Thief to lead evil party

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I'd like to play BG2 with the evil NPCs (Viconia, Korgan and Edwin). This limits my party to four (which is okay) and suggests that the main PC is a thief. However, my question is whether or not to take any of the special thief "kits" (e.g. I was contemplating Assassin) and how I should distribute my skill points (e.g. how high do I need Find-Traps, is Detect Illusions worthwhile, etc.). All comments/suggestions welcome.

[ June 04, 2003, 13:48: Message edited by: Trydan ]

 

If you're looking for all evil, then stick with 4 people, but Haer'Dalis, Jan, Cernd and Jaheira are neutral, and they won't leave unless your rep goes REALLY low.

If you are planning to be a thief, remember to be very careful -- you have low hit points and no spells to offset that problem. I'd be either a Bounty Hunter or a Vanilla thief -- you don't want someone with low HP getting tangled up in melee. Load up with distance attacks and protective items. Put points in picking locks above all else -- picking pockets isn't all that great, Viconia can use her spell to detect traps, and invisibility potions cover your stealth issues. Of course, Viccy can't DISARM those traps, so maybe put points into traps, too. Detect illusion is a sucky trait -- true seeing works better and allows your thief to either be shooting at the enemy or going in for a backstab instead of sitting there with his detect traps button on. Points in trap setting are also good -- if you use your stealth / invisibility correctly, you can see the enemy, pull back, set some traps, then go and lure the bastard over your traps. This works especially well for bounty hunters.

Arming your thief with the Tuigan bow is also a good idea -- while his high DEX offsets his relatively low THAC0, three shots / round increases your odds of hitting the enemy.

Like I said, I wouldn't play an Assassin or a Swashbuckler because despite their melee combat bonuses, they still have low HP, and this is a problem in the early game -- later on it becomes less of a problem, of course.

 

Hey, welcome to the boards

I like all thief kits, but I prefer the assassin because i'm a big wimp that likes to backstab alot. If you don't really care about backstabbing, take the swashbuckler. I think its better than the plain thief and its pro's outweigh the cons.

:edit:
Yeah the tuigen short bow is good for thieves. Is it possible to backstab with the bow? If you can then hitpoints are less of a problem because the thief will always be at range and can stay out of melee.

 

Yeah, the assasin is just great! Backstabmultipliers mixed with poison....great stuff . Just make sure you've got some anti-detection stuff or you get detected almost every time you're near a wizard. I use the same party and after a while it gets pretty easy. Have Korgan fight or at least stop the enemy. Edwin and Viconia can cast, Viconia can go on the attack too after casting some protection spells on everyone. You just concentrate on backstabbing.

 

I would personally use the swashbuckler. As it was mentioned above, low HP could be a problem. But considering the AC/THAC0 bonuses (I was with AC below -15 and both THAC0 below 0 at the end of my game), you are developing to be a match for the high level challenges.
Use the stats mostly for trap detection / disarming / lockpick. Stealth is not so important here - you have no backstab multiplier.
For pickpocket - use several potions of master thievery and you are able to steal anything.

 

Are you wedded to the idea of a straight thief? I've found that the best fit for me into that group was a multi class fighter/thief. With only 4 party members you will have more experience to go around and plenty of thieving points. You'll be a great scout, have a nice backstab, a much better THAC0, and have a boat load of HLA's which complement both classes extremely well. Scout, set time and spike traps, backstab, assasination, greater evasion, greater whirlwinds, hardiness, magic resistance, use any item etc all work very well together.

You'd have the advantages of being a straight thief and the benefits of the fighter class outweigh the benefits of the kit from a strictly power stand point imo.

Barring that -- swashbuckler or assassin depending on your playing style.

 

I believe that you wouldnt be able to join Bodhi's guild because you would be a thief guild leader. I think she says that youve already chosen your alliance....or maybe it was because i spoke to Gaelan already

 

Your right there, you can't joins the vampires if your PC is a theif. But I think that there is a mod or something that allows you to so thats no problem. I would personally go with a Swashbuckler (sp?) or a good old plain theif. Swashbuckler if the only specalist theiving kit where the theiving points arnt penilised so thats a plus, and you have a lot of combat abilities, if you do get your self caught up in melee.

Have your theif use ranged weapons (as people have said above) and I find it great to put the theiving points towards lockpicking / move silently / hide in shadows / detect and disarm traps equally. I hate carring around a dozen invisiblitly potions. You might want to also put some points on set trap for that comes in handy at later levels.

 

If you picked a kit and/or really want to be thrifty about allocating thieving points, you could skip lockpicking and get Edwin to memorize Knock spells.

 

Yes, but you don't want to invoke magic at every locked door/chest you come across. I would imagine having some nominal skill level in Open locks for the mundane ones, and only cast on the really tough ones. I'd guess about 50 points worth - but that is purely a guess. Does anyone have any better ideas?

[ June 04, 2003, 13:47: Message edited by: Trydan ]

 

It isn't true that you can't join Bodhi if you're a thief. At least, in my experience you can join her IF you do not accept the thief stronghold like assassin said above. If you accept the stronghold then you can't join her. It reads like others are saying that if you're a thief you can't join her and that's not something that should scare you off.

Of course, if you're a fighter/thief you can accept the fighter stronghold

As far as the lockpicking -- if you're in a party that small you'll have more than enough points to go around. I know I've had an assassin with 100 in everything other than pickpocket and detect illusion and he was well below the experience cap. The points won't be a concern if you're progressing through TOB except in the early stages when you're alone and then they're only a real concern if you are a kit with reduced points. Offseting this with a high dex and playing a halfling really helps. The only real negative of a halfling thief is the ridiculous round image you're stuck with so I just change the image to that of an elf and go with it.

An aside, I've just started NWN and am thankful that my halfling rogue at long last isn't a little round ball waddling about.