The Dark Side is Tempting

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Currently I have two games running, one is good and one is evil and I have found that my evil party really has the easier path. My main character is a half-orc Fighter/Swashbuckler (I used Shadow Keeper, yes mommy I know I'm naughty) packing impressive Str 19, Dex 17, Con 19 with rather pitiful mental abilities. And I have the regular evil NPCs Viconia, Edwin, Korgan and soon-to-have Sarevok.

This party is rather melee based with Korgan and the PC bashing anything to death (PC is using two-handed sword and quarterstaff) with Korgan doing the good axe/warhammer + shield thing. Viccy found some gauntlets of ogre power that I'll use later for Crom Feyer (sp?) that allows her to wear plate, lug the fortress [shield] around and spin the Flail of Ages and even use sling of seeking adding her nice str bonus to the attack. Edwin sits at the back as a disabler rather than a direct combatant with Viconia curing the fighters of any aliments that would befall them.

The fact that I only have 4 characters has led to a steady level increase. I've managed to keep my reputation about 10-12 by being nasty and justifing my motives just to scorn the bastards (e.g. slaver quest: PC didn't like that raspy voiced owner and set the slaves free because he ain't gonna be pushed around by none half-wit guard).

However my good party is doing 'okay' with Keldorn fixing any mages. Main character (elf sorcerer) disabling and offensive spells. Minsc up front working on his subtle art of putting the sharp end into the squishy things. Aerie as a slow progressing cleric for healing and using her mage abilities to occasionally helps Keldorn bring down mage defences and providing buffs and fixing ailments for party. Yoshi was my lockpicker/trap-disarmer yet I replaced him with Imoen who now must get drunk on thieving potions before she can pick/disarm some things and when she's not passed out over her thief tools she's chucking fireballs and skull traps around. I've left a space open for Sarevok since I don't think I really need anyone at the moment. Keldorn and Minsc hold the front rather well and I've got both with strength enhancing gear and Keldorn has gloves of Dexterity however trying to protect my 3 feeble other characters is becoming bothering (I've cast stoneskin so many times I hear the casting sound in my sleep).

However the main concern is that my evil party is having the easier run. Although I've never died yet I've come far too close with my 'good' party while the evil party hasn't even had a member die while I'm two raise-dead away from a free greater-restoration at the temple of Oghma due to Imoen getting peppered with arrows and Aerie being slaughtered by the occasional enemy that breaks past my big men.

The other factor to notice is that NONE of the 'good' party have a top ability score that is the primary ability for their primary class bar Keldorn's 18 charisma (I don't think Minsc's 18/93 STR counts as top, not quite 18/100). While the evil party are backing 19 CON for Korgan, 18 WIS for Viccy and 18 INT for Edwin. These were 'very' helpful at the start and still remain to be.

Not to mention being evil is far more fun, especially with Edwin being a complete laugh a few days of every month... we really should do something about that.

I'm just finding Evil to be so easy... I'm starting to ignore the moral personal problems with killing (might be a spoiler!!!!) Valygar to use his body to get into the Sphere. I'm tempted to simply kill anyone who gives me a hard time, I know I can and I know the city guard and the Cowled Wizards can't do anything to stop me.

 

First, welcome to the boards.

Secondly, come, come now. As an evil player myself, you can't justify a reputation of 10-12. If you're going to be evil, do it the RIGHT way and keep that rep down. For a full diseration on being evil, talk to Shura. He is a evil player who is on a level all his own. All evil players should use him as a model of how to play evil.

Lastly, I'm a little confused by the Fighter/Swashbuckler half-orc. Why? For the extra 5% per level on your thieving skills? You already get all the fighter bonuses that swashbucklers get (because you're half fighter), and yet you lose the ability to backstab. After a while those extra theiving points are going to be superfulous. By the time you hit around level 15, you're already going to have everything as high as you need, so I wouldn't have given up the ability to backstab. In fact, I'd go so far to say that if I were you, I'd make a regular fighter/theif, or if SK appeals to you that much, a fighter/assassin.

 

I understand why keeping a reputation down is an 'honorable' thing to do for an evil person... (yeah that does sound wierd) however from my roleplaying perspective I'd prefer to be that evil bastard that nobody knows about. A 'smart' evil person doesn't run around stealing candy from babies and mutilating kittens in front of their young female owners. He won't live very long. Don't get me wrong, I've done nasty things in this game: e.g. I killed Nalia's aunt for constantly talking down to me, Korgan wanted to smack her arse, I wanted to stomp on her damn eyes.
My rep is high because I do the 'mercenary' work.
Needy Farmer: "*whine* *sob* *whine* Help us our village is being attacked by evil spirits."
Tyrael (my character): "*aside: Oooh, hurt things and get paid for it!* How much gold will the mayor give me?"
NF: "I don't know... alot?"
T: "He'd better, for your sake. I never forget a face."

---50 shades and a shadow dragon later---

Mayor: "Thank you so much!"
T: "Yeah, whatever, pay up."
M: "Yes, here you go. And thank you again!"
T: "*mumble* Yeah, bye. Don't write."
-Reputation increase-

I can't help getting the rep increase. Firecrag set me up. I'll kill that bastard for that! What? He's a dragon? Dragon = lots of gold. More reason to kill it.

By the end of the game I plan on having a far lower reputation since I'll be turning into the slayer in public and embracing my evil side far more readily.

As for the swashbuckler part I just enjoy the class. Don't forget he gains AC bonuses every 5 levels and gains +hit AND damage on top of the fighter bonuses. My character is able to seriously hurt things with his two handed sword. Also I have something against backstabbing, 1: takes too much effort, 2: he wears full-plate armor, 3: my playing style is a more charge in and kick arse than a tactical deployment.
Question: can you backstab with a two handed sword? I assume you can't.

 

"Question: can you backstab with a two handed sword? I assume you can't."

MAYBE. Just maybe. You CAN backstab with any melee weapon usable by thieves -- not sure if Stalkers get to broaden that range to all weapons available to them or not.

 

I'm pretty sure you cannot backstab with a two handed sword.

 

The evil characters all have better stats than the good ones. But I don't really think being evil is easier. BG2 is designed for a good character and if you're evil, you will just be fighting more evil people. Besides, if a quest does have an evil way to handle, the reward is almost always worse.

And I think you can only backstab with thief weapons (even a stalker).

If you're so keen on SK, why don't create a kensai/thief or a wizardslayer/thief (multiclasses)? I think both will be stronger than your fighter/swashbuckler, although a fighter/assassin would be pretty strong too.

 

Because kensai loses on armor (his AC bonus isn't actually that much) and I can't picture a half-orc kensai. Take note I 'love' Swashbucklers, possibly my fav thief class. Why is everyone obsessed with backstab anyway? Swashy's are cool, the AC bonus has really helped me so far, my character despite weilding a two handed sword has a lower AC than Korgan with Sentinel. He tanks with the best of them and dishes out horrible damage, I can't wait for Critical Strike and whirlwind. Not to mention I wanted a character that was handy throughout the game, not a late bloomer like the Wizardslayer/Thief who can eventually use other items with the thief 'use any item' ability.

 

I think the rules say perfectly clear that you CANNOT stab with greatsword, but I'm not sure if bastard sword allows that. Not likely.
What it comes to that swashbuckler, isn't that a matter of personal preference. I think no-one is looking for a perfect character, but a nice on to play.

And of course the dark side is more tempting, as everyone can remember from the Star Wars, but is it a right thing to do? If your morals allow that, then go ahead. That is just a different way of playing and it offers another game (good, if you're playing evil) which is quite different from first, so isn't it just a good thing we have this freedom of choise.

 

Hmm, fighter-swashbuckler is a little strange since a Swashbuckler is already a fighter-thief in all but name. The THACO bonuses ultimately won't matter; eventually neither will the AC bonuses. Losing backstab is a shame - it's a great way to start a punch-up. But, hey, it's your game - do what you like.

Backstab: only possible with weapons usable by a thief. And I mean thief. You can "backstab" with a normal quarterstaff (I prefer to think of it as a blow to the base of the skull or kidneys), but not with Staff Of The Magi (mage-only) or Staff Of The Woodlands (druid-only). Similarly, you can't backstab with the Scarlet Ninja-To (usable only by monks) but you can with any other ninja-to. So no, it is not possible with either a two-handed sword or bastard sword. The only exception to this rule is Valygar's katana, and that only with a fixpack. And if you're wondering how a thief might even contemplate backstabbing with Staff Of The Woodlands, remember the Use Any Item HLA.

As to why you're finding things easier with your evil party, I see two reasons:
1. Your protagonist's 19 strength. Give Keldorn a strength enhancing item and you'll find that fights are a lot more straightforward. You might want to take Mazzy or Valygar for a little more oomph upfront.
2. Your good party has three vulnerable characters who have to keep well away from the front line; your evil party only has one.

Don't sweat the reputation. If you do most of the stuff that you can do, you can't help your reputation going up.

 

Swashbuckler also gets damage bonus every few levels, that and the AC are the main reasons why I took him. I wanted thief abilities for my evil party but I don't like Jan, yet I also wanted a fighter that could hold the front and hold it well and not having to rely on Korgan too much till I get Sarevok. A fighter-thief is pretty good but I've used one before and I have to admit my fighter-swashbuckler does the job far better.

 

"Backstab: only possible with weapons usable by a thief."

SNIP

"The only exception to this rule is Valygar's katana, and that only with a fixpack."

Of course you can backstab with a katana -- because the katana is a weapon usable by a thief....

 

@Buck

Valygar's Katana is usable only by Valygar and hence not by thieves. Therefore, the game engine applies the thief-weapon rule to it as it does with the Scarlet Ninja-to. So when Valygar attempts to backstab with his own katana, he only does normal damage. However, Baldurdash has fixed it so that Valygar can use it to backstab.