Hey folks...
One more question about my latest game... I have a swashy dualled to mage and want to use a less commonly used weapon group - that means no katanas, long swords or staves. I'm deciding between clubs, short swords or daggers, and since daggers and short swords both have at least one item that can increase your backstabbing multiplier, I'm thinking of those two.
Both have at least one item that can be upgraded to +5 later in ToB and a second that goes up to +4, both have some neat effects on hits, etc... I can't decide between the short sword which does 2 more base damage (1d6 versus 1d4) against the greater number of effects by all the daggers (sleeping, poison, etc).
What do you think?
N...
Weapon choices for Swashy
I wouldn't call short swords or daggers for less commonly used if compared to katanas and staves, though.
But if that's what you're fishing at, why not go both? Given that you're passing through ToB you'll easily get enough profiencies.
Personally, when power gaming, I always go for Short Sword at first, get a scroll/spell of "friends" and a hot-looking mage, which can bring the cost for Short Sword of Mask down to about 32k, which isn't bad for a +4 with a whopping entangle ability and gets +5 later on. Usually you only have +1 or +2 for the other characters by then, as you just need to do Mae´Var + de´Arnise Keep to get it, or some quests of equal magnitude.
As Swashbuckler cannot backstabb, I would probably go for Long Swords / Katanas anyway. But that seems out of the question.
But if that's what you're fishing at, why not go both? Given that you're passing through ToB you'll easily get enough profiencies.
Personally, when power gaming, I always go for Short Sword at first, get a scroll/spell of "friends" and a hot-looking mage, which can bring the cost for Short Sword of Mask down to about 32k, which isn't bad for a +4 with a whopping entangle ability and gets +5 later on. Usually you only have +1 or +2 for the other characters by then, as you just need to do Mae´Var + de´Arnise Keep to get it, or some quests of equal magnitude.
As Swashbuckler cannot backstabb, I would probably go for Long Swords / Katanas anyway. But that seems out of the question.
A Swashbuckler is just made for the twoweapon style handling. Preferably a katana/long sword/scimitar combined with a dagger since that looks pretty cool too. Further more, I think the most powerful weapons in the game are katanas and/or longswords.
That said, short swords combined with daggers can be useful as well, although I don't really think your Swashy should use items that increase a backstab multiplier. I'm not sure if you have any Mod's or patches installed, but if you don't, then you might want to use a dagger in your main hand. Neb's Nasty Cutter or the Pixie Prick +3 are excellent choices in the beginning of the game, especially if you take their effects into consideration. For your off-hand you might want to use Arbane's Sword +2 for the immunity to hold effects. You could always switch the dagger to off-hand once you have a nicer, better short sword.
Regardless, whatever short sword you choose, a long sword will almost always outclass it. Both on the damage output, as on the immunity and protection department. My advice: use a dagger in your main hand, like the ones I mentioned, and a long sword in your off-hand for the protections. The Equalizer and Adjatha the Drinker +2 are excellent choices.
That said, short swords combined with daggers can be useful as well, although I don't really think your Swashy should use items that increase a backstab multiplier. I'm not sure if you have any Mod's or patches installed, but if you don't, then you might want to use a dagger in your main hand. Neb's Nasty Cutter or the Pixie Prick +3 are excellent choices in the beginning of the game, especially if you take their effects into consideration. For your off-hand you might want to use Arbane's Sword +2 for the immunity to hold effects. You could always switch the dagger to off-hand once you have a nicer, better short sword.
Regardless, whatever short sword you choose, a long sword will almost always outclass it. Both on the damage output, as on the immunity and protection department. My advice: use a dagger in your main hand, like the ones I mentioned, and a long sword in your off-hand for the protections. The Equalizer and Adjatha the Drinker +2 are excellent choices.
"Sometimes Dreams are wiser than waking"
Thank you for your feedback - I do appreciate it!
The reason why I want to stay away from scimitars, katanas and longswords is that I've always played with those weapons, and I'd like to play with a totally different weapon set, even if that means a potentially less optimal set (celestial fury and dak'kon's zerth blade is probably the best katana pair for a thief/mage, especially with a chance to stun on backstab).
Also, the swashbuckler can indeed backstab, they just don't get a multiplier, which is exactly why I was thinking of the dagger (quietus) and short sword (short sword of backstabbing from the Cyric encounter). They'll each add to the backstab multiplier, which should mean I'd have a x2 for backstabs... I tested it out and confirmed that wielding one of those weapons will add to your backstabbing does go up. Plus, they can be the off-hand weapon and have a better on-hand one.
Maybe the ss of backstabbing with the sword of the mask in the right hand? Or quietus in the left and the dagger of the star in the right?
N...
The reason why I want to stay away from scimitars, katanas and longswords is that I've always played with those weapons, and I'd like to play with a totally different weapon set, even if that means a potentially less optimal set (celestial fury and dak'kon's zerth blade is probably the best katana pair for a thief/mage, especially with a chance to stun on backstab).
Also, the swashbuckler can indeed backstab, they just don't get a multiplier, which is exactly why I was thinking of the dagger (quietus) and short sword (short sword of backstabbing from the Cyric encounter). They'll each add to the backstab multiplier, which should mean I'd have a x2 for backstabs... I tested it out and confirmed that wielding one of those weapons will add to your backstabbing does go up. Plus, they can be the off-hand weapon and have a better on-hand one.
Maybe the ss of backstabbing with the sword of the mask in the right hand? Or quietus in the left and the dagger of the star in the right?
N...
[QUOTE=Nimiety]Also, the swashbuckler can indeed backstab, they just don't get a multiplier, which is exactly why I was thinking of the dagger (quietus) and short sword (short sword of backstabbing from the Cyric encounter). They'll each add to the backstab multiplier, which should mean I'd have a x2 for backstabs... I tested it out and confirmed that wielding one of those weapons will add to your backstabbing does go up.[/QUOTE]Huh! I never realised that! If I ever decide to go through the game again it just might be as a swashbuckler. Thanks, Nimiety.
She says: Lou, it's the Beginning of a Great Adventure
Mild Spoilers...
The Cyric encounter is from, I think, the Rogue Rebalancing mod - a very tough battle, since your opponants start out buffed and prepared and you're caught flat footed, but there are some very cool prizes found off their corpses. It's probably the toughest fight that I'd faced in all of BG, since there's no prepping possible, so many common tactics (traps, monster buffing, etc) are impossible.
Quietus is from the Item Upgrade mod - it's made from the pixie prick and the bone blade - a nice weapon (+4) with good effects.
N...
The Cyric encounter is from, I think, the Rogue Rebalancing mod - a very tough battle, since your opponants start out buffed and prepared and you're caught flat footed, but there are some very cool prizes found off their corpses. It's probably the toughest fight that I'd faced in all of BG, since there's no prepping possible, so many common tactics (traps, monster buffing, etc) are impossible.
Quietus is from the Item Upgrade mod - it's made from the pixie prick and the bone blade - a nice weapon (+4) with good effects.
N...