What is the best start-out build for a Kensai? I know the basics but I am not advanced at this?

2088432

I choose a human because they can advance to any level and I don't like other races tbh... but lawful neutral was what I set his alignment to and he had a +5 proficiency in two-handed swords and the extra +1 went to Two-Handed fighting proficiency. Am I doing anything wrong so far?

Chronicler

Human's advancing to any level is nonsense. They really should remove that from the description.

You'll probably want to drop some points into a weapon that can be thrown, like an axe or a dagger, just for situations where you wanna keep your distance.

Don't stress too much about your weapon choices though. The Kensai's innate weapon bonuses will make any weapon kick butt, though there will be plenty people eager to share their favorite lethal combinations.

Grond0

The race-based level limitations in P&P were never part of the Baldur's Gate games, so the only reasons to be human would be:
- you want to dual class in future
- you want to RP
- you prefer the look of the icon.

You've posted in the BGEE forum, but I presume you're actually referring to a BG2EE game as you've distributed 6 proficiency points. By that stage it's not unreasonable to concentrate points onto a single weapon as your THAC0 is good enough for you to hit regularly with throwing weapons even without any proficiency in those. If you were starting in BGEE I agree with @Chronicler that it would be sensible to have some proficiency in dagger or axe.

Two-handed sword is also a decent option for a kensai. It's not obvious if you've not played the game a lot, but slow weapon speed is a significant drawback for some weapons - including 2-handed sword. However, kensais get a specific bonus to weapon speed to negate that problem.

Skatan

You have got good answers below, so I won't really add anything more other than concur on that you haven't done anything wrong so far. It can be preferred to use a 2-hander because of reach (you can strike from slightly further away) even if it's slower normally. The latter is negated pretty much entirely with enchanted weapons and the prof points.

So just keep doing what you're doing, it'll be fine. You will end up with more points along the way though, so plan ahead on a secondary weapon type you like. You could ie choose something with crushing damage and if you want to keep to 2-handers, then quarterstaffs is a good choice. There's always another +2/+3 quarterstaff available even if your NPCs share the same proficiency and weapon overlap.

Halberds could be another choice. There's several good ones in the game, all the way to the end.

Adding daggers is not a bad choice either since there's two good returning throwing daggers you could use.