Suggested weapons (and proficiencies) for my NPC's

Imperator · Post by **Imperator** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 7:56 am

Suggested weapons (and proficiencies)?

I'm having trouble deciding where to put weapon proficiencies when leveling up my NPC's (Minsc, Jaheira, Valygar, Imoen, Aerie). Off course the answer depends on the weapons you want a particular NPC to wield, so let's discuss that. What weapons do you think suit each NPC best?

Currently my party consists of (name/class, weapons):
- Martijn (inquisitor): Carsomyr +5, Necaradan's Crossbow
- Minsc (ranger): silver sword or dual wield Mace of Disruption and Skullcrusher - Jaheira (druid): Blackblood (club), Arla's Dragonbane (sling), shield (Sentinel or Fortress)
- Valygar (stalker): dual wield Celestial Fury and Belm +2
- Imoen (mage/thief): short bow of Gesen, Daystar
- Aerie (cleric/mage): staff of the Magi, sling of Arvoreen

I've got the Flail of Ages, Impaler and, recently, Crom Faer and the Wave, but I can't decide who should should carry what weapon. Suggestions, please... Thanks!

lompo · Post by **lompo** » Thu Apr 22, 2004 9:16 am

Re: Suggested weapons (and proficiencies)?

Originally posted by Imperator
I'm having trouble deciding where to put weapon proficiencies when leveling up my NPC's (Minsc, Jaheira, Valygar, Imoen, Aerie). Off course the answer depends on the weapons you want a particular NPC to wield, so let's discuss that. What weapons do you think suit each NPC best?

Currently my party consists of (name/class, weapons):
- Martijn (inquisitor): Carsomyr +5, Necaradan's Crossbow
- Minsc (ranger): silver sword or dual wield Mace of Disruption and Skullcrusher - Jaheira (druid): Blackblood (club), Arla's Dragonbane (sling), shield (Sentinel or Fortress)
- Valygar (stalker): dual wield Celestial Fury and Belm +2
- Imoen (mage/thief): short bow of Gesen, Daystar
- Aerie (cleric/mage): staff of the Magi, sling of Arvoreen

I've got the Flail of Ages, Impaler and, recently, Crom Faer and the Wave, but I can't decide who should should carry what weapon. Suggestions, please... Thanks!

First you have a good party (it's the same party I used on my first game, eh!eh!) and the actual weaponery is fine, so just some suggestions, that will also depend if you have or not ToB:
-Martijn: (SoA) axe for Azuredge, (ToB) bastard swords

-Minsc: here you have to make a choice, 2H weapon or 2W style; for 2H go for Halaberds, while 2W hammers (CF as offhand) and flails or axe (ToB only) for FoA or AoU

-Jaheira: not many choice, any option is great, in SoA I used your configuration, while in ToB you could also go for 2W style (but you can do well also with 2H i.e. spear and staff), give her sling of Arvoreen

-Valygar: for SoA you don't have better option, in ToB L.swords, bastards (but no backstabs) or the Minsc option if Minsc goes with 2H

-Imoen: I would give her the Staff of Magi (goes well with a bow and she can find traps while remaining invisible)

-Aerie: definetly sword/shield style with shield of Harmony and sling of Everard with a mace as backup weapon (the mace that sets str. to 18)

JackOfClubs · Post by **JackOfClubs** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:01 pm

Martyn: I would give him the Silver Sword and let him alternate between this and Carsomyr. The former will end some tough battles quickly and the latter is good against magic wielding enemies.

Minsc: Ignore his two-handed sword profs and let him dual wield Crom Feyr in his off-hand. Give him Flail of ages and Mace of Disruption. If you like you can give him a point in Axe as well for Axe of Unyielding. This will give you two characters with vorpal weapons.

Valygar: Alternatively, you could give him the Axe proficiency. Otherwise, I think he is fine as he is.

Imoen/Aerie: They are fine as they are.

krunchyfrogg · Post by **krunchyfrogg** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:31 pm

I like Minsc dual weilding.

Go for either Axes, Hammers, Flails, or Longswords. In ToB, you'll want the Flail of Ages and either Angurvadal (Longsword) or the Axe of the Unyeilding. Can't really go wrong with Crom Faeyr either.

I like Jaheira w/ Daggers. There's a great throwing dagger (Firetooth) and a +4 dagger in SoA. Go for Scimitar if you have ToB.

I like the layout of the rest of the characters.

Imperator · Post by **Imperator** » Tue May 04, 2004 8:50 am

Thanks guys! I'm doing TOB now with this party, I just finished Saradush. I must admit, it's an awesome melee party. The only spells I use frequently are Breach, Lower Resistance, Pierce Magic, Kelden's Warding Whip and the usual battle preparation spells. I'm not that much of a spellcaster anyway, I guess I'm too lazy to learn how to use them effectively.

nephtu · Post by **nephtu** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:35 am

Actually...

When you're running a melee heavy party, that's about all the spellcasting you need in most fights. The tactics with such a party tend to be more or less "Chop up anything that gets in your way" so you just really need your mages to focus on stripping hostile mage defenses, slowing, hasting, etc.

A note about two handers: I generally try to have all my melees use at least one two handed weapon that they're pretty strong in, this really pays of with an attack like Greater whirlwind using Impaler or some such. So, probably two hander or Halberd (Dragonbreath and Ravager, whee!) for Minsc, Two handers for the PC (Duh...) and Spear for Valygar (who is an insanely good scout). The nice thing about using a two-hander is you can easily switch back and forth with missile weapons. Just have Valygar switch to dual wielding when he's backstabbing.

I would have Minsc dump maces for normal combat, they're just sooo lame (except mace of disruption vs. undead), flails (FoA, and Defender of Easthaven), hammers (Crom Faeyr, Runehammer) and axes (Azuredge & unyielding) are so much better.

My 2 gold worth, YMMV

*EDIT* Gah, missed Jaheira - she can us Staves very well, or you caould have Valygar on staves and Jaheira on spears. *END EDIT*