soloing question

[rhapsody407]

i'm thinking...well i am going to solo a barbarian, i have a few questions. 1) i want to have both 2-handed and sword/shield fighting styles down, wondering what weapons to be proficient in, also, some quests incur a necessity to open locked doors, how would i get around this...also, monsters that are immune to magical/normal weapons...what do i do (before the cloak of the stars, where i can get some +5 darts...i.e. mel'fs meteors)

so what items would be most beneficial, because i've been doing the arcane caster and monk thing for long enough that i'm not even item-dependant anymore. (i think i'm going to hear celestial fury)

[Raistlin Majere]

Originally posted by rhapsody407: i'm thinking...well i am going to solo a barbarian, i have a few questions. 1) i want to have both 2-handed and sword/shield fighting styles down, wondering what weapons to be proficient in, also, some quests incur a necessity to open locked doors, how would i get around this...also, monsters that are immune to magical/normal weapons...what do i do (before the cloak of the stars, where i can get some +5 darts...i.e. mel'fs meteors) so what items would be most beneficial, because i've been doing the arcane caster and monk thing for long enough that i'm not even item-dependant anymore. (i think i'm going to hear celestial fury)

for a pretty relayable weapon profiency, the game has plenty of long swords. thats a good one to place a slot into. you can get a +3 2handed sword early in the game(Lilarcor), as well as, you got it, celestial fury. you can get a +3 spear before underdark too, so choose by the way youre gonna play. i once with a party of my own simulated wulfgar. named him Gargath though, since wulfgar exists in the game. i gave him two * in war hammer and the same in single weapon fighting.

[rhapsody407]

you can obtain a +2 halberd in the adventurer's mart...dont know where the more powerful ones are

also axes seem nice, because you can slash and throw them (there's a nice one in nalia's keep)...but i've only seen +2's lying around, so i'd need directions to the more powerful axes as well

celestial fury is pretty obtainable, if you're willing to spend about an hour fighting the same battle and hoping you save enough times to live...but i dont think it's as nice as the crom fayr...though to get that you have to slay the shadow dragon IMHO a pain in the ass, this would make some sort of a vorpal hit necessary..though the actual vorpal blade is obtainable only in the fish-people mephit quiz place thing. A +2 and +lightning hammer is available at the adventurer's mart.

The most powerful 2-handed sword is not open to this class, since it is not a paladin subkit. long swords are prominent, though once again anything over a +3 is rare

shortsword would be nice for the free action on arbane's, but there is a ring of free action...

what other items would give me useful resists, like making my saving throws better, giving me immunity to mind spells, etc. ?

[Angelousss]

Well if you make the Crom Faeyr you get 25str which allows you to open doors a majority ot the time. Save that get belts and gauntlets that increase str. I'm not sure what the rules on mage scrolls are. With a high enough intelligence you may be able to use them, once, giving you acess to knock. although usually if you MUST open a door theres and item that will open it.

[Butterfingers]

If soloing a melee class, allow me to offer some help.

Don't play human unless you plan to dual class. As a Barbarian, you can't. So no worries. A Half Orc looks promising, but, there are two races you should look at.

Halflings. Magic resistant, awesome saving throws, good dexterity. Hardy little buggers. At mid levels, it seems as though almost all forms of spells stops effecting them.

Dwarves. 19 Con, great saving throws, tougher then a two dollar steak. Can also get higher strength then Halflings, but, this is not a big deal. With Crom, your strength will hit 25 anyways. Also highly recommended would be a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric. The Dwarven Thrower looks fun [img]smile.gif[/img]

As for weapons, there are two really good +3 axes. Stonefire and Frostreaver. Flail of Ages teamed with any of the axes makes for excellent mage killing. (And dragons for that matter... Stoneskin my butt) Improved Mace of Disruption will make short work of vampires and offer level drain protection. (Good for fighting the Shadow Dragon)

Daggers. Don't laugh, there are some good easily gained daggers. Pixie Prick, Stilleto of DeMarchess, Boneblade, and don't forget Firetooth.

Longswords. Well, out of all of them, the one I like the most is Daystar. Amazingly powerful, it's like carrying a portable nuke to take care of undead. And it is really easy to get. Get a Protection from Undead scroll. Smash Lich. Grab sword. Also, Daystar is good for fighting another Lich, you can vaporize him if you have good timing skills.

[Sir Exxon]

*Preparing for many questions*
Here we go. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Originally posted by rhapsody407: i want to have both 2-handed and sword/shield fighting styles down, wondering what weapons to be proficient in

After what you want, I suggest getting proficiencies somewhat like this:
** Two-Handed Sword
** Axe
* Two-Handed Weapon Style
* Sword and Shield Style
Two-Handed Sword... Early Lilarcor, many other good (especially if you have ToB)
Axe... Many good Axes out there, and can be used as both melee and ranged

some quests incur a necessity to open locked doors, how would i get around this

Bashing. Simply equip your weapon, click it once on the quickbar, and attack the item ou want open.

monsters that are immune to magical/normal weapons...what do i do (before the cloak of the stars, where i can get some +5 darts...i.e. mel'fs meteors)

Well, there are many powerful weapons which can be used. The Ring of the Ram is also useful.

so what items would be most beneficial, because i've been doing the arcane caster and monk thing for long enough that i'm not even item-dependant anymore. (i think i'm going to hear celestial fury)

Ok... Using the profs I mentioned, this could be some of your ultimate equipment:
Gram the Sword of Grief (if ToB)
Silver Sword
K'logarath
Azuredge
Crimson Chain
Sentinel +4
Boots of Speed
Cloak of Mirroring
Ring of Gaxx
Ring of the Ram

you can obtain a +2 halberd in the adventurer's mart...dont know where the more powerful ones are also axes seem nice, because you can slash and throw them (there's a nice one in nalia's keep)...but i've only seen +2's lying around, so i'd need directions to the more powerful axes as well

Got any specific you want to know?
Powerful (early) Halberds are: Duskblade +2 (Nalia's Keep), Harmonium Halberd (Deidre the Bonus Merchant), Dragon's Bane (Firkraag's Lair)
Powerful (early) Axes are: Frostreaver +3 (Nalia's Keep), Stonefire +3 (Bernard), Rifthome +3 (loot from Arkanis), Azuredge (Bernard)

what other items would give me useful resists, like making my saving throws better, giving me immunity to mind spells, etc. ?

You could use Ring of Free Action, Belt of Inertial Barrier, Lilarcor, Helm of Charm Protection.... In other words, there are many powerful items in BG2.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Flails and Warhammers. Not feeling well now, so can't think/read/type properly. I'll leave it to Alson and/or Jim to explain why these weapon types.

[Alson]

Originally posted by Dundee Slaytern: Flails and Warhammers. Not feeling well now, so can't think/read/type properly. I'll leave it to Alson and/or Jim to explain why these weapon types.

LOL!
So i'm your apprentice now, huh? I'm so proud! [img]graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Quick recovery. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Oh well... So i'll do the dirty work...

I'm hoping that the oh-so-vigilant-one, Mr. Slaytern ( [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) will forgive me, and grant me his remission for this despicable crime i'm about to commit, but i'm going to skip Warhammers. Flails would be today's topic. [img]smile.gif[/img]

As usual, we're aiming for dual wielding - which leads to the most powerful combos.

The Flail of Ages
-----------------
Since there will be no one to take the hits for you, you want something that can lower the opponent attack rate so you'll get hit less often.
Since you'll have (almost) no means of dealing with Mages, you'll want something with elemental damage so you can hit Stoneskinned mages and disrupt thier spell casting.
All in all - you'll want the Flail of Ages. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Really, Ages is amazingly powerful. The slowing effect *does not* allow a save, *ignores* Magic Resistanc, and is *cumulative*. Since dangerous enemies tend to have outrageous saves and high Magic Resistance, this is incredibly important. Almost cheesy, IMO.
This is so powerful because of the Infinity Engine's weird interpretation of slowing - it halves most of the target's stats - regeneration, ApR rate, movment rate, and gives a +4 penalty to AC and THAC0.
And it goes on! If you slow someone, his "personal initiative round" resets - which, in general, means that if you slow him enough times in a round, he is literally paralyzed! Thus, Age's slowing is a bit similar to Fury's stunning... But Ages deals elemental damage, too!

Rant, rant... [img]smile.gif[/img]

The Defender of Easthaven
------------------------
Since your Barbarian is going to be the one taking the punch, you'll need to find a way to deal with melee opponents. Ages' slow will help, but it won't save your skin. You can't wear Full Plate Armors - which happens to be the best armors. However, your natural physical resistance is just as good, if not better.

The Defender of Easthaven is the only weapon which grants physical resistance - and its +20% will supplement your natural resistance quite nicely, eventually adding up to a whooping 40% physical resistance!

Now, add a specific ToB HLA to that...

If that's not enough to plug The Defender - it also grant you +1 bonus to AC - to insure that the resistance isn't your only boon. Convinced? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

To conclude - FoA + DoE. You won't be disappointed.

[ 01-20-2003, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Alson ]

[Olorin]

I currently have a dwarven barbarian in my party and he does very well. When you invoke the rage ability, you get +4 str and +4 con and several immunities. The str bonus can be helpful for opening locked doors and chests. The reason I'd take the dwarf over the half-orc is for the Dwarven Thrower. It's a +3 hammer for either melee or throwing (it does have a bit of a bug, it's supposed to do blunt damage, but without a fixpack, it does piercing--so you can't hit clay golems).

At the beginning of the game, I would recommend using a shield for the AC bonus, and the special abilities available. My favorite for the early game is the shield of reflection from the adventurer's mart. It reflects all missile weapons back at the shooter/thrower. In some instances, you can just stand there and let the enemies kill themselves for you! Oddly, the worse shot the enemy is, the less that works (if they miss, there is no reflection). So if you have a good AC, some enemies will run out of ammo without hitting themselves enough.

Also, don't forget about useful weapons like Ilbratha (shortsword that casts mirror image) or the Staffs or Fire, Air, Earth, Namarra, Ras, etc. You don't have to be proficient with them to use their special abilities. The barbarian has four weapon slots available; if you use one for your main melee weapon, one for a thrown weapon, there are two left for weapons that give abilities. After you use their daily charge, you can swap them out for something else if necessary.

[rhapsody407]

yes, the flail of ages seems to be a needed item, per the disruption...and the axes are all and well too...hmm..the question is, is a 2-handed weapon entirely necessary? i think if i do 2-handed i should stick with 2-handed items, and i can get the giant-hair crossbow for some range

nevertheless, i think i'll go

halberd ++
flail **
2HWS *
S&SS*

further levels go into the missing, then longsword, then dart.

by the way...i went ahead and started up a demo one...lvl 10 he had almost 160 HP

thx all!