A Weapon of Legend? ~~The Equalizer - Analysis~~

[Alson]

The Equalizer.
A weapon of legend - the manual claims.
Quite a few BG2 players will disagree, on the other hand.

I'm here to serve as its protector. Its savior. Its Messiah. [img]smile.gif[/img]

From the first moment i laid my eyes on the E's description, i knew it was a worthless piece of metal. That pommel gem would fit my Celestial Fury much better, i thought. I dumped it, and never bothered to forge it again.

A few days ago, i decided to give it a chance. The whole THAC0/Damage bonuses system had potential in it, i thought.
I equipped it in the off-hand, with my ever-favorite Flail of Ages +5 in my main hand. I used the "CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("XXX") command to summon several differnet alignment enemies into the game.
I attacked them, but the results were wierd. The FoA+5, just like the Equalizer, seemed to scale its damage according to the victim's alignment!
I was amazed to find out - the THAC0 and Damage bonuses of the off-handed Equalizer are applied to the Main Hand, as well!

It may not seem as a game shattering effect at first... But think about it... 99% of the enemies you meet (and fight) are Evil, and most of them are Chaotic Evil... That means that using the Equalizer as your off-hand weapon will give you +3 THACO and +6 damage bonuses, on top of the main-hand weapon bonuses! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Your favorite +5 one handed weapon now gets +11 THAC0 bonus!
You like to use plain, +1 swords? Think +7 THAC0 bonus now!
Of course, its not the Crom Faeyr's +14 THAC0 bonus - but you can always give Crom to your other party members!

Not to mention E's ever-useful Mental Shield, which allows you to forget Helms of Charm Protection for good. [img]graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
All in all, the Equalizer is a very solid off-hand weapon indeed, IMO, especially for dual classed Fighters/Mages or Fighter/Thieves, who usually don't have a great THAC0 due to an early class-transition.

Comments?

[ 11-20-2002, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: Alson ]

[Angelousss]

do you think that effects how the weapon in the main hand is classed(could it make my celestial fury more than a +3 weapon against most enemies)?
That would be helpful

[Alson]

No, it does not effect the main-hand weapon's ability to strike those rare 'i scratch my @$$ with +4 fingernails' monsters.

The THAC0 of a weapon and its enchantment (aka, its ability to strike the said monsters) are two completely different things.

[ 11-20-2002, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: Alson ]

[Angelousss]

o well that's why i've got 4 quick weapon slots

[Alson]

And 16 inventory slots. And a Bag of Holding. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Angelousss]

15 if your carrying a bag of holding so there

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Alson: I'm here to serve as its protector. Its savior. Its Messiah. [img]smile.gif[/img]

The mans mad. Completely.

I was amazed to find out - the THAC0 and Damage bonuses of the off-handed Equalizer are applied to the Main Hand, as well!

OK, disregard the previous comment. This has to be a bug though, right? Cheese anyway.

Maybe Ill actualy bother to collect the thing next time through.

[Indemaijinj]

It's not worse than being able to hurl Crom Fayer with the dubious use of the Melf's Minute Meteors spell.

[Throrgrim]

right guyz i luved the equaliser when i first used it. even against irenicus.
neways here is my questions:
1) where is the celestial fury?
2) i hav once found the crom faeyr scroll (and rmember where it is ) but where r the other parts?
3) i found the wave shaft once, but not the whole thing. is it worth the bother?
this may b stupid as i hav completed the game but then again i think i missed out loadsa quests and stuff.
ne help is appreciated

[Zarr]

Originally posted by Throrgrim: right guyz i luved the equaliser when i first used it. even against irenicus. neways here is my questions: 1) where is the celestial fury? 2) i hav once found the crom faeyr scroll (and rmember where it is ) but where r the other parts? 3) i found the wave shaft once, but not the whole thing. is it worth the bother? this may b stupid as i hav completed the game but then again i think i missed out loadsa quests and stuff. ne help is appreciated

1)It's carried by someone upstairs in the building labeled "guarded compound" in the temple district. You can loot it of there dead body.
2)The gauntlets of ogre strenght loted from the body of a halfling in the planar sphere
The hammer of thunderbolts found in a container at the end of the mindflayer lair in the temple district sewers(need sewer key found on Tazoks body in windspears hills to enter)
Girdle of strenght looted from demon knight in kuo-tao lair in underdark
3)The wave is a very good weapon +4 if I remember correctly. There is also a very good halberd in TOB so having someone with profeceinces in halberd isn't a bad idea. Here's the location of the two parts(SPOILER) - looted from the wardens body in the planar prison and a reward from the prince in the saghuin(SP) city.