Hello! I got bored with being good, and would like to play evil for once!
I did like the Fighter, with longswords & shields, but I would like some advice on what weapons to use.
Since Korgan will use axes, and hammers after that, I will not use that.
I was thinking of Long Swords again, but what after that? Mace or Club? Or maybe 2h-Swords/Halberds? I have never seen any good 2h (i'm new to the game tho), and I cannot use Carosmyr. Suggestions would be awesome
Thanks in advice!
My party will be
-Me, Fighter
-Korgan, with axes & hammers
-Edwin
-Viconia
-Jan
<6th member?> <-- Taking suggestions on that one!
There aren't many choices for a 6th party member in an Evil group, since there are only three Evil NPCs. Evil NPCs don't seem to mind being in a Good party, but the Good NPCs don't want to be in an Evil party. You could pick a Neutral NPC, but I don't recommend Haer'Dalis (if you're not keen on using a Blade) or Jaheira or Cernd, so that leaves Anomen. If your character is truly Evil, then you won't mind if Anomen fails his test for Knighthood--you can even laugh at him if you want to. By the same token, you can fool Minsc into thinking you're Good since he's so gullible, and you might get a laugh out of that. If you play Throne of Bhaal, there's another Evil NPC who would be perfect for your group.
As for weapons, I think it's mostly an aesthetic choice. There are several good two-handed swords, including Lilarcor (available very early in the game), Jhoril's Dagger (if you have the bonus merchants and have the gold to buy it), Soul Reaver, the Silver Sword, and a couple more in Throne of Bhaal. If you use a two handed sword or other two handed weapon, you'll want to put two proficiency points in Two Handed Weapon Style. Keep in mind that your character's Armor Class won't be as good without a shield. There are also other alternatives. If you're willing to give up shields, you can dual-wield. Flails and morningstars make a good combination. For example, you can dual-wield the Flail of Ages and a weapon like the Defender of Easthaven. (It's a combination you might want to give to Anomen.) The only really good mace (besides one you can find in Throne of Bhaal) is the Improved Mace of Disruption +2. Perhaps the best choice for you would be katanas. Celestial Fury can stun your opponents, which is so powerful it's cheesy. You can pair it up with Hindo's Doom if you have Throne of Bhaal. The scimitar called Belm is a also nice off-hand weapon.
EDIT: There aren't many good scimitars in the game besides one really good one in Throne of Bhaal, but the scimitar proficiency also covers the wakizashi and the ninja-to, and there a couple of good ones to choose from, including Kachiko's Wakizashi +3 (available from Joluv) and Usuno's Blade +4 in Watcher's Keep if you have installed Throne of Bhaal.
Don't rule out Carsomyr: I'm quite fond of giving it to Jan when he gets to Use Any Item. Also, I'd actually recommend adding Haer'dalis (if you want a 6th member) who could also wield it. Besides the specialness of the Enhanced Bard Song, if part of the fun for this game is exploring new weapons, he would be able to try out all the interesting short swords that are available.
Viconia and Edwin shouldn't really be using weapons all that often (if anything, Edwin should be throwing Melf's meteors), but, assuming Crom Faeyr will go to Korgan when it is available, Viconia is probably best with a variety of maces or possibly flail, and shield (I had her with the shield of harmony through the whole game the last I played); while Edwin would have the best staff you can find.
For your fighter, I would go with longswords - though I'd definitely recommend dual-wielding rather than using a shield. There are several solid ones you can get early in the game like Daystar and Adjatha the Drinker, while there's one called Blackrazor, which is practically an award for going evil, since the evil path is pretty shortchanged in the game.
Oh - and you can always try to take along Nalia for awhile, just to see how long she'll stick around to cry her support "for the needy!" as you murder them.
If you want a 6th party member I recommend Jaheira, she's neutral and adds druid spells to your party and of the little optional quests you only get when a certain NPC is in your party she adds the most. The only problem is that she's nearly unbearable.
Keeping only a five person party is also a good choice.
So you also have a free slot for other NPCs for doing their quest, like taking Nalia along while "cleaning" her keep.
For weapon profiencies: stay flexible. You never now what you might find.
Important is that you have 2 points in the weapon you want to use, the additional bonusses for having 3-5 points in that weapon or for the weapon style aren't that useful any more.
Korgan will use axes, throwing axes and shield, Edwin and Viconia can't use bows and Jan has his crossbow.
So I recommend taking ** in shortbow so you can use the bows and arrows you'll find.
Switching from bow to dualwielding or a shield is painful, so I recommend the 2-handed (or 1-handed) route.
The easiest way is using quarterstaffs as main weapon, the quarterstaff +4 you can buy from Ribald is probably the only weapon which can get you through the whole game, you'll meet monsters which require +4 weapons and monsters which can only be hurt with blunt weapons.
So if you have ** both in shortbows and quarterstaffs your character is fine, the remaining distribution is optional.
You could specialise even further by taking ***** in quarterstaff and shortbow and ** in 2-handed which will add some extra bonusses and use up all profiency points until level 26 or you can stay flexible and specialize in other weapons like greatswords, flails, katanas or longswords.
There are quite some 2-handed swords in the game, the GS +4 you can buy from Ribald in chapter6 is only one of them.
I don't recommend taking bastard sword or club profiency, you won't find enough in the game.
I think giving a dwarf a 2-handed sword can be amusing but seriously, first, choose whatever you want your character to use. There is a +3 club available in the game and maybe a +3 spear. There are two good halberds in the game. its mainly about what you like but you may want to stay away from Bastard Swords as kmonster stated. And daggers don't get very powerful in the game, either. Isn't the best scimitar in SoA +2 aside from taking one from a dear old FR character?
For the sixth character I'd reccomend Haer' Dalis. Now, many people disagree with me on this, but, given the right equipment, the Blade class is the the among the most powerful, if not the most powerful one in the game. Sure the blade may not have the same proficiency potential as a fighter, but that hardly matters. The hitpoints of the fighter can be reached through Tenser's Transformation. The Whirlwind effects can be matched with proper weapon combinations and Improved Haste. The Blade just what he needs from every class, and he has enough support from his spellcasting to really bring out the true strength.
As for weapons, I'd reccomend going with the Ninja-To AND Scimitars. A fighter is able to dish out a considerable amount of damage with those weapons but...
Spoiler, highlight to read: Spoiler
Belm+2 and the Scarlet Ninja-To +3 both give +1 attack per round. So, with no proficiency at all, when dual wielding them, you'd get at least 4 attacks per round. If you decide to get Gauntlets of Extraordinary Expertise and max out the two weapons, you'd be dishing out five and a half attacks per round. If you could get a mage to cast improved haste on you, or cast it on yourself through an item, you'd be doing an astounding 11 attacks per round... but I do not think that is possible. So, it would be like a longer Greater Whirlwind. If you decide not to listen to me and go with longswords, then the ANswerer +4 obtained in the Oasis in ToB is a must have because it reduces the opponents AC by 2 and magic resistance by 20% with each hit... and it's cumulitive. In the other hand, for a long sword, I'd wield either Angurvadal +5, so I could use the Belt of Inertial Barrier, or maybe The Equalizer, for the nice to hit and to damage aginst certain alignments. If you're looking for something interesting... go all out in quarter staff. That's what I did with one of my fighters... and gave him Staff of the Ram +6. The damage output was gorgeous. Not to mention that he did plenty of knockbacks.
“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.”
Crenshinibon, that's an innovative plan, but unfortunately, the Scarlet Ninja-To +3 can only be wielded by Monks (or by characters who have acquired the High Level Ability called Use Any Item). By the way, just to clarify things, the wakizashi and the ninja-to are covered by the Scimitar proficiency.
Pellinore wrote:Isn't the best scimitar in SoA +2 aside from taking one from a dear old FR character?
There's a +3 scimitar called The Water's Edge in Ust'Natha. You can also acquire the Spectral Brand +4 in Watcher's Keep if you're lucky. Also in the "scimitar" category are Kachiko's Wakizashi +3 (available from Joluv) and Usuno's Blade +4 in Watcher's Keep. Any of those are nice, especially if they are dual-wielded with Belm +2. But I still think Celestial Fury's ability to stun an opponent trumps them all.
If you want a 6th party member I recommend Jaheira, she's neutral and adds druid spells to your party and of the little optional quests you only get when a certain NPC is in your party she adds the most.
While she is technically True Neutral her outlook is far more Neutral Good. The only reason she is listed as True Neutral is because in the unmodded game all druids are TN. She really does not fit all that well with an evil party.
Raven_Song wrote:While she is technically True Neutral her outlook is far more Neutral Good. The only reason she is listed as True Neutral is because in the unmodded game all druids are TN. She really does not fit all that well with an evil party.
I agree. She's supposed to be a Good character, but the alignment restriction for Druids gets in the way of that. The game designers try to explain it away by having Jaheira say things like, "Our actions are good. We serve the greater balance." But if she's not Good, then why talk about goodness at all? All she needs to say is, "We serve the greater balance."
There are certain circumstances where Jaheira's reaction is based on your main character's Reputation, and if it is less than 15, she doesn't trust your main character. If she is truly Neutral, then why do good deeds matter? High Reputation is based on good deeds--your Reputation starts at 10 or 12, and it won't get to 15 if you perform a "balance" of good and evil acts. It will stay at 10 or 11. But Jaheira isn't happy about that. That strongly suggests that she would be less happy in an Evil party than she is in a Good party, and that means she's not really a Neutral character. So I treat her as if she's a Good character.
Similarly, the only reason why she has Charisma 15 is because that's the minimum for a Druid. She's a lot more annoying and definitely less inspiring than Minsc, for example, but we're supposed to believe she has high Charisma. (15 is a pretty high stat compared to the norm.) I've never seen a charismatic Druid in the Baldur's Gate series (have you?), but that's the rule. On the other hand, the designers made an exception for Anomen's Wisdom (it's way too low for a dual-class character). Since they went out of their way to make Jaheira abrasive, you'd think they could have made an exception for Jaheira's Charisma. But that's just my opinion.
I've never said that Jaheira and Cernd have unattractive portraits. They look good, but their looks aren't the most important issue when it comes to their Charisma. There are also other Druids in the game besides Jaheira and Cernd, and I was also including them in my assessments of druidic charisma.
The first time I played BG2, I didn't meet Cernd because I didn't go to Trademeet. (I was in a hurry to rescue Imoen and later, I thought I was supposed to find Irenicus as soon as I could, so I missed several sidequests.) I thought Cernd's portrait looked great because he looks sort of like Brendan Fraser, and I thought it would be the best portrait for a male player character. I didn't realize that everyone who likes that portrait actually likes Cernd.
Many don't, but I for one dig Druids. They are a very interesting class, with a unique feel & flavor. Druids have more of a theme, akin to being a "kit" class: a priest devoted to nature, with special abilities, spells, & tactics based around the nature theme.
Paladin, Avenger, Assassin, Lathander, Talos, Illusionist, Necromancer, Sorceror, Ranger, Archer... kit or class or specialist or whatever... any character with a unique feel & flavor, I'm ALL for.
I always thought the Druid character was a great idea, but implemented poorly via AD&D 2nd Edition rules. (Bioware ain't fully to blame, imo. There's that fine line between the compromise of CRPG mechanics, and sticking to the AD&D rules that was licensed for the game.)
Bitch fest:
Why did the XP table have to be so funky for Druids?
Why wasn't the shapechange ability better balanced? When it comes to killing an enemy, wizards' spells, warriors' swords, thieves' sneaky backstabs... they're all progressively effective. Why not for shapechanged druids? Or why not shapechange into a mouse, and treat that as being in stealth mode? And maybe the mouse can access areas that others can't. Anything to make the less-than-popular druid more appealing.
Why do they have to be true neutral? I could buy not being Lawful or Chaotic, Mother Nature is neutral, or whatever. But why not good or evil? My memory is fuzzy, but weren't the Cloakwood Druids kinda evil? And wasn't BG2-Faldorn kinda evil? Jaheira for sure was bent towards the Good Side. I thought Yoshimo was a good example of True Neutral, but limiting an entire class to True Neutral is a rather limiting role-playing proposition, bound to having inherited contradictions.
Now Jaheira's Charimsa is an interesting topic. It all depends on how you define Charisma: like-able, good-looking, leadership-type, well-spoken, combination of all the above? She was annoying, but she's a hottie (BG1's portrait, anyway), she seemed to be a mover and shaker within the Harper organization (iirc), and she for sure was (too?) well-spoken.
But in general, what does having a minimum 15 Charisma have to do with being a Druid?
Anyways, Cernd might be a nice choice for an evil party, second time through. His effectivness may depend upon using tactics you haven't previously considered, adding "flavor" to your game.
Why is it that whenever I finally get around to playing a new game for the first time,
I feel like playing Baldur's Gate for the second time...
Thanks Von. Oooh, I missed that. I'm too used to playing bard type characters. That really is no problem as, according to what you've said they're in the same category. In that case, to correct my mistake, I'll say that there are three items that i can remember that give you one extra attack while wielding them. Two of them I mentioned and the other one is the spoiler section below: Spoiler
Kundane +2 is a short sword, and as such uses the short sword proficiency. Although it does not say that it adds one additional attack per round, it's speed factor is zero, which is low enough to give you an additional attack. Now, if they may seem unappealing due to THAC0, don't forget your support characters. The level five priest spell Righteous Magic sets the target's strength to 25, adds one hit point per level of the caster and lets the target inflict maximum damage for the duration of the spell. This last for one round per level of the caster.
I agree that Celestial Fury's ability is useful, but later in the game it seemed to me that characters succeeded in their sving throws more often. However, even if you decide to use Clestial Fury, you shouldn't forget my combination as it still gives you a nice ammount of additional attacks.
“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.”
Crenshinibon, I'm sorry but I can't follow your reasoning. Let's say your character's primary weapons are the scimitars, the wakizashi, and the ninja-to. If you're only talking about using a weapon in your offhand that grants an extra, I don't see any benefit in using Kundane instead of Belm. I suppose you could use both of them, but I think a weapon like Kachiko's Wakizashi +3 would be a better choice for a primary weapon because its special attack (attribute drain) is so deadly if it is wielded by a character who gets several attacks per round. (From what I can tell, nearly every NPC and monster in the game has Wisdom 9 since that's the stat that was used in the template that everything is based on.)
Also, Righteous Magic can only be cast on the Cleric himself, so it wouldn't benefit a fellow Fighter. And since Clerics can't wield edged weapons, none of the weapons we've just discussed would apply.
Still, it's nice to remind people that if Anomen is in their party, they should let him use Righteous Magic on a regular basis. A 21st Level Fighter/Cleric with five proficiency points and Strength 25 who inflicts maximum damage on every hit for 21 rounds is a force to be reckoned with. That's one of the reasons why I recommend Anomen for a sixth party member.
Well, I meant that he should use both, but, because you pointed out that the Scarlet Ninja-To +3 can't be used except by monks or characters with the Use Any Item ability, it has to replaced by another weapon. I like to make my characters attack fast. The righteous magic/improved haste trick came from my Swashbuckler/Cleric.So, if our friend will want to follow something along those lines, and be a pure fighter all the way through, then he'd need a replacement for the afore mentioned Ninja-To that he can't use, which would be the Kundane +4 in the offhand. Don't get me wrong, I strongly encourage to use other wepons in combinations with these, especially the draining weapons like Kachiko's Wakizashi +3 that you mentioned and the Answerer +4, which can have a a great effect with a good attack speed and their cumulitive properties.
“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.”
Crenshinibon, I admire the way you've found ways to maximize your characters' attacks. Keep up the good work, and let us know if you find any other useful tricks.
