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A good weapon setup for my party? (SoA)

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RP80
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A good weapon setup for my party? (SoA)

Post by RP80 »

I ahve a hard time figuring out how to equip my party and what weapon prof. to take for the npc:s. Here is the party I'm using:

Me - Half Elf, Blade, 1 katana, 1 scimitar, 3 two weapon fighting
Korgan
Valygar
Yoshimo
Viconia
Edwin

I'm thinking of giving Korgan the Crom Faeyr(since he already have 2 warhammer) and an Axe of course. At first I was thinking of giving Viconia the Crom but now I'm thinking of letting her use the flail of ages and get +2 for shields(fortress shield). Yoshimo will use a single sword of some kind, not sure which and Valygar and me dual wielding.
Anyone got any ideas how to distribute the different weapons in SoA to all these dual wielding guys?
And yes another question, when I backstabbed with Valygar and his katana I got the message "weapon not suited for backstabbing" or something. Which weapons works for backstab?
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sparhawk_tr
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Post by sparhawk_tr »

If you want a dual-wield warrior. I think you should choose Minsc. And give him Crom Faeyr and may be Flail of Edges or Some good long sword. Or in tob Foebane bastard sword. He will be a good warrior IMO.
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RP80
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Post by RP80 »

nah, Minsc is out of the question, this is the party I am/will use. I'm trying to stay away from good alligned chars since my main charachter is evil. Valygar is someone I didn't intend to use at first because of this but I discovered he was to much fun paired with yoshimo for stealth backstabbing action.
About, the npc:s weapons, just played some now and got started thinking about perhaps changing my planning for Valygar. Instead of having him dual wield give him two hand weapons +2 and some two hander. Much more easier to switch between bow and melee that way, not having to enter his inventory and manually equip him.
One thing is certain about this game though, it's just so damn good. My god I had forgotten how excellent it really is. There is just so much work put into it, it's almost scary. After I have finished SoA this time I will get ToB asap. And after that, starting over again of course with new chars :P I'm addicted.
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Numinor
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Post by Numinor »

You should consider that Valygar can no longer backstab with a two-handed weapon (unless it's a staff) because only 'thief-usable' weapons are suitable for backstabbing (->short/long swords, scimitars, katanas, daggers, staves, clubs).
Also note that
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Post by Klorox »

I think you have too many katana weilders. I don't know how far you've gotten into the game, so I don't want to spoil too much. But take the advice on the character creation screen: enchanted katana are hard to come by (but there is one doozey out there!).
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Post by Deadalready »

1: Valygar and Virconia will eventually come to blows with one another, *one will die*. I suggest Jaheira and her snobbiness.

2: Yes, too many katanas, I suggest getting longswords for duel wield since there are many tasty longswords and powerful ones latter. If Backstabbing consider using short swords like the "Sword of Backstabbing+3" and "Cutthroat+4". Valygar is very good for katanas already since he has a point into it already. To my knowledge the most powerful katanas you can get normally are +3 and one +2 in truth a point wasted in katanas is wasted.

3: Valygar's family blade cannot backstab, don't know why but that's the truth. There's a go around for it though where you put his blade in his off hand and a backstab able weapon in his first hand it'll work (I think try it in game)

4: There only seems to be one character who has a blunt weapon... Clay golems are quite common.
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Numinor
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Post by Numinor »

[QUOTE=Deadalready]
3: Valygar's family blade cannot backstab, don't know why but that's the truth. There's a go around for it though where you put his blade in his off hand and a backstab able weapon in his first hand it'll work (I think try it in game)
[/QUOTE]

Either the Baldurdash-fixpack or the latest official patch fixes that. The cause of this was that Valygar's blade was flagged as 'unusable' by thieves, but due to engine limitations a weapon most be usable by thieves to backstab with (as I said above).
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Post by araknid70 »

AFAIK, Viconia is a poor damage dealer and poor tank (STR and CON both in the dumps). Of course, there are Strength belts, but it's either Strength belts or the Belt of Fortitude, which increases CON to 18 for tanking. If you're playing only SoA then its fine to leave Viccy with the Flail of Ages, but in ToB the Flail becomes the weapon with the most effective damage. So if you're playing to ToB then consider investing points in flails for one of your main fighters.

Just my opinion. I know there are others who do use Viccy as a tank, but I personally don't... too bothersome to keep on buffing and all.
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Post by VonDondu »

If you give Viconia the Girdle of Fortitude, Crom Faeyr, and suitable armor, she's as good in combat as any single-class Cleric can be. As an alternative, you can let her wield the mace called the Mauler's Arm (which raises the wielder's Strength to 18) or equip her with a girdle of giant strength and a weapon like Skullcrusher or the Flail of Ages. Or, you can have her cast spells from the back line and wield a sling such as the Sling of Everard or the Sling of Seeking.

Give Edwin the Staff of the Magi and a ranged weapon like Firetooth (the throwing dagger) or darts.

I don't think that Yoshimo is very good at backstabbing unless you improve his THAC0 with the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength and a really good sword. Most of the time, I forego the backstabbing and have him wield the Tuigan Bow and let my other characters wield the nice katanas (which are in short supply).

If you want your Blade to dual-wield katanas, Celestial Fury and Dak'kon's Zerth Blade make a good combination. Or you could give the latter to Yoshimo (he needs a +2 or better katana) and put Belm (the scimitar) in your Blade's off-hand. If you have the Tactics MOD installed and meet the Acid Kensai (and can manage to defeat him), he has a nice +4 katana. As an alternative, you could make your Blade an Elf which would give him a +1 racial bonus for longswords and equip him with longswords.

If your Blade is not wielding Celestial Fury, let Valygar use it. Otherwise, let him wield his own Corthala Blade or a +3 or better backstabbing weapon that isn't a katana. When you need to have him use a blunt weapon, equip him with the Improved Mace of Disruption. Under most circumstances, you'll only need a blunt weapon for clay golems, but you can't backstab golems, so you don't really need a blunt backstabbing weapon. On the other hand, if you have the desire to use a blunt backstabbing weapon, you can use a staff or a club.

In my opinion, Korgan really needs to wield an axe (just as I believe that Minsc should wield the biggest two-handed sword you can find). There are several good axes in the game, including a couple of throwing axes (Azuredge and the Rifthome Axe) which allow you to bypass the Berserker's restriction on ranged weapons.

As your characters gain more profiency points and acquire newer and better weapons, you can always deviate from your original decisions and make the most of what you've got.
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Post by Nimiety »

I like planning out what weapons I will want a character to use, so I can maximize the efficient use of proficiency points as they arrive. Of course, I'm a bit of a geek.

- In my latest game, I wanted a fighter character to use scimitars, as Usuno's Blade can be gotten fairly early if you head right over with ToB installed.
- I wanted someone to dual axes, because there are two good +3 axes that both deal elemental damage (a la flail of ages) that can be a big bonus.
- I wanted the traditional flails / war hammer dualled combo, as that flail of ages is too good to pass up.
- I also wanted the staff of the magi, but I use a thief/mage, so they can slink around, backstab, go invisible, cast spells, et al.
- I also have a dualled katana char, which ironically seems to be the weakest category despite the singular strength of celestial fury.
- Finally, spears - there's a good +3 spear you can get in the promenade, and you will end up with one of the few +6 weapons by the end of the game, and having a weapon with better range doesn't hurt when fighting in a crowd.

When planning this out for your team, keep dualling simple - if you split dualling between two different weapon groups, you lose potential bonuses by splitting your proficiency points.

Me - Blade - dual scimitars - there are too many to miss in this class (belm, add usuno and spectral with ToB, Kachiko's near the start, ...)
Korgan - fighter - dual axes - give him Azuredge for a ranged weapon because it's still an axe and he kicks undead bum! Plus frostreaver and stonefire...
Valygar - stalker - dual katanas, and he can use Lbows for ranged
Yoshimo - bounty hunter - ugh - I never play him for a reason, but since he can't specialize, maybe long swords, since daystar is available early? He can't get too many points in a category anyways. I'd get Jan to use short swords, as +4 ones are available early as well.
Viconia - cleric - easy: dual flails and warhammers and slings for ranged.
Edwin - mage - staves, and add points into two handed weapons - I also think there's a +2 throwing dagger out there.
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Post by RP80 »

BIG thanks everyone for all the help. However there is one thing I'm still not sure about, the use of shields on melee charachters? Right now(lvl 15) I'm using a fortress shield and the +3 one from the beholder quest. They seem to help alot but how usefull are they in the later stages of the game?
I have played through most of BGII befor but it was so long ago and I really don't remember much of it. Are shields of any use at all or is dual wield the way to go because of all the +mods a secondary weapon gives?
And yes I have also changed my party know that I know that valygar will not work with Viconia. I dumped both valygar and yoshimo and put Jan in instead. That way I have an empty slot which I'm using to get access to the different npc:s quests. Will put Yoshimo back in when I go to save Imoen.
Finally, yet again a question, sorry, I remember that when you travel to spellhold you have to sacrifice a stat point. Is it a permanent loss or does it come back? I rolled stats for so many hours to get everything perfect would feel like **** to ahve to screw up my "ultimate" roll.
... about spellhold, my charachter sure is not in a hurry to save Imoen, will clear all side quests first which sure seems to take a while.. :P
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Post by Ekental »

As the game progresses into ToB shields become less useful in the AC bonus they provide since AC maxes out at -20 and people can still hit you even with that.
In SoA though they are quite useful... though weapon equipment all depends on what you want the characters to do.
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Post by Nimiety »

I'm not against sheilds, and it is certainly of value to have one shield carrying member around to fight off certain monsters or to gain abilities of some of the shields. You may want to have Viconia take the shield at first, and then hand over to Jan after he gains the Use Any Item HLA to free up her other hand for Crom Faeyr.

In spellhold, yes, you will have to mess with your perfect roll, as your dream will become a permanent change (I'm speaking wishy-washy to avoid spoiling anything).

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Post by lompo »

[QUOTE=Nimiety]
Korgan - fighter - dual axes - give him Azuredge for a ranged weapon because it's still an axe and he kicks undead bum! Plus frostreaver and stonefire...
Valygar - stalker - dual katanas, and he can use Lbows for ranged

Viconia - cleric - easy: dual flails and warhammers and slings for ranged.
[/QUOTE]

Korgan: can't use Azuredge (restricted to good aligned only), but you can get some nice throwing axes anyway, but best and natural set up for Korgan is Axe+Crom (use axe+shield while you built up is 2WF and before getting Crom);
Valygar: if you like him to dual wield he is naturally specialized in katana, then you can add something else (clubs are good and you can backstab), but if you like him as bowman, I would choose spears or/and staffs (much better management you find some very good staff to use);
Viconia: don't dual her, being a pure cleric she will never be a good melee fighter (only 1 attack/rnd), so give her a shield (some very good one available, shield of Harmony being the best) and a sling as base set up, switch to a mace in melee (you get a nice one for her subquest). Using Crom or FoA with viconia it's a waste (you wan't get the full benefit of those weapons).

As for shield there are some options that are still good also in ToB, being s. of Harmony the best.
As for proficiency, ranger/barb/paladin can have a wide choice because not being able to master a weapon you will end up with tons of prof. points to spread up, but pure fughters is better to specialize them to get the full benefit of masteries.
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Post by VonDondu »

[QUOTE=RP80]Finally, yet again a question, sorry, I remember that when you travel to spellhold you have to sacrifice a stat point. Is it a permanent loss or does it come back? I rolled stats for so many hours to get everything perfect would feel like **** to have to screw up my "ultimate" roll...[/QUOTE]
If you sacrifice a point of Wisdom, you'll never miss it. Contrary to what the manual says, Wisdom does not affect your saving throws (it was planned but it was never implemented in the game). Wisdom will affect the outcome of Wish spells, but I don't suppose your Blade will be casting many of those, and besides, you can always use potions when you need a temporary boost in Wisdom or any of your other stats.

If you choose the Good path for one of the Trials in Hell instead of the Evil path, you'll lose a point of Dexterity. If you choose the Evil path, you'll become Neutral Evil. That's the only potential stat loss (or alignment trade-off) that I would worry about. But you can gain an extra point of Dexterity if you visit Watcher's Keep (available if you install Throne of Bhaal). You can also get an extra stat point if you acquire the Deck of Many Things and play your cards right.
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Post by VonDondu »

[QUOTE=lompo]Korgan: can't use Azuredge (restricted to good aligned only)...[/QUOTE]
Sorry, I forgot about that. But it's still a good ranged weapon for a Good-aligned Berserker. :)
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Post by lompo »

[QUOTE=VonDondu]Sorry, I forgot about that. But it's still a good ranged weapon for a Good-aligned Berserker. :) [/QUOTE]

It's definetly the best throwing axe in the game, and one of the best ranged weapon too; makes almost a must to have some kind of fighter of good alignement in any party!!
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Post by Opalescence »

Viconia can be a damage machine, all you need is the right stuff to put on her. If you give Viconia a belt of strength, then put the Sling of Seeking, she will deal tons of damage per hit. As a Cleric, Viconia can wear full body armor and still cast with no issue, so load her up with the best armor and shield you can find, and she'll be plenty well-protected. Keep her in back, so that her low hit points won't be such a liability, and Viconia can be quite powerful. In case you didn't know, the Sling of Seeking is a sling that deals its own damage plus the user's strength modifier. Now you can see why Viccy can be a damage machine. Pity, though, that it's only a +2 weapon.
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Post by VonDondu »

[QUOTE=Opalescence]In case you didn't know, the Sling of Seeking is a sling that deals its own damage plus the user's strength modifier. Now you can see why Viccy can be a damage machine. Pity, though, that it's only a +2 weapon.[/QUOTE]
True. But since Viconia's Dexterity is 19, that adds another +3 bonus to her THAC0 when she uses a sling, and +2 bullets would add another +2 bonus to her THAC0. Furthermore, Draw Upon Holy Might will give her an additional strength bonus on top of the bonus given to her by a Girdle of Giant Strength. I can't remember whether Evil Clerics can use Holy Power, but if she can use that, she can lower her THAC0 even more. So in Viconia's hands, a sling isn't such a bad weapon.
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Post by Ekental »

[QUOTE=VonDondu]If you sacrifice a point of Wisdom, you'll never miss it. Contrary to what the manual says, Wisdom does not affect your saving throws (it was planned but it was never implemented in the game). ...[/QUOTE]



SPOILER...
You can totally avoid the demon's stat draining if you want by refusing to talk to him till your RIGHT at the door... then talking to him and running through before he can use his ability on you.
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