Cursed Items You Use Regularly

HaHaCharade

I am currently running an evil party in BG1 and have 3 cursed items equipped on 3 different characters... I guess they are an unfortunate lot!


"Big-Fisted Belt" - Kagain - Intelligence hit does nothing to him, and the 19 strength from this coupled with the 18 dex from the Gauntlets of Dexterity, make him the ultimate meat tank.

"Claw of Kazgaroth" - Dorn - The Con hit doesn't affect him (except by making him fatigued more often from travel) and the saving throw bonuses therefore outweigh the negatives on this item. Some people never buy this, but I always do.

"Kiel's Morning Star: +3" - My Main - Running a Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric. This in her main hand and the Thresher +2 from Sorcerous Sundries in their off-hand hand, gives her a wicked +3/+2 Dual-Wield combo. Couple this with the increased damage and THAC0 from berserking, the immunity to several spells (including Charm Person) and increased saves against others, its pretty cool. Yeah, Yeah you can attack friendly targets if you're not careful. The key is to play smart. Here's some tips I've found for using a cursed-berserking weapon:

- The effect doesn't last SUPER long. Just until all enemies (red bases) are slain. Then (give or take 5-10 seconds) they will return to normal. The key is to hurl the berserking character at said enemies, and have your other party members give them a bit of room. If you play it right, they will only attack enemies and then once they target a friend you just jog around for a few seconds until your main's yellow base changes back to green and ur good. Sometimes I cast Invisibility 10' Radius, and only have my berserking character attack for awhile. They can't see the other party members to attack them, so they only really attack enemies.

- If you are playing a Fighter/Cleric as a berserker, cast your buffs, etc. BEFORE combat. You won't be able to cast spells once the bloodlust hits....

- You (most of the time) have a few solid seconds to command a character using a cursed-berserking weapon, before the status over takes them. Use this to command them to attack who you want, or to move them, as needed.

- Keep a "Remove Curse" spell memorized and handy on a mage. Helps in some battles to have better control of your character.

- Keep a secondary weapon in the primary slot, in case you want to REM CURSE at a given time. Example: My character has Kiel's and Thresher but I keep another +1 Morning Star in my primary slot just in case I need to ditch Kiel's for a fight.

- If you're doing battles in a town, where there are innocents... you may want to unequip for a bit.

Really - As an evil party - Its just fun to berserk and go crazy. Can it screw you? Sure. But if you play smart its fun and a bit of an added challenge to the game.

sarevok57

i always use the claw of kazgaroth in my runs, it is a wicked item, even if you have 18 or 19 con, the HP loss doesn't hurt too much for the benefits that you get, especially if you are a dwarf or halfling, since they already have great saves vs death, its not even much of a penalty because of their save bonuses

infact, if you like the claw of kazgaroth more than the helm of balduran, you can have the claw import instead of the helm ( sometimes i do this on my swashbuckler runs ) into bg2

other melee characters that really benefit from it are minsc and kivan, since kivan doesnt have a HP bonus, and minsc's +1 per level is negligible for the benefits you get

also durlag's goblet works real well with a character using kiel's helm which makes you immune to fear, so then you are immune to durlag's goblet effect, plus you can recharge the goblet as well

but for other cursed stuff, nah, berserking is a little to wild for me, and especially if i need that character to cast spells during combat it just won't be possible

although in IWD ( HoW ) there is that cloak that the seer drops when she dies, and i always equip that cloak, damn good cloak, don't know why its cursed

HaHaCharade

sarevok57 wrote: »

i always use the claw of kazgaroth in my runs, it is a wicked item, even if you have 18 or 19 con, the HP loss doesn't hurt too much for the benefits that you get, especially if you are a dwarf or halfling, since they already have great saves vs death, its not even much of a penalty because of their save bonuses

infact, if you like the claw of kazgaroth more than the helm of balduran, you can have the claw import instead of the helm ( sometimes i do this on my swashbuckler runs ) into bg2

other melee characters that really benefit from it are minsc and kivan, since kivan doesnt have a HP bonus, and minsc's +1 per level is negligible for the benefits you get

also durlag's goblet works real well with a character using kiel's helm which makes you immune to fear, so then you are immune to durlag's goblet effect, plus you can recharge the goblet as well

but for other cursed stuff, nah, berserking is a little to wild for me, and especially if i need that character to cast spells during combat it just won't be possible

although in IWD ( HoW ) there is that cloak that the seer drops when she dies, and i always equip that cloak, damn good cloak, don't know why its cursed

Durlag's Goblet is also awesome on Dorn / Another Blackguard. They are immune to fear as well, so in theory you can swap it back and forth and fill up HP on them AND another character with Kiel's helm.

I get your point on the spell thing. Its the real downside for berserking imo. Though, I will say that my Fighter/Clerics rarely cast spells IN battle anyway. Before and after, sure. I tend to take 2 mages on my runs so that helps.

I forgot you could import the claw to BG2.... Man that is tempting, but Helm of Balduran is pretty ripped. Do you think the claw is more apt to be used later game than the helm? (Its been a few years since I played BG2).

sarevok57

its really up to you, as you say, the helm of balduran is actually a really good item, but if you have a monk/blade or swashbuckler charname, then the claw of kazgaroth can become very beneficial, it can also be given to dorn in bg2 as well

usually though i still prefer the helmet, but every once in a great while i bring in the claw just for the lulz

Aerakar

I always bring the claw. To me it is one of the best items in the game until you get the Ring of Gaxx.

Zackel

Never used the claw, I didn't like seeing a caracter blurry all the time.
Sword of berserking is too hard to handle.

However, I do use Backbitter Spear in My Fighter/Druid run and I'm considering removing it since it eats a lot of my healing spells to compensate the minor damage and hit buff by +2 ?.

Aerakar

Agree on the blur effect @Zackel and I even forgot the claw normally has this effect. I mod out the blur using Tweaks Anthology.

sarevok57

Zackel wrote: »

Never used the claw, I didn't like seeing a caracter blurry all the time.
Sword of berserking is too hard to handle.

However, I do use Backbitter Spear in My Fighter/Druid run and I'm considering removing it since it eats a lot of my healing spells to compensate the minor damage and hit buff by +2 ?.

luckily there is a +2 spear in bg the city

HaHaCharade

sarevok57 wrote: »

Zackel wrote: »

Never used the claw, I didn't like seeing a caracter blurry all the time.
Sword of berserking is too hard to handle.

However, I do use Backbitter Spear in My Fighter/Druid run and I'm considering removing it since it eats a lot of my healing spells to compensate the minor damage and hit buff by +2 ?.

luckily there is a +2 spear in bg the city

Make sure you go to the Counting House before talking to Mendas! Otherwise you are hosed.

jmerry

The claw is good, and I use it a lot - but that penalty to saves versus death is a big deal. There aren't quite as many effects that use that save as there are that use the spell save, but there are a lot, and they tend to incapacitate a character entirely or deal heavy damage if you fail. It's a clear #2 in importance among saves.

If you're going to import it to BG2... the ideal user is someone with good saves versus death and poor saves versus spell, as well as a constitution in the 9-14 or 18+ range (so as not to lose HP). That save pattern comes from a cleric or druid (base saves 2 vs death and 7 vs spell at high levels). Anomen? 16 Con, loses HP. Viconia? 8 Con, loses HP. Cernd? 13 Con. He's the ideal user... except for one little problem. His personal gear has minimum Con requirements. If you give him the claw, his cloak will be unequipped every time he levels up, requiring either a Remove Curse effect or a temporary Con boost.

Grond0

I'm quite fond of Brage's 2-handed berserking sword - that works in the same sort of way as Kiel's morningstar. A nice challenge for BG1 is to do a solo run where the only way you're allowed to kill anything is with that sword ...