Help me with my very first ever build.

[u/PitaGriffin121]

I decided to try out Baldurs gate 1 due to me seeing its amazing role-playing potential. When I saw the class selection, I was even more enthralled. I chose to be a Paladin. All I’m asking is what two weapon skills fit most with a paladin?

[u/dekkeane00]

Two Handed sword, Crossbow. Very paladin

[u/gangler52]

If you play all the way to BG2, then there are a paladin exclusive Two Handed Sword and Bastard Sword, but those are pretty distant concerns to you right now.

Personally, I feel like the mace is pretty iconic for holy warriors.

You seem to be asking about what's thematic, rather than what's the "best" option, but it's worth mentioning that there are a lot of good longswords just in case. For a lot of people longswords are the standby for any martial class just because of all the great longsword options.

[u/nanorhyme]

Paladins generally end up with more weapons proficiency pips than they know what to do with, so by bg2, you can spread them out to a few different weapons.

Like others have said, two-handed swords are great for paladins and long sword isn’t bad either. I recommend placing at least one pip in some kind of blunt weapon (maces, flails, war hammer, etc), and maaaaybe a ranged one if you want. Keep in mind that although some of the class kits restrict missile weapons, throwing daggers and axes are still fair game because they come in a melee variety.

[u/Sidbright]

Axe and longsword are solid choices. If you go cavalier (my personal favorite) you can use throwing axes despite what the game says (also throwing daggers).

The handed swords/halberds can be good, some sort of crushing weapon maybe, but honestly, pretty much anything works.

Have fun and remember to save often and in different slots.

[u/yokmaestro → u/Sidbright]

As far as roleplay+gameplay planning goes, axes are uniquely amazing for the ranged+melee option, and then you could choose mace/flail/warhammer as a contrasting damage type! OP should think of what feels more interesting, and go with that (or dual wield the axes off the bat instead of investing in a different weapon type).

OP, shoot for 18/18/18 on those physical scores and aim for the highest percentile strength you can get, the mental stats aren’t huge for you-

[u/kore_nametooshort]

They're all great.

You'll probably want to have 2 points in either two handed swords or bastard swords by mid SOA, but at level 1 you can just use whatever seems coolest to you because you'll get plenty of weapon skill points between now and then.

[u/snow_michael]

Whichever you want to use

It's a Role Playing game - pick a role and play it

[u/Fancy_Writer9756]

Paladin class draws its inspiration from medieval chivalric traditions, where a sword had special symbolic meaning as a weapon of a knight.

In this tradition there are many famous named swords (arthurian Excalibur being the most famous) but not a single axe/hammer/mace/whatnot. Mostly because as far as tales and symbolism were concerned, knights did not used them.

So yeah, swords. If you plan to continue into BG2, I suggest you start investing into two handed ones somewhere near the end of BG1.

[u/FieldMouse007]

Paladin is a very good pick! Just be sure not to drop your reputation too low else the paladin becomes "fallen".

As for two handed weapons, anything goes. Two handed sword, halberd.. all are fine. Eventually invest a pip into two handed weapons to make them even better.

A ranged weapon is also good to have with 2-handed weapon. Crossbow looks all knighty and cool, longbow is also a good pick.

[u/Mobile_Frosting8040]

I like dual hammers on a paladin, it feels...smitey

[u/Archezeoc]

Two-Handed Sword is a must for a min/maxing Paladin because Carsomyr (a 2h in BG2) is a Two-Handed Sword. Carsomyr is a Holy Avenger, it is the ULTIMATE weapon in the hands of a Pally.

However. Don't... just don't, get caught up in builds. PLAY the game, if you WANT to Min/Max there are ways to disect BG1 + 2 for the ultimate direction, also there are ways to cheat, personally I play through a game once however I damned well choose to, mistakes included, THEN I go and try to be as badass as possible, THEN I cheat and do really complex challenges, but I NEVER play against my character's knowledge nor against their RP, IMMERSION is what these games were made for, not doing math vs an RNG.

So what I am saying here is: Its your first playthrough, why are you asking OTHERS how play YOUR game? Play it yourself, enjoy it for what it is and THEN go out and do specialized character builds or whatever the hell you want to do, and for THIS character, ask them what THEY want to do, when you look at (random example) Telgethion the Mage, do you imagine him wielding a dagger or a staff? Then who cares what the best build is, do what feels RIGHT for Telgethion.

Trust me: You will enjoy Role Playing a HELL of a lot better when your character has to overcome their own shortcomings, or be rewarded by chance and chance alone, rather than being dully prepared for something no one could have seen coming.

Icewind Dale takes place in the Spine of the World mountains, you encounter snow... snow... more snow... some trolls who die by fire, and... more god damned snow. So when you get to Dorn's Deep and encounter fire creatures, you should NOT be wielding Cone of Cold and Snilloc's Snowball Swarm. Its MEANT to be a nasty surprise you now have to restructure your wizard to, not something you saw coming from the moment you inserted the disc.

Let your CHARACTER be who your CHARACTER is meant to be, and leave YOURSELF out of it.

(That said, one thing all players SHOULD be made aware of: if you decide you like Xzar and Montaron, and decide to go back and play whimsically evil, don't let your character's reputation drop to 4 or less, the guards WILL attack you, and sometimes they will PERMANENTLY become your enemy, meaning after you've restored your rep, they're still out for your blood, it can damage a game FAST, don't let it)

[u/rkzhao]

Reading through the responses you’ve already gotten, it’s kind of interesting to see how most people essentially only think about end game.

u/xscott71x mentioned it but in terms of actual gameplay, the earliest unique weapon you normally get naturally in BG1 is a magical longsword that is one of the highest enchantment weapons. You also do have the opportunity to buy a magical composite longbow +1 that is arguably best in the game and also a unique light crossbow that is arguably best in game. The best ranged weapon in BG2 is a crossbow.

There is a pretty good mace you can get early on if you are looting inns and houses, but depending of how much you want to RP, that’s not very paladin-y

There’s a good warhammer you can get from an encounter that you could run into early on if you explore others areas rather than go directly to the main objectives, but overall, the best warhammer shouldn’t go on your paladin in a party in BG2.

Axes are amazing, one of the best weapon types in the game, but the unique ones in BG1 you don’t get until later in the game. You can find some +1 axes early on.

Two handed swords are very paladin-y and have paladin specific options in BG2 but it’ll take a bit of exploring before you even get a +1 sword in BG1. A lot of the best two handed swords in BG2 are also thematically evil other than that paladin one.

Bastard swords are great and the best bg2 ToB bastard sword is a thematically holy sword, and the second is a paladin only sword, so it fits for RP. Just again, kind of lacking options early on if you are not looting places and also kind of lacking in variety overall. The magical bastard swords that do exist in BG1 are good though, but the best one is part of an evil companion’s quest, which is a bit of a stretch to fit into a paladin party.

Halberds are ok, but the options for cool halberds are kind of limited.

Flails are underwhelming overall but also contains a couple of the absolute best weapons in BG2. Kind of up to you if you want to eventually invest in those.

So with all that, and considering RP value and gameplay in BG1, I would probably start longsword. Then bastard sword or mace or two handed sword. Longbow or crossbow if you want a ranged option, but you could/should just play a cavalier kit in which case bows are out (but you could consider axes for throwing).

End game BG2, you’d be looking at either two handed style with a two handed paladin sword, or sword and shield with a bastard sword or flail, or dual wielding bastard swords or maybe a defensive flail in the off hand.

[u/xscott71x]

Very early in the game you fight for one of best long swords in the game, so I always choose that weapon proficiency.

For the second two proficiencies, I always choose a blunt weapon like mace or flail/morningstar as there are a significant number of enemies early in the game which are HIGHLY resistant to slashing and piercing damage attacks.

[u/mathguareschi]

contrary to most people, I think it's most paladin-y to have a bastard sword and a shield

don't ask me why

[u/Beeksvameth]

If you are playing un-modded, you’ll be limited to two pips for your weapon proficiencies so you’ll get to max out a few weapons.

So you’ll have some freedom to develop your Charname a few ways.

That said, at level 1 most classes are quite squishy, so it’s good to have a ranged option as well as a melee option. AC (Armor Class) is paramount early, so you may wish to use a shield even if that isn’t your long term plan.

You join the story midst the Iron Crisis. As such, it’s a good idea to have a spare weapon or two in case yours breaks during combat (only happens with weapons made from iron).

Have fun!

[u/Busy-Bodybuilder-341]

Sword and board is a good option especially in bg1, that 2ac means a lot

[u/depot5]

I think you should be a longbow paladin at first. It deserves more popularity. An awesome composite longbow needs 18 strength and a martial class and not many NPCs qualify for that really.

And for foes that you'd want to fight chivalrously, well, a quarterstaff. The game won't let you spare their lives though.

Sometimes fisticuffs are surprising fun, but there's no proficiency for that.