Do you find Crom Faeyr worth the investment?

[Beren]

I don't, at least not anymore. For two reasons:

1) It requires you to part with the Belt of Frost Giant Strength and the Gloves of Ogre Strength, both of which can help your party as a whole. For example, in a good party, I'll want both Jaheira and Keldorn to have strength-enhancing items, instead of Anomen 'hogging' it all to himself. Sure, there will be the Girdle of Stone Strength and the Girdle of Fire Giant Strength, but those are still a good way off.

2) There's plenty of weapons, especially come ToB, which provides plenty of benefits besides Strength-enhancement. If you can raise a character's strength in a manner besides Crom Faeyr, these weapons suddenly become more attractive choices. For example, Anomen can raise his strength to a not too shabby 19 with the Holy Symbol of Lathander. Suddenly the Flail of Ages or the Stormstar Mace start to look like better choices. Another candidate for Crome Faeyr, Korgan, same thing. During Throne of Bhaal, a Girdle of Giant Strength with the Axe of the Unyielding feels like a much better setup.

[Blackthorne TA]

I think it's definitely worth it if you give it to the person you'd be giving the belt to. The Frost Giant Strength belt only gives you 21; Crom Faeyr gives you four more, and it kills Stone Golems, Clay Golems, Ettins and Trolls. The Gloves aren't that great anyway.

Personally, I think it's best when it's dual wielded with something else

[hannibal555]

I think it's worth it.
You can forge the hammer for the first time in chapter 6 anyway, so there is some
time for using the Gloves and Belt.
By the time you can forge it It is a huge upgrade for a lot of characters, if not using it for your main character.
If one don't like or don't want to use hammers, not giving away the belt would be an option though. Dual Axewielding with 21 STR in the core game is good enough, e.g..

[Paracelsi]

You can stack attribute bonuses in BG2, so I rarely make Crom Faeyr. I only have it forged when I have someone with mastery/grand mastery in hammers. For me Crom Faeyr's appeal main appeal is its crazy damage and ability to 1-hit-kill clay golems and trolls.

With a belt/glove/weapon that sets your strength to 18+ you can easily reach 25 strength using potions, spells like Draw Upon Holy Might, etc.

[pplr]

I make it just cause. However I do like to wield it with another weapon so I agree with Blackthorne there.

[henkie]

I use it and think it's worth it too, but only for dual wielding to put it into the off-hand. Basically, the belt and the gloves are nice, but there are only a limited number of characters that actually benefit from this. Unless they're frontliners or using some composite bow they don't really need the strength enhancing items.

[Montresor]

It depends on my party setup. If I have Korgan, for example, I like to have him dual-wield an axe in his main hand and Crom Faeyr in the off hand. I don't have anyone single-wield Crom Faeyr; I prefer to keep two strength-enhancement items, and the Hammer of Thunderbolts, instead (not to mention the 10,000 GP ).

[Sparky The Barbarian]

Only in a small party. If I'm running a duet with Aerie or Viconia, then yes. Or if I'm running a super tank PC who will handle all the melee while the NPC cower at the back. Otherwise no.

[Shoshino]

not for me, I keep the gloves and the belt, the hammer gets sold

[Barmy Army]

I had a warrior dude once with Crom Faeyr in one hand and that undead killing mace in the other. I killed so much stuff in one hit, and if i didn't a few whirlwinds finished it off.

I'd say worth it but it's a play-style thing.

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[Gafgorkion]

Crom isn't worth it because you can get a natural 24 strength with the right choices.

Start with 18 strength.

+1 strength from the strength tome in BG1 = 19.
+1 strength from Lum's machine = 20.
+1 strength from one of the options in the Deck of Many Things = 21.
+3 strength from Wraith Sarevok hell trail if you take the evil path = 24.

A half-orc starting with 19 strength could actually get a natural 25 strength making Crom completely useless for him.

[Marceror]

I always create it. There are enough strength enhancing items to go around, and 25 str is so amazing.

Gafgorkion, you raise a good point, however, why not get your PC up to 24/25 str and, say, let Valygar get it too? You can run with up to 6 party members, so I don't see how one of those characters getting a godly strength score somehow means you don't want to attain godly strength for another.

[Montresor]

If one of your party members has godly strength, he or she won't need a strength-enhancing item so you can do with one item less. So in this case it would make more sense to give up the Girdle of Frost Giant Strength and the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength.

That being said, I'm not sure if any of Cromwell's items are all that useful. You can find plenty of stuff that's almost as good (or better) without having to find "useless" items and keep them in your inventory until you can get back to the Docks.