POLL: Stalker or Archer: which is better for a Solo adventure?

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What is his backstab multiplier? If it's x1, then you won't see any increase in damage. It increases as he levels.

 

thank you Blackthorne

he's lvl 12 so it should be x2

oh yeah i wanted to know, is it a good idea to put points in two-handed swords and two-handed weapon style to make maximum backstab damage later on ?

 

You can't Backstab with Two-Handed swords. Basically, if a thief (pre-UAI) can't use it, you won't do extra backstab damage with it. So pick your proficiencies appropriately. Two-handed weapon style may still be useful, however, because you can backstab (backsmack?) with quarterstaffs. A x4 critical hit backstab from the Staff of the Ram (or in SoA, a Staff of Striking) is not to be sneezed at!

EDIT: a note on Azuredge. I believe you said that Azuredge didn't work for you against skeletons etc. If so, are you using the Baldurdash fixes? I believe it was a bug with the original game that Azuredge would auto-kill vampires, but not other types of undead. IIRC, Baldurdash fixes this.

 

thank you for your quick answer

no i dont have baldurdash installed, i only installed the official patch, i dont enjoy playing with unofficial stuff, feels like i'm not playing with the real game

x4 backstab damage ? the max damage is x3 i think.... anyway i'm not a big fan of quarterstaffs, so i guess i'll just put points in katana or scimitar instead

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argh my stalker cannot use the amulet of power, is there any other item that protects against level drain ?

 

Sarevok66 - is there a reason you haven't considered playing a fighter/thief? I would think he could do everything you want him to and then some.

 

oh no if only i had known earlier

i already soloed with an assassin, which was fun, but i've never tried dual class / multiclass chars, the former because you cannot progress in one of the two classes, and the latter because it isnt available to humans

but i always hear good things of kensai/mage, so maybe some day.....

 

So you won't play non-human? Hmm. That strikes me as...well, boring.

If it's the look of the human avatars you like, I recommend playing a half-orc fighter/thief. 19 in both STR and CON should help you get over the non-human aspect. I also highly recommend elves, half-elves, and definitely a halfling fighter/thief.

There's a third option - since the 2nd edition D&D rule of "no human mutli-class" is arbitrary and nonsensical, you could create your ideal fighter/thief as a half-elf and use Shadowkeeper to change him back to a human. Problem solved.

 

well i might be trying non-human multiclass chars in the near future, as i've soloed with all of the interesting classes available to humans already... the problem is that i dont like races made popular by the LOTR series (which i loathe), such as orcs and elves, halflings.... but this is probably about to change due to a lack of options in human char creation

aside from that, i just managed to beat Bodhi at the end of chapter 3 thanks to a scroll of protection from undead, so i need more of those, i already bought one from the spell merchant north of promenade and two from Ribald.... does anyone know of any other places where to purchase these particular scrolls ?

 

As for dual class fighter/thieves you may not be able to continue leveling up as the original class, but you will retain many abilities that you wouldn't otherwise have, such as weapon grandmastery, better THAC0, resists, hitpoints, etc. I would strongly recommend a dual class berserker/thief. Berserker rage makes them immune to level drain and a whole bunch of other stuff, so you really don't need to worry about equipping an item. Thieves level up pretty fast, so it shouldn't be too hard to get your fighter skills back... depending on how high you take fighter.

 

but i already soloed the entire game with a berserker, so what would be the point of dual classing him ?

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well eventually i killed sir sarles (and lost 7 points of rep by doing so) and took back the illithium ore from his corpse, but now i have the mace of disruption +2, and needn't worry about the shadow dragon and vampires anymore

 

By now you should have so much gold that raising your rep back via a Church should be no problem.

 

As it's your game, not mine, it's up to you to decide what the point is, or if there is a point. I was merely keying off your comment that you have never played a dual class character because they stop leveling up in their original class, and you happened to be discussing a fighter/thief with another forum member at the time.

I wanted to provide the "glass half full" perspective on your reasoning. Yeah, they don't continue to level up in their original class (glass half empty), but they DO get lots of neat perks that the second class (i.e. the active class) wouldn't get on its own.

 

thanks but i ain't gonna need them anymore, i've got the mace hehe

which cloak do you guys think to be better for a stalker: Balduran's or Montolio's (i got Belm for the off-hand) ?

 

Definitely Stalker. Not only due to the stealth and backstab, but the thac0 for a bow is based on dexterity, if you do a stalker elf (19 dex) you can still get pretty good thac0 with a bow, not as good as an archer but still pretty good, but you also get the better innate abilities, 3 Mage spells, stealth, backstab and two pips for weapons , not just one. It is overall a more versatile class kit.

Oh and I almost forgot the 3 pips you get in dual wielding!

 

Stalker, and then dual at 13 or 18 into a cleric to give you cleric and Druid spells and backstab

 

Stalker. Backstabbing means you will often insta-kill the most dangerous enemies of a group (usually mages/clerics) right from the outset, and if you don't mind dragging the battle out a bit, you can run and hide, insta-kill another enemy, rinse and repeat. Plus the enhanced spells the stalker gets, like haste, really come in handy if you are soloing.


That is not to say the archer doesn't have it's benefits. Since you will be soloing your levels, and thus your bow damage, will really skyrocket, plus you don't ever have to be on the frontlines to be the most effective- let your moon dog do the tanking for you.

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Woops, just now realized this is an older thread.