ghaleor
if it helps, i personally think the one hand skill with shield is by far the more advantageous.
things may change as i progress further into the game, but at the end of act III i've found a number of one hand swords that natively do 67-147 or 149 pts. damage. i also have one that does 77-168 damage. when sharpened (to level 9), the best of these sits at 154-269 damage.
the best 2 handers i have are natively 107-242 damage and when sharpened 184-344.
to my way of thinking, for giving up a (minimal) 30-76 pts damage, i GAIN better armor class, better blocking and 4 charm slots.
look for shields that actually ADD speed, accuracy and initiative...or at least don't detract a lot. keep in mind that these numbers are percentages.
if you have a shield with 4 charm slots, by putting in just one zand charm you will actually INCREASE those attributes. thus more than making up for any detraction from wearing the item.
and you still have 3 slots left! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/stupid.gif" alt="" /> (and if you used those for strength you'd gain another 9 pts damage, decreasing the 2hand difference even more)
no, for me single-handed with shield far outweighs the minimal gain on the damage side of the ledger for the 2hand.
keep thinking the way you are! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
