Hi,

In my team I have a Paladin and a dwarf fighter among others.

I just started chapter 5 and I have some extra supplies with me which I have to decide if I must sell them or keep them because I have no more space in my inventories.

I would like to ask, what great swords or axes found in the previous chapters I need to keep? I have found many and I don't want to list all of them. At the moment my Paladin is using the "Hold Fast" long sword (and a magical large shield) and my fighter is wielding the "Cairn Blade‎". Are these the best?

PS: Conlan has some neat stuff too. Shall I buy anything from him?

Thanks.

You only need one melee weapon per character. All monsters can be hurt with +3 weapons or better, so you'll be fine whether you find better random weapons or not.
Sell the magic weapons you don't need in the Severed Hand, you get the best prices there.

In chapter 6, you can find a longsword called "Pale justice". It's probably the best longsword in the game but can only be used by Paladins. Watch out though because it looks just like a normal longsword and doesn't have a 'blue border' to indicate that it's a magic sword.

Thanks.

How can I now if a weapon is +3 (if it is not stated explicitly in the name?). For example, "Hold Fast" is a long sword with a damage 1D8+3. Does this make it a +3 weapon?

Check the THAC0 of your character with no weapon and then compare it to the THAC0 with the weapon equipped. If it goes from say 14 to 11 that means it is a +3 weapon.
You may also have to factor in weapon skills that may lower THAC0. Been a while since I played IWD so I don't remember excactly how the weapon skills work.

Yes, it does. A normal longsword does 1-8 damage, "Hold Fast" grants +3 to hit and +3 to damage, so it's a +3 weapon. The "Cairn Blade" grants +4 to hit and +4 to damage compared to a normal 2-handed sword so it's a +4 weapon.
It's quite obvious from the in-game weapon descriptions how magical they are.