Darts as primary weapon?

JumboWheat01

I'm looking at the mage weapon table, considering future mage characters and those I will encounter through the games. Has anyone made darts their primary weapon in some way, shape or form? How well do the work for you? I certainly find enough magical darts through the games, so I should make SOME use of them, but figured it might be safer to ask first.

Abi_Dalzim

For a mage? Works fine, especially in Baldur's Gate EE, given the magical darts that Thalantyr sells. Adding d6 elemental damage is especially useful given how little they do otherwise. Later on, though, a mage shouldn't need to rely on weapons much, so it doesn't matter what you're using one way or another.

I've heard people suggest doing it for a fighter as well, given the 3 APR, but I think that's cancelled out by the short range, so you'd do better with a bow or possibly a sling.

dunbar

You might find this relevant:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/45904/the-ultimate-dart-flinging-build

comebackhome

Mage/Assassin using EE keeper to get the kit, then once you improved haste + poison weapon.. Well just thank me later.

Achterklad

So long as your character's dexterity is at least 17, you'll be fine. If you can get to 19, though, even better.

And if you want to be a true dart master, don't forget to grow a beer belly. Like these fabulous specimens.

DetectiveMittens

With the changes to Wizard Slayer, a "Dart-Slayer" can will have numerous power-spikes throughout a playthrough and will have the capacity to trivialise ANY fight involving a spellcaster. Dual-Classing to thief at 13 removes all all restrictions of Wizard Slayer with UAI too.

BelgarathMTH

The one thing I don't like about darts as a mage weapon, is that they have a shorter range than slings, meaning your mage usually has to step out from behind the party and get uncomfortably close to drawing enemy aggro in order to get into throwing range. So, I usually choose the sling instead, to be safer. I like the idea of a dart throwing mage, though, especially if you imagine that whatever accuracy he or she has is coming from magic. Of course, I can imagine that with the sling as well. I often imagine my mage is saying a brief incantation and then throwing a rock (or darts), rather than actually being skilled with a sling (or darts) through mundane practice.

It's like on Bewitched, where Samantha had the power to twitch her nose and become skilled at anything for the spell duration, from playing the piano to, well, throwing darts.

abacus

Assassin dualled to fighter with grand mastery in Darts is lethal... Even now that poison weapon has been nerfed, with that level of APR you can reasonably expect a failed save every round.

Gotural

@abacus Sadly if the enemy makes his save it also become immune to Poison Weapon for this round, so having 1 APR or 10 doesn't change anything.

Honestly RiP Assassins with Darts.

JumboWheat01

They are proving useful on my sorcerer. Sure, it's a quantity over quality thing when you have the THAC0 of a wizard, but they seem to hit more often then not, oddly enough.

Need to make a note to get the returning one as soon as I can in BG2EE.

lunar

Darts of stunning are surprisingly lethal. Some enemies in bg2 use them (from Ritual, tactics mod, I think) and it is surprising how effective they are.
Asp's nest darts also look promising, however I haven't tried them out.
Crimson dart +3 is the most easy to get (in the unmodded game, item randomiser makes life more exciting and difficult) +3 unlimited ranged weapon, too! Handy to whittle away iron/adamantine golems from a distance.

magisensei

darts are quite good - I equip my mage or NPCs with them - good APR and such a nice variety of them. Yes the range is shorter than a bow/sling but in most cases it becomes a non issue with tanks standing right beside them.

Stun darts work well as do the wounding darts (poison) and then there are the elemental darts. They are a bit expensive at first but when you reach chp 3-4 costs should not be a real concern anymore.

My mage usually has a supply of stunning, wounding and acid darts along with the normal ones for just regular encounters.

Grum

magisensei said:

darts are quite good - I equip my mage or NPCs with them - good APR and such a nice variety of them. Yes the range is shorter than a bow/sling but in most cases it becomes a non issue with tanks standing right beside them.

Stun darts work well as do the wounding darts (poison) and then there are the elemental darts. They are a bit expensive at first but when you reach chp 3-4 costs should not be a real concern anymore.

My mage usually has a supply of stunning, wounding and acid darts along with the normal ones for just regular encounters.

Agreed on the above.

For everyday use get the returning dart from watcher's keep. Have stunning and wounding on hand for when you run out of good spells and still want to do something useful.