POLL: Favorite Off-Hand Weapon

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For me, the appeal of FoA is based on:

1. it is available early, yet it also has upgrades throughout the game to keep it "fresh"

2. the elemental damage makes it a mage killer that is (IMO) nearly as good as the holy avenger in terms of mage-killing potential

3. I just like the "flail of many heads" thing. Pretty cool for me.

4. the slow effect, although of course not as good as some other effects that other weapons have, is a nice little added benefit!

 

Can you say 'no save.'

The slow effect of FoA has no save. Period. Even for the most powerful enemies. If they're not immune they get slowed (percent chance anyway).

Celestial Fury allows a save. The Silver Sword allows a save. The bosses seem to always make those saves. FoA, on the other hand, seems to effect the target in every battle.

Back on topic: I've heard/read that the alignment bonuses for The Equalizer carry over to other equipped weapons -- that would certainly move The Equalizer to above Angurvadel and possible above Crom Faeyr.

Although I still prefer two-handed weapon and believe the best weapons in the game are two-handed (Ravager, Ixil's Spike, Carsomyr, Staff of the Ram, Gram, Silver Sword, Wave, Impaler). The versatility of two-weapon fighting helps bridge the gap, but changing the off-hand weapon to suit the enemy is a nuisance.

 

It has to be Crom Faeyr having 25 strength at all times not only give you the obvious excellent combat bonuses but it also free's up spell slots which would have been filled with Draw upon holy might, strength etc. So its especially usefull for multi or dual class characters, also IMO it is a must for any solo fighter.

 

Equalizer
vs True Neutral: +0 to hit, +0 damage
vs Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Neutral: +1 to hit, +2 damage
vs Neutral Good, Neutral Evil: +2 to hit, +4 damage
vs other alignments: +3 to hit, +6 damage

Assuming the character dual wielding has natural 19str then they would already have +3 thac0 & +7 damage. The 25 str of Crom would boost this to +7 thac0 & +14 damage.

4thac0 & 7damage exceeds the benefits of the Equalizer even if fighting one of the corner alignments. After the str boost from hell trials & TMoLTM then Equalizer might take the lead.

@t2bruno
You missed Soul Reaver +4 of that list which is far more useful than alot of other weapons. Cumulative +2 enemy thac0 reduction for 4 rounds, makes Demogorgon a weakling in one GWW.

 

@Mags:
Well, my pickyness on Haste was a bit of a joke, but I wasn't thinking of Detect Evil. Infravision was, I thought, a second level spell. My mistake was thinking that they might actually follow 2e in this case after they've blown it off so much, as well as misremembering even that (since I don't use it there either). In PnP, Infravision is a third level spell.

@gatsbygoon:
Because there's only one Celestial Fury in the game and six party members. Same deal with Crom Faeyr, except that it doesn't even take up one of those spots since it's such a good off-hand weapon. So even with both CF's, you've still got five characters to equip! Also the fact that you can get the FoA fresh out of ID (as a +3 weapon), while you've got to wait until Chapter 6 to assemble the Crom Faeyr.

Though if you're wondering about FoA as an off-hand weapon, I'd be right there beside you wondering what the heck was wrong with those people.

 

+7/+14 is not that much better than the +6/+13 you outlined -- especially with the immunities Equalizer gives.

I've never used Soul Reaver -- although I have heard that Sarevok is quite deadly with it.

 

I still say the Equalizer is a better choice for a quick weapon slot, to be wielded in the main hand during specific situations.

 

I can't imagine what situations they may be Aldeth as any +3 weapon would cause near equivilant damage. The reason Equalizer is an offhand weapon is for the extra damage, thac0 to alignments and immunities. If anything Equalizer would be a liability to wield for most situations as not every character has an alignment of what you might expect.

 

Hmmm... I hadn't taken that into account. Especially considering a lot of characters have an alignment of neutral which effectively kills off the Equalizer's bonuses. I may have to rethink this... Then again, those same reasons apply to make it not an overly great choice for an offhand weapon either.

 

Maybe Oversight mod will be accurate for The Equalizer

 

I love the Equalizer.

The immunities are great and those bonuses are added to the main hand weapon!

 

Sarevok's quite deadly with just about any two-handed sword. I've got him using the Silver Sword currently, and between vorpal hits and Deathbringer Assaults, he's outdoing my monk! Soul Reaver is more for a cumulative weakening effect, and can be quite good if you can get several hits in. But it's mostly bosses that'll stick around long enough for that to even matter.

What I love most about the Equalizer is the money you can get for the pommel gem early in the game. Even if you're going to use Equalizer, sell off the gem; by the time you get the other parts you'll have more than enough money to buy it back, but fresh out of ID you need all the money you can lay your hands on. Just make sure you don't sell it to someone whose inventory will change before you get the other parts.

 

It's 225 gp. You can't even get a set of plate mail armor or a +1 weapon for that. (Well, maybe you can get a +1 sling or +1 dagger, but that's about it.)

 

It's more than zero, and certainly more than you'll get for any of the piddly stuff you're saving to sell at that point, like unenchanted weapons. And the part you neglected to quote...

 

Understood. I'm just saying that you need to get your hands on a few thousand gp to buy most of the stuff that will really help. Very rarely do I look at my money on hand and say, "If only I had another 200 gp I'd be set!" It's usually more like, "I need another 2000 gp."

Maybe we just play differently, as I do not pick up everything I can carry out of Irenicus' dungeon, only the stuff that I'm actually going to use. Come to think of it, the only item that I pick up for the sole purpose of selling it when I get out is the bastard sword +1. Most of the best stuff you have to find, not buy, anyway. In a typical game, there are only a few items I buy from merchants. Early in the game, I'll buy scroll cases and gem bags. For actual major purchases, the only ones that I buy every game are the glasses of ID, the girdle of Giant strength, and sometimes a set of full plate mail armor, but only when I need two sets (if I only need one, it's off to the Den of the Seven Vales).

I guess the other part that I'm negecting to mention is ever since I installed Unfinished Business, money early in the game is a non-issue. All you have to do is head over to the graveyard district and talk to the spider druid thing in the spider mound. By completing her quest she gives you an item that can be sold for 45,000 gp, which is far more than what that item is worth based on its utility. So I admit that my view is probably skewed a bit.

 

Well, really you can't just pick up everything in ID; I was talking about afterward. Goblin axes alone would fill up at least one character's inventory, and with no Bag of Holding or other way to store them and no store to sell them at, I typically leave that stuff where it drops unless I'm going to use it (comp. long bow for Minsc from one of the goblin archers, for example). But the first thing out of ID, with access to Ribald, I grab up the stuff from the Shadow Thieves Irenicus killed in the cutscene. 7 gold per bow here, 2 gold per sword there, and it eventually adds up to getting the purchasable stuff (most from Joluv and Deidre) a bit sooner than you would expect from selling such paltry stuff.

Why? Volume. It means probably at least three times as many trips to the shop, but I think it's worth it. After a certain point you start ignoring everything that isn't magical, but the same thing happens in BG1 and it's more a measure of being independantly wealthy (though that wealth level does fluctuate a bit as you buy and sell).

Well, maybe it's the order in which I do my quests, or perhaps the selling of those small items, but I very often find myself needing much less than 200 more gold to buy an item. And if there were an identical point in our run-throughs (same areas visited, etc.) to compare, rather likely considering the number of times you and I have been through the game, where you're needing 2000 gold for an item and I'm only needing 20...well, that just proves my point, doesn't it?

 

Well obviously, the person who picks up and subsequently sells the most stuff will have the most money. I'm just saying taht the 225gp you get from selling the pommel gem is likely not going to be a difference maker in an item purchase. Regarrdless of how much or how little stuff you pick up to sell, the difference between keeping and selling the pommel gem is 225 gp.

Plus you seemed to ignore the point about:

You can do that quest as soon as walk out of Irenicus' Dungeon. The only thing you run into during the whole quest are some spiders and a chance random encounter between areas and the sewers. (Naturally you have to take a path through the sewers so that you don't run into the fixed encounters.) At that point, you'll 45,000 gp + whatever else you get from gems and whatnot picked up along the way. You can buy several items from Ribald, and if you are even a little frugal, you'll still have enough gold left over to pay off the shadow thieves.

 

Unless you happen not to have UB. Perhaps even if you don't have the same version of UB, as I believe they were going to fix that little exploit.