Here, Coalocanth agreed that this fight was tough, and he's helped me so often I forgive him for not being able to spell “coalecanth.” Walkthroughs also said it was hard going. If you found it easy you must be a hard man in this particular fantasy realm.

The position I used was the one I started from. It's true that the Luremaster was not so hard to kill, just as soon as you get the small matter of the 13 spectral heroes out of the way. I completely avoided melee combat with them.

I don't think I've ever seen a decent halberd. I don't know what I was thinking when I made it one fighter's fave instrument of death. How good is the one found in Easthaven?

You think my equipment is weak? Other than the mage, everybody has +3 or +4 weapons, and I generally keep the mage out of combat. Those are as powerful as I've seen. I'd buy the two you mentioned if they're +4.I listed my party's fave weapons, and maces and hammers weren't among them.

Actually, today the accepted spelling is: coelacanth

The way I spell it is the old spelling, which was used when I went through university and got my Geology degree. :)

+3 weapons are good enough to hurt anyone including Behilfet, so don't worry about this. Make sure your fighters are as proficient as possible in the weapon types they're using, proficiency es make a difference.
You get bonuses to hit, damage and even extra attacks with high proficiency.

Using a +3 weapon you have grandmastery with is better than using a +10 weapon you aren't even proficient with.

It is a tough fight at first but when you figure it out, it isn't too tough. You're also playing on hard whereas I only played on normal, I'm sure that's going make a difference. I'm definitely bumping up the difficulty slider on my next playthrough though.

The halberd was only an ordinary one I bought from Pomab's emporium, nothing special about it. Between the start of the game and the blind dwarf in HOW, the only other halberd I found was the one sold by Conlan. Not even a halberd +1 turned up during my adventures. I had the same problem with quarterstaves and clubs (though many good clubs start turning up in HOW)

I didn't mean that your equipment was weak, just that it seemed a little on the weak side as I was using +4 and +5 weapons at that point mostly. +3 weapons can hit anything in the game as there are no damage type immunities (eg, Shamblers being immune to bludgeon damage). Seeing your list of +3 weapons, I just assumed you might have missed a few good +4,+5 weapons, that was all. +3 weapons will still see you till the end of the game regardless.

Unlike halberds, quarterstaves and clubs, there are tons of good maces in the game, even before you get the Three White Doves. The Three White Doves is a +4 mace that does bonus damage to undead, or even destroying them outright. This was my solo F/T/M's end game weapon. Inconsequence is also a +4 weapon but also gives a +5 damage bonus and +4 THAC0 against good and evil creatures. You just can't go wrong with these two weapons. I always have characters who can use maces or hammers.

The spelling, “coalecanth,” is not unknown to Google. Perhaps that was one of the lies I was told at skool.

That was interesting talk about weapons, so many thanks, guys, for your input.

I've never seen +5 weapons. Guess I missed them.

+5 weapons were rare, not every weapon class had them. I can only remember three off the top of my head. Slayer is a +5 spear you get from killing Shikata in Lower Dorns Deep and I remember a +5 club in a container in the Burial Isle. Singing Blade of Aihonen can be considered +6 long sword but you only get that at the very end of game in Easthaven AND if you helped Jhonen at the start of the game. The Pale Justice long sword you find in the artisans district in lower dorns deep also qualifies as it gives a +7 bonus against evil creatures but only paladins can use it. There might be more but I can't recall them right now.

+4 weapons on the other hand, there are loads of.

Take notice that he doesnt "dissapear", actually I found that he HIDES in the down corners of the screen, or in the top ones, teleporting from each to other, and with the confusion is pretty difficult to see where he is, sometimes even the game doesnt allow you to see him as the "perspective" hide him.