Your opinions & weapon tips

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Heya all!

welp, i have the following party now:
Myself, a True fighter,
Minsc
Boo
Korgan
Imoen
Viconia
Jan Jansen

Happy party indeed.
1) what do you think of it, and what does it lack?
it sure as hell funny, i'll tell you this.

2) weapons: my char uses 5 star of long sword, 3 on sword&shield, and 2 on axe, and maybe 1 on two weapon style.

minsc uses 3 on two weapon style, now 2 on long sword.

Jorgan buddy uses 5 on axe, as you probably know.

Why cant i raise char's slots? i cant raise minsc's on the two handed weapon, i cant raise some other. why is that? why am i forcing to choose something less needed?

3)wha might be the best effecient skill for those chars? ignore what i gave them, unlless it's good.


10x a lot.

[ April 20, 2005, 23:38: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

1) I don't really like Imoen as she is quite poor as a mage, but hey, not that many good mages in the game. I know of a certain Red Wizard though. Minsc is very funny, but he ain't one of the best chars for powergaming. Otherwise, it looks quite good, but look out for fights in the group if you mix evil with good too much.

2) Only fighters can have 5 stars in a weapon. The other classes can at most only specialize (2 stars) however some classes can learn certain weapons above that limit (Archers with ranged weapons for example)

3) You can give anything to your fighter, if this is your first run through the game I think longswords will do just fine. However, I wouldn't go for axes if you have Korgan in the party. Sadly, there are not that many good axes out there. Maybe you should throw in some stars at Katanas, there's a very good one hidden in the city.

Minsc should go for two-handed swords and/or flails.

Korgan, as he already have 5 in axes, could use some points in warhammers.

I usually go with mace for Viconia.

Imoen shouldn't really use weapons as she is primary a mage, but maybe a good shortbow? I rarely use her at all.

Jan, stick with shortswords / crossbow or maybe a throwing dagger.

These are only my opinions, and you shouldn't take them too seriously as I mostly solo the game as I grow tired of NPC's dying all the time.

 

Playing a pure fighter, I'd go for Flails. There's one in the fighter stronhold, its a mighty fine weapon, and none of the NPCs come with any skills in Flails. I prefer to have Minsc use two-handed swords, both so that he can easily switch to a missle weapon, and because there's a nice two-handed sword available early.

 

1) I would dump Imoen. You've got one thief/mage already. Alternatively, dump Jan.

2) answered already

3) I think you have already chosen well for Minsc and Korgan. I'd give two axas to Korgan, instead of sword and shield.

(slight spoiler)
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Also, the longswords are good, but Blackrazor is only found in the very end of the game. You could try Daystar (hidden door at the inn, Gate district), or Celestial Fury (large building next to headquaters of the Radiant Heart, Temple district) - CF is a katana and IMO the best weapon in SOA.

 

Hmm, that sound interesting guys. gave me a lot of stuff to think of

dump jan? emm, think of it as jan saves me LOTS of money when stealing from shops

if i really need money i just steal and sell them

kiddin'.. i only steal the most expensive to charisma 20

 

Your frontlines are pretty well taken care of.
You can replace Imoen with Edwin for a really terrifying mage. But you really dont need to make any changes.

Have everyone use different kinds of weapons.
Right now everyone upfront seems to be using Slashing weapons. Make sure they all have profeciency in atleast one piercing or blunt weapon as well.
Personally, I prefer to give Korgan an Axe in one hand and a Sheild in the other. Once a frontliner is kitted out with Gorgon Plate, Bracers of Dex, Sentinel Sheild, Helm of Balduran, Cloak of the Sewers, Ring of Earth Control, Giant Strength Girdle and Boots of Speed he becomes a killing machine.

 

I think Minsc comes with some Mace stars already, so I would have him use that as one of his two weapons. The other could be anything.

I would give flail skill to Viconia. Unless of course you're using her to throw sling stones, in which case sling and shield will do.

You should do fine in melee. You, Minsc, Korgan and Viccy can all potentially where heavy armour. Imoen is good with the Tuigan short bow. Jan is fine with crossbows. They probably won't get a chance to use melee weapons with your fighters around.

 

I agree on the red mage...awesome mage. I'd kick Imoen and get him. He has some great lines too.
1) For your fighter I'd go with stars in dual wielding instead of sword and shield. All sword and shield stars give you is AC agains missiles...not worth the points. Your fighter can still use a shield even without that proficiency if you need one in certain situations.
2)Mincs can go in a few directions..he is good with a 2 handed sword, has ** in maces, he can dual wield and can be good with a longbow...just be wary if you enrage him with a bow. He might end up killing your whole party.
3)Korgan is obvious...hammers and axes. I'd dual weild him with some combination of those.
4)Imoen...I'd dump her and get that red mage mentioned earlier. He is awesome and has some great lines. But if you really want her I'd give her a shortbow.
5)Viconia. I tend to give her a shield and sling (everard) and keep her in the back casting support spells. She can be good with a mace though.
6)Jan..never used him much so I don't know him well...but I would guess short sword for backstabbing and his own crossbow...although bows are generally better than Xbows.

Overall I think it's a darn good party (except Imoen...or is it I MOAN?). For thieving you could always use potions so any thief will do (steal extra potions for the next time you need 'em). I agree with Shrikant that you need to diversify as far as weapons go. There are only so many good weapons in the game so I would try not to have 2 characters with the same 'main' proficiencies. Katana's and flails are very useful...

 

KICK IMOEN she is the lamiest character she is whining all the time...i agree with isshy about the red mage and i believe that minsc with a 2 handed sword can become a really good tank also korgan is quite deadly with axes, actually not quite he is a slaughtering machine and he has the berserk ability which makes him go WHAM! and as conserns jan i believe that he has really good attributes and a really good quest i used him just for his quest and nothing more. as a thief i prefer yoshimo or my character as an assasin or as a swashbuckler.

 

Well, I don't have too many tips, cos weapons and parties really are party choice. What I will say is.

I'd have to agree with Marcus, about Imoen and Minsc. I will admit there are very few good mages out there, but what it really depends on, is your party alignment and if you can keep them together, I'll admit if you're going an evil party, Edwin you should always grab, personally I can't play evil, mind you I've never tried, I just don't think I could. But Imoen really isn't that bad all in all.

As for Minsc, not for a power gamer party ? I would really really really disagree with that. In SoA, he really is a killing machine, have you heard of the following:
his racial enemy;
his beserk skill;
the mace of disruption; and
(later on in chapter 3) aran linvail's amulet he gives you.

Simply put those four items together, and in SoA, he is the ultimate vampire killer. Even early in chapter 3, if you haste and use beserk for the tougher ones in the lair.

And heck, if you equip him in full plate +1, maybe got the gauntlets of dex already, give him balduran's helm or helm of glory, hmm and anything else that gives ac, they really can't touch him, and they certainly can't level drain him. If you hadn't noticed vampires in BG2 really rely on their level training to kill you, else you just swat them away.

Oh, I'll admit you won't get MoD til you're inside the lair, but that's no reason to give Minsc +'s in mace. Give Minsc any weapon, probably +2, or if you have the FoA already, +3, he can still take vamps out easy enough.

 

Yeah, he can take out vamps. I still think there are better characters than Minsc though, who also can kill vamps. Bodhi's Lair ain't that hard.

I can hand it to you though, I've never played with Minsc in the party longer than like...chapter 3 or somethin.

 

Yep, well there you go I've played him right through, and I know there can be better, but if you don't bother about his stealthing, and just have him either dualwielding or not and wandering in full plate, if your main character isnt a fighter type, you can boost him up pretty well. But I do know the racial enemy bonus of vampires adds enough to the hit and damage for it to count, as well as saves, so it is worth it. Mind you if I took a ranger in with racial enemy vamp, I don't think I'd bother with Minsc then, but then I also doubt I'd ever take racial enemy vamp Much more fun things to take for racial enemies Gotta admit goblin is a waste of time

I just like the idea of minsc having racial enemy, they hint to you about his weapon choices by giving him maces, etc. Simply put IMHO, the developers if you kept him past the dungeon, set him up as the vamp killer npc

If you hadn't noticed why I mentioned Linvail's amulet, was it rules out paladins and fighters I believe, but it doesn't rule out rangers, was that deliberate by the developers as well for someone like Minsc or just you having a spellcaster pc *ponders ponders*

 

Yeah, Minsc could be pre-destinied to vampire slaying. Maybe someone should make an NPC of Buffy for him? Would be a killer pair of slayers!

I agree, he probably is intended to be a vampire-slayer. If you add all the banter he has in the party, it's probably a character the developers liked very much, but didn't want it to show to much by setting his strenght & dexterity to 25. Or maybe I'm just rambling...

 

@Jechor

I think the Amulet of Power is limited to Spellcasters, hence Rangers (and most Paladins) can use it, but not pure Fighters or Thieves.

I noticed an idea somewhere above to have Jan use throwing daggers. I'd have to disagree with this for two reasons. First, his crossbow useage is quite servicable (and if you give him the crossbow of speed, you'll equal the ROF of daggers and have better range). Second daggers have weight (as do his "special" bolts) and he can't carry all that much baggage.

 

On ranged weapons: The throwing axes/daggers/hammers that return to your hand are great, sticks & stones are a hassle to carry around and take up much space, ranged weapons also 'waste' proficency slots. Throwing axe +3 for and boots of speed for Korgan and you're rocking, the rest of your party can sit down and have a picnic.