"cheats" questions
.
.
.
.
.
.
I haven't played since last winter when I completed ToB. But I've been messing around with it trying to find all the hidden quirks. Anyway...

Digging through some cheats I found an item known as the "kill" sword. I didn't pay much attention to it until I accidently equipped it and found that it was much more than the simple + sword it claimed to be. Does it have a story behind it (other than the false description that's displayed)? And was it originally programmed into the game or was it in one of the add-ons?

Is also ran across several items described as components of a skyship. What part of the game was that from? I don't recall ever having involvement in a storyline with that.

Thanks.

The KILLSW01 was (obviously) never intended to fall into the players' hands--but it does serve two purposes:
1) It's a debugging tool. Suppose BioWare wanted to test a certain encounter, such as the battle with the Shadow Dragon, but didn't want to spend half an hour actually fighting through the Temple Ruins to get to the Shadow Dragon. So, just slap on a KILLSW01 and get there in 2 minutes.
2) It's a plot-ensurance device. Suppose, in Chapter 2, you chose to side with the Shadow Thieves. Also suppose that, when you meet Aran Linvail, for whatever reason you choose to fight him, or you fail a Pickpocket against him, or whatever. This means that Aran very quickly find himself dead, and you find yourself with <u>no way</u> to get to Spellhold. You cannot progress with the game, and you're up s* creek. So, instead, BioWare implemented Arkanis Gath, who wields the KILLSW01. If you turn Aran (or any Shadow Thief that you happen to be working for in Chapter 3) hostile, then *POOF* Arkanis Gath pops up, and *BAM*, you dead. Teaches people not to do things that might break the plot.

As for the skyship parts, Shadowkeeper lists many items that were present in BG1, but not used in BG2.

<span style="color: lightblue">Arkansis Gath does not wield the KILLSW01 - he uses STDEATH, which is slightly less powerful, and undroppable.

That's weird--why have 2 different swords for the same purpose?

I have a hypothesis.
The nasty-Arkanis serves one purpose and one purpose only, to kill your party. No saving, no Imoen's belt, nothing. It can't be dropped.
I would imagine that perhaps you might slap KILLSW01/Uber-Varscona on a single char, use it to hack and slash your way through a dungeon, and sort of test the encounters... make sure that they didn't accidentally miswrite some kind of code to make a monster invincible. KILLSW01 only does immense damage (and bumps your number of attacks up, but that's irrelevant here), while Arkanis's sword does about six damage and kills.

Another theory, using Firkragg's dungeon this time, might be that a programmer or game tester might want to run through the dungeon, killing to get things out of the way, and then drop the weapon to pick up something like the dragonbane sword and see if the battle is winnable using that sort of equipment.

<span style="color: lightblue">Try this:
CLUAConsole:CreateItem("STDEATH")

See what happens... compare and contrast to CLUAConsole:CreateItem("KILLSW01")

This, I think, may be the reason that both exist.

Illumina, a game tester would have access to the console to 1) move to the room Firkraag is actually in, and 2) create the Dragonbane sword to test the fight. The main purpose of the Kill Sword would probably be to make sure things die properly, and to test things like Kangaxx's first form, Bodhi, Irenicus, and Imoen in chateau Irenicus.

On the damage aspect,
STDEATH has an ability, Slay, which can kill you on any hit. KILLSW01 does somewhere around 1000 of every type of damage you care to mention. Guess which is easier to legitimately block...

STDEATH will sit in your inventory, because it can't be moved from the slot it is put in... thus the comparison is moot.
Though that makes sense enough, LennonCook.