In my current game, which is almost at the end of SoA, I have Minsc walking around with:

Improved Mace of Disruption and Skullcrusher, to be dual-wielded against Undead, and especially Vampires.

The Wave Halberd, for Fire Elementals and the like.

Lilarcor, for Umber Hulks and other confusing enemies.

The Vorpal Silver Sword, for none of the above.


This seems like something of an abuse, since I know what enemy lurks around every corner. How do folks deal with this kind of issue? Pick a primary weapon for each character, and have him/her stick with it? Or do like I do, and switch weapons for every battle based on the enemies you know are going to be there?

Seems to me BG2 would have vastly improved replayability if there was more randomness in the enounters.

I always pick at least a theme, but most often a primary weapon for my characters. I'll upgrade them sure, but no changing, unless enemies are immune...

I stick with a parcticular weapon(s), with a backup in case the main one doesn't work. For example, I might dual-wield C'Fury and Belm (one of my favorite combos), but have a club handy for enemies that can only be hurt by blunts (eg. clay golems).

I tend to carry around stuff for those reasons but I never bother to change as it is too cumbersome.

Yeah, I don't walk around with that kind of set up either. I would never keep the Wave around just for "fire elementals and the like," and I'd stop using Lilarcor once I got the Vorpal Sword. There are plenty of other ways to stop charm attacks. But you've always got to keep the MoD handy, for obvious reasons.

I usually have backups for different situations. Whats the point in keeping all those weapons if your not going to use them? Otherwise sell them and be pointlessly rich.

I generally stick to a weapon style.
So someone like Keldron might switch between Great Swords, Halberds or Quarter Staffs.
While Valygar might go with Katanas, Long Swords or Daggers.
With Minsc I make an either or decision beforehand and stick to a particular style.

Well, I usually give my characters a nice, rounded setup of Slashing or piercing melee weapon (unless they're a priest), Blunt weapon and an optional missile weapon. All my characters have at least 2 of those. Besides that, I dont change unless I absolutely have to. No particular morals behind this, I just find fannying about with my inventory annoying.

I normally stick with what will fit in my quick slots - with maybe one or two weapons that can't be equipped in quick slots due to offhand considerations. I generally aim for my characters to have their main weapon and a ranged weapon with a few additionals on hand for various immunities/spells that I bring out for special occassions.

I rarely have one of my sword wielders temporarily switch to blunt weapons. I normally just have my blunt weapon wielder(s) focus on any clay golems.

I never have enough inventory room to carry around that many weapons. Minsc has a longbow, a two-handed sword, and a hammer and that's it.

I usually have every weapon I can carry, and I don't think about what I'm going to face, but if I realize one of my other weapons, (which I'm proficient with, I won't carry weapons I can't use well), I'll use that one. I don't find any reason to stick to a single weapon in p&P nor in BG2

Yes, I too switch constantly between weapons. I generally keep any item that has potentially useful abilities for any time down the road (unless I need the gold, of course).
I always keep the Wave. I even keep things like Darkmail that give +20% fire resistance. I swear it's useful in Yaga Shura's home! :cool:

I switch weapons, but I only do so with those in the quick weapon slots. As a Ranger, Minsc gets 3, and that's all I'll use.

Well as a fighter, that's what all those quick weapon slots are for - switching weapons in the midst of combat.

I usually fill the quick weapon slots up with something or other, but I don't bother switching weapons except for emergencies (mace of disruption+2) or immunities.

Most of the characters I play are those with limited quick weapon slots, such as Fighter/Thieves, or Thief kits or Mage/Thieves, etc.
As such, I tend to follow the upgrade system, where I stick to one weapon, till I come across a better one, then stick to that, till I come across a still better one, and so on and so forth.

By the end of the game, my character usually has all the uber equipment on him already. :D

In a balanced party it is really easy to have atleast one person who uses appropriate weapons and armor/items for any given situation by default.

As such I tend to stick to a single weapon and only get weapons out of my backpack during the fight. Unless I have to reload ;)

Are daggers actually useful in BG? Can you for example backstab with the pixi prick and still get the chance to hold the target? It never seems to work for me.

IIRC its a 30% chance Cesard...which is pretty good, considering there is only a 5% chance for improved Dagger of the Star's bonus invisibility to kick in.

But a really cool character would be an Elven Fighter/Thief, or an Assassin/Fighter dual-weilding Dagger of the Star +5 and Quietus +4 in the off hand... :D

To answer your question...yes, daggers are AWESOME for backstabbing. They have a very low speed factor, and they have very good damage sometimes, like Firetooth +3, Boneblade +2, etc.

the throwing fire dagger you can buy in the underdark has a dammage of 2d4+something(3 i think) wich is awsome(like a bastard sword)

ok thanks Faraaz and Balle. The daggers are great but does dual-wielding affect backstabbing? I have yet to get the 'throwing fire dagger' and 'dagger of the star' as I am just doing the 'sphere quest'.

All of my characters have at least one very magical weapon (melee/missle), but I think my tanks will always have a minimum of 3 weapons, a two-handed, dual-wield and some form of crushing damage, for the rest of my guys I just let them use spells or magic ammo for their missle weapons if it gets too hot.

I don't think you can dual-weild with the firetooth dagger. It's still listed as a missile weapon, even if you swith it to melee, and you can't dual weild with a missile weapon.