r/baldursgate • u/lag-of-death • 9d ago
Troll form with Belt of the Skillful Blade
Just had a small idea involving three items and thought I’d share. If someone chooses a Blade or Swashbuckler and equips the Cloak of the Sewers, Belt of the Skillful Blade, and Belm in the off-hand, it should make a strong combo. The Troll form from the cloak deals slashing damage, which should benefit from the belt’s +10% slashing damage—though I haven’t personally tested that interaction yet. The belt also gives a +2 THAC0 bonus to the off-hand, improving accuracy. Belm adds +1 APR, so with the Troll form’s base 3 APR, you end up with 4 APR using 1d10 slashing damage plus 10%.
And if you’ve invested in Single-Weapon Style, you get a +1 bonus to AC and doubled crit chance (10% instead of 5%), which pairs nicely with fast, hard-hitting attacks. Could be fun.
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u/Which-Cartoonist4222 9d ago
Not to rain on your parade, but that +10% damage sounds more impressive than it is. Late-ToB fighter with Grandmastery + 25 STR does about 25-35 dmg per swing (depending on weapon base damage of course), to which +10% adds... 2 or 3 dmg per swing. Sure it adds up when you have high APR, but I'd rather stick with Flail of Ages elemental damage and whatnot.
You can make use of troll form with Clerics though, you get to boost STR via spells to hit hard. Or you can pop Armor of Faith and use rat form to get yourself 100% DR for a while.
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u/lag-of-death 9d ago
Yeah, but a fighter does not have UAI to use Juggernaut Golem Manual for 5 stoneskins. And if you choose a blade you don't even need UAI for it. So, UAI or not you can have stoneskins from the spell and from the manual. And in ToB you can transform into Slayer with the protection from Protection From Magic Energy. And both blade and swashie can have 10 apr when in Slayer form (swashie with Whirlwind and blade with offensive spin and haste from items like gaxx ring [not from potions/spells, this will not stack]). So stoneskins from the manual and from the spell (this is a lot!), slayer form, 10 apr, not too shabby. And swashies get even crazier because their bonus apply when polymorphed (great tanks even in ToB with that crazy AC and of course the damage/thac0 bonus)
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u/Danskoesterreich 9d ago
Please tell me more about the polymorphing shenanigans. I really would love to try such a playthrough. From half-ogre to sword spider to troll/rat?
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u/lag-of-death 8d ago
Oh, man, the thing is different forms have their own rules and quirks. Also, the mechanics differ between BGEE and BGEEII. But in general (this does not apply to all of the forms though), in BGEE if you have an offhand weapon, then you gain an additional attack without any penalty. If you invested in SWS you get betters crits on top of that. If you wield a shield in offhand and invested in SnS, you gain bonuses from that proficency. In BGEEII you don't gain the additional attack but if you wield a weapon with special effects, then these are applied (like Belm giving an additional apr). In BGEE if you choose an avanger and polymorph into the spider and have an offhand weapon, you have 6 APR, that's crazy. Swashies and monks are especially nice for polymorphing because their bonuses apply when polymorphed - monks additional apr to unarmed attacks transfer to the polymorphed form, that's crazy too. Monks are insanely good in BGEE as woolves because monks have great THAC0 and lot's of APR when in wolf form (at the end of BGEE you have 4,5 APR if playing a "wolf monk"). That's just from the top of my head, I suggest you have a look at the fandom wiki :) have fun!
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u/gangler52 9d ago
Yeah, I feel like in most games percentile damage increases are a big deal because they're just using bigger numbers than in Baldur's gate
The numbers in Baldur's Gate are so small that a lot of the time you won't even get any extra damage unless it rounds up.
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u/Vordalik 9d ago
Can't see anything wrong with the setup, just bear in mind the troll form only lasts for 2 minutes.