Need advice on companions’ proficiency choices for my current run

islandking

With so many good weapons in BG2, it seems hard for me to distribute them among party to make full use of them. While some of their uses are clear, some are not, I welcome your recommendations :-)

Thanks for all.

PC: since she’s f/m/t, I plan to give her Flail of Ages and Scarlet Brotherhood as main damager, and Staff of Ram as backstabber, the choice of her range weapons(if necessary) remains unclear to me…

Aerie: I assume giving her sling is always a safe choice, any alternatives?

HaerDalis: Tough one, never used him before, no comments, not a clue :-)

Carsomyr Firecam: I mean Keldorn...not sure about his choice of range though.

Mazzy: I plan to give her Foebane and Crom Faeyr, not sure it’s viable considering she starts with no proficiencies in either of them.

Jaheira: I read Scimitar is a popular choice for her, but how to wield, sword and shield style?

islandking

One more question, any chance I can put the awesome Gesen bow to some use with the current party setup?

EnialusMeliamne

Mazzy is seemingly tailor-made for Gesen utilization, since she has significant proficiency investment in Shortbows. Keldorn also has pips in Crossbows, so that's a fairly easy choice. Aerie will be limited to cleric ethos weapons only, so use spells and wands as primary, then sling for middling foes. Axes might be a good range option for your FMT.

Gallowglass

Haer'Dalis gets a (free, automatically allocated) second proficiency point in Shortswords, and eventually also in Longswords, which isn't legal for an ordinary Blade. This is his "special ability" (allegedly intended to represent a Tiefling racial bonus). Therefore it generally makes sense to use him with those weapons.

I've also found Haer'Dalis very effective (mainly for ToB) when using the Scarlet Ninja-to (under UAI) as his off-hand weapon with a Scimitars proficiency. Since he's rather squishy when his defensive buffs are running out (or being dispelled), I've found giving him proficiency in Flails and buying him the Defender of Easthaven (from Joluv) can be worthwhile for its damage-reduction effects, and this also gives him a blunt option for the numerous situations in which blunt weapons are necessary or advantageous.

I usually give Jaheira a specialisation in Scimitars and use her sword-and-shield style for durability, rather than dual-wielding. With her slow level-progression, I find it takes too long to make her competent in dual-wielding, and I'd rather spend the points on giving her alternate weapons for flexibility. Typically (although not invariably), I'll have her in the second row rather than at the front, so she starts combat by casting a buff and/or summoning something, and resorts to physical weapons afterwards. Running into melee behind the front row, she can be very handy with a Quarterstaff or Spear, or hanging back and throwing a returning Throwing Dagger is also very effective (better than a Sling because of extra APR). Even when I've got her in the front row (as in my current run), I generally prefer to give her a flexible choice of weapons rather than spending points on dual-wielding.

Yes, Foebane + Crom Faeyr is a viable way to run Mazzy. Darn good, in fact. You've got time by ToB to build her proficiencies for it. At first, hold her back and use her as an archer, since she's expert with Shortbows from the start, then put her into the front row once you've built up some melee proficiencies.

Yes, Aerie will inevitably spend her non-casting rounds using her Sling. She'll end up with proficiency in all permitted Cleric weapons anyway, but probably won't use melee weapons very much unless ambushed. Some people do use Aerie (heavily buffed!) for tanking and report decent results, but I'm sure she's generally most effective if you keep her at the back and casting ... especially since she's the main arcane caster in your case. So her weapon choices shouldn't matter much, she'll usually be busy with spells instead.

There's not much to choose about Keldorn. Of course he uses Carsomyr, and he comes with Xbow proficiency so that's his ranged weapon. Also give him something blunt for when that's needed.

For your protagonist, hmm, well. The trouble with Flail of Ages as a main-hand weapon for a dual-wielder is that, once it reaches its full power (+5) in ToB, it also acquires a permanent Free Action effect, which is crippling because it negates Haste effects. There's an exploit to dodge the Free Action problem, so if you're happy using an exploit then it's a wonderful weapon, but if (like me) you regard that as cheating, then it's a poor choice. I'd therefore probably give her Longswords or Axes instead ... and Axes would also solve the question of her ranged option (or otherwise probably Longbows, since you've got no-one else using those, and as an Elf she's got bonus racial proficiency with it). However, my own preference for an FMT is to let other party members do the dual-wielding (you've got Mazzy and Haer'Dalis for that), and have the FMT go the two-handed route, e.g. Lbow2 Qstf2 Hlbd2 Gswd2 2HS2.

[Edit: spelling]

islandking

Thanks for the replies!
Especially to you Gallowglass, detailed, informative posts as usual :-)
Looks like lacking various blunt types was a big flaw in my previous setup, glad I asked here before heading blindly into Soa(again:-)
I recall Foa+5 works well with haste in original? not sure if it’s a bug, but I’m pretty used to it already, also didn’t touch the flail in my previous EE run. By exploit you mean switching to Foa after applying haste right? Guess I’ll take it, already spent pips on flails after all, will definitely returning axes as range, thanks again guys!

Gallowglass

islandking said:

Looks like lacking various blunt types was a big flaw in my previous setup, glad I asked here before heading blindly into Soa(again:-)

Yes. Blunts are essential against Clay Golems, and advantageous against skeletal undead.

islandking said:

By exploit you mean switching to Foa after applying haste right?

Yes. The Free Action effect ought to cancel the Haste when you do that, but in fact it doesn't. (Unless they fix this bug in the next patch, of course ...)

DJKajuru

In chapter 2 I have jaheira use a club (gnasher or that acid club) and the shield that protects from charm and confusion, and in chapter 5 and ToB she uses the staff pf woodlands or staff of the ram.

islandking

Gallowglass said:

Unless they fix this bug in the next patch, of course ...)

Oh no, if it’s really “is” a bug, it’s a cute little bug, please don’t kill it, I’ll be very sad to see the flail get kicked out of top tier weapons, no more dripping saliva dirtying every corners of Faerun? No, can’t do that. But really, what’s the point of earning components through battles vs godlike creatures only to downgrade foa to its “full power”, may as well get rid of free action all together, or making the slow saving-throw-able if it does seem overpowered.