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A further point for the "You know you're addicted..." thread might be "When you're planning your next game long before you're finished the current one." Which brings me to the main point...

I've finally decided to give the Evil route a go, which necessarily means en-BGIIing my eponymous Half-Orc fighter, Boris the B@$[@+&, who is not a nice fellow at all (& completely unlike the RL me, honest!)

Now, Boris is a 1st Edition AD&D creation, so won't translate directly because of differences in proficiencies, weapon effect, etc. For example, he always used a throwing spear while charging into combat, "Roman style"; this won't work in BGII, because -
a) Spears are always 2-handed weapons (doh!)
b) un-moded spears cannot be thrown
c) one cannot move & fire at the same time.

Moreover, I cannot help but bear in mind the marvelous, magical weapons available in BGII and wonder what would be nicest...
Overall, a complete rethink is probably needed.

So I'll describe Boris' current fighting style/equipment, then leave anyone with way too much time on their hands to make suggestions.

Boris' main characteristics* are huge (+2,+5) Str. & low (5) Cha.
Diced-up under an ungenerous system, his Con & Dex were only average (though I'd expect that to change in BG). Being a Half-Orc, he naturally acts very agressively and is a terrible bully. But he's maybe a bit more of a coward than he likes to admit and is absolutely terrified of Undead.
So he's always been very much a "one-handed" fighter, afraid to drop his shield; although the shield may not be so important in BG, I'd like to keep a similar style.

Weapons; please note that all these are single-proficiency - no Weapon Specialisation back in them thar days!

Spear (as described above - also is silver-headed & weighted for Str., but can't get those features in BG, either)
Bastard Sword (or Longsword - any one-handed sword was allowed under the "Sword" proficiency, in our campaign. Note that B. Sword can also be used 2-handed, in 1st Ed., though B. only does this when terrorising Kobolds, etc.!)
Morning Star (main club of cold iron, spikes of silver! cf. "Silver Weapon vs. Shapeshifters" thread)
Sling (no problem there, methinks)
Spiked gauntlet (counts as dagger - for emergencies, torturing Kobolds, etc.)
Mounted Lance (whatever happened to horses, eh?)

I'm particularly clueless about the main weapon - what type of sword (katana???), or should he maybe specialise in Flail/Morning Star? FoA is good, but not very Orcish...
BTW, will probably take Korgan, ultimately duel-weilding the AotU & CF. Which unfortunately rules out 2 of the scariest weapons rightaway. Indeed, I've a horrible suspicion the dang Dwarf will outshine the PC!

So any suggestions welcome. Really, this is probably a very boring topic for someone who isn't me, but it helps me think to write it down.

B.

* apart from having wings, but I know I can't have *them*!

If you want to keep the old proficiency go with long sword for Blackrazor (evil and scary weapon) and before Dragonslayer (scary name and look), and flails for FoA (when you need elemental damage and +5).
Choose either a berserker or a Barbarian (better for veriety if you plan to take Korgan).
IMO katana don't fit real well with a half-orc barbarian.
If you have item-upgrade mod clubs can be a nice choice (very orchish weapon), and if you give up the shield ..... Ravager is your weapon (Dragon breath in the meanwhile).

Try the spear of withering, or the spear of the unicorn at the beggining. And keep in mind that you are playing a half orc, and they like blunt weapons, or as in LoTr scimitars, so Belm may be your choice. +1 atack, i think, plus dragon shield, or peridan (dragon slayer)... I dont know if it is on the mods, but tere is a club, Devious Pine, it is kinda cool, has bleeding damage, it will be nice to wield as a half orc. And FoA is always a good option, cause 'me will smash your face' or 'me will crush you, crush you to two' is very real with that weapon.

Dagger for an evil boy? Steal neb dagger... well you gotta kill him after all. Just use it until the end.

If you are a cheeser, use the black blade of disaster, via scroll. Good option.

Main weapon for your Orc? The Two-Handed Sword of course, ain't it obvious? Then go get Lilarcor straight away!

Boris Badenoff...

Boring? hardly...

A first thing that jumps out at me is a Korgan note: AotU+CF - no! CF is a GREAT mainhand weapon, but a lousy off-hander. You will get the stun effect so rarely as to be hardly worthwhile. Pick a weapon with a good effect on the player (Belm, Dragonslayer, Defender of Easthaven, Equalizer, MoD, yadda yadda yadda) - it doesn't matter if you're not proficient in that weapon, so long as you have decent dual weild skill

And why can't orcs use katanas? Just have him be a Kara-Tur orc and its perfectly natural...Get tactics and have him dual wield CF/Sanchuudoku - awesome! As to flaials, well, they're pretty simple weapons (modified agricultural tools) - perfectly suitable for an orc.

But for maximum similarity, I'd go either spear as described above. and/or longsword & shield (and take the penalty of mostly lame longswords) and darts / throwing dagger (a non-axe throwable one-hander)

Good gaming!

Re: Boris Badenoff...

Originally posted by nephtu
Boring? hardly...

A first thing that jumps out at me is a Korgan note: AotU+CF - no! CF is a GREAT mainhand weapon, but a lousy off-hander. You will get the stun effect so rarely as to be hardly worthwhile. Pick a weapon with a good effect on the player (Belm, Dragonslayer, Defender of Easthaven, Equalizer, MoD, yadda yadda yadda) - it doesn't matter if you're not proficient in that weapon, so long as you have decent dual weild skill

And why can't orcs use katanas? Just have him be a Kara-Tur orc and its perfectly natural...Get tactics and have him dual wield CF/Sanchuudoku - awesome! As to flaials, well, they're pretty simple weapons (modified agricultural tools) - perfectly suitable for an orc.

But for maximum similarity, I'd go either spear as described above. and/or longsword & shield (and take the penalty of mostly lame longswords) and darts / throwing dagger (a non-axe throwable one-hander)

Good gaming!

I believe CF to stand for Crom Fayer in this concept, and not Celestial Fury. A Dwarf with a long Katana is even more ridiculous than an (Half-)Orc with the same weapon. A Katana takes finesse to handle; (Half-)Orcs are not known for finesse...

Ah so, desu ka!

Or, alternatively, DOH!
Crom Faeyr, of course, thank you

Katanas take no more finesse than any other weapon, really, all the samurai movies notwithstanding (and they won't out damage a broad sword either, but that's neither here nor there) - but, if our friend wants to stay in clubs he can do fine, Blackblood is nice - Pitchwife is even better, but I fear Boris is mod averse, though flails or hammers are probably better still in the world of blunts. About the only styles with no really good choices in SoA are daggers, longswords and maces.

And I dunno, Korgan with katanas is a pretty funny image.

An even better character is the Half-Orc Barbarian Theif (use SK to add the theif class). Once you get UAI you can use the Holy Avenger. If you have the item upgrade mod, you can turn it into an Unholy Avenger.

This guy is a blast (if you like playing goons). He can hide in shadows, run into a fight, and start wiping out mages before they even realize what hit them (which would be me). If the mages throw a protection up before they are dead, then the Holy Avenger's dispel magic can take care of that.

He is also very good (a little too good) against all of the boss monsters.

Well, of course a hacked character with UAI and one of the best weapons (also hacked, of course) will do well. Come to think of it, why not remove all rules entirely?

Thanks for the ideas, folks.

I think I'm most attracted to the Katana suggestion, though I've no idea who/what the "Kara-Tur" are - don't think Prof. T. ever mentioned them (sniff)!

But a Katana is sortof like a big scimitar. Moreover, they were quite properly classed as Bastard (hand-and-a-half) Swords, before some bright spark thought it'd be a good idea to create a one-handed weapon class doing the same damage as a 2-hander. Also, I've never had a proper Katana-wielder (just Imoen, who hardly counts), like the idea of specialising in just one weapon type and think dual-wielding two of the best blades in the game would be suitably scary. Dare B. drop the shield, though...

B.

P.S. I'm not anti-mod per se - anything which keeps a great game living & growing is all to the good. But I do dislike mods which are too difficult for a party without foreknowledge and/or specific preparations, or which give out excessive treasure. Unfortunately, that seems to cover most of the "tactical" mods I've seen...

So I do use Item Upgrade mod - I particularly like the upgrades to interesting but not-particularly-powerful stuff which would otherwise soon become obsolete & be discarded. But I try to avoid the too-powerful, too-soon items - eg. Pitchwife is a big no-no till after the Underdark!

More crap...

Kara-Tur is part of the world of Baldur's Gate, it's where Yoshimo comes from and is vaguely oriental - thus the suggestion for your bio. You can always stay Katana-and-shield if you like.

I would install at least Kuroisan if you want to be a Katana guy. He's a cool (if fairly difficult) fight. I won't spoil the details for you, but I like the story line, and don't be embarrased to flee! I did the first umpteen times

Have fun!

I just met the acid Kensai for the first time the other day and he was indeed a rather cheeky, not to say troublesome, chappie.

So I now have Imoen completely over-armed, with Whatchamacallit as main weapon and C. Fury as backup - both of which will probably eventually be put away unused in favour of Hindoo's Doooom's 10%MR. Which is why it'd be nice to have a big, bad fighter who could actually use such deadly blades in the manner for which they were intended - i.e. chopping living creatures into totey, little pieces.

Going off on a rant here, but why in all the Realms are Katanas classed as one-handed, anyway? I know they *could* be used in that style, but, basically, weren't...

B.

Hmm...

Did you get the Dak'kon Zerth blade form Dierdre in Adventure Mart? That would be great for Immie....

Katanas are unbalanced & overpowered in D&D - anyone remember how unreasonably overpowered the Samurai subclass was in original D&D?

Ah! Gods be with the days...

I remember the original Samurai! I didn't think it was *that* over-powered, mind, given that its Open-hand attacks had a *maximum* 20% chance to hit.

But that was in the "monty haul" days, when Barbarians did x4 damage, everybody was 50th lvl and every sword was a Vorpal Blade with Disintegrate, Turn-to-Stone and Multiple Level-drain abilities. Wizards (Arch-Mages, to you youngsters) didn't know how to use their spells because they'd gotten their levels from a Cornflakes box and used their Wands of Fireballs on *everything*. The true power of monsters had been completely forgotten - we used to kill Balrogs by the dozen, literally, since a Type VI Demon was only an 8-HD monster with a +1 sword. Then I met a DM who hadn't lost sight of the real game; Flames of Udun don't seem so easy when you've been Psionically blasted to putty, demon-feared till your trousers are encumbered & Telekinesed off a very high cliff, all without a chance to move! That player's own 12th-lvl MU* carried about 3 magic items, when everyone else looked like a Christmas tree, but taught me how to *really* use spells...

AD&D did a wonderful job of cleaning up the game and bringing back balance. By contrast, few of our characters have ever passed 6th-lvl since, with Boris being a mega-thug at 8th - though that may well be related to the periodic bouts of intra-party fighting to which our group seems addicted!

B.

* MU = Magic User = Mage, for those who need to be told

Re: Hmm... aka "Blether, blether, blether..."

Originally posted by nephtu
Did you get the Dak'kon Zerth blade....

Nah! Didn't bother this run, coz every time I spell-up using a weapons-based Enhancer, I always have to change weapons in response to some unexpected threat...

BTW, B. the BGIIer is now up & running. For anyone (that chicken in the yard - pay attention!) interested -

7th-lvl Half-Orc Fighter "dual-ing" with Imoen till we get out & enjoying the doubled XP for now (nearly 8 already). Max stats in Str, Con & Dex; Int. 12, Wis 11 (smarter than your average Half-Orc!) & Cha 5. Profs Katana*4, Sling *2, currently using shield & K.

Really weird to be playing Evil - what happens if one chooses the "nasty" dialogue! "I have no need of your essential information" seems a bit daft... Still, B. was always quite smart & knew when to keep his head down, so not too much trouble choosing the "nice" option when necessary - so far...

Now all I need to do is to suss-out how to change the Portrait to a big-muscled greenie with less fat & sideburns; then we'll be sorted...

B.

P.S. Of course, the really cool character to en-BGII would be Sharilla, the sometimes-Drow (depending on DM) MU-Thief who partnered B. from the start, but far surpassed him - the most powerful char. I've ever seen in AD&D (lvl 9/10). But I've BGed M/T, M/T, C/F, M/F/T so far & it's rather refreshing to be a pure thug for a change!