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Dual-Wielding Evil Char - Blade or Swashbuckler

ElministerElminister Member Posts: 4
in New Players (NO SPOILERS!)
Howdy y'all. I'm new to these forums, but not to the game. I started off with Baldur's Gate 2 good 10 years ago. I finished the game with Necromancer perhaps a dozen times. Mage classes are my favorite in any RPG and I find Illusion spells mostly useless. And recently I've played BGEE. It's nice to recall all those memories from my childhood with this great game.

Anyway, having finished BGEE with a good party (and Necromancer), I'm thinking of going for another go, this time with something different. After some consideration, the choice fell to some kind of dual-wielding character, perhaps a Blade or Swashbuckler. So, what are your suggestions? Which one can dish out more damage and / or is more fun to play? Also, at some point in the future, I'll probably switch it over to BG2 and finish that game as well with it.

Comments

  • LuthfordLuthford Member Posts: 1,301
    hi elminister!
    blade is very boring in bgee cause the low spell progressions, few prof point (max 4 points) and wearable armor (best equip for blade is on bg2ee if you decide to import your char).. about weapons i advice scimitars (twinlke required good alignment) and logswords (varscona or the harrower). In my opinion the swash is more funny to play (and more all around in a party).. you can also dual class him (if human) to warrior to maximize damage, grand mastery and thaco (and dritzz armor the best for fighter thief) or in a mage! The best level for dualclass is 10 at bg2ee, otherwise five or six level..
    Other funny builds:
    1) Elf or half elf fighter/mage (multiclass): more powerful than blade! more hp, more spells, prof points and better thaco. The elves have +1 for bow and swords too..
    2) Halforc fighter/thief (multiclass): strenght and constitution 19 (higher inventory capacity) good thaco and good hp.
    3) Human berserker/mage (dualclass): berserker level 9 (al bgee and import to bg2ee) max hit points, max thaco, good apr and much more prof points (dualwield ++ and longsowrd ++++ or dualwield++ and longsword+++++).
    4) Human berserker/thief (dualclass): like the Bersage!
    I hope this help you and sorry for my bad english XD
  • SionIVSionIV Member Posts: 2,689
    Blades are actually very powerful in BGEE and not at all boring. You get your most important spells (Mirror image, Blur, etc) in BGEE and with the offensive spin you're easily one of the most powerful characters in BGEE. It's much more fun and entertaining to play a blade instead of a swashbuckler.

    I love the blade and the swashbuckler, but i wouldn't play a pure swashbuckler as that tends to get a little boring. I always end up dual classing mine at level 10 to something else. You get +3 AC and +2 damage/Thac0 at that level and you can get Open locks, Disarm traps and Pickpocket to 100.
  • LuthfordLuthford Member Posts: 1,301
    edited October 2013
    SionIV said:

    Blades are actually very powerful in BGEE and not at all boring. You get your most important spells (Mirror image, Blur, etc) in BGEE and with the offensive spin you're easily one of the most powerful characters in BGEE. It's much more fun and entertaining to play a blade instead of a swashbuckler.

    My blade was boring XD
  • alnairalnair Member Posts: 561
    My blade was enjoyable :)
  • CorvinoCorvino Member Posts: 2,269
    If you want to cast then go with the Blade, any kind of arcane casting mixed with melee ends up crazy-awesome.

    If you just want to get stuck in with no pre-buffing, go Swashbuckler. They don't get as ridiculously unkillable as Blades, but you can just wind them up, let them go and watch the chunks fly. They can also do all the locks/traps malarkey.
  • nanonano Member Posts: 1,632
    My vote is for the blade because Offensive Spin is amazing in BGEE! Plus you get a bit of magic which gives you more toys to play with. As for the thief skills - you're a leader and a conqueror. Make some flunky do the lock picking. If they cross you, have them scout for traps with the detect trap skill turned off.

    I'm not a fan of swashbuckler because they're not very thiefy without backstabbing, and in my opinion fighter/thief is both better and more fun.
  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    I don't like swashys. Having a thief that can't backstab is like having a...... Something bad.
    I like blades; their song is awesome, they can dual wield, and cast. Hard too beat offensive spin in bg1, as well.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    i like swashbucklers, made lots of them, and they were all great, especially half-orc swashbucklers, they're pretty nice......... :)
  • ElministerElminister Member Posts: 4
    edited October 2013
    Oh man, you guys aren't making this easy for me :)

    I still have some time to think about, as I have to clear out Durlag's Tower with my Necromancer.

    But then I'll probably just roll the dice or something and choose that way.
  • FrozenCellsFrozenCells Member Posts: 385
    In terms of which one is more fun to play, I think it's easy, Blade. Magic is fun and if you like Necromancers then you probably agree. Blades can make better use of the touch and buff spells and get a higher casting level so their spells are quite effective too. Swashbucklers I think are the least interesting of the thief kits because it removes one thing that makes them unique (backstab) in exchange for increased melee competence, which if you like having thief skills without as much micromanagement is a good thing but otherwise it's a bit plain, for me. Thief skills are always good to have though.

    A third option would be a Stalker which gets free points in two weapon style as well as a backstab and a couple of mage spells later on when you get to BG2. It's restricted to good alignment though which puts me off but it's a good kit.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    I played an evil elf swashbuckler named Drizzt once. That was pretty fun :)
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    blade >>>>> swash until hla
    hla
    blade >>>> swash
  • ElministerElminister Member Posts: 4
    Thanks fellas. I've been playing as Blade was couple of days and it's a fair bit of fun.

    (or maybe it's fun cause I'm playing evil party, muahahaa) :)
  • Time4TiddyTime4Tiddy Member Posts: 262
    edited October 2013
    On a related note, the bard class quests in BG2 are much more fun than the thief class quests, and you have fewer bard NPC options w/o mods. BG2:EE is adding a new thief and there are already several decent thief options. You only have one bard option, and he's in a place that can be difficult to reach until you have leveled up and geared up a bit (IMO). All of the thieves and part thieves can be obtained early, either during or immediately following prologue with no additional fighting necessary.
  • zerckanzerckan Member Posts: 178
    Why not a dual-wielding berseker?
    You can be an evil killing machine.
  • zur312zur312 Member Posts: 1,366
    i would go for blade

    arcane > all
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