in my limited experience with this game, I've noticed there are many random item drops, which I think is really great.

what ones are best? is it cheese to reload a bad random item? is there a list of random stuff vs. things that are in every game that i can look at?

My favorite include:
_The belt of beatification. Very useful at the beginning of the game. Appears quite frequently.
_Axe +2 defender. Usually get it by Dragon's Eye and lasts for quite some time.
_(Flaming?) longsowrd. The one that does fire damage. *Very* handy against trolls in DE, though it doesnt appear all that often.
_Morningstar (of holiness?). The one that grants you extra clerical spells. Appears by Severed Hand. Not too frequent though.
_Armor which allows you to cast spells.
_The cat in the bag.

EDIT: And
I hate to say this but, this is becoming more popular than the BG2 forums. :D I couldnt believe it could happen, but it actually did. More posts here than in BG2SoA and been so at least for the last 10 days now.
Mainly I think due to krunchyforg and NobleNick coming back.

[ 09-26-2005, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: ZFR ]

<font color = lightgreen>I am rather fond of the Longbow +4: Hammer, because it gives 4 attacks per round. In the hands of a mid- to high-level fighter with at least ++ in bows, it is nastily effective. Load it with acid arrows for caustic fun! [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

Another must for fighters is the Ring of Reckless Action. +2 AC penalty but gives an extra attack per round. </font>

I like that girdle of beatification a lot (it's like a RoP, but you can still wear a RoP!). I'm also quite fond of the Huge Long Bow (who wants an archer in melee anyway?).

I second Azred on the Hammer Longbow, and don't forget the heavy crossbow that shoots 3x per round. Bolts of Biting and Bolts of Lightning are nearly on par with acid arrows, and actually better in some cases.

The +2 Defender axe is not random. There are plenty of maces etc that grant extra clerical spells, but I don't like them because you lose the extra slot if you switch weapons - one reason to take a couple Spiritual Hammer spells and forego the sling in the late game. Same thing with mage daggers, or otherwise I would vote for the +4 mage dagger.

There are three random drop spots for elven chain.

Aerich, please tell me Bards can wear (and cast spells) wearing Elven chain!

[img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]
That's the one I was referring to in the first post. Very useful for fighter/mages too.

Aerich, there are three random drops for it? I thought 2 only. Though personally I always got it in one place only. Can you spoil as to the exact locations?

Yes, elven chain was made for bards. ;) Fighter/mages will eventually get robes that are equal or better than elven chain, but they will use the EC for quite a long time.

I thought there were three - lemme think...

LOCATION SPOILERS
*
*
*
I'm sure of two, but I'm uncertain of the third.

1) Kaylessa - you get a random item from her in addition to the boots of speed. Sometimes the item is elven chain - it's the best of the bunch because it has 20% cold resistance.

2) 3rd level of Solonar tower (priests) in a chest.

3) Not sure - maybe Corellon tower (officers)?