First playthrough suggestions?

[Azul Rex]

Hi all. I know there's a bunch of guides and such out there for first time players, but I figured I'd add just one more to the pile before I start. Played through the tutorial already and I think I already got most of what I want into my first playthrough figured out. Gonna roll a neutral/chaotic human berserker, making sure he's got 18s in str, dex, and con, with 10s in the other 3 (and maybe pump up one of them with whatever remaining points I have left. I'm thinking 1 in int for mindflayer shenanigans in 2, and the rest in charisma).

Where I'm at a crossroads is with what weapon proficiencies to pick. I'd really like to be a halberd guy, but I'm hearing different things about them, mostly that they don't really come into their own until well into the second game, so I'm worried they might not be the best pick for a freshfaced Bhaalspawn. As a backup, I was thinking maybe try out dual wielding swords (or having a sword in one hand and an axe in the other? Might not be too efficient though), or perhaps a flail/axe and shield combo. Just a few ideas I had.

Lastly, there's my issue with what party members to go for. I was originally gonna go with the "canon" party, but I heard they weren't exactly the best around. Right now I'm kinda planning on having Imoen, Minsc and Dynaheir for now, so that would leave room for two more.

Any suggestions you have to help me put the final touches on preparations before I dive in would be greatly appreciated. I'm very excited to finally experience these legendary games.

[Giblets]

Most of the good weapons i found were only Long or Bastard Swords. Bit different in the BG2, but it's good to have a few points in various weapons so you can change if need to.

[Gustuv Wynd]

If you are doing a fighter kit, in bg1 you really want to stick with one weapon proficiency. Don't have to, but you can get mastery in one weapon(4 pips) so if dual wielding that weapon you'll get a little bonus.

Halberds only have a generic +1 I think...well, there is a +2 one, but you are limited to one attck per round. If you are looking for a two handed weapon there are really good staffs and two handed swords. Spears got left out as well. Though two handed vrs duel wielding is going to lose to dual wielding most of the time.

The best one handed weapon is probably a tie between a long sword and a war hammer...both are crazy easy to get too. I like the war hammer...and blunt weapons in general...since AC vrs blunt is usually weaker on tougher enemies and hitting more often with less resistance is more important than having a couple more points of possible base damage. Though if dual wielding, long swords are better. If you are planning to play SoD, war hammer and long sword are without a question still the best. Just played a palladin cavalier through SoD dual wielding long sword and war hammer and pretty much soloed the boss.

If you follow Dorn's quest, you can gat +1 bastardsword that makes you immune to poison. That weapon is fun since your zerker could run ahead and keep the enemies occupied while a mage drops a cloud kill on you with no ill effects. There is a generic +2 axe as well so axes are not horrible either. Late in the game there is a +3 short sword, but piercing is the more resisted damage type, though there is a dagger that poisons that is really powerful provided poison works on the target.

[Leeux]

I'd suggest going for staves as main... there are good staffs overall in the two games and some of them are amazing. It's quite a neat weapon and a bit underused for fighter kits (IMO.)

You can maybe have Maces or War Hammers as secondary.

The only real con of staves or two handed weapons in general is that you can't use a speed weapon on your off hand late game to gain extra attacks, but otherwise they are good.

Just in case, spoilers:

You can get a +3 staff very early in BG1 if you make the trip to Ulgoth's Beard and have some gold to spare.

[wendigo211]

Originally posted by THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN:

Where I'm at a crossroads is with what weapon proficiencies to pick. I'd really like to be a halberd guy, but I'm hearing different things about them, mostly that they don't really come into their own until well into the second game, so I'm worried they might not be the best pick for a freshfaced Bhaalspawn. As a backup, I was thinking maybe try out dual wielding swords (or having a sword in one hand and an axe in the other? Might not be too efficient though), or perhaps a flail/axe and shield combo. Just a few ideas I had.

There's a good Halberd called Ravager in ToB (It's Vorpal so it has a chance of beheading an opponent), other than that they are kind of mediocre. There's a +2 and the Chesley Crusher (a Star Trek: TNG joke) in BG, but not much else of note until you get the Ravager. They are relatively well represented though, so you should be able to find something to use through the saga.

Longswords are a good choice in BG, SoD, and ToB. Oddly they kind of suck in SoA, there are a couple of decent ones (Daystar), but most of them are kind of mediocre (e.g. +3 with a bonus to lore, or similar). I would only recommend Bastard Swords to a paladin because there's a holy avenger in ToB (you can get it in SoA as soon as you're comfortable with the 3rd floor of Watcher's Keep). You can get some anti-shapeshifter ones in BG, but otherwise I think +1 is the best in BG. I can't remember any of note in SoD or SoA.

Warhammers are good in every game (you get Ashideena early in BG, there's Crom Faeyr and Rune Hammer in SoA and ToB and in SoD I think there's Void Hammer). Short swords, Maces and Scimitars are also well represented. There are some good Two-Handed Swords and Staves if you like two-handed weapons. A lot of people like the Flail of Ages, but the character wielding it can't be hasted and, if you stick with the +4 variant, there are better weapons.

Daggers and Axes are good if you want a melee and ranged weapon. The magical throwable daggers give you an extra attack per round (6s) when used in melee and do the same damage as a bastard sword. However, +3 is the best you can get and you need +4 for a handful enemies in BG2 (there are +4 daggers, but not +4 throwing daggers). There is a +4 throwing axe, but you don't get extra attacks with throwing axes. These are good weapons to consider for a Berserker because, even though they can't specialize in ranged weapons, they can specialize in these weapons that double as ranged and melee weapons.

Lastly, there's my issue with what party members to go for. I was originally gonna go with the "canon" party, but I heard they weren't exactly the best around. Right now I'm kinda planning on having Imoen, Minsc and Dynaheir for now, so that would leave room for two more.

It kind of depends on your alignment. For a good or neutral party, Imoen, Jaheira and Khalid are definitely among the strongest options for a party. Khalid, because there are no other good Fighters and, other than his strength (which can be fixed with spells, potions and items), his attributes are decent. Jaheira, because you don't have a lot of options for a healer and you can get her early (Branwen is the other early option, later there's Yeslick and Quayle).

Although Minsc is popular character, his Con and Dex are lower than Khalid's. While he has a good strength, he's limited to specialization with his weapons. Dynaheir has the worst specialization possible for a mage and after Neera is probably the worst spell caster in the game.

My personal recommendation for a party would be: Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Xan and Kivan (or Coran). However, based on your preferences, I would recommend: Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Branwen (replace with Yeslick when available) and Kivan (replace with Coran when available). If you use Kivan you do have a time limit to reach the Bandit Camp before he leaves, it's either 40 game days or 10 game days depending on when you recruit him. If you don't want to use him, because of the time limit, I guess you could use Ajantis until you get Coran.

f you plan on playing through SoD, then consider using Safana (at least for a bit) instead of Imoen. Imoen will be replaced by Safana at the beginning of SoD, so having her equipped and leveled to your preference is probably a good idea going into SoD.

[Scuzz]

Don't use the AI, take control of all your parties actions.

[Azul Rex]

Thank you all for the suggestions. Based off of that and some research I did last night, I'm definitely leaning towards the likes of having a quarterstaff swinging berserker over halberds and bonking everything that comes my way (especially since I'm planning on making Minsc a two handed sword wielder, maybe not the most optimized plan, but probably good enough for a first ever playthrough). I'll admit though, I'm also kinda starting to feel like dual wielding a hammer and another weapon, maybe a longsword or scimitar. Or axe and board for the sake of role playing. Also, should I put a pip in shortbow or longbow, since I know they help immensely in BG1? I'm planning on trying to use this character for the whole saga, so I'm not sure.

And thank you Wendigo for the party suggestions. I'll try and gun for that setup for sure.

[Giblets]

Always worth having a few points in bows, they're very handy even in BG2.. Plus by you'll ending having too many weapon proficiency's levels and nowhere to put them

[wendigo211]

For a Berserker don't put a point in bows, put it in daggers or axes instead (since you can put 5 in those weapons as opposed to only 1 point in bows). You can get an endless supply of throwing daggers from the skeletons outside of High Hedge and IIRC the smith in Beregost sells throwing axes. The daggers will do more damage than a bow can because you'll add your strength bonus to damage to them and they have the same number of attacks per round as the bow. The damage from the throwing axes might be lower in BG (because the bows get an extra attack per round) but will be higher in BG2.

[Azul Rex]

Alright, starting to narrow it down, though it took a bit deciding as there's quite a few options. I'm stuck between either my idea of quarterstaffing my way through the saga or doing a dual wield build.