Kagain weapons

FallenAasimon

I can't play without taking Kagain, I love that guy. I always give him High Mastery in axes, but this time I'm considering a mastery in axes with specialization in flails (he starts with one point). Mostly because high mastery is quite weak and blunt damage os better. Thoughts?

Mathsorcerer

I never give anyone more than specialization in any weapon; if they already show up with more than that I don't care. I have always preferred my fighters to be well-rounded rather than true specialists.

Aerakar

He's great with axes and also flails, so give him both! Plus the Thresher is available a bit earlier than the Battle Axe of Mauletar. I agree with @Mathsorcerer that fighters should be well-rounded and cover a few weapons.

I think it's always good to have a blunt weapon specialization, as you note also.

jmerry

On the other hand, I'll go beyond specialization every chance I get. That additional +2 to hit is absolutely huge at BG1 levels. Especially for someone like Kagain who isn't getting any to-hit bonuses from his strength.

As for damage types, it isn't that big a deal in this campaign. Resistances aren't much concern aside from missile resistances, as the highly resistant types like skeletons and oozes are pretty easy to deal with if you have melee weapons that can hurt them at all. What does matter is that lots of tough enemies wear plate mail, and thus have better AC against slashing. But getting that third dot in your primary slashing weapon is a better deal than getting a second in a secondary blunt weapon, because that +2 to hit against everything almost counters the 3-point slashing penalty of the armor anyway.

Danacm

In bg1 the low level and low strength fighters profit a lot from at least mastery. For example Khalid is become one of the best fighters (with kiels helmet).