Club or Staff for a cleric/thief?

Dino

So I'm making a gnome cleric/thief. Should I go for a Quarterstaff or a Club with a point in Single Weapon Fighting for increased crit? (crits are fun)
Cant make up my mind...

Discuss

Ignatius

Magical Stalves tend to be better throughout the series (although I heard there would be magical clubs in BG:EE), thus maximizing your backstab damage. You would then invest * in two-handed weaponry and not wear any shield.

Oxford_Guy

The Staff of Striking (available in BG1, though not early on) is awesome for backstabs, though uses a charge on each strike

Mungri

Staves are far far far far better!!!!

In BG1 Staff + 3 and Staff of Striking.

In BG2 Staff of the Ram, staff of striking, and lots of other strong useful staffs.

I cant remember ... does the extra critical range to two handed weapons apply from one point or two points spent in two handed style?

Dino

True, picking clubs would be a wild card until we know of the available clubs...

Regarding 2-handed weapons, do you get an extra str bonus?

Dino

Mungri said:

Staves are far far far far better!!!!

In BG1 Staff + 3 and Staff of Striking.

In BG2 Staff of the Ram, staff of striking, and lots of other strong useful staffs.

I cant remember ... does the extra critical range to two handed weapons apply from one point or two points spent in two handed style?

1 point IIRC

Corvino

You could use staffs + 1h style for the *Spoilers below*

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Staff mace +2, a 1 handed weapon that does 2d4+2 damage and uses staff proficiency. It's found on the island in the Trackless Sea, so pretty late on. This way you can have your cake and eat it. However, 2h staffs get a better bonus from your strength, IIRC.

Ignatius

Mungri said:

I cant remember ... does the extra critical range to two handed weapons apply from one point or two points spent in two handed style?

2 points I think, tbc

Dino

Oxford_Guy said:

The Staff of Striking (available in BG1, though not early on) is awesome for backstabs, though uses a charge on each strike

Ah, never used items with charges... Are they rechargeable?

Marric

Are cleric/thieves limited to bucklers or can they wear heavier shields? 'Cause I feel like single/club + shield is preferable to Staff/Sling even if the back-stabs won't be quite as powerful (you'll just kill them instead of chunking them). Plus the Gnasher in BG2 is a handy little backstabber what with its sliver damage over time, and there are those rumors of some decent magical clubs in BG:EE that might be worth trying out.

Dino

Marric said:

Are cleric/thieves limited to bucklers or can they wear heavier shields? 'Cause I feel like single/club + shield is preferable to Staff/Sling even if the back-stabs won't be quite as powerful (you'll just kill them instead of chunking them). Plus the Gnasher in BG2 is a handy little backstabber what with its sliver damage over time, and there are those rumors of some decent magical clubs in BG:EE that might be worth trying out.

You are not allowed to wear shield to get the Single Weapon Style bonus

Cheesebelly

Staff Mace +2 is among the most damaging weapons in Baldur's Gate 1. Staff +3 is super easy to acquire too. In Baldur's Gate 2 you can get extra-cheese combo : Staff of the Ram +6 and Staff of the Magi. Nothing will be able to counter your physical prowess, especially in conjunction with Holy Power, Draw Upon Holy Might and Righteous Magic

Oxford_Guy

Mungri said:

Staves are far far far far better!!!!

In BG1 Staff + 3 and Staff of Striking.

In BG2 Staff of the Ram, staff of striking, and lots of other strong useful staffs.

I cant remember ... does the extra critical range to two handed weapons apply from one point or two points spent in two handed style?

The first point

Mungri

Then staves all the way, extra chance of critical backstabs.

Dino

Looks that way... Im sure Ill regret it once I find one of the new shiny clubs though :P

Lemernis

There's going to be some new weapons in EE, reportedly. So clubs may not be so bad. But at least in BG1 original, Tutu, or BGT, it was always staves for me.

Dino

How abooout...

http://www.gamebanshee.com/showshot.php?/baldursgateii/equipment/images/clubofdetonationplus5.jpg

BG2, but still. And why does it have to look like a lightsaber? Just makes me want it even more.

Mungri

You dont have to regret it? You will get enough proficiency points to put one in both staffs and clubs.

Dino

silly me

Corvino

I think I read somewhere that BG:EE is keeping the original set of proficiencies + weapon styles: blunt, spiked, bows etc rather than the uberspecialised BG2 "pick one weapon" way.

If this is the case then you won't need to make a choice at all. Blunt weapons will cover pretty much everything you can use, and you'll have plenty of pips left for both 1h and 2h weapon styles.

Dino

Corvino said:

I think I read somewhere that BG:EE is keeping the original set of proficiencies + weapon styles: blunt, spiked, bows etc rather than the uberspecialised BG2 "pick one weapon" way.

If this is the case then you won't need to make a choice at all. Blunt weapons will cover pretty much everything you can use, and you'll have plenty of pips left for both 1h and 2h weapon styles.

How will that work when later importing to BG2EE?

Ignatius

@Oxford_Guy: I don't get it. Wielding two-handed weapon, you will land a critical on both 20 & 19 rolls only if you've put ** in 2-handed weapon proficiency style.
At least that's what I remember, and what they say here:
http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/chap4.htm#profs

Oxford_Guy

Ignatius said:

@Oxford_Guy: I don't get it. Wielding two-handed weapon, you will land a critical on both 20 & 19 rolls only if you've put ** in 2-handed weapon proficiency style.
At least that's what I remember, and what they say here:
http://www.pocketplane.net/volothamp/chap4.htm#profs

I've just tried it in BGEE, you definitely get the extra crit chance with the first pip, the second just gives -2 speed. This is indicated both when you select the proficiency and on the charcater page in the game.

Ignatius

Ok then proficiencies do not work like in BG2. Can't test it yet, still downloading the last bit (very slow). How is it?

Oxford_Guy

Ignatius said:

Ok then proficiencies do not work like in BG2. Can't test it yet, still downloading the last bit (very slow). How is it?

Only had a quick go, as have work to do, looks nice, but am experiencing some Intel chipset / Open GL issues reported elsewhere (http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/7385/important-regarding-intel-hardware-driver-issues-slow-game-performance/p1 ), the game is playable, but panning the screen is slow and causes tearing. Hope the Mac OS X-native version is smoother, will then dump the Windows version.

Ignatius

I just started playing and have very similar issues (W on a laptop). Don't know how playable this will end up being.