Total Newbie Q - Points to Allocate for Weapon Specialisation

[Hayashi]

I have a question regarding points allocated for weapons skills specialisation. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems that to avoid any penalty when using a given weapon, points must be alloted to both the weapon type AND the fighting style as well.
E.g. if I want to avoid any penalty usign a long sword I need to allocate at least one point to long swords and at least another point to single weapon style and sword and shield style.
Have I understood the rules/manual correctly? If so would it be better to spread the points across weapon types or across fighting styles?
No spoilers, please. Thank you.

[This message has been edited by Hayashi (edited 03-25-2001).]

[250]

it only matters to fighters, for everyone else, you dont really expect a mage to deal out tons of melee dmg, do you?

see, if you use a two handed sword, what you want to do is, put at least two ++ in his two handed sword profeciency. well, that is about enough for a fighter. however, if you want some extra kick, you can put two ++ in "two handed weapon" fighting style, this will give him a nice bonus. IF you have more spared points, you can further advance his weapon skill by putting more points into "two handed sword" weapon. it is not required for a fighter to have proficient in any "fighting style" EXCEPT dual wield. YOU MUST ALWAYS put at least two ++ in "two weapons style" if you want to dual wield, otherwise the penalty is SCARY!

[Hayashi]

250,
Thanks for your reply. I guess I should've said that my character is a kensai.

[250]

Originally posted by Hayashi: 250, Thanks for your reply. I guess I should've said that my character is a kensai.

np, what is it so special about kensai? was your question in general or directed to just kensai?

[Entreri]

There is no MUST to put points in fighting style, you will suffer penalty only if weilding a weapon without points in the proficiency categorie of that weapon. But still, if you want dual weilding, I say put 3 in dual weapon style to only suffer -2 with the second hand. If you are a Kensei, like one of my character, Just put ALL in one weapon To be a grand master and In 1 hand style or 2handed style if you use only 2 handed swords. But man, The kensei Is F... Strong with 5 in 2handed swords and 2 in 2handed fighting style !! I always hit with 15dmg min now. With a thaco of -2

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Maybe it's because I hate drows more than I hate Humans - Jarlaxle to Entreri

[Hayashi]

Pls excuse me as I am new to AD&D in general and to BG2 in particular. Although I have played many other RPGs to date none have been AD&D titles. It is somewhat confusing with its many rules. The purpose of my post was to seek some general advice on how to distribute skill points to a fighter-type PC without putting it into something that would not be of much use later.
To sum up: it is better to put points into weapon proficiencies rather than fighting styles. I would have thought that it would be the other way around as fighting styles work across weapon types.

[jbombard]

Right from the start I would decide on 1 range weapon and 1 melee weapon that you are going to use throughout the game and split your skill points between them. Don't waste a skill point because you picked up a really cool weapon that you don't have a proficency in. There are plenty of good weapons of all types in the game. I personally will only put 2 skill points in my range weapon and then allocate everything else to the melee weapon. Then when that fills up add to a weapons style or to the range weapon. While the weapon styles work across different weapons the benefits are marginal. Personally I don't use the single handed weapon styles at all. However if you are using a 2 handed sword you will find the 2 handed weapon style a big help. If you dual wield the 2 weapon sytle is a must. Also note that some melee weapons are also range weapons like the axe and the dagger. It really all comes down to how you want to play it.