Weapon Proficiencies & Hitpoints

Chapter 7: Weapon Proficiencies & Hitpoints

Weapon Proficiencies
No matter what class you're playing, when you're assigning weapon proficiencies you almost always want to put points in one ranged weapon, and one melee weapon. (If you're a warrior-type, you might go for at least 2 melee weapons, so you have a selection.) That way, if you want to change from hack & slash to ranged pincushioning, all you have to do is change your Quick Weapon. I'll talk about ranged weapons first.

I like Bows best of all. You find tons of free arrows, the selection of Enchanted Arrows is better than the selection of Enchanted Bolts or Bullets, and they have a nice shooting rate. Crossbows do more damage per hit, yes, but they take so long to reload that Bows do the most damage per turn. Crossbows are next best, and you might consider having 1 person use a Crossbow instead of a Bow, to take advantage of the few free Bolts that do fall into your lap. Slings are about on a par with Crossbows, and if you've got a Mage or Cleric, you'll become very familiar with Slings. These 3 are the Launched ranged weapons, which I believe are superior to the Thrown ranged weapons (Dart, Throwing Axe, Throwing Dagger) because of THAC0 reasons: Say you have a Throwing Dagger+1, which grants a THAC0 bonus of 1. Compare this with an Arrow+1 being fired from a Short Bow+1; the bonuses stack, giving a

THAC0 bonus of 2. I also don't like the Thrown weapons because they don't use your character's Ammo slots: Your Inventory screen has 3 slots in which you can put Arrows, Bullets or Bolts. (Each slot holds 20 pieces of ammo in BG1, & 40 in BG2.) When in combat, if you empty one of the slots, the computer automatically starts pulling ammo from the next one. For whatever stupid reason, Thrown weapons cannot be put in the ammo slots�only in your Quick Weapon slots. So, you give your Mage 2 stacks of 20 Darts to use in combat, hoping he'll be a good boy and stay out of melee range, so he won't get killed. Darts have a very fast throwing rate�3 per round�so before you know it, your Mage has run out of Darts and is now running up to the fray to try to punch the enemy. And they all said Mages were SO intelligent.... With that said, there is a saving grace to Throwing Daggers & Throwing Axes: They fall into the Dagger and Axe proficiencies, so if you put all your weapon points into either of these weapons, say Axe****, then you've reached High Mastery in a melee weapon and a ranged weapon at the cost of only 4 proficiency stars. (Which is a darned good strategy�IF you find a good Axe and some good Throwing Axes.)

Melee Weapons: No matter which type(s) you choose, in BG1 you're guaranteed to find weapons of at least +1 enchantment pretty soon (go to Chapter 8 to understand enchantments on weapons). Most weapons also have +2 versions lurking around the Sword Coast, and there's also a handful of +3 weapons out there. When you're starting out, you might want to spread your points into 2 types of melee weapon, so you're not stuck with using a weapon that only comes in a +1 version. Also, try to give your party members proficiencies in different weapons: Suppose all your Fighters & Clerics learn the Mace, and there's only one good Mace�what would you do then, pass it around? In BG2, you're assured of finding +3 versions of every type of weapon, a scattering of +4 tools, and there are even three weapons of +5 enchantment. And ToB is a damned candy store, as far as weapons are concerned. Pick a weapon, any weapon. Chances are you can obtain a +5 weapon of that type.

If you're unlucky, you'll be stuck with all your points in a weapon that's "only" +4.

	1 star (Proficient)	2 stars (Specialized)	3 stars (Master)	4 stars (High Master)	5 stars (Grandmaster)
THAC0 bonus:	0	-1	-2	-2	-2
Damage bonus:	0	2	2	2	3
Extra Attacks per Round:	0	1/2	1/2	1/2	1/2
Speed Factor Bonus:	0	0	0	-1	-2

Note that the numbers above are not cumulative. With 5 stars in a weapon, only 3 points of damage are added to each hit, not 9. The only difference between High Mastery and Grandmastery is that the Grandmaster has a further -2 bonus to the Speed Factor on his weapon (enabling him to strike earlier in the round), and one more point of damage with each hit. Also, if you're using a weapon in which you have invested no proficency points, you will actually incur THAC0 penalties, as follows:

Warriors: +2 to THAC0

Priests: +3 to THAC0

Rogues: +3 to THAC0

Wizards: +5 to THAC0

As far as Attacks per Round are concerned, all characters in melee combat will appear to attack the enemy about 6 times per round, even if they have only one actual attack per round. This is done for aesthetic reasons: If your Cleric swung his Warhammer once, and then just stood there for 5 seconds, he'd look pretty stupid.

In BG1, Fighters start the game with 4 proficiency stars. Now, even though Fighters can put up to 5 stars in any weapon, they will not be allowed to do so at the beginning of the game; BG1 will not allow you to start out with more than 2 stars in any weapon. This is not a bug, you'll be able to put more stars in those weapons later. (This might be to prevent any characters from reaching Grandmastery in a weapon in BG1, as the BG series is quirky about Grandmastery�see the Grandmastery Patch section of Chapter 12.) BG2, on the other hand, allows Fighters to go straight to Grandmastery from the very beginning.

In BG1, there are two types of ranged proficiencies: Bow (Long and Short Bows) and Missile (Sling,

Crossbow, and Darts). Then there are Large Sword (Long Sword, Bastard Sword, 2-Handed Sword, and Scimitar), Small Sword (Short Sword, Dagger, Throwing Dagger), Axe (Axe & Throwing Axe), Blunt (Staff, Club, Mace, Warhammer), Spiked (Morning Star & Flail), and Spear (Spear, Halberd). In BG2, each of these weapons has its own proficiency: For instance, you now must choose whether you want to put your points into Long Bow or Short Bow, into Long Sword or Bastard Sword. The only "2 for the price of 1s" that you'll find are that Throwing Daggers still fall into the Dagger proficiency, Throwing Axes still follow the same pattern, and Morning Stars are still grouped with Flails. (Even though, in real life, a Morning Star is nothing like a Flail; it's more like a spiked Mace. Why BG doesn't group Morning Stars in the Mace proficiency is beyond me.) There's also a new slot for learning the Katana, as well as a Scimitar/Wakizashi/Ninja-to proficiency. (Note: Even though Druids can put stars into this proficiency, they are only allowed to use the Scimitar, not the Wakizashi or the Ninja-to.)

BG2 also introduces Weapon Styles: Single Weapon (1-handed weapon with no shield) Style, Sword&Shield Style, 2-Handed Weapon, and Dual-Wielding. Each of these styles is worth putting points in, depending on how you use your character. A Tank would do well to put his points into Sword & Shield Style, as that gives him additional AC bonuses against ranged weapons. A Thief would benefit from Single Weapon: One star spent in this proficiency grants a Critical Hit on a roll of

19 as well as 20, which is excellent for Backstabs, and also grants a -1 AC bonus. Spending another star raises the AC bonus to -2. Backup Tanks might consider 2-Handed weapons: They can fire ranged weapons from the back rank, then when the combat gets too thick for Archery, whip out their massive Halberd or 2-Handed Sword and get Critical Hits on rolls of 19 or 20, and with Speed Factor bonuses (enabling them to strike earlier in the round). Or, a hit & run fighter could do some fun Dual-Wielding with a weapon in each hand: With 3 stars in Dual-Wielding, they can make twice the number of attacks in 1 round (inflicting twice the damage, of course), with the only drawback being a +2 THAC0 penalty on their left hand. (Note that you can only Dual-Wield one-handed melee weapons: Don't expect to use a Spear in each hand, or an Axe and a Sling at the same time. Also, if a weapon can be thrown, it can't be Dual-Wielded.)

Fighters can put up to 5 stars into a weapon, and 2 in each of the Weapon Styles (except for Dual-Wielding, which can take up to 3 stars). All other Warriors, including Multiclassed Fighters, can put only 2 stars into a weapon, and the full amount in each Weapon Style. All other classes may only put 1 star into each weapon or Style, except Wizards, who may not learn Weapon Styles. I also rattled on quite a bit about weapon proficencies for Dual-classed Fighters in Chapter 5, and I'm not going to repeat it here.

There's one type of weapon I haven't mentioned: No weapon at all! Monks are usually at their best fighting with their bare hands, although they may opt to use a weapon in order to benefit from its enchantments, or if they're fighting an enemy that their fists are not "enchanted" enough to hit. For all classes except the Monk, though, there is a very important difference about not using a weapon: You can't kill anything. Any enemy, no matter how puny, can only be reduced to 1 hitpoint and will fall to the ground Unconscious. Even if you hit 'em while they're down, kick them, jump on them, they won't die unless you use a weapon. This can actually be a benefit, in certain circumstances: Say (for whatever reason) you get mad at a Commoner, so you decide to deck him. *BAM!* Instant knockout with one punch. He'll turn Hostile, of course, and so will everyone who saw it (and everyone who saw anyone who saw it, etc), but at least he's not dead, so you don't lose any Reputation.

Hitpoints
Remember how I described the various classes as having different amounts of hitpoints, determined by their using different Hit Dice? (Barbarians use D12s, all other Warriors use D10s, Priests use D8s, Rogues use D6s, Wizards use D4s.) Yep�each time you gain a level, you earn extra hitpoints, determined by your class's Hit Dice: Roll the die, add or subtract any modifiers due to your Constitution, and that's how many new hitpoints you get. Now listen up: It only works that way for the first NINE Levels (Or ten levels, if you're a Rogue). After that point, your class's Hit Die becomes irrelevant, and the modifier from your Constitution becomes irrelevant. I'll spell it out: At Level 10 and thereafter, a Warrior gains 3 hp per level. At Level 10 and thereafter, a Priest gains 2 hp per level. At Level 11 and thereafter, a Rogue gains 2 hp per level. And at Level 10 and thereafter, a Wizard gains 1 hp per level. So, the number of hp you have at Level 9-10 is pretty much all the hp your character will have for the rest of the game.
BG2 has an Options screen in which you can adjust the game's Difficulty. I mention this here because on the "Easy" and "Normal" settings, all characters always gain the maximum possible hitpoints on each Level Up. Many players, even when they're playing on Insane difficulty, will set the Difficulty slider to Normal when it's time for a party member (who's below Level 11) to Level Up, so they can get the good hitpoints, and then set the game right back to Insane again. There is no option to do this in BG1, however: Each time you Level Up, the game will simply roll your class's Hit Die for you.

Hitpoints for Multi-classed characters are a little different, and if you don't (or can't) do the little 'difficulty-slider' thing, Multiclasses tend to get crappy HP rolls when Leveling Up. Let me explain why by taking a good look at Jaheira, a Fighter/Druid in BG1. Say she gains enough EXP to push her Druid half into the next level: The computer rolls a Priest's D8, adds a 1 to the result for Jaheira's 15 CON, and then divides the result by two, because after all, Jaheira is only half a Druid. A similar process occurs when her Fighter half Levels Up as well. But what happens when both halves Level Up simultaneously? The calculation is: ((1D10+1) + (1D8+1)) / 2, meaning that Jaheira has only a 1 in 80 chance of getting the maximum possible HP roll. Compare this with a true-class Mage, who has a 1 in 4 chance of rolling his maximum. If I'm scaring you away from Multiclasses, don't fret, because I've noticed that in BG2,

Multiclassed characters seem to have more hp than are justified, more even than I can account for mathematically. This was probably done to counterbalance any lousy HP rolls experienced during BG1, or may experience during BG2. Multiclasses will continute to gain hp in this fashion as long as each of their respective classes is below Levels 10-11. After that, the "high-level" hp are divided by the number of classes. Example: A Fighter/Druid's Fighter half gains a level. Warriors get 3 new hp per level, but this is divided in half (round up), and the Fighter/Druid gains 2 new hitpoints. When her Druid half Levels Up, Priests gain 2 hp per level, divide that in half, and she gets 1 new hp.

Hitpoints for Dual-classed characters are even more funky: Let's say you went to Level 4 as a Cleric. You have the hp of a Level 4 Priest. Dual to Thief, and even though you're a Level 1 Thief, you still have the hp of a Level 4 Priest. You Level Up, but you don't gain any new hp at all, even when you reach Level 4 as a Thief. Then, you hit Level 5, your Cleric skills come back, and your hitpoints are now as follows: 4D8 (Cleric half) + 1D6 (Thief half). You will continue to gain hitpoints at the rate of a normal Thief, although your first 4 levels will have Cleric hitpoints. If you went to Level 9 as a Cleric and then Dualed to Thief, you'd have 9D8 hitpoints for your Cleric's first 9 levels, 0 hitpoints for your Thief's first 9 levels, 1D6 hitpoints for your Thief Level 10, and then 2 hitpoints per Thief level thereafter.

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