Opinions Please

[Screaming Johny]

You have already been given some great advise, but I think a few things have been missed.

First of all, what party formation do you want to use. My personal favorite is 2 wide by 3 deep. This is relevant because all 2-handed weapons have extended reach. A good configuration for a party is to have:
-2 front liners using single handed weapons (preferably dual-weild with a shield on stand-by for when(if) you need one)
-2 people in the 2nd row with 2-handed weapons that reach over the front line
-anybody in the 3rd row can use bows, magic, bard-song, etc.

With this configuration, just make sure your front two have low AC's & some good immunities, as they will take the brunt of the damage.

The other point I haven't seen made is the two dispel magic items. In my opinion your party is best to have one or both of these items. These items can make fighting mages & all the powerful baddies much easier to fight. Both are 2-handed, so good for your second row fighters. Both are considered +5, so good against the really big baddies (demi-lich) as well.

Lastly, elemental damage. It goes through many of the magic protections, and can disrupt spell casting.

[Galuf the Dwarf]

Screaming Johnny has brought up some good points as well.

Elemental damage: One of the two +4 halberds that I mentioned of can cause such. Definitely worth it.

Dispel Magic: I think I know which other 2-handed weapon you're talking about (other than the sword)...

Configuration: I might want to try that. What I mainly do is surround my targets with my warriors have my other guys within attack range, but out of the way of the target's attacks (IOW, with missile weapons, certain melee weapons, magic, etc.)

One thing that I think would work if I had a bard as a PC is to have them be proficient in halberds, crossbows, and whatever else (maybe flail and 'single-weapon style'). They'll be somewhere in either the middle of the back row, using their halberd to damage opponents and also using their bard song now and then (probably have them as a Skald, in that case).

So many strategies, and quite a few choices to make. Amazing, isn't it?

[Screaming Johny]

Slight tangent - with regards to Bard's:
1) If you don't have ToB, don't bother with a Bard. Improved Bard song is awesome. You also get UAI & lot's of Traps.
2) Skald's have a limited range for their song, and it stays that way with the Improved Bard Song. All other Bards have unlimmitted range - that is, you can be on the other side of the map & you are still effected by their song.
3) A Bard should 1) Sing a song to help the party 2) Cast the occasional breach, etc. (if you time it right, you can cast & restart singing without the note disappearing from your party members). & 3) Only if absolutely necessary, get into a fight.
4) As far as what Kit, my preference is Blade. The pick-pocket penalty is broken & you get a regular Bard's pick-pocket. 5 points of Lore a level is still a lot. And who cares if your Bard-Song doesn't improve with level once you get the improved Bard-Song. In exchange for no real penalties, you can dual-weild (the best bonus) & you get your 2 spins (which I almost never use).

Back on the topic of weapons.

5) For immunities, & just in case they get in a fight, a Bard should dual-weild weapons. If they are going to fight, dual-weild swords that give an extra attack. With a sword in each hand that gives an extra attack, that is 4 per round. If you are a Blade, Offensive Spin gives you a 5th. Using ToB ability UAI you can use a nice little Ninja-To that gives an extra attack & does poison damage. Also, if no-one else in the party is using it, I give my Bard the FoA to finish off those pesky Trolls.

Using this weapon strategy, a Blade can be a darn good fighter by the end of the game, but they are still better off giving the song bonuses to the rest of the party.

[VonDondu]

Originally posted by nephtu
...At least the improved mace has negative planes protection on it, but compared to even vanilla Azuredge (Yes, I know, Azuredge is more restricted) it's a piece of junk. You can one-shot LICHES with Azuredge given a little luck - I don't think the poor old mace o'disruption can even hit them...

The Improved Mace of Disruption +2 can kill demi-liches in one hit. (There's only one demi-lich in BG2: Shadows of Amn, of course.) In fact, it's so effective, it almost takes the fun out of it.

Azuredge, on the other hand, is buggy and does not work properly unless you use an (unofficial) patch. I thought we were supposed to be talking about a "vanilla", unmodified game. If you use a patch to fix Azuredge and make it work the way it's supposed to, then yes, it's a great weapon for a good-aligned Fighter. But unlike the Mace of Disruption, Clerics can't use it, and I don't think it's treated as a +5 weapon to determine what it can hit.

The Mace of Disruption is also useful against monsters than can only be injured by blunt damage (in which case axes are useless). This isn't a great benefit in itself, but it makes the Mace more flexible. For blunt damage and general use, I prefer the Flail of Ages or Crom Faeyr, but if you have proficiency points in Mace but none in Flail or Warhammer, that's just another reason to prize the Mace of Disruption. (If I'm not mistaken, +5 blunt weapons can hit anything in BG2: Shadows of Amn.)

[Venge]

I have just installed the unofficial patch and the bonusmerchants from here, seemed to me to be a good idea.
So I have changed that detail from when I started this post.

I am sort of siding with given my dwarf fighter hammers and axes for duel wielding.
Just the mental picture it brings is pretty cool.

[JackOfClubs]

Another disadvantage of Azuredge is that it has a throwing-axe aspect, so it is treated as a missile weapon. In other words, it cannot be dual-wielded.

[Bruce Lee]

About party composition. A bard, especially the blade is an awesome tank. Defensive spin, stoneskin, mirror image and improved bard song makes the bard very hard to kill. Have him up front as a decoy is my suggestion.

[Bruce Lee]

Of course an even better option if you want to make it easy for yourself is to play as a blace yourself and get haerdalis in your party. Now if both of you sing it will turn the rest of your party into kensai berserkers. Makes for a very easy ride through the game.

[fable]

Originally posted by JackOfClubs
Another disadvantage of Azuredge is that it has a throwing-axe aspect, so it is treated as a missile weapon. In other words, it cannot be dual-wielded.

It is only treated as a missile weapon if you select that option. It can also function as a single-handed axe, in which case it's a single-handed slashing weapon.