right, however, is that the sword 'is a work of art.'
I guess if we are going to go so far as to say the katana needs to be a two handed sword, then we should also address that in reality, every character in the game would have 5 ticks in spears/halberds, a tick in long sword for back up, a tick in daggers for plated enemies, and maybe a tick in maces/war hammers/bows for funzies.
I think most people would agree that the proficiency system is messed up, and that complaints of it should be in a "Popular Opinions" thread.
Thankyou for the explaination, really interesting.
I tried out a katana once in RL (at an auction they had a genuine one, went for quite a bit of money, but auctions can be fun as they never really know if you are a serious buyer so you get to mess around).
Very disappointed because I usually have five pips in katana and I couldn't carry them over!!!!
Life sucks.
In one play-through, I played a half-orc barbarian that wielded an axe in 2 hands. In his words, "Me not like big clunky axe. Normal axe with two hands beddar."
I'm curious if NWN1 has this same feature. Last time I played was early 2000's. And yes, I do have my eye on that EE version.
NWN2 also allowed using spear and shield with the right feat. Which is something that should be standard across all of Toril requiring no special monkey grip, but then of course, here we go again.
I remember reading somewhere that the build with the most damage output was somebody who dual-wielded kukris because it was so easy to land critical hits with them. I barely knew anything about NWN1 and it was still obvious to me that that was wrong: there were numerous ways to increase the chance of landing a critical hit, and there were numerous ways to increase base damage, but there was no way to boost your critical hit multiplier. That was the limiting factor in the equation, and the scythe's x4 multiplier made it very clear which had the greatest potential. The Improved Critical feat, the keen effect, and luck would all make a much bigger impact on a scythe than a kukri.
2. Jaheria is much more suited to swashbuckling (scimitars) than staff wielding
3. Jan is the best thief in the series barring the creation of one: his Thief skills are unrivaled in Baldur's Gate 2 before Hexatt, his commentary is hilarious and his quest opens the game up to a multitude of bizarre theories
About the One-Handed-Sword-as-a-Two-Handed-Sword thing, the Complete Fighter's Handbook gives a nice approach to this subject in the Two-Hander Style: TL;DR: You gain -3 SF with Two-Hander Style and an additional 1 damage if you're using a single-hander weapon as a Two-Hander.
To model that, sleep should probably have included a massive penalty to physical damage resistance. Same should happen with Paralysis and Hold, but not Stun, if I recall the rules since a stunned victim isn't "helpless", just unable to do anything meaningful.
Just my 2 cents worth on the style I used with the katana.