Which familiar is best at opening locks and find/remove traps?

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Im trying for a solo no reloads run with a FMC. This familiar would fit this character best IMHO.

I'm having trouble finding the stats of each though. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

 

Rabbit has by far the highest Find/Disarm Traps skill (45 in SoA, 85 in ToB). Which isn't really saying much because the only other familiar with this skill is the ferret (15/55). For some reason cat has 0 in Find Traps in SoA, but then suddenly gets 55 points in ToB like ferret. It even gets more points in Detect Illusions than the rabbit. But yeah, by the time you reach ToB, that's all pretty much irrelevant.

 

Thank you Keneth.

Is the 45 in SoA also 45 in BGEE?

 

As far as i know none of the familiars stats have been changed in the enhanced edition.
Personally i feel like regardless of what familiar you pick, it shouldn't be out of your pack for most of the time anyway.

Also, keep in mind that while great for BG:EE, in BG2:EE a F/M/C will never be able to attain a mage level high enough to unlock lvl 9 spells. This is a pretty big limitation since you won't get to use spells like improved alacrity,timestop or wish.
You could probably do without the fighter part, since clerics have ways of boosting strength and thac0 to fighter levels through spells.

You will have a tougher time in the beginning (if you start in BG:EE) until you get such cleric spells as Holy Power + DuHM (Holy power for 18/00 str and 1/3rd level in thac0 bonus, draw upon holy might after that to add even more strength on top of that 18/00. available once you get 4th level cleric spells.) and Righteous magic (+1 hp per caster level, +1 strength per 3 caster levels, and all attacks that connect do maximum damage! available when you get 5th level cleric spells.)
Going M/C instead of F/M/C you would be giving up 2 pips in weapon specialization, some HP and 0.5 attacks per round, which is not too huge a loss in my opinion.

 

Thank you for your input. It is valued.

I like the fighter aspect too much to go solo without it. I mean, I *can* do it, I just prefer not to.

I plan on making good use of Vhailor's Helm and the simulacrum spell with any level 9 scrolls in quick slots for "special occasions."

 

That's so

But hey, it's your character - do what you like.

 

I don't think it's too cheesy. LOL

 

Abusing item copies via simulacrum is practically the definition of cheese. In fact, if you look up "cheese" on Wikipedia, I'm pretty sure you'll find that somewhere.

 

I view cheese as breaking rules, or stealing/selling wands for as much money as you could ever want right after leaving Chateaû Irenicus.

JMO.

 

I'm pretty sure there's no ^ on top of the last u in chateau. Unless that's something they do in canadian french.

As for cheese, using a simulacrum to use scrolls is just good thinking. What else is a simulacrum for? Using restore on that simulacrum to remove the lower level restriction, now that is more like actual cheese.

 

Really? Damn. I'll correctly spell chateau from now on. My bad.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château

Looks like I was stickin it in the wrong spot.

 

Well Simulacrum clones also get to keep all the innate abilities of the caster, including HLAs. That's why they're so popular with multiclasses (HLAs) and bards/rogue types (high base caster level).
Wizards and dual class casters usually just use Project Image.

I think cheese is different from breaking the rules. Anyone can beat the game using the spam Web/Entangle + bombard area with AoE spells/wand charges tactic, for example, which can lead to a snowballing effect (your characters gain powerful gear that allows them to go on a rampage for the rest of the game) and removing like 50% of the challenge the game offers.
Very cheesy.

 

Well, simulacrum isn't supposed to copy your equipment in the first place. It's just how they've implemented it (naively, I might add). Therefore, abusing its ability to replicate items is very much a cheesy approach to the game even though the rules might allow it. If you were playing 3E P&P and you used astral projection with your wizard to duplicate yourself and then planar travel back to the material plane, effectively copying all your gear/abilities and being completely free to do stupid shit because it doesn't matter if your projection dies, then you could fully expect your DM to spawn a couple of Astral Dreadnoughts on your arse the next time you tried to pull shit like that (assuming they don't flat out houserule it, like I did). Resource management is an important part of D&D, and obviating it has the distinct smell of aged dairy products.

 

I generally like aged dairy products, so that's fine with me

That aside, I only know the implementation of the rules as it is in the games, so if the game just works like this, I assume it's as intended.

 

Lack of foresight is a common problem for game systems designers. I should know, I've been guilty of it more times than I can count. The road to the Nine Hells is paved with good intentions.

 

Just picking nits here, but this game is based on 2e rules.

I never had a wizard get high enough in PnP games to cast simulacrum, but I'd imagine it's the same.

 

Yeah, 2E simulacrum works in the same way: You make a sculpture out of snow and you give it an illusory appearance of the desired creature. It doesn't replicate items either, but PnP simulacra are cheesy for entirely different reasons since you can create a duplicate of any creature, not just yourself.