Newbie question

[Telchar of Nogrod]

I'm a veteran of BG1(loved) and BG2(eh..) and am about to purchase IWD. When I set up weapon proficientcies, what am I shooting for? What type of weapons are the most powerfull later on (artifacts). I don't want to go through to find out I can't use the most powerfull weapons/items in the game. Spoil me. Don't tell me when or where, just what. Thanks much. This forum also seems better then BG2. Just a little too impersonal and harsh compared to BG1. Smaller is better.

[Brett]

Excellent Be prepared to be spoiled!!!Spoilers.
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Ok Missle Weapons are a MUST, There are two very tough battles that i can remember missles bieng a must(middle and end of game?. My personal favorite is the Bow of Seth,however, there are a whole $hit load of good bows and x bows, and if you really want to go into it, slings as well. Those fire stones+2 come in handy if you just have a mage sitting on the bench. If you think about it you are going to enter a terrian of Snow and Ice,with that comes death(a given with these types of game, without it where would all the fun be?). There really good swords all over this game two come to mind(found later in the game) The Pale Justice(+7 to evil) and the sword of alhonen(i think i misspelled that..anyway +5..gets better in HOW though) If your so inclined spears,though not many(2 that i can think of)but there good ones(+5), otherwise daggers,flails and hammers.all the other stuff you can just about throw out(any comments on what im missing?). A Word of slight wisdom however...small swords will come easy in the beggining of the game, while the bigger swords come the later. One more word of the wise, DONT SPECIALIZE MAGES. my opinon of course, but youll loose TWO schools of magick not one. [img]smile.gif[/img] enjoy

[Micah Foehammer]

The best weapons? Oh jeez, there are so many great weapons in this game. My favorites:
ITEM SPOILERS:
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Long Sword of Action +4 : bonus to AC and one extra attack per round
Sanctified Morning Star: Wisdom bonus, extra spells, ac bonus
Mage dagger +4: AC bonus, extra spells, resistance to magic
Fire Flail +3: VERY Useful against trolls
Messenger of Sseth: Long Bow - VERY fast and an extra attack per round that is NOT documented in the item description
Long Sword +3 The Enforcer : GREAT item for a fighter/mage : extra spells and some other bennies
Axe of Caged Souls: Great for use on Burial Isle and Hall of Heroes - extra bonuses against cadaverous undead
Three White Doves: Awesome mace against undead (HOW only)
Amuantor's Legacy: Long sword that rocks against undead

There are nice items in every category except for short bow where there is only one really good short bow and it isn't available until HOW. The best categories for items based on numbers of choices and quality(IMHO)are long sword, morning star, flail, long bow, dagger and possibly axe. There are a few very nice hammers, crossbows, short swords and halberds as well. Mace has only the three white doves as a really good item and quarter staffs are really sparse. There are some nice clubs that appear in HOW but they occur very late in the game unfortunately.

NOTE: Sorry but ive had to edit this post, as it contained lots of item spoilers. Be careful with spoiler please, thanks [img]smile.gif[/img] .(Modified by Ertai_OHF)

[Xanthul]

Ehm... i think he wanted to know what TYPE of weapons should he choose, not the actual weapons and their stats.

[Worm]

Well, great swords is versatile for a warrior because bastard swords and two handed swords are in the same boat. But the main problem is pick what you like if your going with a elven warrior you have to use long swords and long bows just for the bonus and hope you get decent magic items. IWD-HOW, contains a magic item generation kind of like Diablo had. It is luck of the draw just pick which weapons you like. I myself prefer slings for warriors or clerics (Which for me are always hobbits) and short bows for thieves. Axes and hammers for dwarves axes are nice so they can have meelee weapons and ranged all in one weapon skill. Just don't do anything stupid if your picking a ranger stick to spears, warriors to swords, theives to daggers, druids to clubs the status quo is all you have most of the normal weapons for the classes will be very good sepcialized weapons for them I.E. you will rarel find a great spear for a fighter or a club for a theif.

[Micah Foehammer]

Sorry Ertai .... guess I got carried away .... at least I didn't add their locations in. That would have been over the top.

[Hayashi]

I'd say choose whatever you like. Unlike BG2, in IWD weapon proficiencies cover a few weapons eg large swords cover long swrods, scimitars, etc.
There are enough cool weapons in most categories so the choice isn't critical.

[Midget Gems]

As a regular BG1 player, I am also having to adjust to the new weapon catagories in IWD. Some of the choice are easy - I always give my Dwarf Fighter an Axe, anything else looks wrong. But what about my Fighter/Cleric, what do you guys think is best for her? Also which is the best weapon skill for a Thief to use with back-stabbing ?

Another thing, when I look in the Character Profile data for my THACO rating, do I see just the basic Character data rather than the combined result of Character plus Weapon data. I can't tell which is my 'best' weapon like I could in BG1. Has this changed or am I missing something?

[Micah Foehammer]

My top choices (in order of best to worse)for fighter/cleric would be morning star, flail, mace, hammer and club for melee weapons. Make sure you take missiles (slings).

The character description should have your base thaco and then the modified thaco (including all weapon, spell, proficiency and stat adjustments). You should be able to tell which weapon gives you the best chance to hit by simply swapping them out and seeing how this changes.

[Seraph]

I generally try to have two warriors:
One with max. Large Swords and Halberds + 2 stars w/ bows
One with max. Great Swrods and Axes + 2 stars w/ bows

Bows arnt worth 5 stars w/ high dex.

There are a LOT of useful weapons in the 4 catagories I named.

Its also worth haveing 2 people who do crushing dammage.