Thief Questions: Backstabbing and Pickpocketing

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I converted Imoen to a true thief, so by the end, she had backstab 5x and pickpocket over 100.

Problem: I never could master the backstab because if she was hidden in shadows and I clicked for her to attack, she came OUT of the shadows. Thus, I never got a backstab.

What am I doing wrong? Does it only work with certain weapons (like dagger?) and can you do it twice if you are dual wielding?

Next: Who's the most dangerous character you've ever pickpocketed? Could you pick Jon's pocket during the last battle and get access to some of those goodies he uses to kick magical butt? I'm tempted to reload that battle and try to pick him while you are in the tree.

An odd bug connected to Jon in the Tree: I summoned an invisible stalker (best summoned creature in the game!) just before the end of that scenario. When my party was sent elsewhere, the stalker remained behind and continued to inflict massive damage on "Jon", hundreds of points, until the showdown later.

That was weird.

bgp

 

In order to backstab, you need to move close to the victim, and stand *behind* him/her/it, and then you attack.

About the summoning bug; I had the same problem with a bunch of ogres i summoned. After I ended up in hell, the ogres just couldn't stop punching the bugger. Trouble was, that I was unable to save for a long time, so I had to go "iron man" through hell... (Luckily, the game let me save before fighting Irenicus again...)

 

Seric is right - you have to be close to and behind the back of your intended victim.

I don´t know about dualwielding & backstabbing for I never used it: I prefer the more elegant single weapon style (yes, with AC bonus). I could imagine that you only backstabb with your first weapon for the THACOs of both hands differ a bit - that just IMHO

I think this would make backstabbing too strong - I remember inflicting 180+ damage (usually about 60+) with 5x damage/ single weapon style/ critical hit using c-fury - even without kai ability. So just think about adding up some more 20+ damage for the second weapon - you can kill your opponents just one time so I wouldn´t mind so much about that.

btw there are some creatures you can´t backstabb - don´t rely too much in it

PS: Pickpocketing - Aran Linvail - I guess he has a supernatural if not magical protection from beeing pickpocketed

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited March 30, 2001).]

 

When you backstab someone/thing you will leave the shadows because the sight of someone keeling over for no apparent reason is bound to cause some raised eyebrows. Always backstab from the...erm...back and don't try it on barbarians or golems, and of course dragons, well at least I hope not cos that would be silly, speaking of which never EVER try to pick pocket a dragon, one they don't have anywhere to keep a pocket and two you'll look silly explaining how you lost your entire arm to the cleric at your local temple
Most dangerous p/p so far: my mum! well i needed to borrow a couple of squid...nah, only kiddin

[This message has been edited by Duskai (edited March 30, 2001).]

 

Duskai, I know that dragons don't have pockets but I've heard that the male ones have something valuable in a very capacious sack. They'd probably forgive you too if you started findling around that that.

 

What makes invisible stalkers so hard? you get to kill a few of them in BG1.

 

Invisible Stalkers: Best Summon in the Game

1. Duh...they are invisible. Hard to target them with spells.

2. Duh...they are invisible. Hard to hit w/ weapons.

3. They last about 9 game hours before disappearing. That means you can summon 2, sleep, then summon two more. If I were a Sorcerer going solo, you bet I'd pick up that spell.

4. You can cast certain area effect positive spells on them to help, like mass heal, chant, protection from evil, and so forth. Makes them tougher to kill. They already have decent thac0 and ac, but you can make them exceptional with a little effort.

I think that's it. Now, you just have to use them smart.

bgp

 

There's a bug that can make a thief with boots of speed on pop out and stand around for 2 whole rounds, 12 seconds. Something to do with the Initiative...
There's a fix on that bug page topic.

You can only back stab with the first hit. You can however, backstab from the side too, if you're close to the back of the victim. Just not from the front/ front right or left. If you get my meaning...

Most dangerous pick ever has to be Aran Linval. Miss and that killer thief whacks you and everyone else immediately. A 3 potion minumum to be successful. I tried it a bunch of time 'cause I know he has boots of speed, and I wanted them baaaaddd.


Can't pick Jon, because the minute he stops talking, he's an enemy.

 

Backstabbing is a developed taste and skill that I love. You have the options of using specific scripts and those in themselves helped my Thieves and Monk that I played who had the stealth skill.

A suprise attack can wipe out 50%-60% of all cretures in the game. Since most of them seem to have less than 50 hit points. I've had some backstabs that were well over 100pts of damage and recall some posts of someone delivering over 200pts of damage.

There are a small hadful of creatures (oozes, dragons..) that cant be backstabbed but it's definitely worth using. Especially when you get the boots of speed and cloak of non detection.

Just stay in the shadows while behind a victim and attack! NNNNeeeext!

[This message has been edited by Draco Vlasavius (edited March 31, 2001).]

 

I find that if you pause before U actually click the attack button than U will have lot's of time before U have to click on the target. and don't worry about the message box when it says "leaving shadows" that won't happen until you're unpaused.
Hope that helps!

 

Ragusa: Backstabbing isn't too powerfull

You can't do 180 damage when backstabbing with a thief (str 19) and CF and a critical hit. Because you can't backstab with Celestrial Fury. You can only backstab with daggers and short swords and becasuse that backstabbing isn't too powerfull.

 

Headbanger: You can! I did it during my first two times through the game on a regular basis. And it´s great!

Yes, a katana´s a pretty large knife in real life - but please avoid any "roleplaying vs powergaming" discussion or I´ll flame you!

A katanas initiative isn´t as good as a daggers, and therefore I now prefer to use daggers for backstabbing - the weapon damage is the least important factor in backstabbing damage.

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited March 31, 2001).]

 

Well I don't go into a discussion with the master of thievery

 

On invisible stalkers, I take your points, but still mantain that anything I can kill cna't be too tough. About back stabbing, can monks do a surprise attack with their fists (stabbing with fists is stupid), you know creeping up on a guy and breaking his neck or something, essentially a backstab?

 

and there you´re damn right man.......

[This message has been edited by Ragusa (edited March 31, 2001).]

 

I`ve backstabbed a million times with Valygar holding CF and I'm sure it was CF because it was the only weapon he was wielding

 

I've been backstabbing with CF all game.
I've had 180 point hits with 18 strength with a x5 backstab.

no problem.

Monks can't backstab, but then again, do they really need to??

 

No of course Monks can't officially backstab. However they can achieve amazing levels of Stealth. More than Rangers (max out at 99%?) and because this is the only area they can concentrate on they possibly can have more than a Thief of equal level. (again due to the premise that Thieves distribute their points to Find Traps, Pick Pockets, etc instead of just Move Silently and Hide in Shadows like a Monk does.)

So when Monks deliver a surprise attack they can hit with 3 or 4 blows in one round at Higher levels that essentially and possibly can deal 100 plus points of damage in one round.

btw - a Thief can backstab with an abundance of weapons. Even the weapons that don't allow backstabbing can be used while in stealth mode to achieve the optimum 'surprise elememnt attack'. Which can be a life saver for your Thief and a life ender for the victim.


[This message has been edited by Draco Vlasavius (edited March 31, 2001).]

 

Yep - stealth/ surprise gives you a fair -4 THACO bonus for your attack (as I painfully had to find out, hmhmmm) and you attack FIRST even when your backstabbing fails (for example on beholders )

With grandmastery you have a fair chance of a critical hit and C`Fury´s stunning effect will also quite often work - a battle winning combination

 

Cool, I didn't know that. I practically ignored stealth and surprise because oi loikes me hammer and ye canna backstab wi one.