Tons of great weapons that are also balanced(well some of them are not that balanced). But since you ask about BGEE there are Spider Bane, Ashideena, Katana +1, Composite Long Bow +1 (with arrows of Percing or Bitting)...
How much faster are you going to kill someone with a 1d8+3 vs a 1d6+2 (Stupifier)?
AND you aren't taking into consideration hidden bonuses to AC a lot of enemies have vs slashing as opposed to crushing, and the fact that crushing is the least resisted.
I'm fairly certain the math would support that over time dual wielding the Stupefier with Ashideena would do more damage (due to hitting more often because enemies have less AC to crushing and due to resisting less damage) than dual wielding Drizzt's scimitars, and that isn't taking the stun effect into account.
How much faster are you going to kill someone with a 1d8+3 vs a 1d6+2 (Stupifier)?
AND you aren't taking into consideration hidden bonuses to AC a lot of enemies have vs slashing as opposed to crushing, and the fact that crushing is the least resisted.
I'm fairly certain the math would support that over time dual wielding the Stupefier with Ashideena would do more damage (due to hitting more often because enemies have less AC to crushing and due to resisting less damage) than dual wielding Drizzt's scimitars, and that isn't taking the stun effect into account.
Make that two times 1d8+3 and protections, which will matter a lot. When carrying these weapons, how many enemies do you encounter that you don't immediately kill, making the stun effect actually useful? Maybe a few every so much hours? The argument of hitting more often due to AC is not valid, since at the point in the game where you will have these items, your character will have high stats and will hit anyway.
Just CLUAed Xan and his moonblade to check. Okay, it's status quo.
I played a game once (probably a decade ago by now) in which I was intent to have Xan wield his sword with some degree of success. I used all the mage buffs and items I could see that might accomplish that (including the Claw of Kazgaroth, etc.).
What I found it that at the end of the day, a mage's THACO and APR are just too dismal for this approach to really be worth all the trouble. My conclusion was that Xan is a much greater asset to the party as the badass spellcaster he was born to be--not as a wannabe meleer.
But that said, I'd be fascinated to see if you were able to find a respectable way to integrate use of his sword. I'm not going to go to the mat to argue that it's impossible. Just saying I gave it a good shot ages ago and it seemed to me clearly not the best use of Xan. I'd be very happy to learn otherwise.
Drizzt's scimitars can't by-pass stoneskin or mirror image. The stun effect can since it only requires a hit, not damage and unlike PfMW those spells only prevent damage not hitting, as does any weapon with elemental damage. Stunned enemies are auto-hit and obviously can't fight back.
Your argument is largely invalid due to the fact that you can ALSO one shot all those enemies just as easily with the stupifier, and don't have to change weapons to take on tougher enemies who would have benefit to stun. Stupifier can also be acquired sooner, and without using cheesy exploits like PPing Drizzt's scimitars (that his character model is clearly shown to be actively wielded), which wouldn't be possible if they'd just update his cre file to the BG2 version, which is identical, aside from his weapons being actually equipped.
I used infinity editor pro and simply saved the moonblade to another ID that is unused (sw1h69) and put that in the override folder. Porting it in it is identical stats to the original put anyone can use it.
I used infinity editor pro and simply saved the moonblade to another ID that is unused (sw1h69) and put that in the override folder. Porting it in it is identical stats to the original put anyone can use it.
EDIT: No, I didn't modify/copy the .itm file of the Moonblade. And doing that way would cause some problems if you play multyplayer with ppl that don't have you files.
The stun effect of Stupefier is huge, since they didn't bother to give any of the boss enemies immunity to stun.
Crushing damage bypassing resistance is a red herring. Unless I missed something in my scan (and it was, admittedly, a pretty rouch scan, so if anyone can think of any specific enemies I've missed, please point them out) of the CRE files, skeletons and clay golems are about the only enemies in the game that have greater slashing resistance than crushing, and I'm not even sure there are any clay golems in BGEE (jellies, for reference, always have equal amounts of crushing and slashing resistance). Skeletons, of course, are strictly fodder.
Plate armor modifiers against slashing are a concern, but here's a fun fact for you: despite their sprites, neither the Demon Knight nor Sarevok are wearing any armor, so their AC is effectively the same for everyone. So ideally for those boss fights, you want someone wielding the Stupefier for the stun, and everyone else using the highest damage weapon they can, regardless of the damage type (except Sarevok has a big missile damage resistance).
It really depends on many factors. First, the race you are plaing - elves have bonuses for longswords and longbows, so they should stay with them. Second of all, it depends what you mean by "the best"? Some weapons has higher damage others has higher THACO and others has some interesting unique abilities.
And lastly, it depends wether you prefer rabged or melee weapons.
Interesting, I thought the Demon Knight and Sarevok had plate mail. Good to know.
Yeah, you would think based on their sprites that they were wearing plate (or at least *some* kind of armor), but I suppose it's simpler to just set the AC you want on a monster, rather than figuring out the exact combination of armor and stats to get there.
Comments
Ashideena and Varscona are a step below, but solid as well.
The (cross)bows are all good.
I'd rather have legacy of the masters
Killing enemy > stunning
How much faster are you going to kill someone with a 1d8+3 vs a 1d6+2 (Stupifier)?
AND you aren't taking into consideration hidden bonuses to AC a lot of enemies have vs slashing as opposed to crushing, and the fact that crushing is the least resisted.
I'm fairly certain the math would support that over time dual wielding the Stupefier with Ashideena would do more damage (due to hitting more often because enemies have less AC to crushing and due to resisting less damage) than dual wielding Drizzt's scimitars, and that isn't taking the stun effect into account.
Just CLUAed Xan and his moonblade to check. Okay, it's status quo.
I played a game once (probably a decade ago by now) in which I was intent to have Xan wield his sword with some degree of success. I used all the mage buffs and items I could see that might accomplish that (including the Claw of Kazgaroth, etc.).
What I found it that at the end of the day, a mage's THACO and APR are just too dismal for this approach to really be worth all the trouble. My conclusion was that Xan is a much greater asset to the party as the badass spellcaster he was born to be--not as a wannabe meleer.
But that said, I'd be fascinated to see if you were able to find a respectable way to integrate use of his sword. I'm not going to go to the mat to argue that it's impossible. Just saying I gave it a good shot ages ago and it seemed to me clearly not the best use of Xan. I'd be very happy to learn otherwise.
Btw, maybe you can find your post on how to use Xan in this search. I've found that this forum search workaround using Google seems to work pretty well.
Your argument is largely invalid due to the fact that you can ALSO one shot all those enemies just as easily with the stupifier, and don't have to change weapons to take on tougher enemies who would have benefit to stun. Stupifier can also be acquired sooner, and without using cheesy exploits like PPing Drizzt's scimitars (that his character model is clearly shown to be actively wielded), which wouldn't be possible if they'd just update his cre file to the BG2 version, which is identical, aside from his weapons being actually equipped.
No, it's even harder to use it than it was in the original Baldur's Gate / Baldur's Gate 2.
Knowing how the wielding limitation works
EDIT: No, I didn't modify/copy the .itm file of the Moonblade.
And doing that way would cause some problems if you play multyplayer with ppl that don't have you files.
Fodder is fodder. They die either way, the difference in 1d8+3 * 2, and 1d6 +2 with 1d4+4 is negligible against fodder.
But I definitely don't hit the Demon Knight, Aec'Letec, or Sarevok every time and I'm certainly not one shotting them.
Crushing damage bypassing resistance is a red herring. Unless I missed something in my scan (and it was, admittedly, a pretty rouch scan, so if anyone can think of any specific enemies I've missed, please point them out) of the CRE files, skeletons and clay golems are about the only enemies in the game that have greater slashing resistance than crushing, and I'm not even sure there are any clay golems in BGEE (jellies, for reference, always have equal amounts of crushing and slashing resistance). Skeletons, of course, are strictly fodder.
Plate armor modifiers against slashing are a concern, but here's a fun fact for you: despite their sprites, neither the Demon Knight nor Sarevok are wearing any armor, so their AC is effectively the same for everyone. So ideally for those boss fights, you want someone wielding the Stupefier for the stun, and everyone else using the highest damage weapon they can, regardless of the damage type (except Sarevok has a big missile damage resistance).
First, the race you are plaing - elves have bonuses for longswords and longbows, so they should stay with them.
Second of all, it depends what you mean by "the best"? Some weapons has higher damage others has higher THACO and others has some interesting unique abilities.
And lastly, it depends wether you prefer rabged or melee weapons.
Interesting, I thought the Demon Knight and Sarevok had plate mail. Good to know.