Having not finished the game, I don't want a list of all the good weapons and their abilities etc. I'm just interested in which weapon class (eg. flail, bastard sword, etc.) would be good to put skill points into for a fighter.
I suppose you guys should name the weapon(s) that lead you to choose whatever weapon class, because it will mean little to me. But that allows those of you who have finished the game to understand why others say what they say.
Please, however, don't say anything about what the weapon does.

There are a nice selection of weapons of all types in this game.

Personally I would go for a two handed weapon for a fighter with high strength, purely on the basis that it will deal more damage per hit, which is useful for getting past annoyingly tough enemies with damage reduction per hit.

I think there are more good two-handed swords than greataxes, halberds, quarterstaffs, and spears but there are still enough cool items in those classes to make them worthwhile.

That's really the response I was hoping for. That means my choice will be based on coolness of the weapon. :)
Flails it is, then!! :D

Actually, I've got my fighter using a shield right now. My paladin will use greatswords, though is currently using a spear and longsword + shield. I could use great axes for my dwarven fighter, but I think I'd rather get the benefit of either the shield or an extra weapon.

Do you want a spoiler? Because there are certain advantages to your paladin having some skill with a weapon that is not a greatsword.......

The ease-of-use has a component to make it a GreatSword HB. It wont look any different and the description remains the same but it will work as a GS now.

Flails it is, then!! :D Hope you enjoy it. Won't last for long when you see the weapons others are using. :p

For slashing weapons I take Axes and LongSwords early on. Later I may begin using GreatSwords and Halberds. (Do you have a CN or evil Barbarian type?) There are a few cool BastardSwords as well.
For bludgeoning its Maces and Hammers. Slings are better than staves imo.
For piercing damage its arrows over bolts.

But I'd still say that IWDII is fairly balanced with regards to the different weapon types.

I agree with you Shrikant, but why preferring arrows over bolts...? My sorcerer shoots very accurately with his heavy crossbow and deals a lot damage with his bolts... The crossbows are a little slower than the bows, but I see more blood flowing with them...

True, and there are some lovely crossbows you can get mid game. I generally give bows to my highest dex characters who are going to focus mainly on missile attacks because of the convenience of the everlast arrows. However, characters who are primarily spellcasters and who sacrifice points in dex for better int/wis/cha benefit most from crossbows, which have a much higher hit bonus.

Personally, whatever weapons I give him primarily, my main fighter always has points in mace, purely for and incredibly helpful item gained in the ice temple. I'll say no more, but I think its worth it. Plus, it gives a nice blunt weapon and shield alternative if the character uses two handed weapons most of the time.

I agree with both of you that you get a couple of very good xbows while the bows leave something to be desired. Also xbow+bolt do more damage than bow+arrow. But that is not what I'm talking about.

I prefer arrows for their abilities (the missiles, not the weapons). Not to mention the fact that you run the risk of running out of the (comparably) few bolts once you get the Doom and Hell xbows. It has happened to me :eek:

You get so many arrows, masterwork arrows, arrows +1, returning arrows that you just dont run out of them. And then there are the special abilities. :evil:
Other than the enchanted bolts, you only get elemental bolts (I'd rather sell the silencing bolts for the gold). But with arrows you get all these and more.

Here is a cheese note. Ever find the annoying mages who cast mirror image + death armor so that everytime you hit in melee you get robbed of HP? Shoot them with holdfast arrows, the entangle lasts for 4 rounds. Now hit them with the most damaging missiles. Dead mage without pain :D Very useful in the Ice Temple and Underdark areas.

Also, dont sell off the xbow you get from the aurilite village at the Ice Wall. It has longbow rate of fire.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.
I actually haven't put puts into flails yet. I'm right now pondering between flails and hammers. See, I've already got 3 points in axes, so I'm good as far as slashing damage goes. I need some bludeoning damage (I don't want to be using Haft over Head the whole game!), so I think I've narrowed it down to hammers and flails (my cleric uses maces).

Any suggestions as to which one to pick?

Also, I like bastard swords, but I don't want my dwarf fighter to use them because he's already got slashing damage from his axe. Any point in a paladin taking them?

As far as blunt weapons usually go I prefer Maces. There are quite a few of them in the game.
NOTE: Clubs and Morning Stars also take the mace feat proficiencies.

I really never liked flails, even BG II had only FoA. All the really good flails are available very late in the game. Most are in The Seldarine which as you know is the last major place you will visit in IWD II and then it is game over.

Go with how you want to play him I guess. A shield carrier would take Hammers or Flails. If you want him to be using 2-handed weapons go with Quarterstaffs or Polearms. Oh yeah :D There are some very nice spears, halberds and even a hammer which you just might love.

Well I really dont remember any Bastard Swords which were unusable by good aligned charecters. However there aren't that many of them and most are random drops, so you can't plan for one. Also, quite a few of the good ones are cursed, you can't unequip them. Still if you are only planning to put 1 point in it, it should be a good investment to make a very versatile charecter.

Geoff, have that pally take proficiencies in large sword, not bastard sword.

The best weapon classes are axes, polearms, maces, largesword (if you are a pally).

Useful maces are available early in the game (like that flaming star for dealing with trolls) and absolutely necessary for high xp golems

There are nice axes throughout IWD2 and the best weapon in the game in terms of raw damage is a certain axe.

There are some decent polearms early and midway through the game as well. Especially if the user is a neutral or evil character