@HaHaCharade as @Oxford_Guy said it's a seperate proficiency. Short swords are great on Shar-Teel though, lower speed factor which works well with backstabing. Halberd is probably a good choice for your PC but you never know what they might add.
So dumb question - What profs is she likely to start with? She has "Large Swords" and "Small Swords" when you first pick her up. So I guess she'll start with whatever large sword they give her? (Likely Bastard since that's what she's wielding). It seems then that, with the BG2 Proficiency system, you would want to build your main character to have the Scimitar +3 since no character would start with that proficiency and you'd be wasting slots otherwise.
@HaHaCharade You should be able to give both Faldorn & Jaheira pips in Scimitar, them + any single class thief (you could get Shar-Teel to 3 pips, level 3 & 6 fighter - level 8 thief). So NPCs can use it but I don't think you planned to use any of those particular ones? Rasaad would be a good fit for the defender + single weapon style.
Yeah I'd say bastard swords since that's what she's wielding, that & short swords. So you're better off focusing on short sword, you'll be able to take it up to five if you largely focus on it alone. As I said earlier I'm going to take it to 4 with two pips on single weapon style, you could also take two weapon fighting if you wanted a more classic BG2 fighter/thief one at 3rd one at 6th and the last at level 8 thief (once you've regained your fighter abilities). There's nothing stopping you from doing that and putting a point on scimitar during your thief levels (level 1 or 4) & using the scimitar in her off-hand.
@HaHaCharade You should be able to give both Faldorn & Jaheira pips in Scimitar, them + any single class thief (you could get Shar-Teel to 3 pips, level 3 & 6 fighter - level 8 thief). So NPCs can use it but I don't think you planned to use any of those particular ones? Rasaad would be a good fit for the defender + single weapon style.
Yeah I'd say bastard swords since that's what she's wielding, that & short swords. So you're better off focusing on short sword, you'll be able to take it up to five if you largely focus on it alone. As I said earlier I'm going to take it to 4 with two pips on single weapon style, you could also take two weapon fighting if you wanted a more classic BG2 fighter/thief one at 3rd one at 6th and the last at level 8 thief (once you've regained your fighter abilities). There's nothing stopping you from doing that and putting a point on scimitar during your thief levels (level 1 or 4) & using the scimitar in her off-hand.
I'm thinking of taking it to 5, and using a Shield. Single-Weapon style is tempting though. Sword and Shield style sucks ass.
Any NPC that can get any weapon to Grand Mastery is awesome in my book (Kagain, Shar-Teel)
They get another proficiency at 9th level. Warriors cap out at level 8 in BG1. Kagain, Shar-Teel, and Khalid can all get High Mastery (4 pips) but not Grand Mastery.
They get another proficiency at 9th level. Warriors cap out at level 8 in BG1. Kagain, Shar-Teel, and Khalid can all get High Mastery (4 pips) but not Grand Mastery.
Yeah I meant in BG:EE with the level cap likely going up
I'm hopeing for it to be raised enough for that too, grand mastery is awesome - we'll see if it's BG1 GM or BG2. I'm tempted to have her get GM & just put one pip in single weapon style. Sword & shield does suck but you don't need to put pips in it (as I'm sure you know) which is in using a shields favour.
My set up for Shar-Teel fighter/thief in standard BG is to have her use Kiels buckler, raising her dex and adding another -1 to her AC for a total bonus of -2 & a slight increase to her thief skills. I'm opting for single weapon style because she'll recieve the same -2 AC bonus & have a higher chance to score a critical hit. But if you're having your PC using a two handed weapon & having Dorn, you can really use the best shield in the game on her so I see your thinking.
I dunno where people get the idea that it's being raised. Was this actually mentioned and I missed it?
Even Durlag's Tower is pretty steady going at level cap with a decent party. I'd like to get to higher levels and all, but unless there are tougher areas, I don't see the need.
I'm hopeing for it to be raised enough for that too, grand mastery is awesome - we'll see if it's BG1 GM or BG2. I'm tempted to have her get GM & just put one pip in single weapon style. Sword & shield does suck but you don't need to put pips in it (as I'm sure you know) which is in using a shields favour.
My set up for Shar-Teel fighter/thief in standard BG is to have her use Kiels buckler, raising her dex and adding another -1 to her AC for a total bonus of -2 & a slight increase to her thief skills. I'm opting for single weapon style because she'll recieve the same -2 AC bonus & have a higher chance to score a critical hit. But if you're having your PC using a two handed weapon & having Dorn, you can really use the best shield in the game on her so I see your thinking.
I didn't know that they could use a shield and still get the bonues for single weapon style. I also gotta figure out what to do with my main. I'm thinkin Whatever two-handed weapon I pick x5 and then Bow x2 but there's always 2-Handed weapon style too....
I dunno where people get the idea that it's being raised. Was this actually mentioned and I missed it?
Even Durlag's Tower is pretty steady going at level cap with a decent party. I'd like to get to higher levels and all, but unless there are tougher areas, I don't see the need.
It better go up... or else! LOL. Nah, I mean I thought it was a given. Don't know where I heard it though. Probably Rumors R' Us.
Maybe some features from Pen and paper game should be added then. Some acts in the Pen and Paper require the spent of experience points to be achieved, no?
Taking in fact that we reach the game cap even before we finsh Durlag's Tower, maybe some quest, events or places could generate opportunities to the party find some artifacts and items crafted to the hoard with the spent of experience points (along other requerimentos), an example for this could be the reforge of the cursed vampiric sword into a decent and usable sword with the right elements and the spent of XP points.
We could improve familiars or/and get permanent Status, AC, Thac0, elemental/magic resistances and HP improvement, acting in the right way in certain events in the game, get access to alternative ways to end quests, among other features.
I don't know which acts requisite the spent of experience points in pen and paper games, but they should surelly be added. Not because it's cool or because it's pen and paper content, but because they're necessary to keep the ambition interest in level up.
On games, everytime you get more than you can use, the game start to become boring, Baldur's gate suffer from this problem in 3 different ways:
-Experience Cap -Gold -Magical Items
When we are in chapter 6, we are too saturated of the 3 elements above exposed that we just don't give to new items, gold or experience any aknowledge, if i hit the XP cap i finish to just forget or avoid some quests because there's no reward on them. After all i already have all the gold i need, also on these times i can barely carry anything else and my XP hit the cap.
On games, everytime you get more than you can use, the game start to become boring, Baldur's gate suffer from this problem in 3 different ways:
-Experience Cap -Gold -Magical Items
When we are in chapter 6, we are too saturated of the 3 elements above exposed that we just don't give to new items, gold or experience any aknowledge, if i hit the XP cap i finish to just forget or avoid some quests because there's no reward on them. After all i already have all the gold i need, also on these times i can barely carry anything else and my XP hit the cap.
Yeah... I *always* hit the cap way too early. I agree with @Quartz that the difficulty of the game doesn't necessarily warrant the change, but at the same time, it sucks if you get to like 70% done with the game and you're maxed out on level..
My set up for Shar-Teel fighter/thief in standard BG is to have her use Kiels buckler, raising her dex and adding another -1 to her AC for a total bonus of -2 & a slight increase to her thief skills. I'm opting for single weapon style because she'll recieve the same -2 AC bonus & have a higher chance to score a critical hit. But if you're having your PC using a two handed weapon & having Dorn, you can really use the best shield in the game on her so I see your thinking.
Here's another Shar-Teel idea I'm liking. How about taking her to the max (whether it ends up being mastery or grand mastery if they increase exp cap) in Bastard Swords, which she likely starts with 2 pips in already? She can still use a shield and Bastard Swords do great damage (not to mention the magical ones are lacking currently in BG... which makes me think maybe another one might be added in the EE areas hopefully). Sure, she can't backstab with them, but her other two pips are likely starting in Short Swords despite this, so you can still give her The Shortsword +3 in another quickslot and use it when you backstab. Since she fights more then backstabbing tho, Bastard Sword might be the better route for overall specing.
UPDATE: Just checked and yeah... Bastard Sword placement in BG1 sucks right now... the best one is a +1 / +2 vs. Shapeshifters. YUCK. That's 2 Min 9 Max damage (not counting shapeshifter bonus)... That's not even as good as the +3 Short Sword she can get later which has 4 min and 9 max dam and a better speed factor.
Yessir bastard swords got the short end of the stick in BG1. Which is why they should stick Bastard Swords and Long Swords together in profs but WHATEVER ... can't have everything I want.
@HaHaCharade I don't know how what I said was interpreted as "you can gain the benefits of SWS while using a shield"! Hah what? No but that'd be awesome, I meant you could either go single weapon style or use a shield (therefore not having to bother putting points into any weapon style & still gaining a large bonus to AC if taking the shield). I blame myself I suppose, poor wording.
In standard BG I had Shar-Teel use the dagger of venom for most backstabs & had the Flame tongue for backstabing targets that weren't susceptible to poison. A tactic which will no longer be viable due to the new profs in EE. So putting more points into bastard sword will make her more formidable in melee, as you said. But really short sword isn't that weak compared to it, you can get a short sword +2 pretty early which will do 3-8 damage compared to the 3-9 damage that a bastard sword +1 will inflict - Also as you said earlier. I've used Shar-Teel pretty exclusively as a strike & fade assassin, wearing the boots of speed so that's why I'll have her use a short sword. So it depends on how you plan to use her.
@Quartz I couldn't agree more regarding bastard swords. They probably will add another for that reason, aside from +1 there's only the +1/+3 options. Even a +2 bastard sword would be welcome, maybe with some maner of special abililty. +1 to Str would work/be fantastic.
I hope the cap will be raised, I don't see the point in adding more content if they're not. As BG stands you reach a point where you gain no benefit from doing smaller side quests, so why bother? Not all of them yeild rewards aside from XP. Players should be rewarded for going out of their way to complete quests. I'd like the cap to be taken to 300,000, thats enough for another level for every class (bar druid which would gain 2). To accomplish this extra level you would have to engage in more quests to achieve it, so really it's optional. Also if you're finding the game too easy, turn up the difficulty.
I'm tempted to have her get GM & just put one pip in single weapon style. Sword & shield does suck but you don't need to put pips in it (as I'm sure you know) which is in using a shields favour.
My set up for Shar-Teel fighter/thief in standard BG is to have her use Kiels buckler, raising her dex and adding another -1 to her AC for a total bonus of -2 & a slight increase to her thief skills.
What you said here confused me into thinking that, but yeah I get it now upon re-reading the whole post.
Indeed! I'm probably going to dual Xzar too - if he can reach 7/9. I'm also thinking about maybe dualing him to thief in perhaps my 3rd game (since I haven't got a party with Dorn planned yet), get ultra meta on it. If the cap is 300,000 (I really hope) he would be able to reach 9/10. Which is a long time waiting for him to regain his mage abilities but never-the-less a new & unusual way to play him (though I'm sure others will have tried it).
In regards to Viconia, Baldur's Gate series is the only game series I have ever played where I could literally alter a Woman's soul with the main characters penis. I could never really respect her as a character because of this. She ought to have been able to change herself so fundamentally and deeply entirely on her own impetus (if that would even be possible) rather than with a magical, holy, "child of a god" wang being used as a carrot on a stick.
@HaHaCharade Looking back on your planned party, I have a feeling that Dorn may (& this is just a feeling mind) have quite low dex. So Kagain & Dorn might be competing for the gauntlets of dex.
I'd replace the mighty Kagain with Faldorn (dart/kiels buckler) just so you've got an even split of melee & ranged/two divine/two arcane. But you will be hacking your way to glory with your current setup, so if thats what you'd rather... Who am I to tell you what to do?
@HaHaCharade Looking back on your planned party, I have a feeling that Dorn may (& this is just a feeling mind) have quite low dex. So Kagain & Dorn might be competing for the gauntlets of dex.
I'd replace the mighty Kagain with Faldorn (dart/kiels buckler) just so you've got an even split of melee & ranged/two divine/two arcane. But you will be hacking your way to glory with your current setup, so if thats what you'd rather... Who am I to tell you what to do?
Wondering myself abou Dorn's dexterity... As it stands with Monty in the party, everyone can get an 18 with the exception of Xzar who has a 16 (still not bad) and Edwin who's a caster and doesn't matter. It'll be interesting. If Dorn at least has a 15 Dex, I'm ok with him... if not then we'll have to see how it goes I'd wager. I wouldn't take Faldorn since I just don't dig Druids and I like to stay utterly evil if possible. Lol.
@Figrut - At the end of ToB she ends up finding her own way in life without you. If you read the epilogue part or whatever it is. Heavily implied she becomes good even if you never pursued her romantically. In fact her ending is better if you don't ... By the way, plenty of people in real life can change greatly based on one relationship/friendship with a person. You may not respect it, but it's realistic nonetheless.
I also agree with Isair that Dorn will likely have a low Dex.
Sadly it'd make sense, unless he's BG1s answer to Sarevok. Seems very unlikely that his str or con will be low due to him being a half-orc. Xzar will be able to reach 18:00 str & have the THAC0 of a fighter (holy power), so he'll be hammersmacking people good - especially once you add a DUHM into the mix.
I plan to have Faldorn in my evil party because druid spells will be much more useful in BG1 (EE) & she can reach a much higher level compared to single class clerics. I'd argue that your dark influence is what drove her to take over the grove in BG2.
I also agree with Isair that Dorn will likely have a low Dex.
He better not. ROAR. lol. Quit messing with my hopes and dreams.
Game balance dictates it. The BG1 fighters are all really well balanced with one another, none of them are perfect. Closest to perfect are Khalid, Minsc, and Montaron but they obviously fall a bit short of perfect.
Dorn is a half-orc. Half-orcs get awesome bonuses to strength and con ... chances are they will show off his Strength -- probably not Constitution because Kagain already has that award. I'm guessing something like 19 Str - 15 Dex - 17 Con AT BEST, and more likely something like 19 Str - [below bonuses] Dex - 16 Con.
If you ask me, you could still do it if this is the case. Gauntlets of Dexterity on Dorn and Gauntlets of Ogre Power on Kagain. Kagain is a little vulnerable that way but if you give him good enough armor, and make sure he always has a good shield, he will still evade most things.
I also agree with Isair that Dorn will likely have a low Dex.
He better not. ROAR. lol. Quit messing with my hopes and dreams.
Game balance dictates it. The BG1 fighters are all really well balanced with one another, none of them are perfect. Closest to perfect are Khalid, Minsc, and Montaron but they obviously fall a bit short of perfect.
Dorn is a half-orc. Half-orcs get awesome bonuses to strength and con ... chances are they will show off his Strength -- probably not Constitution because Kagain already has that award. I'm guessing something like 19 Str - 15 Dex - 17 Con AT BEST, and more likely something like 19 Str - [below bonuses] Dex - 16 Con.
If you ask me, you could still do it if this is the case. Gauntlets of Dexterity on Dorn and Gauntlets of Ogre Power on Kagain. Kagain is a little vulnerable that way but if you give him good enough armor, and make sure he always has a good shield, he will still evade most things.
Yeah I hope for a 15 Dex. I can deal with that. 14 or less would suck, but I do like that everyone isn't super jacked in a BG party like they are in IWD. Adds to strategy and difficulty.
Comments
I could be 100% wrong here lol....
Yeah I'd say bastard swords since that's what she's wielding, that & short swords. So you're better off focusing on short sword, you'll be able to take it up to five if you largely focus on it alone. As I said earlier I'm going to take it to 4 with two pips on single weapon style, you could also take two weapon fighting if you wanted a more classic BG2 fighter/thief one at 3rd one at 6th and the last at level 8 thief (once you've regained your fighter abilities). There's nothing stopping you from doing that and putting a point on scimitar during your thief levels (level 1 or 4) & using the scimitar in her off-hand.
Any NPC that can get any weapon to Grand Mastery is awesome in my book (Kagain, Shar-Teel)
http://playithardcore.com/pihwiki/index.php?title=Baldur's_Gate:_Progression_Charts#Fighters_and_Barbarians
They get another proficiency at 9th level. Warriors cap out at level 8 in BG1. Kagain, Shar-Teel, and Khalid can all get High Mastery (4 pips) but not Grand Mastery.
My set up for Shar-Teel fighter/thief in standard BG is to have her use Kiels buckler, raising her dex and adding another -1 to her AC for a total bonus of -2 & a slight increase to her thief skills. I'm opting for single weapon style because she'll recieve the same -2 AC bonus & have a higher chance to score a critical hit. But if you're having your PC using a two handed weapon & having Dorn, you can really use the best shield in the game on her so I see your thinking.
Even Durlag's Tower is pretty steady going at level cap with a decent party. I'd like to get to higher levels and all, but unless there are tougher areas, I don't see the need.
Taking in fact that we reach the game cap even before we finsh Durlag's Tower, maybe some quest, events or places could generate opportunities to the party find some artifacts and items crafted to the hoard with the spent of experience points (along other requerimentos), an example for this could be the reforge of the cursed vampiric sword into a decent and usable sword with the right elements and the spent of XP points.
We could improve familiars or/and get permanent Status, AC, Thac0, elemental/magic resistances and HP improvement, acting in the right way in certain events in the game, get access to alternative ways to end quests, among other features.
I don't know which acts requisite the spent of experience points in pen and paper games, but they should surelly be added. Not because it's cool or because it's pen and paper content, but because they're necessary to keep the ambition interest in level up.
On games, everytime you get more than you can use, the game start to become boring, Baldur's gate suffer from this problem in 3 different ways:
-Experience Cap
-Gold
-Magical Items
When we are in chapter 6, we are too saturated of the 3 elements above exposed that we just don't give to new items, gold or experience any aknowledge, if i hit the XP cap i finish to just forget or avoid some quests because there's no reward on them. After all i already have all the gold i need, also on these times i can barely carry anything else and my XP hit the cap.
UPDATE: Just checked and yeah... Bastard Sword placement in BG1 sucks right now... the best one is a +1 / +2 vs. Shapeshifters. YUCK. That's 2 Min 9 Max damage (not counting shapeshifter bonus)... That's not even as good as the +3 Short Sword she can get later which has 4 min and 9 max dam and a better speed factor.
In standard BG I had Shar-Teel use the dagger of venom for most backstabs & had the Flame tongue for backstabing targets that weren't susceptible to poison. A tactic which will no longer be viable due to the new profs in EE. So putting more points into bastard sword will make her more formidable in melee, as you said. But really short sword isn't that weak compared to it, you can get a short sword +2 pretty early which will do 3-8 damage compared to the 3-9 damage that a bastard sword +1 will inflict - Also as you said earlier. I've used Shar-Teel pretty exclusively as a strike & fade assassin, wearing the boots of speed so that's why I'll have her use a short sword. So it depends on how you plan to use her.
@Quartz I couldn't agree more regarding bastard swords. They probably will add another for that reason, aside from +1 there's only the +1/+3 options. Even a +2 bastard sword would be welcome, maybe with some maner of special abililty. +1 to Str would work/be fantastic.
I hope the cap will be raised, I don't see the point in adding more content if they're not. As BG stands you reach a point where you gain no benefit from doing smaller side quests, so why bother? Not all of them yeild rewards aside from XP. Players should be rewarded for going out of their way to complete quests. I'd like the cap to be taken to 300,000, thats enough for another level for every class (bar druid which would gain 2). To accomplish this extra level you would have to engage in more quests to achieve it, so really it's optional. Also if you're finding the game too easy, turn up the difficulty.
I'd replace the mighty Kagain with Faldorn (dart/kiels buckler) just so you've got an even split of melee & ranged/two divine/two arcane. But you will be hacking your way to glory with your current setup, so if thats what you'd rather... Who am I to tell you what to do?
By the way, plenty of people in real life can change greatly based on one relationship/friendship with a person. You may not respect it, but it's realistic nonetheless.
I also agree with Isair that Dorn will likely have a low Dex.
I plan to have Faldorn in my evil party because druid spells will be much more useful in BG1 (EE) & she can reach a much higher level compared to single class clerics. I'd argue that your dark influence is what drove her to take over the grove in BG2.
Dorn is a half-orc. Half-orcs get awesome bonuses to strength and con ... chances are they will show off his Strength -- probably not Constitution because Kagain already has that award. I'm guessing something like 19 Str - 15 Dex - 17 Con AT BEST, and more likely something like 19 Str - [below bonuses] Dex - 16 Con.
If you ask me, you could still do it if this is the case. Gauntlets of Dexterity on Dorn and Gauntlets of Ogre Power on Kagain. Kagain is a little vulnerable that way but if you give him good enough armor, and make sure he always has a good shield, he will still evade most things.