Unusual Choice - Can It Work?

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On my latest game I have a party consisting of Charname (Multi-classed R/C), Keldorn, Valygar, Jaheira, Minsc, and Yoshimo, who will be subbed out for Imoen later today.

My question is for my second weapon choice for my R/C, currently using Flail of the Ages and a shield. Usually, this is an easy decision, but under the current setup, Crom Faeyr is ear-marked for Minsc to dual wield with the AotU, once I hit ToB. Even in SoA, I expect that Minsc will trade in Stonefire for Crom Faeyr.

I do have several options once I hit ToB - Runehammer springs to mind immediately as a possibility. But ToB is a long way away yet, and picking up a second weapon before then is highly desired. One option I've been thinking about is picking up the Flail sold by the bonus merchant, Joluv, in the Copper Coronet. I can't remember the name of the weapon itself, but I seem to remember it being a +3 flail, that grants +1 to AC and a bunch of elemental resistances. Usually, it's not good to use a second weapon in lieu of a shield if the only thing it's giving you is an extra attack each round, but something that provides a decent defensive bonus and gives one extra attack might be worth it - your thoughts? Am I missing an obvious secondary choice? If it helps the rest of the party is using:

Keldorn - Carsomyr (what else?)
Valygar - Heartseeker/Celestial Fury
Jaheira - dual wielding Pitchwife (via Item Upgrade Mod) and Belm.
Minsc - eventually AotU and Crom Faeyr.
Imoen - irrelevant - but probably Firetooth/SotM.

 

What does Illithium ore bring to mind?

 

It brings to mind my favourite Mace big cat

 

Well The Rangers are gifted an item in ToB to put dual wielding in line with what it is in Second edition without penalties of any sort with a ranger dual wielding. (What little I know of 3.5 the inescapable penalties and such are probably why if I play I will never dual wield my rangers ever again. It took a blow in BGII and one in the new PnP game)

I'd say put that on which ever one your going to have dual wield and perhaps consider investing in a couple of the strong two handed weapons for the other myself. A couple of them have the possibility of instant kills on a large number of things in the game and several more have added damage of various kinds which can be useful.

Otherwise I'd go for said Vampire stomping mace that has been mentioned and consider an eventual rune hammer upgrade.

You'll have to choose who gets the cloak though. Minsc or your pc. I would suggest your PC since Minsc is at least getting additional bonuses from his max strength by that time.

 

I suppose that's something I hadn't considered. Right now my Ranger is using the Amulet that you get from Aran Linvail, but I suppose if I upgraded the mace, I could then switch the amulet to Jaheira. Still, I still consider the mace pretty much a special purpose weapon - +2 is pretty wimpy no? (well unless speaking of undead of course).

The other thing I did this run through was different too - I've never taken golems as my racial enemy before, but now I'm thinking that might have been a weak choice too.

 

That +2 mace hits like a +5. There is no problem with what it can hit. It just has limited to hit and damage multipliers. It's a good women and there is a huge ammount of undead in SoA. I know some of the skeletons get rather weak but the mace can still be quite effective. As an off hand weapon it does give you energy drain protection. It is also a crushing weapon which works against certain creatures that such things take to hit them.

 

The Defender of Easthaven is a great weapon and meets all your requirements. Otherwise go with Upgraded MoD or a shield: Balduran's, Anomen's, Shield of Harmony, or Reflection. Your R/C will have ** in every weapon a cleric can use fairly quickly (plus *** in 2 weapon fighting). With Draw Upon Holy Might you really don't need a str enhancing weapon.

Why doesn't someone have Kundane? It also grants an extra attack -- great with Celestial Fury.

In ToB, you may want to shift Minsc to Angurvadal and give Crom Faeyr to the PC. I found with AotU, Minsc did not need a 25 str -- 22 was plenty.

Stormstar (electric resist) and Ice Star (fire resist)are not bad for ToB -- but I would stick with FoA or Runehammer and Crom Faeyr for the PC.

Blackblood, Skullcrusher, Sleeper, and Wyvern's Tail are all good for the early going in SoA -- they have additional effects like acid damage, wounding, and sleep.

 

off-topic

just wondering is there a way to keep the old image of the mace since when you change it it looks less special..

(sorry to ask it here but i gues its better then opening a new topic)

 

No one in the party is going to use a shield? That seems a bit of a waste in and of itself - there are quite a few worthwhile shields in the game. I'm biased though. I use shied far more often than I dual-wield, and I'm happy with the results. I also genuinely cannot imagine anyone dual-wielding flails. Seems to me that even one flail would be an awkward thing to use...

 

@ Adelon - the Item Upgrade mod restores the proper MoD image.

 

Ditto on what T2 said for weapons. If you're using a shield, I'd stick with Shield of Harmony for its immunities.

 

Wow, I've got some answering to do here.

@T2B - That's the name of it - Defender of Easthaven. It gives you the AC bonus of a shield, a bunch of elemental resistances, and an extra attack. I also agree that Blackblood is an excellent early choice, but that was consumed when I made Pitchwife for Jaheira.

No one is using Kundane because my characters have better options. Jaheira and my PC can't use it, even if they wanted to, Imoen can, but there's no way I'm going to dual wield with her, Keldorn is using Carsomyr, and he doesn't have a 3rd arm available, and there's no way I'm going to give Minsc short swords - just can't do it. That leaves Valygar, and since I have him switching between a bow, it's a pain in the butt to have an off-hand weapon.

No one is using a shield because I designed this party to maximize melee damage. Also, based on my PC and NPC selection, they all consist of people who I typically don't equip with shields. Typically though, I usually have at least one brick that I can put in the front of the line who has a great AC and typically doesn't get hit. Mazzy and/or Anomen excell in that role. Plus for now, I'm actually using a shield on my PC and Minsc until I get two worthwhile weapons.

 

You could use a shield for the R/C -- having the Sling of Seeking or Everard would be a good addition.