Polearm proficiency

[Malstein]

In one of my parties I dumped a Lvl6 Monk for a new fighter who is specialising in bastard swords and polearms. I thought that the extended reach of the polearm would help reduce her damage till she reached the same levels as the rest of the party.

There is not much in the way of fancy polearms in the game so far (Chapter 3) although she is now equipted with a Halberd+3.

I was wondering if I am the only person silly enough to specialise in polearms in this forum as I have not noticed much about them before.

Does IWD2 do some sort of check on weapon proficiencies and adjustthe random items in some way?

[Magness]

Originally posted by Malstein: In one of my parties I dumped a Lvl6 Monk for a new fighter who is specialising in bastard swords and polearms. I thought that the extended reach of the polearm would help reduce her damage till she reached the same levels as the rest of the party. There is not much in the way of fancy polearms in the game so far (Chapter 3) although she is now equipped with a Halberd+3.

There are a fair number of good polearms. There are some really good ones towards the end of the game.

I was wondering if I am the only person silly enough to specialise in polearms in this forum as I have not noticed much about them before.

I've done it with a backup ranger-archer, sort of just for kicks. Since it was his secondary weapon, it wasn't all that bad a decision.

Does IWD2 do some sort of check on weapon proficiencies and adjust the random items in some way?

Not that I'm aware of.

[Aelia Jusa]

I had a ranger, one of my 2 frontline fighters, specialised in polearms. When you get to Kuldahar (chapter 4?) you can buy at least 2 really really nice halberds. And I think there's a great spear a little later as well. And a halberd +3 is still a good weapon though.

[Malstein]

I'll look forward to finding some more Halberds.

According to the manual they should combine the features of both a spear and axe but the +3 Halberd only has piercing damage, no slashing damage!

I suppose in that a 'heroic fighter' would prefer a greatsword, greataxe or two handed hammer over a polearm.

[Magness]

There's a +4 Ice Spear that's the prize for one of the ranks of the Battlesquares. An exceptionally nice weapon for that early in the game.

[The Hierophant]

Originally posted by Malstein: I suppose in that a 'heroic fighter' would prefer a greatsword, greataxe or two handed hammer over a polearm.

No way! All of the greatest Homeric heroes of ancient Greece used spears! They were REAL fighters man. No guns or artillery for those guys to hide behind. They went right up close and personal with big sharp pointy sticks. The only way to fight!

[Jim]

Lets just say that the most damaging weapons in the came come from the polearms category . As has been stated above, in Kuldahar, you can get one very nice weapon and one truly awesome one! Note, if you are playing with a good character, then you're missing out big time here!

The most devastating fighter I created was a polearm wielder.........32 STR, weapon specialisation, +5 power attack, a Massive Halberd of Hate +4 and x3 criticals = yeeeha!

[Malstein]

I sort of imagine the Greek heroes like Achilles and Hector with shortish spears and short swords. I was just thinking it sounds more heroic to whack someone with a sword than poke them with a spear. Although it maybe the weapon of choice for a heroic druid/ranger type.

Interestingly the manual has the spear in both Simple (Shortspear)and Martial (Longspear) categories but how do you tell the difference, apart from the weight ?

Do do Halberds and Longspears suffer any penalty in close combat such as a penalty to hit.....I suppose they would be slower than a long or short sword.

My polearmee is a Chaotic Evil so she will hopefully be able to take advantage of the good stuff in Kuldahar.