[Indemaijinj]

My verdict on the weapons available in (unmodded save for the Bonus merchants) BG2 SOA:

Longswords: Good proficiency. There are many magical long swords with many types of nifty abilities and they are rather easily obtainable. The most powerful weapons are, however not in this group.

Short Swords: Average proficiency. There are not that many magical short swords lying around, thought there are a pair of really nifty ones. This proficiency becomes a bit more valuable for the backstabbing thief.

Bastard Swords: Crap proficiency. There are only a very few magical bastard swords out there and most are rather uninteresting.

Two-handed Swords: Excellent proficiency: There are many two-handed swords out there and they all tend to be veritable powerhouses. The bad part is that you are giving up using shields and dual wielding, but let's say: You'll get reimbursed a plenty. Considered a must for paladins.

Katanas: Good proficiency. There are not that many katanas out there (as the booklet says), but the few there are tend to be really cool. Considered good for fighter/mages.

Scimitars/Wakasashi/Ninja-to: Reasonable proficiency. Scimitars are not very common and not especially powerful. If you aren't a druid you get to use wakasashis of which there are some neat ones. There is a really good ninja-to only wieldable by monks so they might consider getting this proficiency.

Daggers: Good proficiency. Though I would not normally consider this for a fighter type a mage or a thief can benefit greatly from some of those daggers out there. Throwing daggers are also plentiful. You can get a returning throwing dagger quite early and one you get later is extremely powerful.

Axes: Good proficiency: Though the axe category does not include any "über" weapons there are quite many powerful ones. The axe proficiency is also one of those who includes both melee and missile weapons (though I would shirk away from the non-magical throwing axes as they weigh too much).

Hammers: Excellent proficiency: Let's just say that one of the most powerful weapons are in this category. You might want to concider having another proficiency while you wait for it.

Flails/Morningstars: Excellent proficiency: There are two extremely good flails out there and they are both available fairly early.

Clubs: Poor proficiency. While it is among one of the few blunt weapons thieves can use and also among the extremely restrictive weapon list of druids and beastmasters, there are only a few magical clubs out there and none of them are especially strong. Better proficiency than bastard swords though.

Spears: Poor proficiency. A two-handed weapon of average power. Add that there are not that many magical spears out there. Add that many monsters are immune to piercing damage. You points are better spent elsewhere.

Quarterstaves: Powerful magical quarterstaves are available early on. It is a two-handed weapon though. Clerics, druids and especially mages benefits from this proficiency. One of the most powerful items with one of the highest cheese potentials in the game are in this group and is availabe to mages and sorcerors.

Maces: Good proficiency. Magical maces are af average availability and there are one really powerful one among them. Often considered a cleric's weapon.

Halberds: Good proficiency. You can say a lot of the same things about halberds as you say about two-handed swords. Halberds are excellent weapons, theyre just overshadowed by the two-handed swords.

Shortbows: Excellent proficiency. Some of the best missile weapons are among these. There are several who don't require ammo and packs a nasty punch to boot.

Longbows: Good proficiency. Long range, and when they are in the hands of a fighter or archer they tend to spew out a veritable hail of good shots. If you have high strength, go after the composite ones. You'll have to worry about ammo though since there are none of those "free ammo" ones here.

Crossbows: Average proficiency. While there is a dearth of powerful crossbows in the game, the ammo availabe is often very powerful. Crossbow bolts are especially common in the later stages of the game.

Slings: Excellent proficiency. Not only can these weapons be used by almost everyone and are one-handed (allowing a shield) there is also many very powerful ones who are availabe relatively early. Good for clerics and mages.

Darts: Poor proficiency. Besides a nifty cloak, there is nothing of interest here. They do have a very high firing rate though.