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Baldur's Gate 2: Equipment Guide by Ken J. Egervari ken@extremephp.org

                Game.........................Baldur's Gate 2
                Guide...........................In-Depth FAQ
                Platform..................................PC
                Version.................................1.11
First Published.............Febuary 16, 2003
Last Updated................Febuary 17, 2003

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Table of Contents
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1. Introduction
1.1 - About This FAQ
1.2 - Credits/Thanks
2. Single-Handed Weapons
3. Shields
4. Two-Handed Weapons
5. Ranged Weapons
6. NPC Equipment Guide
6.1  - Aerie, Elven Cleric/Mage
6.2  - Anomen Delryn, Human Fighter/Cleric
6.3  - Cernd, Human Shapeshifter Druid
6.4  - Edwin Odesseiron, Human Conjurer
6.5  - Haer'Dalis, Tiefling Chaotic Neutral
6.6  - Imoen, Human Mage/Thief
6.7  - Jaheira, Half-Elf Fighter/Druid
6.8  - Jan Jansen, Gnome Thief/Illusionist
6.9  - Keldorn Firecam, Human Inquistor
6.10 - Korgan, Dwarf Berserker
6.11 - Mazzy Fentan, Halfing Fighter
6.12 - Minsc, Human Ranger
6.13 - Nalia, Human Mage/Thief
6.14 - Sarevok, Human Fighter
6.15 - Valygar, Human Stalker
6.16 - Viconia, Drow Cleric
7. A Custom 6-Character Party
8. Cespenar Upgrades
9. Last Words
9.1 - Contact Info
9.2 - Copyright Info

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1. Introduction
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First, I'd like to say thank you for reading my FAQ and I hope that it aids you in selecting the best weapons and equipment for your premade and npc-based parties for both SoA and ToB.

Next, I'd like to talk about myself a bit so you can learn a bit about my credentials.  I've written several other FAQs for Icewind Dale 2, Might &
Magic 7 & 8 and Diablo 2, Starcraft and Warcraft III.  I might have written others in the past, but they don't come to mind.   I'm also a veteran IE gamer, playing all 5 IE games to date.  I'm also a big RPG and Strategy gamer fan as well.

In terms of my career, I'm a software architect who developers in J2EE and
.NET mostly although I've been doing programming for several years in other platforms prior.  I'm also a co-author on three published books:

* Professional PHP4 Programming
* Professional PHP4 XML
* Professional PHP Web Services

I can't help but give me a shameless plug:  Please purchase these books if you find these topics interesting.  I, as well as the other authors, would really appreciate it.  These books are some of the best on PHP after all.
Be sure to check your local stores and amazon.com!

Anyway, needless to say, I'm an accomplished writer and a logical thinker - two things that I believe are important to writing FAQs =)

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1.1 - About This FAQ
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The main reason I wrote this FAQ was to create a resource for choosing the best equipment for your pre-made or NPC-based characters.  The guide mainly covers the weapons since these have the greatest impact on the game.  Their aren't that many armors in the game either and they don't vary in power, so you really can't go wrong if it's -1 or -2.  I've discussed several cool dual-wielding strategies and the use of two-handed weapons.

I took the equipment idea a little further and started to derive the best sets of equipment for every NPC you can use in the game, including the really crappy ones =)  This guide won't tell you which characters go well together and what not, as that is better left up to existing guides (like
Dan Simpson's "Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn & Throne of Bhaal
FAQ/Walkthrough").

I also added a section on what the weapon possibilities could be for a pre-made party consisting of six-characters.  I'll admit the game isn't fun with this party, but it can spark some ideas.

Lastly, I added the Cespenar upgrades in the order that you can make them in ToB.  This is helpful since many other FAQs or websites use non-sensical orderings that make the list hard to digest and utilize.

You will find the most up to date version of this FAQ at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/

This FAQ looks best in a fixed-width font, such as Courier New.  I personally like to use Lucida Console since it isn't so dark and I have terrible eye sight.  I would also TURN OFF WORD-WRAPPING, since some of the charts will look terrible if you have it turned on.  The rest of the FAQ should look fine though.  I would use a browser such as Internet Explorer to read the FAQ.

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1.2 - Credits/Thanks
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I wrote this small guide because I was mainly bored and needed something to think about.  Of course, not all this information is mine, so here are a list of people that were equally as bored as me (most likely) and have contributed to the FAQ in some way.

- PhroXenGold for several cool dual-wielding combinations (using Foebane,
Kundane and Hindo's Doom
- Dan Simpson, since I copy/pasted his Cespenar's upgrade text.  He actually wrote all that stuff out, so it's mainly his doing.  I just re-ordered it so that it makes sense and put it into this guide so you could reference this content within this document rather than another document.
- BlueWolf the Druid for some valuable advice to improving the guide as a whole (fixing minor things, adding a shield section, some quality information on two-handed swords, etc.)
- Majestic for his information on spears, slings and other minor suggestions

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2. Single-Handed Weapons
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Here is a little chart I made that can help you out when deciding which weapon proficencies to take for your characters.  I indicated if the weapon is suitable for the main-hand or off-hand, so it's pretty easy to mix and match weapon proficiencies to maximize your characters' effectiveness.  What
I didn't do was say, "This weapon is useless".  I'll leave that up to you, but some of these are pretty crappy and are only suited for specific NPCs or character builds.

This little chart keeps ToB in mind, so some of these weapons might be great main-hand weapons in the original game, but are fairly junky in the expansion.  Use your best judgement as you play.

I've indicated a power ranking for each weapon, but this is only my opinion.
Also keep in mind that if a ranking is *** but it says "No" for the main hand, that means it's probably not a 3-star weapon when using it for main-hand usage.  This is somewhat obvious, but I thought I would point it out nonetheless.  Generally anything with 2 stars or greater is considered to be a weapon worth using in ToB.

I also seperated the cleric-usable weapons into a big block, so it makes it easier to decide which weapons to pick for Fighter/Clerics or Ranger/Clerics.

From the chart, you can also see if a weapon proficiency is even worth putting 5 stars in for example (like Warhammers & Daggers).  I hope people find it useful.

Item Name                  Type           Power   Main Hand?  Off-Hand?
   ---------                  ----           -----   ----------  ---------
Battle Axe +3, Stonefire   Axe                    No          No, Frostreaver is better
Battle Axe +3, Frostreaver Axe            *       No          Maybe for acid damage, unlikely in ToB
Axe of the Unyielding +5   Axe            ****    Yes         Yes, preferred for Non-axe users
Foebane +5                 Bastard Sword  ***     Yes         No
Purifier +5                Bastard Sword  **      No          Yes, benefits are not damage-based
Hindo's Doom +4            Katana         ***     F/T Only    Yes
Celestial Fury +3          Katana         **      Yes         Maybe
* Dak'kon's Zerth Blade +2   Katana         *       No          Yes, for Fighter/Mages or Bards
Angurvadal +5              Long Sword     **      Maybe       Yes, although you might prefer a belt
The Answerer +4            Long Sword     ***     Yes         Maybe
Blackrazor +3              Long Sword     **      Yes         Maybe
The Equalizer              Long Sword     *       No          Maybe
Blade of Roses +3          Long Sword             No          Maybe
* Sword of Balduran +2       Long Sword             No          Maybe, but pretty crappy
Spectral Brand +5          Scimitar       ***     Yes         Yes
Usuno's Blade +4           Scimitar       *       Yes         No
Yamato +4                  Scimitar       *       No          Yes, but not better than Belm
* Scarlet Ninja-To +3        Scimitar       **      No          Yes, usable by high-level rogues
Belm +2                    Scimitar       **      No          Yes, makes main-hand weapon better
Short Sword of Mask +5     Short Sword    **      Yes         No
Cutthroat +4               Short Sword            No          Depends
Kundane +2                 Short Sword    **      No          Yes, 0 speed factor, extra attack
Dagger of the Star +5      Dagger         **      Yes         No
Stiletto of Demarchess +2  Dagger         *       No          Yes
Flail of Ages +5           Flail          ***     Yes         No
Ice Star +4                Flail          *       No          Maybe, not that great
Storm Star +5              Mace           ***     Yes         No
Mace of Disruption +2      Mace           **      Yes vs UD   Yes, specialty weapon though
Runehammer +5              Warhammer      **      Yes vs UD   No
Crom Faeyr                 Warhammer      ***     No          Yes
Club of Detonation +5      Club           **      Yes, F/D    No
Blackblood +3              Club           *       Yes, F/D    No

Note: If you don't know what any of these weapons do, take a look at
Game Banshee's equipment pages.  It might be a lot of info to sink in, so don't worry if you forget what the weapons do - just learn them as you go and perhaps trust my judgement =)  Here is the link to the
Game Banshee website: http://gamebanshee.com/baldursgateii/equipment.php

Multi/Dual-Classed Clerics
   --------------------------
You can use Flail of the Ages +5 and Crom Faeyr, or perhaps Storm Star +5 and Crom Faeyr.  This warhammer is a great off-hand weapon because it provides your character with 25 strength (although the actual damage done by this weapon is not very high compared to other choices).  Because of this fact,
Crom Faeyr could be used as an off-hand weapon when you do not even have any pips in Warhammers at all since it doesn't matter if you hit with it or not during your extra attack.  The important thing is that it will improve your fighting capabilities greatly and your overall effectiveness of your main-hand weapon.

Fighter/Mages
   -------------
You can use Dak'kon's Zerth Blade +2 as an off-hand weapon to decrease your somewhat high AC (since you will probably be wearing the Robe of Veccna or some Elven Chain Mail).  The extra spells are always a plus too.  Since your character will have lower hps than a typical fighter, Foebane +5 will componsate for this nicely and do a considerable amount of damage.

Evil Fighters
   -------------
You can combine Blackrazor +3 and Belm +2/Kundane +2 to drain levels very quickly from your enemies.  This works great for enemies/some bosses that have many hps, or even enemy spellcasters.  The only problem with this combination is that if the enemy requires a +4 weapon or greater, it won't work at all.  In these cases, you should switch the Blackrazor +3 to another quality main-hand weapon of your choice.

Paladins
   --------
If you aren't using Carsomyr +6, you might want to try The Answerer +4 and
Purifier +5, which will roughly provide you with the same advantages (but slightly underpowered) as Carsomyr +6, but you will be able to lower your enemies AC and spell resistence with each attack.  This is obviously a more 'offensive' Paladin while still possessing the dispel magic effects and gaining the magic resistence extra Dispel Magic spells from the Purifier.

Fighter/Thief Dual or Multi-Class Characters
   --------------------------------------------
These characters may want to use Hindo's Doom +4 and Belm +2.  Hindo's Doom is the most powerful onc-handed backstabbing weapon (d10+4 is the greatest