Bipennis and other - am I missing something here?

[Kzonon]

I've read a lot about the C of C, Fang, GS's and bloodlust. But I've never heard anyone mention the Bipennis sold in Arnika. I had both my lizardman fighters using them doing as much as 70 dam/hit at level 10ish and they didn't even have power strike going yet. Sure, the two handed weapon means that I have fewer attacks per turn but in the early to mid stages of the game, I haven't found a better weapon.....am I missing something here?

On another note.....someone mentioned to me about having two bishops. Isn't this kind of redundant? Isn't the point of the bishop so that you don't have to use up two character slots for a Mage and Priest ( or any other combination of the four spellcaster professions ).....so what am I missing here?
( Please note this has nothing to do with the two bishop party posting - I fully understand the intrigue of the challenge of taking ONLY two bishops through the entire game......anyone try a party of six faeries? I'd play a bishop, a bard and a bunch of Ninjas ).

Lastly, is it possible to re-recruit that Umpani Fighter. I spent many an hour leveling him to a hefty level 21 and then never got to take him to the ascension. I like to start a list of "things I wish I had known the first time I played the game".

Kz

[ 11-23-2002, 04:31 AM: Message edited by: Kzonon ]

[Oruboris]

Two bishops are awesome: Played through the first time with 1 priest, 1 bish [6man party] and the bishops access to ALL the massive damage/instant death spells gave him more than twice as many kills as the priest, though he could still reserect, bless, etc.

Point of doing 2 bish in ANY party is to allow them to 'specialize' early in the game, studying only 2 schools of magic until those are at/near their limits, then branching out. I split them priest/alch and mage/psi.

In smaller parties, its quite easy to get them to have all the big spells, in 'full' parties, they aren't likely to get enough levels to learn the high level ones that are rarely available as books.

Seems to help enourmously to ONLY put level up points into the schools, and let the realms climb through practice.

Building really good bishops requires saving some early spell picks, and having the list of where books are/may be.

If by umpani fighter, you mean Rodan, then no, after the alliance is complete you can't re-hire him or drazic. All other npcs can usually be recruited as many times as you wish. They generally go back to where you first found them.

Remember, though: NPCs are exp. point parasites: they can be both fun and useful, but it comes at a price to your 'real' charactors.

HTH
Oru

[Gimli]

Only problem with the bipennis is that you'll be building the axe skill by using it, and for the rest of the game, the selection of axes isn't the greatest. Building the sword skill (and mace if your fighters are going to dual wield) is a better bet for the long run.

[Kerneth]

Unfortunately, there are very few high level axes that are worth a damn, and none of them compare with the swords like Excalibur or *Light* *Sword*, or the Diamond Eye/Mauler combo if you're into maces.

Heck, there are staves that make vastly better melee weapons than the axes in the game.

[snooch_dawg]

And... FYI, you'll do alot better with the Bloodlust Sword you find in Antone Rapax's Bank Vault, level 10 fighter will do 150 - 200 hp of damage a round with that thing, and between 200 - 300 after powerstrike. If you don't mind losing a ranged attack from your party.

I like sticking a polearm Valkrie in the second rank.

Also, I'm having a lot of success with having only my fighter in the front rank, a valkrie and a ninja in the second and my bard, mage and bishop in the back. My fighter sucks up the damage while the party is still getting three melee attacks per round, and I only have to focus on keeping one goon's HP up. Just an idea.

After reading this post, I'm not sure how helpfull it is, but I'll post it anyways [img]smile.gif[/img]

[el_kalkylus]

Originally posted by snooch_dawg: And... FYI, you'll do alot better with the Bloodlust Sword you find in Antone Rapax's Bank Vault, level 10 fighter will do 150 - 200 hp of damage a round with that thing, and between 200 - 300 after powerstrike. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Maybe you already knew this, but powerstrike doesn't increase damage, only strength does. Powerstrike makes you hit more often.

[ozwald]

Originally posted by Kerneth: Unfortunately, there are very few high level axes that are worth a damn

How about beastslayer? Or that funky one from the dungeon in the Northern wilderness?

[Gimli]

There are a few, but they pale in power and number to the selection of swords, IMHO. Still, if you had some RP reason for using an axe, you could beat the game with an axe-wielding fighter; I'm not saying it will cripple you to the point where your party won't be any good. Just that the swords are alot better in this game.