Thieves skill for a MC Thief/Wizard

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Aye, I intend to do the whole sage of SOA and TOB real soon. But I reconsider and I came to the conclusion that my F/C wasn't right for me.

The reson might seem foolish but I made up my choice.

First:

His romantic interest is Aerie. And she remind me too much of my ex-girlfriend

Second:

My party hadn't enough wizards spell and it's well known that without magic you won't survive TOB.

Third:

Imoen's skill are too low to be effective in TOB, Nalia is worse and Jan is quite the low power, but he's realy funny.

Fourth:

Thieves HLA are really cool.

Fifth:

I haven't played evil in SOA nor a elf, so I'll be en evil elf! But not one of those f**** drow I hate drow.

SO My questions is Which thief skill ought I to upgrade?

 

Well, eventually you'll have enough skill points to have all of them at a decent level, if you ignore useless bumf like Detect Illusions. I usually get Lockpicking to 95%, Detect/Disarm Traps to 100% and work from there. My preference is then to go for Pickpocketing - to help retrieve shiny ones - but others like to start pumping Set Traps. Of course, if you want to backstab effectively, you'll need some measure of Hide/Move Silently, but as there are quite a few items lying around that boost these, they're not high priority. Also, a straight M/T will lack some backstabbing punch, due to a lack of profs and THAC0, so you'll be better of sitting at the back, shooting arrows.

It's just those first two you need to worry about really - the rest is dependent on your own playing style.

And your last girlf was like Aerie?!

 

Yup. Only a little less whinning and cuter.

Aye, But I've got 18 str, and by the end of the game their will be alot of Magical weapons to effectively backstab. And Tenser's Transformation + Improved invibility + Non detection = One of a hell backstaber!

Yeah I think too Open Lock and Find Trap are the most important. I won't neglect the Move silently and Hide into shadows though, but it is true that some items make stealth a lot easier. I figure a base of 65 will be enough. I was just wondering once they are max which are the best Set trap maybe?

 

For combat, Set Trap is a winner. The ability to lay snares is so so useful against tough foes, because they cut right through any and all protections. Demilich, Dragon... it doesn't matter, they'll all fall eventually. I just like pickpocketing for the ability to steal from stores and the general populace. Also, it's sometimes possible to nab healing potions from those who are neutral before battle (e.g. Mencar & crew, Thieves' stronghold), which helps things run a bit smoother. But as far as I know, I'm the only one with the patience to try this; it often takes a few reloads to pull it off, even with maxed pickpocketing.

I'll also take this opportunity to insert a plug for the FMT... A superior scrapper, with few losses on the spellcasting and thieving side.

 

A 19Dex Elf starts off with the following skill points already assigned. By L13 he should get another 13*25=325 more skill points.
Pick Pockets 35+90=125
Open Locks 25+50=75
Find Traps 15+60=75
Move Silently 30+25=55
Hide in Shadows 30
Set Traps 0+100=100
Detect Illusions 0

Start off with Pick Pockets, get it to 125 and you can steal pretty much whatever you want.
Get Open Locks and Find Traps till 75 and only the rare traps will trouble you.
Next comes Set Traps, till 100.
Finally get Move Silently and Hide in Shadows. Since backstabbing is unadvisable till L13 and you getting Tenser's Transform, this skill can be taken later.
Detect Illusion is very useful when the enemy uses any illusionary spell (Invisible, IInvisible, Mislead, you name it). Get it to 100 atleast.

 

How does detect illusions work? Does the thief do nothing for it to be effective (like turning undead) or is it automatic?
There is always True Sight.
Elven Mage/thief is fun. I started one but couldn't continue it (as I am rather used to clerical powers) but it was quite fun.
Do you have to be eviil? I know it sounds kinda cool but please be good and nice!
Do not abuse set traps or you will cheese through even the HARDEST battles and you will have NO FUN AT ALL.

 

Detect Illusions is in action whenever you're detecting traps... so yes, like Turning, you can't attack and use it at the same time. This is my real problem with it; it makes it difficult to remember to use in combat, and there's no real guarantee it'll work. At least with True Sight, for instance, once it's cast it will stay active whatever. Although Keldorn may not be an option for Ofelix, if he's playing it evil.

 

That thief in Underdark (don't remember his name) uses it. Usually, he detects your thief who you have made invisible to stab Nash'tar, and usually, you appear right in front of Boz, the nasty Ogre. But set it to 100, and you might be able to succed. I have never tried it myself.

 

I think other skills are more important. You don't need a very high pickpocket skill rating, since if you are planning to do some major haul from a shopkeeper, buy and drink a few potions of master thievery and potions of mind focusing, this will increase your PP rating significantly. Then go and steal all you want. I did GREAT money with Nalia using thi strategy. The best place is obviously Shadowthieves, just sell something EXPENSIVE, steal back, sell again etc. you will have a fortune, more than enough for the entire game sooner.
BUT BECAREFUL, the thief lass there has a nasty tendency to catch you! And if you are caught, some cool (abeit nasty and terrfying) music will begin and Arkanis Garth will be there to punish you! (just load)

 

Aye? only 75 find trap. Imoen with 85 couldn't disable most of the watcher keep traps.

Anyway I never played SOA evil so what're do you think of me party lads?

Me
Jaheira - Love interest and she's just SO powerful to let her go
Vicconia - Eh, Although I loath drow I need a cleric
Korgan
Edwin
Yoshimo/Imoen, Yeah I know she's good but still Family is family and I want the best of SOA and TOB's story.

And during TOB I'll switch Korgan with Sarevok. I never liked that bloody dwarf.

I don't realy see a point in Detect Illusion, I mean I just have to cast True seeing and I'm okay.

 

So change it to the following for a L13 thief:
Pick Pockets 35+65=100
Open Locks 25+75=100
Find Traps 15+85=100
Move Silently 30
Hide in Shadows 30
Set Traps 0+100=100
Detect Illusions 0

Detect Illusions is True Seeing castable however many times you want per day. It works basically with the find traps button. You stay still for a round and then anyone invisible around you will be unveiled. This punches thru Spell Immunity: Divination iirc.
It even goes thru if you cast non-detection and invisibility on someone. But when you are wearing a cloak of non-detection and hide in shadows ...

Seems like a waste to have a charecter you will dump later on. Why dont you reconsider. Take Anomen instead of Korgan and Viccy, and have him fail his test. You need frontline muscle and Anomen (regardless of how big a jerk he is) is great.

 

Nah...he only ever gets 2 attacks per round. True...he can hit for almost 30 damage once you buff him up nicely, but its still only 2 attacks.

Korgan now...hehe, he's a monster once you get him dual-weilding any 2 good axes. Nothing quite like 5 attacks per round.

 

as far as i know you need 120 skill points to disarm some traps in ToB but you can use rings temporarily to find&disarm them. whenever i use a thief i do the usual thief trick. set a trap, hide backstab the boss and lure them to the trap. it is effective and it utilizes the thief (he should be more than just a trap disarmer)

 

Yeah, Imoen tried to disarm a trap in Watcher's Keep, but the trap was sprung as she foiled it and it was a PRISMATIC SPRAY, worse still she was caught by the most devastating color, and failed her save! (a mage at that level!)

She was disintegrated into dust right before my hands! My only beloved childhood friend, my very first companion as an adventurer, and also my little cute sister was slain most horribly and irreversibly! NNOO!

Luckily, there was a save so I loaded,(thanks God there is no such things in my real life) though I had to fight a huge group of demons again but it was worth Imoen.
When she wore the ring of trap finding, she could manage with no problem.

 

Actually, I have taken Imoen as my primary thief all the way through ToB. There are enough thief-enhancing items in the game that she is adequate for finding and disarming traps, and for picking locks. For the minimalist thief, that's all you really need to do. If laying traps and backstabbing are your thing though, Imoen is not for you.

I agree that Nalia is not a very good choice as the primary thief. She's basically an Imoen clone with worse theiving abilities, and even with all of the enhancement items, you'll still have trouble in parts.

However, I disagree strongly about Jan. Because he is a multi-class, and not a dual classed character, by the time you hit ToB, all of his thief skills are maxed out, even without his special equipment or other enhancement items. Actually, if you're going to make a multi-class T/M, your skills will be the equivalent of Jan's (assuming similar XP levels), because Jan is also a multi-classed thief.

 

Too bad Yoshimo was a traitor, he would have been a good choice with the Celestial Fury. But if you want a true skilled thief in TOB, you must either: Play as one yourself, have Jan Jansen or dualclass Sarevok to a thief. Either that, or Valen could be a choice, despite her weakness in sunlight.

 

@ Aldeth the Foppish Idiot
i,too, used Imoen as my only thief truout the whole game for many times and she was quiet effective (not as a backstabber though). so if you are gonna use your thief only to disarm traps, MC is not the way to go