Kind of late.....but I just noticed this problem last night with Imoen and Keldorn. They both would only have their fists in the quick slot (and bows), but I paused and checked inventory and the weapons were there in there weapon slots. I just picked up the weapon and put it back and it reappeared. It happened a couple of other times and the only thing I can think of is it is something to do with the use of bows and xbows. These are the only two NPC's I have using them and these are the only two NPC's that 'lose' their weapons.
???????

3 times throughout the game over the past few months I have had a weapon just disappear from an NPC's hand. I've gone into a battle, noticed that an NPC isn't doing much damage then noticed that they are just thumping them. On two of the occasions, I checked the inventory to discover the weapon was still there, went back to the playing screen and the weapon wasn't there (in quick weapons), back to inventory and it had gone completely.

Fortunately I had saved games to return to. But that is a pain!

Has anyone else had this happen? Is there a reason? Are there invisible thieves in the game???

And yes, I did install the patch a long time ago

Any ideas?

Hi SpeedMachine

Possibly 2 reasons:

1. If your party are affected by fear, panic or similar, there is a chance they drop their weapons. You will need to physically pick them up afterwards.
2. There is a known bug that causes it, but I have not had that problem in ages.

A fix for both is to download Shadowkeeper, from the Ironwork's Site. This editor will allow you to add any item in the game to your characters inventory. Simple to use, but be careful as the temptation to make your character superhuman is strong and will spoil the fun. Good luck!

Thanks for that SB

It must be the bug reason as I know the weapons weren't dropped. Reason being, I could alternate between the playing screen (and not see it in quick weapons) and the inventory screen (where I could see it). It was as though I caught it as the game was in a state of losing it.

Bizzzarrre!

Sometimes you can also lose items if there is some tempory affect that allows you to use the item. Example- You need a strength of 15 to wear plate armour. You could give a strength enhancing item to someone with a strength below this, put the armour on them and then remove the strength item. They will still have the armour on even though it is now red. Sometimes a character will just drop such item, particularly if you enter a new area.

Hmm that is strange. When it happened to me the items disappeared completely. Hopefully shadowkeeper will sort it out. If not, maybe somebody else has an idea?

No, it's not that.

One example of this was Celestial Fury which one loyal thief had been using for ages. Another was Belm's Scimitar for a friendly druid. For both of these there are no restrictions re strength or whatever (I believe). And the fact that after it had disappeared from quickslot weapons, that I could still see it on inventory, means I hadn't dropped it.

Thanks Draggor for trying to solve it anyway!