Weapon inconvenience

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Hi guys.

I ran into something in bg2 that doesn't seem quite allright to me. When having a weapon equipped in the off-hand, why can't I have a two-handed weapon strapped on the back of my character as well? I mean, why give rangers a bonus to the two-weapon fighting style? It eliminates the usage of a bow! I think that it is kind of silly because I associate rangers with the usage of bows.

I have started a new char (again!) and I really would like to dual-wield a scimitar and an axe, but I'd still like to be able to use a bow. Is there any mod for this? I haven't found one so far, but I would really appreciate it if someone could point me to one.

[ April 05, 2005, 19:45: Message edited by: Marcus_Giden ]

 

I don't get it. Do you want to put proficiency points in Bows as well as axes and scimitars? You can do that already.

Of course, you won't have enough prof. points to go around...so I suggest you just choose which ever you want to use.

Why would anyone make a mod so you could put points into bows, axes, scimitars or any other weapon?

 

No, I think you're getting me wrong. I don't mean proficiency points.
I would like to dual-wield, but also be able to use a bow.This is not possible. When you have equipped two weapons (one in the off-hand) and try to equip a bow, a message tells you that you cannot equip a two-handed weapon because the off-hand is in use.

 

Yeah, that's stupid, but you can go to inventory and change.

 

Well, it kind of makes sense, since your off-hand has to be free before you can use a two-handed weapon, so you'd have to go into your inventory to unequip your off-hand anyway.

The one I don't think makes any sense is that you can't have a one-handed ranged weapon in your quick weapon slot if you have a weapon in your off-hand. After, you can have a shield (at least, you can with a sling), so why not a weapon?

 

That...would be difficult, for game engine, ad in real world also.

 

Well I get Marcus' point. One should be able to equip a bow in one's quick weapon slot even if the off-hand is in use- in that case the engine would simply virtually un-equip the off-hand weapon so that it wouldn't be used. Would be more convenient that way.

@Splunge- did you mean throwing axes that can be used like a melee weapon? Cause slings or darts combined with an off-hand weapon sound kinda unrealistic.

I don't understand however, why one can't use crossbows combined with a pavise. That's how they were used in the middle ages, right?

 

@fat mike: using a sling with one hand and another weapon with the other would indeed be unrealistic, as you need both hands to place bullets in the sling. Throwing daggers and darts, however, can be kept in a belt, accessed, and tossed with one single hand, leaving the other hand free.

I completely agree about using crossbows and small shields. Also, spears should be allowed to be used with shields.

@Marcus_Giden. IWD2's engine allows 4 weapon combinations per character. This means that you can equip a sword and a shield in one combination, a crossbow in another, one dagger in each hand in another... If there is any mod that converts BG2 to the IWD2 engine, this could be the solution that you are looking for.

 

@Colthrun

That sounds like something worth looking into. I'll post an update when I know more.

[ April 05, 2005, 19:46: Message edited by: Marcus_Giden ]

 

You could try Icewind Gate by Weimer, but he stopped developing it, and it's still Beta.

 

True, but since you can use a sling and shield, I'm not sure what difference replacing the shield with a weapon would make.

I'm not actually looking to attack with both a ranged and melee weapon at the same time here; I just think that you should be able to attack with a one-handed ranged weapon without actually having to unequip an off-hand weapon.

 

A shield is normally strapped to your forearm, leaving that arm's hand free. Even if the shield is heavy enough to prevent you from moving the arm, you can still hold spare stone bullets for the sling in that same hand.

If you were using a weapon instead of the shield, you would need to drop the weapon every time that you need to reload the sling.

 

Crossbows and shields - Shields were used with a crossbow but not carried while shooting. It was placed standing in front of the crossbow man. You would not have been able to use the shield while moving around. But to shoot a crossbow you would need to stand still so should be able to use the shield.

See here for pictures:
http://images.google.com/images?q=pavise&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=wi

[ April 06, 2005, 19:07: Message edited by: Nakia Nightshadow ]

 

Well the essence of my post was just the idea of a mod or script that would allow me to equip a bow in a quick slot while dual-wielding. I mean, the bow ain't stuffed in the backpack while I have the swords out, is it? And how much effort does it take to put the swords (or whatever weapon) back in the sheats?

1. Walk around with swords equipped
2. Se enemy mage + dwarven berserker
3. Slide swords into sheats
4. Draw bow & arrow
5. Kill mage
6. Switch to dual wield, engage the berserker

What bugs me is that I have to go into the inventory and do the equip / unequip thingy's.

 

I think the problem is with the engine. As it stands now, if a weapon is in the off hand, you get an attack with it when attacking with the primary. A known exploit for Bards and Fighter/Mages is to equip a 1 handed "special effect" weapon in your off hand (such as Pixie Prick) and then cast Melf's Meteors. You'll get off-hand attacks on ranged opponents who can't reach you. Simply hacking the game engine to allow you to equip a bow in one hand would also allow 1-handed use of Heavy Crossbows, 2-Handed Swords and Halbards (among others).

 

Ah...what a pity. It would have been soo much better if this feature had been included. But what can you do?

Thanks for all the help and opinions guys/girls, I really appreciate it.