BG1 Viconia: weapons profs and combat style
Lemernis
Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
It's been a long time since I played this game, but I'm reading here that at L2 Viconia joins equipped with mace, small shield, and sling, and here that her weapons profs are specifically in war hammer, mace, and sling.
Two out of three of my party's front line will be taking quite a bit of damage (Rasaad and PC half-elf Fighter-Mage who uses touch spells and melees). So I figure I'll typically position Viconia just behind the three front line meleers and have her hurling sling bullets.
When Viconia does have to melee I'm considering putting her future profs into quarterstaff. I'm forgetting now how that is done... I recall that a quarterstaff is a blunt two-handed weapon, but can't remember how profs are allocated for it in-game...
I played a game in the past with mage PC with high Dex who meleed with a staff. And I was surprised at how rarely he got hit, apparently due to the long reach of the staff and his nimbleness with it. Here too, I'm not looking for Viconia to dish out a lot of damage as a meleer, but rather to avoid taking damage and wasting the enemy's resources by swinging and missing a lot.
But if I do this, I'll be wasting the profs in mace that Viconia comes with. And she won't be using that nice hammer from Bassilus.
Anyway, do you think this is an acceptable trade-off? This assumes that she will in fact not take much damage wielding a stave, which may or may not be the case.
I'm going to resist Shadowkeepering her. Vanilla it is for me on this run, in honor of the original game.
Thoughts, suggestions? Thanks
Two out of three of my party's front line will be taking quite a bit of damage (Rasaad and PC half-elf Fighter-Mage who uses touch spells and melees). So I figure I'll typically position Viconia just behind the three front line meleers and have her hurling sling bullets.
When Viconia does have to melee I'm considering putting her future profs into quarterstaff. I'm forgetting now how that is done... I recall that a quarterstaff is a blunt two-handed weapon, but can't remember how profs are allocated for it in-game...
I played a game in the past with mage PC with high Dex who meleed with a staff. And I was surprised at how rarely he got hit, apparently due to the long reach of the staff and his nimbleness with it. Here too, I'm not looking for Viconia to dish out a lot of damage as a meleer, but rather to avoid taking damage and wasting the enemy's resources by swinging and missing a lot.
But if I do this, I'll be wasting the profs in mace that Viconia comes with. And she won't be using that nice hammer from Bassilus.
Anyway, do you think this is an acceptable trade-off? This assumes that she will in fact not take much damage wielding a stave, which may or may not be the case.
I'm going to resist Shadowkeepering her. Vanilla it is for me on this run, in honor of the original game.
Thoughts, suggestions? Thanks
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Until you get in BG let her use a sling and ankheg armour if you like. In BG2 give her the Crom Faeyr for incredible damage.
Thanks, that probably does make more sense. I'll also have Dorn in the party. But his natural strength as a half-orc will likely be very high to begin with. And the PC will probably wear gauntlets of weapons mastery, or whatever it is that enhances his melee ability.
The reason I said ankheg armour is because you don't need high strength to use it and it gives as much protection as tank armour.
Viconia should be able to cast holy power & righteous magic in EE, she would make a strong front line fighter with both cast and no gauntlets of orge power. If you decide to put the cloak of balduran on her as well, she'll be particually strong against mages. Even without those spells the level 2 str spell and DUHM would really be enough.
Ankheg armor is perfect for Viconia in this game, no one else would be using it.
Lol, I don't see her as useless without gauntlets of ogre strength. I'll also need her healing right away and she's got a mean arm with a slingbullet. If I position her carefully, shielded by the frontliners, she can then get her shots with a melee weapon in alongside them without too much risk from the enemy tanks. She'll be more at risk in the front from ranged weapons and spells than if she stays well to the rear, though.
@Lemernis Use her undead to distract basilisks.
She does become a very competent meleer with gauntlets of ogre strength and Ashideena (Bassilus' hammer) in BG1 though.
Concerning the original post, using a staff in no way increases defensive capabilities. You're much better off using a mace. Viconia already possesses proficiency points in mace, it leaves the option of a shield/off-hand weapon, and it does one more damage than the staff. There are no individual staffs in the first Baldur's Gate that warrant use over maces, and any staffs in BG 2 are better in the hands of Fighter/Mages than any cleric.
I hope this helps.
Does anyone know if "Sneak Attack" (installed as part of the HoW expansion) can be used with any wep in IWD1? So can I have a Dwarven Fighter/Thief sneak attack with say, a Two-Handed axe? I know Backstab is limited to Large Swords and Smaller weapons.
I recall a discussion on the old PBG forums many years ago about whether weapons with a longer reach such as spear, halberd, and quarterstaff confer any such defensive advantage. Some posters maintained it was so, i.e., that tyhey just did not seem to get hit as much when using them. Upon testing it in-game with a mage I was actually very surprised at just how often my stave wielding mage saved against melee attacks. Naturally, he couldn't take too many hits or he was toast. And if a real badass critted him it was lights out.
But I do not doubt that you're right.
If you've got multiple clerics/druids? Then I can see you throwing a cleric on the front lines. But unless that's the case, I don't see why you'd want the sole character capable of healing the rest of your team in a dangerous spot. If he/she goes down, you're screwed (typically).
This is why people who claim Viconia is "useless" without gauntlets of ogre power irk me. Is she going to be terribly capable in melee? Not really. But she can still use some pretty good armor (Mitrhil Chain +4 or Ankheg Armor come to mind) and that 19 dex means her ranged thac0 is really good. Give her a sling and watch her go to work. The reason you have a cleric in the party? She can still do that pretty damn good.
I'll try to use Viconia right behind my three frontline meleers, where she can heal, spellcast, sling bullets, and occasionally join a meleer in doling out melee strikes:
Saying someone is "useless" because you don't play to their strengths is kind of silly. That's why Garrick, Skie and Alora I feel are bottom tier NPCs. They simply don't HAVE any strengths.
I agree that Garrick is a challenge. But the challenge with him, as I recall, was how to get the most out of him--which was still rather fun for me. I like his personality, which helps.
He was a backrow character for my parties, for sure. I had him carry a lot of the potions, gems, extra light weapons, and other such clutter. His lore is good, so he was able to identify most items after a while. I'd also have him use the Identify spell so that my mage(s) wouldn't have to waste a slot on it.
In combat I'd have him fire off whatever offensive spells he had and then use Bard Song.
He didn't work out too bad, really. I mean, eventually you reach the point with development of tactical skills where you can mop the floor with the enemies with the game's strongest characters. Then you almost have to start looking for a challenge of some sort. Garrick certainly provides that!