I'm thinking of playing again with a dart-focused build. There are a lot of interesting darts available for sale in BG1, and the crimson dart can be acquired early in BG2 - although that is as good as it gets (other than 5 darts/day from the cloak of stars).
But how should I configure the PC?
Option 1 is a straight fighter, taking grand master in darts to effortlessly hit the 5 APR cap at level 13. As a straight fighter, I can pick any race, so probably go with a halfling for shorty-saves, dex bonus and theme, a half-orc for the 19->20 con in BG1, or a dwarf for similar reasons, with shorty saves, but a dex penalty? Halflings are my preferred choice, as this is a combat build that does not suffer unduly from not having a strength bonus.
Why unkitted? Kensai are not allowed to use darts, berserkers are not allowed to specialize in darts, and Wizard Slayers do not get to use Legacy of the Masters/Gauntlets of weapon mastery, that are important for a +2 damage component.
Option 2 is more interesting, a swashbuckler -> fighter dual class. Dual means I must be human, but Swash gets me some nice bonuses. If I dual at 5, I get +1 to hit and damage on each dart, and +2 AC compared to a regular fighter, AND I get to regain my abilities in BG1. I also get 125 skill points, which should max a useful skill or two.
Dualing at 10 means I complete BG1 as a thief, and dual for the start of BG2. As above, but with an extra +1 on each bonus (+3 AC, +2 to hit/damage) and complete 100% on all the interesting skills. Given the lack of STR bonus or other ways of boosting damage/dart, that is sounding quite nice, and may be the sweet spot for the change-over? Although it will be interesting to see how SoD plays into xp caps.
Dualing at 15 is more of the same, I can complete 100% on all skills, but don't get my Swash bonus back until level 16 as a fighter, which is a combined swash/fighter xp total of 3,100,000 - essentially right at the end of SoA for a party of 6 - although potentially much sooner if soloing (I always play party-of-6 though).
Dualing at 25 is the ultimate, if we didn't have to play all the way through. +6AC, +5 to hit/damage, and use-any-item HLA. Why does that matter? We have enough pips coming as a fighter to get grand master 2-handed sword, and both pips in 2-H weapon style, in addition to grand master darts - so we can fling 5 darts/round, and then switch up to Carsomyr when something bigger than +3 crimson darts are required. This requires 7.8 million xp to recover the Swash bonus though, which means you won't actually have that bonus for almost the entire game, and it is not clear that a party of 6 will reach that xp total by the end of ToB. Not sure if you could get this soloing in SoA, which might make it a worthwhile effort, just to say you did it?
Option 3 looks back at the swash dualing early, and tries an assassin instead. Assassin gets +1 to hit/damage, so is as good a way to pump darts as a swash until level 10, although no AC bonus, and lower thief skills. The trade-off is that you get poison weapon ability - do you get the 3rd dose at 8th or 9th? Either way, it is a tough call between Swash 5, and assassin in the 4-9th level range.
Option 4 does it the other way, and starts with a fighter 13, and then dual into a class that will benefit from darts. Dual into mage is the obvious, although by the time you get your mojo back, the mage-casting should outweigh the dart contribution. Dual-into-thief feels underwhelming compared to dual-from-thief-kit. Clerics don't get to play with darts, but IIRC, druids do. Dual into an unkitted druid? That has potential, but 14th level druid is a huge xp barrier after 13 fighter levels. Druids do add interesting versatility to the mix though, with Iron Skins for extra durability, the inevitable killer bees when darts aren't hitting the spell casters fast enough, a switch-up to energy blades as a HLA, and other assorted fun. On balance, I prefer options 1-3 though.
Option 5 - do Ranger Archer kit bonuses apply to darts? Missing out on grand mastery hurts, but +1/3 levels to attack/damage helps, potentially reaching +11 at 33rd, more if the opponent is a favored enemy. You can get regular weapon specialization for darts from the start of BG1 for +1/2 APR, +1 APR for 13 level ranger, the full 5APR will require gauntlets of extreme specialization from the lowest levels of Watcher's Keep. Plus you get called shots, and the option to be an elf (+1 dex, bonus with some swords). Down side is no running around in full plate armor, and the nagging feeling that you really should be using a short bow instead. Also, no specialization in your back-up melee weapon.
Option 6 - some other cunning combo I have not considered, Barbarian? (no grand master means low damage)
I'm currently leaning toward options 2 and 3, would definitely go 5 if grand mastery were allowed - regardless of bonus, grand mastery feels like an important part of the flavor of such a build.
So which combo would be favorite here? And if I go option 2 (or 3), at which level should I dual?
But how should I configure the PC?
Option 1 is a straight fighter, taking grand master in darts to effortlessly hit the 5 APR cap at level 13. As a straight fighter, I can pick any race, so probably go with a halfling for shorty-saves, dex bonus and theme, a half-orc for the 19->20 con in BG1, or a dwarf for similar reasons, with shorty saves, but a dex penalty? Halflings are my preferred choice, as this is a combat build that does not suffer unduly from not having a strength bonus.
Why unkitted? Kensai are not allowed to use darts, berserkers are not allowed to specialize in darts, and Wizard Slayers do not get to use Legacy of the Masters/Gauntlets of weapon mastery, that are important for a +2 damage component.
Option 2 is more interesting, a swashbuckler -> fighter dual class. Dual means I must be human, but Swash gets me some nice bonuses. If I dual at 5, I get +1 to hit and damage on each dart, and +2 AC compared to a regular fighter, AND I get to regain my abilities in BG1. I also get 125 skill points, which should max a useful skill or two.
Dualing at 10 means I complete BG1 as a thief, and dual for the start of BG2. As above, but with an extra +1 on each bonus (+3 AC, +2 to hit/damage) and complete 100% on all the interesting skills. Given the lack of STR bonus or other ways of boosting damage/dart, that is sounding quite nice, and may be the sweet spot for the change-over? Although it will be interesting to see how SoD plays into xp caps.
Dualing at 15 is more of the same, I can complete 100% on all skills, but don't get my Swash bonus back until level 16 as a fighter, which is a combined swash/fighter xp total of 3,100,000 - essentially right at the end of SoA for a party of 6 - although potentially much sooner if soloing (I always play party-of-6 though).
Dualing at 25 is the ultimate, if we didn't have to play all the way through. +6AC, +5 to hit/damage, and use-any-item HLA. Why does that matter? We have enough pips coming as a fighter to get grand master 2-handed sword, and both pips in 2-H weapon style, in addition to grand master darts - so we can fling 5 darts/round, and then switch up to Carsomyr when something bigger than +3 crimson darts are required. This requires 7.8 million xp to recover the Swash bonus though, which means you won't actually have that bonus for almost the entire game, and it is not clear that a party of 6 will reach that xp total by the end of ToB. Not sure if you could get this soloing in SoA, which might make it a worthwhile effort, just to say you did it?
Option 3 looks back at the swash dualing early, and tries an assassin instead. Assassin gets +1 to hit/damage, so is as good a way to pump darts as a swash until level 10, although no AC bonus, and lower thief skills. The trade-off is that you get poison weapon ability - do you get the 3rd dose at 8th or 9th? Either way, it is a tough call between Swash 5, and assassin in the 4-9th level range.
Option 4 does it the other way, and starts with a fighter 13, and then dual into a class that will benefit from darts. Dual into mage is the obvious, although by the time you get your mojo back, the mage-casting should outweigh the dart contribution. Dual-into-thief feels underwhelming compared to dual-from-thief-kit. Clerics don't get to play with darts, but IIRC, druids do. Dual into an unkitted druid? That has potential, but 14th level druid is a huge xp barrier after 13 fighter levels. Druids do add interesting versatility to the mix though, with Iron Skins for extra durability, the inevitable killer bees when darts aren't hitting the spell casters fast enough, a switch-up to energy blades as a HLA, and other assorted fun. On balance, I prefer options 1-3 though.
Option 5 - do Ranger Archer kit bonuses apply to darts? Missing out on grand mastery hurts, but +1/3 levels to attack/damage helps, potentially reaching +11 at 33rd, more if the opponent is a favored enemy. You can get regular weapon specialization for darts from the start of BG1 for +1/2 APR, +1 APR for 13 level ranger, the full 5APR will require gauntlets of extreme specialization from the lowest levels of Watcher's Keep. Plus you get called shots, and the option to be an elf (+1 dex, bonus with some swords). Down side is no running around in full plate armor, and the nagging feeling that you really should be using a short bow instead. Also, no specialization in your back-up melee weapon.
Option 6 - some other cunning combo I have not considered, Barbarian? (no grand master means low damage)
I'm currently leaning toward options 2 and 3, would definitely go 5 if grand mastery were allowed - regardless of bonus, grand mastery feels like an important part of the flavor of such a build.
So which combo would be favorite here? And if I go option 2 (or 3), at which level should I dual?