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What weapon style for Minsc?

tyl998tyl998 Member Posts: 144
in Archive (General Discussion)
I plan on recruiting Minsc for my Good-aligned playthrough, and I just reached Nashkel. What proficiencies should I steer Minsc towards? Should he go with a nice big 2-hander sword to bash heads in? Should he pick up a shield to make up for his otherwise poor defenses? Should he try dual-wielding? If so, dual wield what weapons? Or perhaps he should pick up a bow and work together with kivan to pelt the enemies to death from afar?
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Comments

  • State_LemmingState_Lemming Member Posts: 375
    Make him the leader of your party, he'll give you his input on the subject.
  • mercurymeltdownmercurymeltdown Member Posts: 49
    Minsc seems like kind of a mixed bag. He has the 2 weapon proficiency from being a ranger, but 2 stars in 2-h and 1 in long bow. Personally, I gave him a long bow since I also have Dorn who is superior with a 2-h sword.
  • styggastygga Member Posts: 467
    Honestly, go two hander. Get him spiders bane +3 eventually, that's the best two hander in the game I believe.
  • tyl998tyl998 Member Posts: 144
    Maybe it'd help if I told you the rest of my party.

    Charname (named Mr. Shiny) - LG Paladin (Cavalier)
    Imoen - Not sure if I'll dual her into mage or not.
    Neera
    Kivan
    Branwen (will get her soon)
    Minsc (getting him now)
  • styggastygga Member Posts: 467
    What is your cavalier pc using for weapons?
  • DebaserDebaser Member Posts: 669
    edited December 2012
    Put a dot into Mace (he also starts with a dot in mace so he'll be proficient) and put another dot into dual wielding.

    Give him the staff mace and a mace plus 2 if you can find one. He'll wreck house.

    Or give him two dots in two-weapon style.

    But that's really the best way to go...you have to choose one or the other...or maybe something like longsword or bastard sword and go sword and board but that's not going to be as effective.
  • tyl998tyl998 Member Posts: 144
    edited December 2012
    My Cavalier has two dots in Longsword and Flails. I think I'm going to dual-wield Flails if there are good ones in this game.

    Well, currently my PC has a flail and a shield, since he doesn't have the two-weapon proficiencies yet.
  • IsairIsair Member Posts: 217
    If you're TWF I'd just use the classic Minsc setup, THS & Long Bow - Since it looks like you're having a good/netural party & therefore won't have Dorn.
  • KomarrKomarr Member Posts: 80
    Generally speaking, don't have party members use the same weapon types. There are only so many good weapons of each type. For example, Minsc with 2 handed sword means he gets the best 2h, while you get the best flail/longsword.
  • tyl998tyl998 Member Posts: 144
    Got it. I'll go with a big two-handed sword then. Man Minsc's AC is going to suck. Guess he gets the belt of piercing.
  • GruloGrulo Member Posts: 109
    tyl998 said:

    Got it. I'll go with a big two-handed sword then. Man Minsc's AC is going to suck. Guess he gets the belt of piercing.

    Why is his AC gonna suck? Please don't tell me you have him using leather armor?

    Make him use full plate armor, a ring of protection, gauntlets of dexterity, and his AC should be fine.

  • EnialusMeliamneEnialusMeliamne Member Posts: 399
    I like Minsc with a two-hander. Fits his style. Use a tank to draw the crowd, then have Minsc come in with his two-hander and watch the chunks fly. Right now I have a Ran/Cle and Yeslick on Tank duty (Yeslick has the cursed belt of boostied strength/lowered int plus the Gaunts of Dex. Minsc takes up the flank with his -1 AC and tears through the crowd while my two healers with hammers block. Minsc does take hits once in a while, but between the three of them, they make short work of the crowd, even against high HP enemies.
  • AristilliusAristillius Member Posts: 873
    Give two-handed style to minsc. Makes im Crit all over the place =)
  • BigityBigity Member Posts: 98
    Grulo said:


    tyl998 said:

    Got it. I'll go with a big two-handed sword then. Man Minsc's AC is going to suck. Guess he gets the belt of piercing.

    Why is his AC gonna suck? Please don't tell me you have him using leather armor?

    Make him use full plate armor, a ring of protection, gauntlets of dexterity, and his AC should be fine.

    Technically, he shouldn't be allowed to use plate as a ranger, but seeing how he doesn't have the Wisdom for that either, I guess it's ok.

    I always modded him to be a warrior with the berserker kit myself.
  • toanwrathtoanwrath Member Posts: 621
    edited December 2012
    Bigity said:

    Grulo said:


    tyl998 said:

    Got it. I'll go with a big two-handed sword then. Man Minsc's AC is going to suck. Guess he gets the belt of piercing.

    Why is his AC gonna suck? Please don't tell me you have him using leather armor?

    Make him use full plate armor, a ring of protection, gauntlets of dexterity, and his AC should be fine.

    Technically, he shouldn't be allowed to use plate as a ranger, but seeing how he doesn't have the Wisdom for that either, I guess it's ok.

    I always modded him to be a warrior with the berserker kit myself.
    Why shouldn't he be allowed to use Plate? As far as I am aware, a pure ranger (I.E. no kits) can always wear plate. As for the wisdom, well...NPCs sometimes have cheat stats (Coran's Dex, Kagain's Con, though I suppose those two might have just found some tomes and used them before I could get my hands on them).

    EDIT: Also, I like him as a Ranger as it makes the hamster following him around much more reasonable.
  • UnknownQuantityUnknownQuantity Member Posts: 242
    I see Rangers as more like Kivan, but there are always exceptions. Mazzy is an exception in BG2. While technically a Ranger should be wearing leather armor and sneaking around like a scout that doesn't mean it has to be that way. Minsc is in tune with nature as he has his pet Boo and he chooses to be more like a traditional fighter. Aragorn in lord of the rings wore plate armor at times I believe. It's all up to you how you want a character to be IMO. Probably the reason he is so popular as a character is because he is different then the stereotypical Ranger. I still like Kivan a lot though. Even if he is stereotypical.
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    I have always favoured 2h swords for him. Anything else just doesn't feel Minscy enough.
  • BigityBigity Member Posts: 98
    @toanwrath

    You're right, the limitation was they could only dual wield in leather/std leather armor.
  • toanwrathtoanwrath Member Posts: 621
    edited December 2012
    Bigity said:

    @toanwrath

    You're right, the limitation was they could only dual wield in leather/std leather armor.

    Is that from PnP or BG mechanics? In BG2 Minsc dual-wielded maces in my game, and he was frequently wearing Full Plate +whatever (Drow Full Plate +5 when in Underdark). Of course, this is because when I am a Paladin I ALWAYS use greatswords in Baldur's Gate. HINT, HINT.

    EDIT: I actually only did this once, once I actually remembered how I played. Minsc generally goes with big swords for me as well. In BG1, it was unfortunate because my Paladin used them and so he got whatever was left (so....maces). However, in BG2, there are SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF GREATSWORDS!!! I swear, is there a more common type of magic item in BG2?? I can think of 3 or 4 high end late game greatswords that Minsc could choose between because my Paladin using greatswords had extras.
  • BigityBigity Member Posts: 98
    It's PnP. I haven't played vanilla BG in so long I couldn't say what the game uses.
  • toanwrathtoanwrath Member Posts: 621
    Thank you for the clarification Bigity.
  • UnknownQuantityUnknownQuantity Member Posts: 242
    toanwrath said:

    Bigity said:

    @toanwrath

    You're right, the limitation was they could only dual wield in leather/std leather armor.

    Is that from PnP or BG mechanics? In BG2 Minsc dual-wielded maces in my game, and he was frequently wearing Full Plate +whatever (Drow Full Plate +5 when in Underdark). Of course, this is because when I am a Paladin I ALWAYS use greatswords in Baldur's Gate. HINT, HINT.

    EDIT: I actually only did this once, once I actually remembered how I played. Minsc generally goes with big swords for me as well. In BG1, it was unfortunate because my Paladin used them and so he got whatever was left (so....maces). However, in BG2, there are SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF GREATSWORDS!!! I swear, is there a more common type of magic item in BG2?? I can think of 3 or 4 high end late game greatswords that Minsc could choose between because my Paladin using greatswords had extras.
    There are multiple awesome greatswords in BG2. I don't think there are that many good maces. There are some good hammers and flails. There are also some really nice halberds.

  • toanwrathtoanwrath Member Posts: 621
    edited December 2012
    Yep, maces are very lackluster in BG2 as I recall. Greatswords are a dime a dozen though!
    Basically my view on what Minsc should use: Two-handed swords (aka Greatswords). Even if your PC uses them, he should as well.
    1.) He is ALWAYS talking about Swords, just let him use one.
    2.) With his high strength, he can use them very effectively (especially as someone earlier noted, give him the two-handed weapon style and he chunks like crazy!)
    3.) There are only a few magic greatswords in BG1, unsure if any new ones in BG:EE. In BG2 however, there are a LOT of greatswords to choose from for high-end play. Here are some favorites of mine that I frequently must choose between

    Lilarcor: +3, Immune to charm and confusion, and it talks!
    Silver Sword:+3, 25% chance target must save vs death or die
    Soul Reaver: +4, target receives cumulative -2 THACO penalty each hit
    Carsomyr (aka Holy Avenger aka ALL PALADINS SHOULD USE THIS): +5, 1d12 instead of 1d10, +5 additional dam. vs chaotic evil, +50% magic protection, dispel magic 3 times per day, dispel magic on target
    Oh, and then there's some expansion weapons...
    Gram's Sword of Grief: +5, 10% chance +2-24 poison damage, +5% magic res., target loses one level each hit (this is after upgrade, before upgrade it only does the poison damage)
    Psion's Blade: +5, Immune to confusion and psionic attacks

    If you don't want to know the specifics of the weapons, just know that there are at least 6 really good Greatswords in BG2, so if you have mutiple characters using them you won't run out of weapons.
    EDIT: For a full list of the weapons in BG2, I used http://mikesrpgcenter.com/bgate2/
  • BigityBigity Member Posts: 98
    2 handed swords! Get your 3.x speak out of here ;)
  • tyl998tyl998 Member Posts: 144
    Hmm, will I get enough proficiency points by the time I get the good 2h swords in BG2 to specialize in 2h swords *and* have went 2 weapon fighting in BG1? Or should I find a way to exchange my points in Longsword for points in 2h swords?
  • KomarrKomarr Member Posts: 80
    As far as pen & paper D&D rangers can use any weapons and armor. The only restriction is they can't stealth in more then studded leather. Actually the only pen & paper rule Minsc breaks is not having 14 wisdom. Tho I guess he gets a pass for the whole "head wound" thing.
    I usually give Minsc either 2H sword or halberd. My dream mod for BG2 would include a banter pack between Minsc and Lilacor :)
  • tyl998tyl998 Member Posts: 144
    Can Minsc cast ranger spells with such a low wisdom?
  • BigityBigity Member Posts: 98
    I'm pretty sure they can't use their dual wield freebie proficiencies in non-leather armor too, but I'm not going to go dig out the PHB, so could be wrong.

    It's kinda moot as far as BGEE goes anyway.
  • KomarrKomarr Member Posts: 80
    @Bigity I actually dug mine out. Okay, okay not actually "dug out" as it's sitting on a bookshelf in my living room. No restrictions on dual wielding.

    @tyl998 Yes he can.
  • ZanianZanian Member Posts: 332
    Minsc using anything but a two-handed sword and the occasional bow if he has to go ranged, just seems... wrong.
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