Equip my party! Please?!

[willsanders84]

SO there are a couple of criteria that I want to stick to:

First of all I'm playing utterly vanilla SoA. Secondly assume I've JUST got Imoen. Finally, assume I've got EVERY item from chapter 2.

My party is:

Fighter (9)/Cleric (10)
Keldorn
Minsc
Aerie
Imoen

I'm mostly insterested in weapons, but also slightly interested in armour. For example, I currently have Keldorn wearing his personal full plate, Minsc in red dragon scale, myself in full plate, areie in a travellers robe (! is there anything better?!) and Imoen wearing the robe of the good archmagi.

I've got FoA and a shield, Keldorn has duh! (but I'm tempted by daystar and a shield, but that 50% mr is just too good isn't it?), Minsc Celestial fury and belm (he only has 1 point in katana's so far), I don't know WHAT to give aerie, and Imoen staff of the magi.

I'd REALLY appreciate comments and ideas, because I've been working on this "ultimate chapter 2" party for ages. Yes I don't really have Imoen yet, I've got Yoshi, but I'll plough into spellhold with everything I plan on giving to Imoen.

Some thoughts; does Imoen after tesnser's warrant Celestial fury? Should I dual weild Aerie? Should I just use Lady Yuth's limited wish spell to get full plate +2, because even though it reduces THACO and movement speed it looks AWESOME.

Thanks guys! Again, really appreciate any input, even if it's entirely negative (like man up and just play the game).

[QuenGalad]

I'd say you've got to man up and just play the game!

Seriously, i don't think this is such a huge deal. Of course, there are all sorts of weapon combinations that could make your party very powerfull, but honestly, you'll beat the game however you equip them. A couple of things that spring to my mind right now:

1. Karsomyr. Keldorn is the only one who can use it now, if you're not a paladin yourself. So stick with it, the Daystar can be used by others, too. And it's not really that great, because it's enchantment is only +2 if memory serves. I'm sure it doesn't count as +3 because i've had some frustrating moments with greater mummies while wielding it.

2. Does 'utterly vanilla SoA' mean you don't have the bonus CD merchants? Joluv in Copper Coronet and Deidre in Adventurer's Mart? If you do have them, definitely check them out. They can be overlooked, since they have default 'noble' avatars. I've beaten SoA two times before discovering them

3. Aerie won't really fight for you (she can, but with your party composition there's no point, really) so give her stuff that protects her delicate compassionate self. A good shield is a must, and with the Sling of Arvoreen she can provide pretty good backup. If you say you've got every item from ch2, do you have an elven chainmail form Trademeet? It's great for her, additional AC and she can still cast spells.

4. Celestial Fury is a damn great weapon, so no sense in letting accumulate dust in Immy's pack. Give it to a frontline fighter who'll swing it often.

[RPGguy]

It's too bad you have Keldorn, although I like the dude.

The reason I say that is because if you have 2 tanks running around, both with boots of speed, one using Flail of Ages (plus offhand of your choice) and the other using Celestial Fury (plus offhand of your choice), you can literally:

-run up to enemy
-whack to stun/slow
-run to next enemy
-whack to stun/slow
-repeat as otfen as is necessary

..and have your 'twerps' finish them off. Get a little assembly line line going.

Note: twerps to focus on any enemy mages/clerics if applicable first

[Edar Macilrille]

There is something better, Robe of the ### Archmagi or Robe of Vecna.

Other than that I really dunno it is years since I played Vanilla.

[RPGguy]

The Robe of Vec(mini Time Stop)na is a given. It crushes any other robe in the game.

[Majorman]

[url="http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/dl.php?s=BG2&f=BG2/baldurs_gate_ii_equipment.zip#"]A nice item guide[/url]
[url="http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/dl.php?s=BG2&f=BG2/NPCguide_Sirdan.zip#"]A nice character's guide.[/url]

As I see things, equip Imoen with a mage robe (and not an armour) and give her a nice bow (and the bracers of Archery).

Aerie should use a sling/one-handed blunt weapon and Shield of Harmony +2. Don't forget to give her a helmet! Double-wielding with Aerie is pointless, as she has only one attack per round, she will have a really big penalty for double-wielding and she can't use most of the really usefull second-hand weapons (like Kundane, Belm). She might use the Crom Fayer, but you better keep it for your PC, since he has more attacks per round. Or, if you really want to, you can give her the "Defender of Kuldahar" from the bonus merchant for some DR (it won't help much though, her HPs are dismal). Don't forget to give her the "Girdle of Fortitude" to improve her chances of survival.

Having both Minsc and Keldorn makes your party anything but useful, since they both have somewhat low Dexterity (hence high AC). I think that the Gauntlets of Dexterity are a must for Keldorn (he should use a 2-handed weapon); give Minsc the "Defender of Kuldahar", a shield, or other item that improves his defences to wield off-hand. Or ditch him.
IMO, Korgan, Mazzy and Jaheira are all better than him in the long run. Haer'Dalis might also prove better than the ranger. I mean, he's a single class, can spend no more than 2 proficiency points and his spell are nothing spectacular.

Other than that, consider getting a sixth party member. This game is really made for a full party. Also, download the bonus merchants from this site and buy at least the "Shield of Balduran". It will save you a lot of gray hair. Another great items include the "Robe of Vecna", "Defender of Kuldahar" and "Vhailor's Helmet".

PS. One last tip, before installing ToB you can equip the "Red Dragon Scale" and still wear a "Ring of Protection +2", making it effectively the best armor in SoA.

[willsanders84]

I don't have access to the robe of vecna, and I don't think I'd want it anyway - it's just too much. I also don't have access to the special stock items from Deirdre (is that her name?). Pure vanilla baby.

Yes, as was mentioned, I do like Jaheira. I had her right up until Galvery decided to try and fight me (what a silly idea), purely for the ring of wizardry, then I ditched her. Basically, I can't understand anyone who's neutral, I mean, what does it mean? That you wouldn't help a crying child just because nature should 'take its course' or some rubbish? So now I'd goody two shoes.

I was wondering, should fighter/clerics dual weild? And if so, in a purely vanilla SoA game, what should he use? I don't, by the way, even consider crom to be an option, just because it's not available until late in the game. Is it Flail of Ages / Mauler's arm? Suppose my strength was better than 18?

Or should I just use a shield?

Thanks for all the input people, and I understand that nobody has played an unmodded, or even un-ToB game in a while, and so knowing the items is tricky.

P.s. I've bracers of defence AC3 on Aerie, and so even the elven chain doesn't make a difference (apart from making her look awesome) and therefore her travellers robe is better! I agree, shield of harmony is probably the way to go with her. I have the sling of avoreen, but for her melee weapon, I'm still undecided. So tempted to Mauler's Arm / Wyvern's tale her...

[RPGguy]

Or should I just use a shield?

They would have to make a shield that drops AC by 10 or more for me to even consider giving up the ability to drop an opponent 1 or 2 rounds sooner per encounter, on average.

There are too many baddies whose attack bypasses AC anyways. Even if you manage an AC of -20 with a shield, those Adamantite golems are still going to hit you regardless. Many other baddies as well.

Not to mention there are more innate protections built into weapons than shields, simply by the fact that there seem to be 6-8 times as many magical weapons in the game, than there are shields. So the offhand seems like a great way to add immunity to level drain, or stun, or death, or domination.

I can't see any logic to using a shield unless for role playing reasons, you've got a shield that your character feels honors Gorion or another fallen...or to which the PC forms a special connection to 'x' imaginary reason.

With a party of 6, you can afford to not max out your character statistically. If you were running a party of 4 or less, there is no way you should be giving up dual-wielding IMO...but you have some discretion and flexibility in this case to do what you want.

[willsanders84]

SWEET RPG guy, thanks. So, what would you equip a fighter/cleric with? I suppose it really IS FoA and Mauler's arm isn't it? But suppose my strength is higher.

I've heared things said like; "stiletto of Demarchess is a good off hand weapon", and this makes no sense to me, except if that 20% stun ability relates simply to any hit, and not just a hit with the dagger. Am I right?

I'm racking my brains to think of a good cleric weapons dual weild combo. I suppose mace of disruption +2 is pretty good, but quite specific. The sleeper +2 maybe? Wyvern's tail? Or is a mace +2 as good as any other weapon when it comes to dual weilding a cleric?

Thanks

[Crenshinibon]

There are only two weapons which a cleric should dual wield: Flail of Ages +3 and Defender of Easthaven. That's it. At least that's my favorite combination with clerics. Both are available very early on and both are viable at the very end of the saga.

[QuenGalad]

If there's no Robe of Vecna, then there's no Defender of Eastheaven, either.

A shield is a good choice if you want to switch between hand weapon and a sling, which you can't to when dual wielding. And in a party like that, Aerie will do just fine as ranged backup If you have bracers of AC on her, then of course a robe is better than the chainmail, but you won't get another Robe of Good Archmagi in SoA. You'll have to make do with less impressive robes.

For your fighter/cleric Flail of Ages is a must, but IIRC Mauler's is only a +1 weapon. Mace of Disruption is better, if only enchantment-wise, and you meet so many undead it's hard to call it 'specific'. There will be a nice +3 mace with a bonus versus humanoids (and a lot of enemies fall into that category) available later on.

[RPGguy]

There are only two weapons which a cleric should dual wield: Flail of Ages +3 and Defender of Easthaven. That's it. At least that's my favorite combination with clerics. Both are available very early on and both are viable at the very end of the saga.

I agree with Quen about the Mace of Disruption as weapon #2. But you want the mace in your primary hand when facing undead, so throw the Flail of Ages in your offhand.

I also got the Hammer of Thunderbolts before I ship out to Brynnlaw. So when coming up against golems, throw that in your primary hand and (again) the FoA in the offhand.

*offhand only hits once per round, regardless of number of attacks per round, which is why the FoA should go into your offhand when facing golems, trolls or undead.

**any cleric component to your build denies the use of an edged weapon (Stiletto of Demarchess)

[RPGguy]

If there's no Robe of Vecna, then there's no Defender of Eastheaven, either.

The robe you can buy from Diedre at Adventure Mart. The Defender of Easthaven is available from Jovus at the Copper Coronet. A basic install of SoA/ToB with basic patching and no mods will give you Diedre but no Jovus. Trust me, I just went and checked

When Cren talks, I kind of try to listen...so I googled the Defender of Easthaven and ya, it is a must wield weapon...easily over the two weapons I suggested previously.

Although, I still recommend you equip the MoD or HoT when facing those specific critters as insta-kills give me the chills personally. I haven't gotten out of Spellhold yet and my cleric ranger already has 0/2 (just one ring of Gaxx) for THAC0 so misses are rare and insta-kill weapons are quite viable.

[Edar Macilrille]

Generally Defender is the best. Instant-kill weapons are very nice though. Especially those that works against those pesky undead and prevents Lvl-drain by default, so you need not all that annoying and sometimes unrealistic buffing.

[jouke1988]

I read all the responces on this forum and I do have a question, how can I install jovus on to my system. Is there a mod for it?

[Daynov]

You can get him using the BG2 Tweak Pack ( G3: BG2 Tweak Pack Overview ). The component "Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash, Weimer)" adds Joluv and Diedre to the Copper Coronet and Ribald's Mart, respectively.

[jouke1988]

Thanx a lot

[Edar Macilrille]

Gibberlings 3 The most feared monsters in all of Amn (try their anniversary pack if you do not know of what I am talking). And keeps churning out good mods for SoA and BG. If we could give balloons here, I would.