It's definately a matter of trade offs. My character is a lvl., 12 Kensai, so he can't wear armor or use shields, but he gets incredible attack bonuses. He's maxed out in Single Wopons proficiency, Grand Master 2HS.
He is devestating with the Vorpal Blade. Perhaps it is the Kensai's attack bonuses but he gets those failed saves against death for instant kills very frequently. I had one case where 3 targets in a row died instant deaths.
My Kensai has toasted 2 Adamantine Golems all by himself with the Vorpal blade in quick order, and he slayed The Big Red "Kraag" Machine on the second hit.

I am obviously biased toward the Vorpal Blade...

I cannot pass up the AC for my main character so he has to carry a shield. But Minsc is a deadly one with the 2Handers. He is also good with the Long Bow. He is a damn fine NPC. Tangent sorry.

In your opinion what is the best sword for a fighter character to use in the game?

-Draelren

Do you mean what's the best sword type (i.e. 2 handed, longsword, bastard sword, etc...)?

OR

What's the best specific sword (i.e. Daystar, Holy Avenger, Vorpal, Celestial Fury, etc.)?

Best specific sword, regardless of type (ie Vorpal, etc...)

-Draelren

If you're a Paladin ... The Holy Avenger!!!
+5 2handed, 50% Magic resistance, dispels magic on any hit!!! Only paladins need apply.

After that it greatly depends upon whether you like carrying a shield or not. There are some other great 2 handed swords...

Lilacor +3 and talks to you...
Warblade +4
Vorpal +3 + 15% chance of death on any hit (save vs death)
There's one other +4 2h SW that only non-good char's can carry. (Don't remember the name)

If you like shields or dual wielding,
Celestial Fury (katana) +3, chance of stunning on any hit, plus other special abilities... A truly GREAT weapon!!!
Daystar +2(long sword), +4 vs evil, 2x damage to undead creates, cast sunray 1xday.
The Equalizer +3 (longsw), thac0 and damage plusses depend on alignment of target Further from nuetral, the greater the plusses.

A lot of it is personal opinion. I happen to prefer driving my AC as low as possible and like carrying shields, so my characters tend to carry 1h swords.

However, it's stated in a few places that 2handed weapons can carry more enhantment than 1 handed weapons and therefore be more powerful.

I'd say that the 2handed swords are the most powerful weapons, but at the cost of some AC.

Hope this helps some.

I agree with Magness. (Great name. I have been a Paladin named Magnus for almost 20 years) To the topic... 2-handed swords are extremely powerful, but I like the ability to carry an awesome shield and dole out good damage. That said, I am currently wielding the HA and carrying a +3 long bow in BG2. It is just too powerful to pass up. Sometimes you just have to adjust.
BTW, A nice plus for 2-handed swords is the ability to have a bow in your quick weapon slot

There's not a lot of great longswords in BG2. The best one is not available till the end of the game so it's essentially useless (like being given a Ferrari when you're 80). The pick of the bunch is probably the Equalizer or the Dragonslayer for dragons.

2H swords would be Vorpal and Carsomyr. Warblade is good too. There are much better 2H swords than longswords in the game. Soul Reaver +4 is great for evil chars.

Katanas: Celestial Fury, the second best weapon in the game after Crom Faeyr.

The.Relic, I noticed that you are spending your point at Single Weapons(it means only 1-handed weapon) proficiency
while you are using 2HS, because you wont get any bonuses for that.
Instead you should use your points at 2-Handed Weapons proficiency, then
you'll get your bonuses. Just a suggestion

Heh, done both actually, I left out 2HS, working on SH so I can use my Flail of Ages and DragonSlayer.
Sorry about the typo...

There are plenty of excellent swords. I've found favour with the two-handed variety, though, and I use the soul reaver +4, a very nice weapon. Also saving up for the warblade +4, apparently the only weapon in the game that uses a D12 attack dice.

where the hell is this warblade everyones talkin about

Warblade's found in the Adventurer's Mart, Ribald has it but ONLY AFTER Chapter 6. And Armisael, you're wrong. There are TWO. Namely the Warblade, I dint even notice, and Carsomyr.

Heh. Carsomyr is only a D10+5 weapon. Yes, I know what it says in the description - ignore that. Get Infinity Explorer and take a look. Item code is 'SW2H10'.

Ok, ok fine fine... Im already a loser... hehe hey! Then why are the descriptions not true or something? If there is only one real flaw in BG2, it's all those typos! More typos in the manual... damn

While its true that there are no truly GREAT longswords, there are plenty of pretty darn good ones.

Daystar +2, +4 vs evil, cast Sunray once per day
The Equalizer
Blade of Roses +3
Dragonslayer +2, x2 damage to dragons
Adjatha the Drinker +2, immunity to charm and domination, heal 1 HP per hit

These are all pretty darn useful longswords. There are a few more useful longswords.

It's too bad that the Blackrazor longsword isn't available much earlier in the game. It's probably the best longsword in the game, but its only awailable just before the final battle.

I certainly agree with Memnoch about the Celestial Fury katana being one of the outstanding weapons in the game. No party should be without it!!!

I don't think there is a size limit to what Celestial Fury can stun. I've stunned Adamanitite Golems and balors with it and they've been stunned. I hit a clay golem once, stunned it, but still couldn't do any damage. It just stood there while i sliced away doing no damage. I had to get Korgan with the Crom Faeyr to kill itr.

If you use the item code, you can create the "killsw01". It's a long sword that a Shadow Theif uses to protect Aran Linvial. One hit kill, full magic resistence...You name it, this sword has it. Best of all, it's a long sword...

Ehm, that's true but it's not really a legit sword as such.

Blackrazor? Sure, kick-ass sword but are you nuts? Well, I suppose not since I don't think they really 'play' Blackrazor as the curruptingly evil artifact it truely is...Not the first time this weapon has made me shiver

Zenith's right, Blackrazor has an interesting history. It's actually a negative energy entity that feeds on souls. In a proper AD&D campaign, if the sword isn't used for a certain period of time, it takes control of the wielder and kills someone. It's also supposed to work in reverse when fighting negative energy creatures such as undead, i.e. transferring a level from the wielder to the creature attacked instead of vice versa. Also, in character, you'd never see me within five miles of this thing.

ahem well directly asked id say the best sword(combo) is the defender in combination with the
2.sword of drizzt u can get both in bg1(id suggest u do it BEFORE installing tosc cuz drizzt is nearly
unbeatable after dis) give both to a kensai et voila u have a lil AC, 4 attacks and about -13/-11 thac0
(depends on how much u cheated *g) for paladins carsomyr is the best imho
btw for all u cheates outthere import a fighter with MAX hp from bgtosc make it a kensai
give him 2 defenders and well at level 19 u have -16/-14 and 4 attacks (7 with improved haste)
combined with 2 rings of gaxx, regenerating egg,mantle of spell deflection, amulett of ?(forgot it)
and u have the state of the art killer

anyways to kill claygolems use air elementals they make about 30damage per hit

Drizzt's swords aren't really an option at all in BG2. Simply having them in your inventory results in a mage called Malchor Harpell spawning several hundred times, which usually crashes the game. Anyway, the only way you can carry items over from BG is the remarkably dodgy singleplayer to multiplayer to singleplayer method. Any blunt weapon can kill a clay golem.

malchor ? hmmm never saw him but when i met drizzt he asked me why i killed him and in the end
he wanted to help me against bodhi (this conversation was really funny)
i guess malchor comes only in single player ?
thx for the blunt weapons *ashamed* i never used one lol

When I took Drizzt's things after the vampire lair, a mage called Malchor Harpell showed up and demanded them back. At first, when I refused, he cast imprisonment on my whole party. The next time, as soon as I stepped outside the crypt, he started spawning repeatedly, until eventually my game overbuffered and crashed. Third time I gave up and handed him the bloody swords back.

would mean u could import both swords without bein bashed by malchor
or import a char with both

anyways was just a guess =)