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This is a description of which weapons I consider the most effective for some of the different classes. Some people purposefully choose to use less effective weapons to increase the game’s challenge. Feel free to debate my selections if you would like.

The best way to decide the best weapon is through personal studied experience with different weapons in the hands of the same character in the same group in SoA and ToB. By this token, it is the common consensus that the Flail of Ages and Celestial Fury are the two best weapons in SoA for fighters. Because you can gain quick access to these two weapons, I think they should definitely be considered as overall two of the best weapons in the entire game (SoA and ToB).

For a fighter, the best weapon is the Flail of Ages (FoA). Its elemental effects goes through stoneskins and will interrupt spell casting. Its Slow effect will go through magic resistance and allows no save, affecting bad guys 33% of the time. I have not noticed any adversary who is immune to the slow effect. It is a blunt weapon; therefore, it is effective against the many skeletons, bone golems, clay golems, etc. in the game. It can kill trolls. You get it quickly, it will affect most targets in the game, and can be upgraded. Eventually, it will affect all targets as a +5 weapon. The +5 weapon easily does the most damage of any one handed weapon in the game (maybe only Carsomyr can do more damage), allows freedom of movement, and gives an extra 5% magic resistance. Of course, you should get the +5 version as soon as you can.

Celestial Fury is a great weapon. It does a lot of damage. Its greatest claim to fame is the stun ability, which does work through magical resistance. Unfortunately, it is only a +3 weapon without the weapons mod, and the stun effect allows a save. So, many bosses will be stunned only 5% of the time (some bosses are even immune to stun). In SoA, CF should be used (if you are powerplaying) - it’s as simple as that. Even in ToB, it’s probably the second best weapon in general behind FoA. In fact, CF may actually get more kills in the entire game than FoA – that stun ability is great. CF will even stun clay golems (but will not damage them). However, you will have to have back up weapons. You may want a blunt weapon, and one of the +5 weapons to hit those monsters immune to blades/+3 weapons. If you want to be able to really trouble mages, you will need a weapon that does elemental damage each strike to get through their stoneskin, preferably using acid or fire damage so that you can also kill trolls. Wyvern’s Tail is a blunt weapon (flail) that does acid damage and can be had very early in the game. The Soul Reaver is an acceptable 2H sword that Sarevok can use on dragons and demiliches (it’s +4). It does seem to help the party by lowering the ability of dragons/monsters to hit. Foebane +5 is good too. Crom Faeyr may be the best backup weapon, but typically should be wielded by your cleric, who must use blunt weapons. I don’t think these weapons are as good as CF in most battles.

The Mace of Disruption +2 is the third weapon that a fighter should be wielded. It can be gotten fairly early in the game, gives negative plane protection, slays undead (save vs death at -4), and can even kill demiliches. Runehammer +5 is easily the better undead killer, but you don’t get that until ToB, after most of the game is over. The mace is reserved for use exclusively vs undead. It’s not that good for other monsters.

Crom Faeyr (late in SoA), Axe of Unyielding +5 (late/midway through ToB), and Foebane +5 (early ToB) are all good weapons. Crom Faeyr is a +5 weapon, slays stone and clay golems, trolls, and ettins, giving 25 strength, does good damage and an extra 5 HP of electrical damage. The Axe of Unyielding +5 gives the best regeneration rate of any equipment in the game, a +1 constitution, a +1 AC, and is vorpal (will cut off even dragon heads 10% of the time – but vorpal does not work against all bosses). Foebane does excellent damage and can actually give you more than your maximum number of HP (temporarily) through Larloch’s Minor Drain (takes 4 HP from enemy and gives to wielder when victim is hit and damaged [doesn’t work through stoneskin], no save, but is subject to magic resistance).

Personally, I had good results when I equipped one fighter with FoA and Belm and a second fighter with CF and a shield or Kundane.

In general, I prefer to use 2 weapons with the weapon in the offhand being a weapon of speed (Belm, Kundane, or Scarlet-ninjato). The offhand weapon of speed gives you 1 attack/round with it and an extra attack/rd with the main hand weapon. I do not use 2 weapons until I have at least 2 proficiency slots in the weapon used in the main hand and 1 slot in the 2 weapon style. I also require that I be fairly resistant to magic (saves on a 5 or better) and have a good AC without shield (AC -5 or better). If this is not the case, I will use shields and/or off-hand weapons that shore my deficiency (either AC or vs magic). For instance, the combination of CF with the Shield of Harmony is nice, as is CF with the equalizer.

Note that I did not mention some of other people’s favorite weapons because I don’t think they are as good for fighters as those which I did mention. I’ll be happy to provide my reasoning if questioned. I don’t like any of the longswords, including Blackrazor. (Conversely, I may use longswords as special purpose weapons, Dragonslayer against dragons or Daystar vs undead.)

The thief should use the Staff of the Ram to backstab and the Staff of the Magi for instant invisibility and Spell Trap. Before the Staff of the Ram, the Staff of Striking works very well. Just keep it charged by selling to merchants and buying it back.

The paladin may use Carsomyr. It provides 50% magical resistance, dispels magic on strike (very nifty), and does excellent damage vs the chaotic evil opponents that abound. In fact, it may do the greatest damage in the game when combined with greater whirlwind and 2-handed weapon style proficiency vs the abundant Chaotic Evil opponents. I’ve had good success using Keldorn with a shield and Celestial Fury in SoA. The shield saves him from a lot of damage, while CF allows a strong offense complete with stun ability. (I needed someone to wield the SoA star weapon CF, and Keldorn was it.)

The wizard-types’ best weapon by far is spells. The mage should be designed and equipped to allow the most spell power possible. This spell power can be augmented through the use of wands/staffs. These weapons typically allow quicker casting. The Wand/staff of Cloud Kill, Monster Summoning, and Fire get a lot of use in my games. Other wands/staves may get some use also.
Some combats don’t need spells. The mages should also use the best sling they can find. This is the Eyrinne sling +5 in ToB, before you can quickly move up the ranks of +2, +3, +4 and even +5 slings in SoA.
You will occasionally get in melee unless you really pay close attention to avoid it. The Staff of the Magi is a suitable melee weapon for him, mostly because he can escape melee with the staff’s instant invisibility and cloak of non-detection. In fact, this combination of equipment allows him to be a good scout too. If you have a second mage and your thief doesn’t backstab, the mage should use the Staff of the Ram. This staff does excellent damage, can be +6 to help him hit, and can knock back and stun an opponent. The fighter would rather not knock back the opponent. He would then have to chase it to kill it; however, the mage would very much like to knock it away.

Clerics must use blunt weapons. Depending on what the rest of the team is using and how much a fighting role you want the cleric to have, he may use Crom Faeyr, Staff of the Ram +6, FoA, or Rune Hammer +5. Rune Hammer +5 gives fire giant strength, slays undead (save at -4), does extra damage vs undead, negative plane protection, and dose fair damage vs everyone else. I use the best magical hammer I can find (Crom eventually) and a shield. Later, I will dual wield weapons, eventually Crom and the Rune hammer. The Sling of Seeking does good damage (for a range weapon) for those with high strength.

For archers that can use bows, I suggest starting with proficiencies in both the short and cross bow. You get the Tuigan bow almost immediately. This is a fine bow because of its rate of fire, but is only +1 (and will not hit some creatures). The advantage of the shortbow of Gesen is that it does electrical damage that works through stoneskin. Latter you will gain access to crossbows of speed. You can also get a lot of paralytic or stun bolts which can be helpful. The heavy crossbow of accuracy will hit most creatures, as will Firetooth +5. Firetooth will also damage through stoneskins with fire. Knowing how to use both crossbows and shortbows, you can use both arrow and bolts of biting, which is nice. As I typically don’t play archers, I can’t say for sure what the best weapon would be. Reading the weapon descriptions, I suspect that the crossbows are the best weapon. People who have tried all the ranged weapons are invited to comment. Archers have a great benefit when using the high level ability, Greater Deathblow. They can clear out mooks quickly.

The best off-hand weapon for damage is usually a weapon that gives an extra attack to the main hand (Belm, Scarlet Ninja-to, and Kundane). If you are weak, then Crom Faeyr is the best. The Equalizer is good in that it provides immunity to confusion (extremely frequent spell) and charm (favored by vampires) while giving you the bonus to hit and damage that it has (up to +3/+6 vs CE) to both weapons you are wielding. This trait is very important when you don’t have a good attack bonus. The Defender of Easthaven is not particularly grand. Usually, a great offense beats a great defense. Under the best of circumstances, the DoE gives you a bonus 20% HP.

You will also have special purpose weapons. These may include non-magical versions of your favorite type weapon, blunt weapon, a ranged weapon, and a weapon useful vs undead (Mace of Disruption +2, Rune Hammer +4 and +5, or Spectral Brand +5). Each of these special weapons overcome particular monster immunities or provide a tactical advantage under special circumstances.

The following would be a good game tactic. I don’t use it because I think it is exploiting the game engine and unrealistic. The game allows instant weapon changes. Thus, you could have a fighter-mage or thief with UAI use the Staff of the Magi. He would be switching the weapons he uses to attack. He would use the Staff of the Magi only to dispel protections (can’t use it to backstab unlike most other staves). I think switching weapons is fine as long as he does not use the weapon again in combat (in essence, he drops one weapon and quick draws another). I could also imagine him just grabbing the Staff of Magi and willing himself invisible, without actually switching weapons. However, I think it is inappropriate to wack an enemy with spell protections, switch weapons, and later in the same combat use the Staff of Magi again. Nevertheless, for those that don’t care, it is most efficient if the melee guy does use this exploit and simply does an instant weapon exchange as needed. The melee guy is also more likely to get hit with spells. Consequently, the Spell Trap protection provided by the Staff of Magi is very beneficial.

Weapon proficiency: You can be penalized in either/both your ability to hit and do damage due to low attributes, not proficient with weapon, or using two weapons. The amount you are penalized for not being proficient with a weapon varies in DnD 2 (2 for fighters, 4 for clerics and rogues, and 5 for wizards). You should be at least proficient with a blunt weapon (melee fighters) or a ranged weapon (those characters you don’t want in melee, such as the spell casters). You should be very proficient with your weapon of choice. Two slots are good – this maximizes your number of attacks. Three slots give you an extra +1 to hit. Five slots gives you an extra 2 HP of damage and makes you hit slightly faster in the round. Two slots are a must for the weapon of choice (and all that can be spent on a particular weapon except for fighters and fighter kits). Three slots are very nice. Spend more than 3 slots only if there is nothing else you want to spend slots for. You definitely need 1 slot spent on 2 handed weapon style (if using a 2 Handed weapon like Carsomyr) or on 2 weapon fighting if using 2 weapons. It’s good to spend at least 2 slots on 2 weapon fighting, which will eliminate the penalty on the main hand. More slots spent on the weapon style of choice are nice but not necessary. I want to be at least proficient with every weapon I will often use (including off-hand weapon and undead slaying weapon) – 2 slots are better (but certainly not necessary for off0hand weapons).