Bastard swords

[Frenzy]

Does anyone know if there are any good bastard swords in the games?

[Maharlika]

IIRC there is none if you talk about the "same level" as Carsomyr, Crom F and FoA. But when you get to ToB, you will be able to acquire some...

... oh yeah, I forgot, you can access the Keep down south where you will get a bastard sword for paladins...

Happy Hunting!


--Maharlika--

[Stilgar]

basterd swords suck in the game, in SoA there arn't any good basterd swords, and in ToB you'll find one that can only be used by palladins but is less good that Carsomyr. So you'll only use that one if you have 2 paladins in you're team, and why would you have that? I don;t understand why basterswords don't just count as longswords.

[smaug chow]

I think the bastard sword fixation is a hold over from old AD&D - it was a favored weapon due to its statistics in the game. In practice, a "bastard sword" is a hand-and-a-half sword somewhere in between a longsword and a true two-hander. There is a significant difference in the sizes of the blades and in how you use them.

Long swords typically (in real history) were used with a shield and were completely one handed weapons. Two-handed swords - the big suckers - were a specialization often used to break the heads off pikes and rarely used in actual melee combat. The bastard sword is somewhere in between and can be used with a shield if the weilder is strong enough, or two handed for extra power. The sword gained moderate popularity due to its flexibility, but ultimately was rendered almost useless by technological advances in armor. Go whack a plated knight with a 3 pound sword and see how much you piss him off. Stabbing swords became more popular and its hard to stab with a 4 foot blade.

I certain;ly agree that the game is weak in that area. In general, BG2 did a great job of offering a really good weapon in almost every category so that you could choose to customize your character. A lot of people like to role play it, and when you do that you may choose an odd weapon proficiency which is not based on numerical superiority. Sure, we all know about how powerful C.F. and Carsomyr and a few others are, but mebbe you want your PC to emulate Drizzt and use only scimitars - you got some good ones. I think thats one of the coolest things about the game - but they sure dropped the ball on the b-sword.

[Luther]

I agree. It's just waaay to tempting to play the power game and customize your characters to use Carsomyr, CF, FOA and some of the other greats, but truth be told you really don't need them to play a fun game. BGII offers enough items and options that you can always do good damage and defeat most monsters even with some of the earlier +2 weapons (with exceptions.) Besides it gets a little boring using the same weapons all the time. One of my favorites I used with Jaheira up until the end was the Blackblood +3, the cool red club that oozed acid.

Almost every great hero has a signature weapon, so it's only fitting to pick your favorite and use it throughout.

-Luther-

[Bruce Lee]

There are two good bastard swords at whatchers keep and one of them can be used by regualr fighters and is a really good weapon. Even better if you upgrade it. It then becomes possibly the best one handed sword in the game imo.

[Obsidian]

Well, as I recall there are 2 good ones in the underdark, woops, umm
SPOILER

There are the 2 good ones, both +3 i believe, on that is the "bleeder" that causes bleeding damage like valygars sword, and one that does fire damage. So alas, you have to wait quite some time for good basterd swords, but they are there.

[TheDude]

those are nice, but when u get to the underdark u usually have better weapons like Celestial Fury, FoA or Carsomyr so i think Basterd Swords are just a waste