fighting strategy, best offensive class, and katanas

I have a few questions, and would like to hear some of your views:

1) What do you think is the best offensive/combatant player in the game? What I can think of is kensai, and monk. But because I am not that much into the dice, AC, THACO etc, I'm not sure. A monk gets speed and at lvl 20, 20 damage with his fists, which is more than two swords with a kensai... but on the on the other hand a kensai has more attacks per round? I'm not sure, like I said, I'm not that good in comparin gthe statistics since I am not an AD&D board player myself (not much xp with the math that is done). What do you think is the best offensive player (mage is good, but only with lvl 4+ spells, and when he has cast them (like 10 orso) he can't do anything and has to sleep, so I think mage is not that good)

2) I was thinking about the best strategy to kill an opponent. Here is why I need an answer to (1). Well, if you just have a fighting opponent, I guess you can entagle him/her and shoot arrows, or just attack him with ranger/paladin/fighter/monk and he will be dead soon. Problem is, when a mage gets involved. What I was thinking about that (example: fighting a lich): you cast silence 15" radius on the party (or only the fighters) and you just kill the mage with a plain old sword: with 15 radius he can't cast at all, so you can whack away (and a mage is not tough when he has no magic ))
Can anyone think of a flaw in this strategy? If there are none, I guess what you need is a thief for the traps etc, a cleric to cast the 15" radius, and ALL fighters to kill everything in the game without real trouble. Anyone care to comment?

3) A katana is supposed to be the best sword there is right? Is it just me, or is it better to spend proficiency on long sword (and not katana) since there are better long swords than katanas? I mean, 2d4+4 and stunning and what not capabilities is much more fun than a 1d10(+2) katana. Again, since I'm not all into the comparing statistics, maybe it's better to use katanas since they are faster...? I don't know if that negates the fact that they do less damage...

1) Well, everyone's about the same in power. I think the Blade with Tenser's Transformation is the most powerful fighter in the game. 200+ hp, +4 hit, +4 damage, max damage per hit, 3 attacks per round, THACO of a 16+ level warrior (because he has to be level 16 to cast, I think), AC around -9, in offensive spin. Just wish he could wear a helmet. Mirror image, stone skin, and fire shield your blade and he will be a one man wrecking crew.

2) Silence almost never works in the game now. Most mages cast globes of invulnerability right off the bat. Plus, the fact your enemy mage often has mirror image, stone skin, mislead, protection from magic weapons, or some other combo on, means that if your slow to cast silence fails, you are toast. In addition, silence can be saved against, and you need something that has no saving throw roll. Pierce magic and breach are good. Malison might be worth casting if you still want to use silence.

3) Katanas are the same as 2hd swords that are faster and can be held in one hand. The Celestial Fury is probably one of the best weapons in the game, is a katana, and is easy found. Ideally you might want to wield the Daystar and Celestial Fury dual wield if you are not a caster, before chapter 4. At any rate, the flail of ages is better than any long sword pre chapter 4. Plus the +2 flail that poisons is better than the second best long sword. So you might as well spend proficiencies on flails in the beginning at least. The sad thing about long swords too, is the fact for most you are better off just keeping it your unused weapon slot and using it for effect, rather than wielding it.

[Father Bronze]

1) I personally like swashbuckler/fighter. I like getting 3 proficiencies in dual wield. I played this my second time through and the character got something like THACO -3 main hand/-2 off hand with maxed out longsword proficiencies and strength girdle. The only problem is that the character's hit points were only in the low 70's toward the end of the game. I have to admit though that I haven't tried other fighter combo's/kits.

2) Never tried the silence 15' radius.

3) I prefer longswords since they are more available. Usually Daystar/Flame Tongue and Blade of Roses.

[Rikard T'Aranaxz]

ehm I want to point you at one thing
a kensai at str 18/50 gets about 6 damage bonus
and +3 i think on 5*prof
thus with a good katana +3
1d10+3+6+3= 13-22 damage
compare that to 1-20 damage of a monk and see the difference
not only a higher max damage but also a higher min damage

Yes i agree the Kensai/Mage combo is a very powerful combo in BG2. i just bought the game and though i'm not too familiar with the BG world i have done alot of other ADnD(and pretty much know the Player's guide, DM books ect ect inside out).

In the long run, in my experience, no class under ADnD rules can be as powerful as a
(non-specialize) Mage. you can say a mage will suck at lower levels and that's very true, but if you're talking about high level characters nothing out-classes a mage, especially one with access to level 9 spells.

the argument of silence 15' rad doesn't really hold cuz a vocalize spell allows a mage to cast without the use of words, a mage also can be protected(and be virtually immune) from both physical and magical damage using defensive spells. and if a mage has access to lvl 9 spell time stop, they basically have 10 free rounds to unload a tonne of whoop-ass on any character before they can even unsheath a sword.

If there ever was a dual between a high level Mage vs any other class, hands down the Mage will win.

Verminaard

At lvl 21 a monk has AC -6, so although kensai does a little more damage, he gets whacked around a lot... I know I was asking for the best offensive player, but I think the AC -6 outways the extra 3 dmg.

And: a monk gets magic resistance lvl 14+ right? At lvl 21 I think I had 60% orso... that means at lvl 30 I am totally immune to any magic, thus cannot be hit by any mage... just wait til his defensive spells for normal melee damage run out and kill?

[Father Bronze]

Sorry for the misinformation earlier. I was going from memory. I went home and checked the stats on my Swashbuckler/Fighter. HP 80. Fighter lvl. 19. With girdle of Frostgiant strength and +++ in longsword and katana (+++ in dual wield), weilding Blade of Roses and Celestial Fury, main THACO is -11 and off hand is -9 with 7/2 attacks per round (may have boots of speed ??). I think AC is somewhere around -11 with Red Dragon scale armor, DEX bonus, Cloak of sewers, Ring +2, Helm of Balduran, and Swashbuckler bonus. This has been my most efficient fighter to date (currently playing 3rd time through). Tonight I plan to play around with shadowkeeper to compare this character to a straight fighter or Kensai lvl. 19. I'll also examine the Blade as mentioned earlier.

I don't doubt that the monk is probably one of the top combatants. But the prospect of not getting to use most of the wonderful toys of the game (armor and weapons) turns me off using them. Even the kensai is not quite as fun because he can't wear all the armor. That's why I really liked any thief-including character, because there are so many leather armors that would otherwise be sold right away, as well as the bard kits (bardic armor, elven chain, and other items--the harp of pandemonium bought from Deidre is amazing). Stealing stuff is also really fun when done by your player character. "What was theirs, is now mine!"

Jaric, a monk gets 3% magic resistance per level when his level is 14 or more. Thus a lovel 30 monk (not possible in BG2 without cheating) would have 90% mr. Anyway, this resistance doesnt make him invulnerable. A mage can lower resistance or summon loads of monsters or summon a demon or just become invisible so I dont think it would be an easy fight for the monk. I think the mage (high level) is the absolutely best character, can beat anything.

"Please Ertai, I HATE when you become invisible !!!" -Drizzt Do´Urden, whining at me ()

Father Bronze, please reply here what you found...