The Lack of a Decent Thief

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Is there anything more annoying then this. I was doing my game with the Assassin and that got boring quick, so I tried a Kensai and I was going for the "I Never Used You Party" including Haer, Mazzy, Anomen, Viconia and Minsc because I always use Minsc, and I still needed a theif which meant I had to boot someone for the same old Yoshi, Nalia or Jan.

Did they think that every person who played the game would want to use a theif or something?

[ February 03, 2004, 14:10: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

 

There are similar thoughts about whether or not you really need a cleric and the answer is the same: it depends on how you're going to play.

Admittedly, it would be very difficult to get by without a thief as there are times when one is needed -- whether it be to get certain side quest items or simply to disarm traps. Mages have the knock spell which will unlock most anything locked, but why would you waste the spell slots?

I bring along a thief for locks, traps, and ranged fighting -- that's it. Don't need to be bothered with backstabbing or pocket picking, which is why I always (with rare exception) have Nalia in my party. For all intents and purposes, she's a mage with a few thief skills but the skills she does have is all I use anyway so she suits my needs just fine.

In short, is a thief absolutely necessary? No more so than any other class. Would I play without one? No way.

 

Much of the game requires a thief since only they can remove traps. I play the game in multiplayer and bring in my own P&P thief; you could try this option if you can't stand the ones the game supplies.

 

It's also possible to detect traps with the cleric spell of the same name. I believe Monks and some familiars can also detect traps. You can then "detonate" the traps using summoned monsters or a highly magic-resistant character. I hate these strategies myself (I always have a thief no matter what), but there is always an alternative.

 

I think the reason they supply you with no theives is that they want you to take Yoshi to preserve the storyline. Nalia needs items/potions to be a reliable lock picker/trap disarmer. The intent of the programmers was likely they intended you take Yoshi with you at first, and then when you re-acquired Imoen, you would have the most basic thief skills at your disposal. I still say that Jan is the best thief to have around. His thief skills keep improving, and he has decent mage skills to boot. Great thief, and good backup mage.

 

stealth is also useful, to the point being almost cheese, if you like using your stealthy character as an artillery spotter. But you can get that from minsc (or valygar if his banter doesn't put you to sleep)...

 

To be honest, I've played through the entire game with Nalia or Jan as my only thief and their detecting traps ability has been more then adequate to get me past most problems. They might not be in Yoshimo's league but you can keep them all the time and their thieving abilities worked fine right up to the end of TOB.

 

I think you're spot on about the lack of thieves being a device to force Yoshimo into the party. However, the original plot called for Imoen to die in Spellhold (until the fans found out!). Imoen doesn't even have a banter file and very few interjections in quests because she had to be hastily re-added.

 

Really? I never knew that. How did it leak out that she was gonna eat it? Was it on purpose or accidental? And what was the deal exactly? There was a major outcry from the player community and they decided to add her back in?

And most of all, who wanted Imoen to NOT die? How could you have such a big attachment to a whiny character?

 

Actually, one proposed storyline was to have Irenicus use Imoen, in Ravager form, to destroy Suldanesselar. Quite an interesting change in story they created...

 

Unfinished Business going to restore that storyline icelus?

 

Is there a website anywhere that lists all the changes to the main storyline that were made before the game came out? I heard the rumour about Irenicus turning Imoen into the slayer and having her attack Suldanessalar but I didn't know she was originally supposed to die in Spellhold.

I wonder what else they changed.