what weapons?

[ryaldin]

What weapons should I become proficient with for my characters? I mean, I don't want to know the specific weapons to be proficient for, (e.g., equaliser etc.) but i just want to know what weapons are good to be proficient in.

[dragon_lord]

Well a good point to start would be knowing what class you are. Its mostly up to preference though when it comes to weapon choice.

[ryaldin]

I just want to know what weapons are the best types to be proficient in, as in reference to which weapon categories the best weapons fall into. For example, I found the SPOILER
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dragon's bane halbred, but i didn't know there were any good halbreds, and none of my characters were proficient with the halbred, so i couldn't really use it with any great level of skill. So that's why i want to know what categories have the best weapons in them.

[Angelousss]

Well most of the different weapon classes have at least a few good weapons. I was kinda disappointed with the axes, and bastard swords. Depending on how you want to play you can do lotsa of different things. I usually pump up 2 handed swords, long swords, katanas, flails or quater staves. but lots of other types have great weapons.

if you're a fighter you can specialize several things. It's a good idea to have your people speacalize in different weapons so you have more vairety. for example my last party

I used katanas and flails(dual wielding)
Minsc used 2 handed swords nearly exclusivly(in tob sometimes used an axe)
aerie used maces and war hammers
mazzy used longswords and 2 different type of bows(long and short)
Jahiera used quaterstaves
Imoen used short swords and quaterstaves

[ 12-05-2002, 12:38 AM: Message edited by: Angelousss ]

[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.

[Seraph]

"There are two extremely good flails out there and they are both available fairly early."
Flail of Ages and ???
I'm trying to figure out what the second one is, can I have a hint?

[Indemaijinj]

Defender of Easthaven (from Joluv the Bonus Merchant in the Copper Coronet).

An armor class bonus and physical damage resistances make this an awesome off-hand weapon. Especially for barbarians.

[Rataxes]

I assume you're only talking about SoA, but even so, The Gnasher (club), Jhor The Bleeder (bastard sword) and The Impaler (spear) are among the coolest weapons in the game. With the two former having an effect similar to Melf's acid arrow with each hit, damage stacks up very quickly with a good APS value. The Impaler is the by far most damaging weapon in the game to enemies not resistant to piercing. 1D6 + 3 + 10 (piercing) is wicked, almost as good as Staff of the Ram +6 in ToB.

[ 12-05-2002, 10:37 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[Indemaijinj]

The Impaler is a good weapon, but you get it so late in the game and all the spears before are rather meh.

I like clubs, but when compared to the other weapons around they kinda fade.

Jhor the Bleeder is the only good bastard sword, and it's only a +2 weapon.

Compared to the plethora of long swords of similar power level (and the few with higher power level) it makes for a bad verdict against bastard swords.

Spears is the best group of these three. I really think beastmasters should have been allowed to use spears.

[wellard]

I Luurvve the spear of impailing, whith a certain cloak those big bags of air, beholders and gauths, just pop like the ballons they are.
he he he he !

[ 12-14-2002, 01:40 AM: Message edited by: wellard ]