Creating characters... what should you be proficient in?

[Chris]

I noticed in BG II there is a super weapon for paladins... so I made my proficiency in the type of weapon thats similar to it..

I'm not sure of the type's of weapons in IWD... so what should a Paladin or Warrior become proficient in? Great Sword? Large Sword?

Thanks,
Chris

That is all based on your personl preference. Of course, if you want a shield, you must take the long sword, not the great sword. If you are so strong that you believe that the best defence is a quick offence, the two handed swords are your thing.
There IS a Paladin Sword in Icewind Dale...In Lower Dorn's...in a house where the whole town seems deserted. It is where the Umber-hulk jumps out at you. Well, I think it is a Two-handed sword...

[marco]

in my party my two front fighters are proficient in large swords ( using the trusty bastard sword) and also minors in mace/flail. this gives a nice rounding feature ( the club family for a bone type creatures and the sword family for all others).

[Chris]

Thanks all.

Only problem is.. coming across a great weapon.. I have a paladin and warrior in group and it happens to be something OTHER than what they are proficient in. Thats a bummer.

I guess there isn't enough variety of weapons in the game perhaps.

Isn't there some 2 handed Great Sword called "Justice" for Paladins? I'm not sure if you can find it everytime you play the game though--I haven't so far, so I'm stuck with a +1 longsword for my Paladin. Least I've found some "fairly" good swords so far.

[Chris]

I knew going into BG2 there was a paladin sword that was (cant recall.. great? large sword?) anyways.. that gave me something to aim for as what was an awesome sword I would run across eventually in the game.

In the meantime I had a +2 sword that made due til I got the +5 sword

I think the one in BG2 is called the Holy Avenger (+5) and probably is a Great Sword. I'm not sure though since I haven't bought BG2 yet.

[Wrath]

It's a Paladin-only Long Sword, found in Lower Dorn's Deep (every game). It's a +4 sword, with these other goodies:

Wielder is immune to Cloak of Fear, Horror, Dire Charm and Symbol of Hopelessness, +7 damage vs. evil creatures, +7 THACO vs. evil creatures, usable only by Paladins. Believe me, it's THE sword for any Paladin, and a must against the Greater Mummies/The Idol.
And Long Sword-class weapons seem to have the most/best swords available, though there are a lot of nice 2-H swords and mace-class weapons. Short swords, IMO, get the shaft

-Wrath

I think the very best sword in the game is the Fire of Bhaal, with its fine amount of fire damage (2D6) and the stun ability that sucks so much in internet games (really so much that me and my friends have forbidden it in our games).

And there are lots of fine large swords, like the sword of action+4 (which gives armor+1) and Stop Haste (or something like this, I have the spanish version) which stuns enemies. I think that the two handed swords aren´t so good in this game.

[Azred]

Given the great variety of weapons available in this game, I would suggest that newly-created fighters spend their initial 4 weapon proficiencies on long sword, axe, mace or flail (lots of skeletal undead in the game), and two-handed sword. Spend your next weapon slot on broad sword and then worry about specializing later. In fact, I wouldn't spend more than two slots on any weapon anyway, because your fighter will be hurt by the Law of Diminishing Return--trying to become a "master" of a weapon is not as useful as being able to use many different weapons.