I've been trying to figure this one out for a few days now (as you can tell by the length of this post, lol!), but I'm still not quite sure what the best option is. I wish some of the items in the game would have more detailed description and that the to-hit and damage calculations on the inventory/character screen would work a bit more reliably and transparently.
On that side note: While experimenting with Jaheira's weapons, I seem to have run into a minor bug where the damage/to hit values under your weapons (in the inventory/character/equipment screen) don't update correctly. I put the Legacy of the Masters gloves on her (+2 for attack/damage) and their description suddenly included a line "Wondrous Gloves Bardic Inspiration Depleted" (or something like that) and the damage/to hit shown on the character screen was "reversed"... meaning when I put the gloves on her, it would show the value she would have without the gloves' bonus and taking them off would show the values with the bonus. Hovering over the numbers would still show the correct calculations in the pop-up. Question is: What calculation would be applied once she hits an enemy...?
But I digress.. :
I'm going for a Spore Druid 7 / Fighter-Battlemaster 5 build and I do want her to be a dual wielder. I'm trying to stay close to her lore, both current and "historical", while avoiding Wildshape, so this seemed like a good way of doing that. I'm currently on Druid 7 / Fighter 4, so she received her two only feats - first one was WIS improvement to 19 (does get boosted to 20 late-game with Khalid's Gift), second was Dual Wielding so that she can use her staff and Belm at the same time.
This is where it gets a bit confusing and complicated...
I did give her some but not too much DEX, since there are weapons for her that will use WIS instead of DEX. I think she's sitting at DEX 16, which I wanted her to have for the +3 AC bonus, because she's wearing the amazing Sporekeeper Light Armor. Can't run a Spore Druid and not use that armor, IMO. But she doesn't really need DEX for her attacks:
Sylvan Scimitar and Flame Blade both use WIS instead of DEX for attack rolls. A staff or club in her main-hand with Shaleighladafgdfgzertt on it will also use WIS. And then there's her personal scimitar Belm which, under certain circumstances, also seems to use WIS. I've experimented for way too long on this last night, and here's what I think happens - do correct me if I'm wrong here:
When Belm is in the off-hand it will use whatever the main-hand weapon uses for attack - and even for damage type it seems. But only when you use Belm's special, bonus-action attack (the one that pops up to the right of your main UI). After I leveled her to Druid 7 / Fighter 4, I gave her the Dual Weapon feat, put the staff from her basement in her main hand, Belm in her off-hand, cast Shillelafgfhgtt on the staff and started to beat up an armourless Karlach. In that setup, Belm's special bonus attack did use WIS and it did deal bludgeoning damage. Using it normally (regular dual weapon attack or regular off-hand attack) it would use DEX and deal slashing damage as per Belm's item-description. It also seems that for whatever reason, when I had Belm enchanted via the Dragonbreath Glaive in this configuration that 1d4 from the enchantment would not be applied. Perhaps I would have to put the enchantment on the main-hand weapon and then Belm would "copy" that too on its special attack, but I haven't tested this.
The staff's knock-back/stun ability doesn't seem to trigger all that often, so I'm not sure I'll keep her wielding it. The options with this setup eventually seem to be:
1. Main: Flame Blade, Off: Belm - Main will use WIS for attacks. Added bonus of being able to upcast Flame Blade for more fire damage. Con: Near useless against fire-resistant enemies, can't cast Flame Blade in preparation for a fight (blade will vanish once the fight starts and you have to cast it again), costs a spell-slot and a Bonus Action.
2. Main: Sylvan Scimitar, Off: Belm - same mechanics as 1. with less micro-management involved, plus you save a bonus action and a spell-slot. Possibly lower damage overall?
3. Main: Any late game staff with Shalleiglaghgrghrgr applied to get it to use WIS on attacks, Off: Belm. Pro: Gaining the staff's added features (like Arcane Battery), Con: Need to spend Bonus Action to enchant staff, looks weird, need to "waste" a feat to make it work, makes Belm deal bludgeoning damage (not sure if that's a con).
Note: On all of these you will have to switch off dual wielding, then do a main-hand attack (Action) and follow that up with Belm's special attack (Bonus Action). If you keep dual wielding active, she will swing both weapons, spending an Action and a Bonus Action and, more importantly, making Belm use DEX and not WIS. Which isn't ideal for min-maxing since your WIS will certainly be higher than your DEX.
I'm planning on a Minsc/Jaheira heavy run in the late game with a Swords-Bard Tav and Shadowheart for support. So I won't have room for staff-users and I would've liked to have Jaheira use the Arcane Battery one. But I'm not sure I'll keep her like that. Multiclassing means she only gets two feats and the benefits from Dual Weapons don't seem to be *that* high. Especially since all the feat does in this case is to let her dual wield with a staff. And no: I don't want her running around with a staff in each hand.
I *think* I might respecc her to give her a different feat, then go back to options 1 or 2, both of which seem to deal similar amounts of damage and don't require the Dual Weapon feat.
Or am I missing something here?
Has anyone found another way of making her deal a bit more damage as a dual wielding melee attacker?
S.
