POLL: Is stealing Ribald's ring cheesy?

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@Fel - I can't be the only one who has someone die during a fight. Even with my experience playing this game, I still get someone who won't drink their potions or cast their spells.

Stealing the ring isn't cheesy. If you think so, don't steal it.

 

Of course not; happens to me on occasion as well. But that doesn't mean there can't be someone better than us. There are likely thousands of players, and only one gets to be 'the best'.

 

It never occurred to me to pick Ribalds' pockets...! Interesting...Oh and what's a ring of Gaxx? I've never heard of that before either. Although I'm not surprised since I bet there's still a heap of other things I don't know about...hehehe...

 

Late in the discussion though I am, I can't see how it's cheesy to get something the game offers you when it's offered. As for reloading after a failed pickpocket - take that in the context of how you play the game as a whole. Where else would you reload?

I've replayed the game all the way through twice and into its early stages several times, fiddling around with different PC types and different NPC's in the party. When I have a good thief I do usually take a potion of master thievery and pickpocket as many people as I think I can get away with. You don't get a lot from most of the bystanders but I've stolen enough money and gems to buy a weapon or two I wouldn't have been able to buy at that stage, and sometimes you get minor potions or spells. And, yes, if I blow it in the middle of one of these thieving sprees I reload. Cheesy, maybe.

 

^You have a point. You can also reload when your character dies, or an NPC dies irreversibly. The game offers this option, if BG series was hardcore without a save/load chance, than few people will be willing to play it. It is important to have fun while playing a game, you know?

 

a theif or bard can pick pocket and its there. its not like your trying to get a second ring of gaxx or something.

reloading if you fail until you get it, thats cheesy. reloading until you win a fight is totally different, you try different tactics each time, what tactics are their for picking a pocket?

using a potion and/or luck spell, is fairly standard practice for some. but even with all that if you fail you might try relaod and do it again and again the exact same way until it works, thats not really tactical is it.

 

Just because I feel like contributing something to this ancient and venerable thread:

Stealing the ring isn't cheesy, but drinking half a dozen potions of master thievery beforehand, so that you can be guaranteed of sucess, is - why those things stack will be forever beyond me...

 

I allways felt stealing it was cheasy - unless you played as a Burglar. Thus almost never stealing this ring. BTW I almost always play as a cleric with tons of healingspells. But anyone might do it as oneself prefer I say.

FYI Improved Anvil ver. 4 alters Ribald's ring of reg. in such manner as it cannot be stolen anymore. The same with Ring of Gaxx from Tolgerias.

 

Ring of Gaxx from Tolgerias?

Kangaxx has the Ring of Gaxx
Tolgerias has the ring of the Ram

 

This question is tantamount to asking if it is cheesy to use a longsword +1 dropped by a enemy. Would that be cheesy? No, of course not. Your characters used an allowed skill and game mechanic- putting the pointy end of the sword into the bad guys and reaped the reward.
In a similar vein, you use the pick pocket ability (it's not like you had SK it or something) a perfectly legal game mechanic and you benefit from that one, too. Why is this so hard?

 

IMHO, 'cheese' constitutes abusing flaws in the game system and AI. For instance, stealing Ribald's ring isn't cheese. But stealing the Ring of Gaax from Kangaax, and then killing him to obtain another one, would be considered cheese.

 

It's cheesy, IMHO, if that's the only character your thief Pick Pockets.

If you pick half the NPCs that are in the game, then no, it's not cheesy. If ONLY you're picking Ribald's pocket because you know he's got a great ring for the early going, then yeah, it's cheesy.

Think about it: this is a Role-Playing Game. Is it in your characters role to only pick one person's pockets the whole game? If so, why'd you pick Ribald Barterman?

 

So acting on foreknowledge is cheese? Does that mean that we all engage in cheese when we use the reload feature?

Hardly.

 

Reloading isn't cheesy (unless you're playing "no-reloads" of course), but prebuffing before a "surprise" attack certainly is cheesy.

 

So adapting your tactics to suit the opponent upon a reload is 'cheesy'?

 

Using knowledge your character would never have, in a role playing game is cheesy.

If you're truly role-playing, how do you justify knowing that Ribald has this ring? How do you justify buffing up before a "surprise" battle?

 

Well, one could justify the buffing before surprise battles, at least in dungeons and other hostile places, with the fact that you should be prepared in a dungeon containing monsters. It's to be expected that something will try and ambush you if it can, and thus preparing for it is common sense.

But still, I agree that stealing Ribald's Ring is somewhat cheesy if you aren't going to feel other full pockets as well, so to speak, at least if we're talking from the RP-point of view. Although Ribald is a rich merchant and probably has plenty of valuables, many others do as well.

 

This works for long duration buffs (such as Stoneskin) and most adventurers would use them when going into a hostile environment. However, the one combat only buffs which have shorter durations (eg Fireshield or Mirror Image) cannot really be justified this way as they would run out too fast.

 

Thanks, Decados. If you want to "justifiably" have bless on before a battle, cast it all the time, including places YOU know where you won't need it, but not places YOUR CHARACTER wouldn't.

 

True, only the longer buffs are justifiable. I didn't think it trough. Thanks for clearing things up.