Need advice on planning 2nd game!

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Hi all. I know this sounds weird! I'm just about to venture to chapter 3 (however, i've done almost all quests except defeating kangaxx) and i'm already planning my 2nd game. I need help and advice on my 2nd game though as i intend to play as evil. Here's the questions i have in doubt and hope you guys can give it a shot

1. My first through of the game is a Kensai/Mage (although i've yet to successfully become one yet) and i noticed that the game lacks a real thief.
1a. Hence is it advisable to go a Kensai/Thief this time around?
1b. For Kensai/Mage i dualled it at lvl. 13.. what about Kensai/Thief then? What is the best level to dual him to thief? lvl. 13 as well? Is it worth going through a Kensai/Thief?

2. Assuming i'm going with a Kensai/Thief..
2a. How do i play as one? What is the playstyle of a Kensai/Thief? I know that for Kensai/Mage.. i usually just buff him with all the mage protection spells and all that neat stuff and hack everyone onto pieces . What about a Thief then? Does a Kensai/Thief playstyle always revolve in Hiding in Shadows and Backstab?
2b. Can Kensai/Thief backstab while dual-wielding Katanas & Longswords?
2c. Is it possible to Hide In Shadows or go Invisible in front of enemies?
2d. Assuming i'm hiding in shadows and try to backstab mages with stoneskin, will the backstab be successful? If it only removes one layer of the skin per hit, hence backstab would be of no use against mages then?

3. I'm currently thinking of the a party of 5 including myself: Korgan, Viconia, Edwin. I would REALLY like a Paladin to come along this time around because my first game I've chosen Minsc instead of Keldorn. I KNOW it's a bad choice because Keldorn WILL no way be able to with an all evil party!. But i really wanted Keldorn for the Carsomyr and it's really sad only him could use it. I'm open to all suggestions hope someone could enlighten me

4. How do i play as evil?! Can i still choose the good path while playing as evil? For eg. solving all quests in the good way whereby i rescue instead of kidnap.

5. I heard alot of people complained about Aerie and Jan being weak. Unfortunately i do no think so!. Currently both Aerie and Jan are both of my best Mages and Cleric!. Aerie can heal, summon, aid party in the sense of protection at the same time removing enemies protection and cause some damage with some offensive spell. Same goes with Jan whereby he's really helpful in removing protections from evil mages or liches and at the same time tossing Melf's Minute Meteor constantly interrupting spellcasting. I don't plan to have both of them this time around but i'm really CURIOUS as to why people claimed that they are WEAK. I think they are really helpful and they have help me through battles which are priceless!

6. LAST but not least, what is the recommended mod to install for my 2nd game? I'm on vanilla without any mod in my first game. Also please help on the installation sequence on which mod to install first without messing up .

Thanks all for those who made it through reading till here . Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

1a. Yes; in fact, it's rather popular.
1b. 13 is always the best for dualling from Kensai IMO.

2a. Yes, but once you get Use Any Item he can wear armor and such to stay in after the backstab and continue to deal out some heavy damage.
2b. Is there any other way? (Most definitely yes.)
2c. Hide in Shadows, no; Invisibility from items/spells, yes. The Dagger of the Star in ToB is particularly useful for this.
2d. Yeah, it still only counts as one hit. But your other companions can cast Breach or whatever to knock it down before you backstab.

3. There are several paladin NPC mods listed over at PPG's modlist. I can't tell you who might go ape on your evil characters (or just not join a party led by an evil Bhaalspawn) though. When all else fails, just make another PC in a multiplayer game, or wait until your third time through.

4. Yes, you can if you don't think powergaming over RPing is a big deal. You'll also want to be careful of getting your rep too high (18 or under) or else your evil characters will desert you.

5. I've never thought of either of them as weak (I love Jan and a C/M or C/I multi can really dish out the spells), but Aerie does whine WAY too much for her own good.

6. No mods!!! At least, not yet. So long as you're enjoying the game "as is", you can lengthen the number of times you can enjoy it in the future by delaying add-on mods as long as you can. Things like tweaks or NPC mods can add something, but nothing big like Tactics or Ascension until vanilla gets too familiar.

Please; you don't know weird. I'm running three games at the same time, and I've got 10 more lined up. Now that's bizarre.

 

Sorry for a quickie question here since i'm leaving soon and i'm going to be back with more questions later .

On regards to mod i was merely referring to baldurdash fixes. Should i install them?

 

I know you had your heart set on dual wielding whilst you're a kensai/thief but i just wanted to clear something up! You said you REALLY wanted Keldorn but it sounded like you just wanted Carsomyr more ... so why not just wield 2 handed weapons for the duration of tha game! It would make sooOooOo much more sence, even though Kensai/Thieves work best with 2 weapons in hand but i guess in the end it's up to you!

By the way, yes I think Aerie is weak! Mage/Clerics just don't do it for me, and if they did ... Aerie's not really the best person to help convince me! I think her stats are pathetic and she's just a waste of space! Now Edwin and Viccy, aaahhhh, now there's two good spots covered!

 

Well two-handed swords will never be able to backstab so I think that the only two-handed weaopn he would want to use would be staffs, if anything.

 

True, but he seems REALLY obsessed with that particular weapon, so if he's willing to quit backstabbing he can go for it. A terrible move though, if you ask me because backstabbing is the life 4 me!

 

To address the 4th question, it is my opinion that the original unmodded game is absolutely HORRIBLE at allowing a proper roleplay of evil, unless you are looking for the "smash smash" dumb sort of evil or the "all I want is gold" sort of evil.

 

Oh. Yeah, those are just tweaks and fixes; go ahead and install the pieces you want.

 

Actually I think it does an alright job at it because you can do evil things in a more 'evil' feel i believe. But I guess that' jus my opinion ...

 

What, Yoshimo and Jan don't count as 'real thieves'?

Kensai/thief is fine. Thieves have the advantage of being a pretty good dual due to their low experience requirements.

If you want to do good-aligned quests and have a paladin in the group, why bother playing an evil character? You're going to naturally end up with a high reputation, which will make keeping evil characters in your party difficult, but if you can keep your rep under 19 they'll stick around regardless of your PC's alignment. Keldorn and Viconia will fight each other if you put them in a party together, though.

(I find the game's lip-service to 'evil' protagonists quite feeble as well.)

Aerie is physically weak in that she doesn't have much HP. She's also weak in that she's an oversensitive, grating tenderfoot who would be more at home in a Jane Austen novel than a Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party. I hate shrinking violet archetypes. I've never seen anyone call Jan weak, though.

And install Baldurdash.

 

The power of the kensai/thief is using KAI ability before a back-stab, it does massive damage!

The K/Ts in the Ritual quest uses this tactic, and they are usually able to kill one NPC with a succesful backtab!

You can backstab while dual-wielding PROVIDED that the weapons are thief-usable, therefore back-stab weapons. You can backstab when dual-wielding katanas, scimitars, long/shortswords, daggers. If you dual wield a katana and, say, Crom Faeyr, the first hit you will do MUST be from katana or it won'T be a backstab. You usually attack with your main hand first, so...

Backstabbing with the ridiculously damaging staves found in ToB is deadly. Add your Grand Mastery, two-handed weapon fighting, and giant strength (via belt or potion), plus your kensai bonuses, AND kai ability, a backstab will do impressive damage.

Though you will need lots and lots of invisibility potions to be truly effective. You can also use spell scrolls/wands once you get UAI. A quick stoneskin from a handy scroll is invaluable!

 

For my solo F/T multiclass I just did using staffs, I found that (since gold some soooooo easy for a solo) I could afford about 8 rings of air control, which are EXCELLENT at providing all the invisibility you could want until you get UAI. Once you get UAI, just steal tons of scrolls of invisibility, improved invisibility, mislead, shadow door, etc. and you'll have more ways to go invisible than you'll know what to do with!!

 

^Still a M/T will have easier time for going invisible. At least won'T be heavily item depandant. And this is a good thing.

Or even better, best of all, why don'T you try F/M/T? Cool that!

 

Thanks for the awesome replies guys

1. If Keldorn is out of picture which means i'm currently having just 4 character in my party: Myself(Kensai/Thief), Viconia, Korgan, Edwin. There's only one slot left and which NPCs you guys would suggest me having?

2. Since the playstyle of Kensai/Thief revolves in hiding in shadows and backstab, would it be troublesome that each time after each backstab (be it failed or successful) you'll need to run off from enemy LoS to hide in shadows to rinse and repeat? Of course it would be an advantage to use invisibility potions/scrolls but those are limited as far as i'm concerned. Is it not?

3. I'm a noob in Thief. How much exactly should i spend on the thieve abilities points? How much to spend on Move Silently and Hide in Shadows in order to successfully stealth 99% most of the time? How much is ENOUGH without overspending the points so i could spend it elsewhere? Same goes with Disarm Trap/Trap Detection, Pickpocket,etc. Currently i have Jan to have more than 100+ for PickPocket, Disarm Trap/Trap Detection. He suxs in hiding in shadows though.

4. As someone mentioned against mages or spellcasters, their defenses need to be breached especially stoneskin before backstabbing. Instead of having your K/T standing there doing nothing, would it not be better off hacking the mages at a pace of 9rnds/attk. to wear off the protection as well as hacking it to pieces? It's far more useful than backstabbing. Or was my playstyle wrong.. What you guys usually do with your thief against spellcasters?

Thanks all

Edit
I'm now actually drooling on how fun on playing as a thief and go invisible hiding behind a beholder and backstab it to see it instanstly explode!

 

You have outlined the archetypal (and almost perfect) evil party which covers all of the required party roles. You don't need any other NPCs at all so anyone else that you add is a complete bonus.

 

You can wear boots of speed and run back and forth hiding and backstabbing if you want, or you can take out the most dangerous opponent with your backstab and then carry on fighting as normal. Being a thief is useful for things other than backstab, notably UAI.

You can't backstab a beholder - they don't have a recognisable "back", or weak spot, to strike at. The same applies to jellies and various others, mostly non-humanoids.

Anything above 100% in a thieving skill is superfluous as far as I know. Hide in shadows and move silently might be an exception, I don't know how they work. But Jan doesn't need either of those skills, he's a mage. He has Mislead. He can create a mislead image, tuck it away somewhere and then chain backstabs to his heart's content.

 

1. As HB said, you sound pretty set. However, you'll be missing thieving skills for a while until you dual your Kensai, so I'd suggest taking Jan along for the basics (and banter ). It's kind of funny to blow off Jaheira to romance Viconia too, but ultimately I'd leave the sixth spot for Sarevok in ToB.

2. I'm assuming you're going to be dual-wielding, and then I'd say that you don't necessarily need to stick to only backstabs. Using weapons with good special effects like Celestial Fury's stunning or the Stiletto of the Demarchess's Holding (in addition to an extra-attack weapon like Belm or Kundane) can considerably decrease the danger to your vulnerable K->T and allow him to stay in melee.

3. If you've got Jan dealing with the regular thief stuff, I'd go for stealth right away to protect your K->T, with traps as soon as you've hit 100. Otherwise, I'd boost Lockpicking and Trapfinding first up to 100 each (you really only need 99 for everything, but I like round numbers ). Then you do stealth & traps, and finally Detect Illusions, and then Pick Pockets when you finally have just too f***ing many points to ignore it. Stealth is a little tricky as to when you've got "enough", since there are penalties in light (i.e. outdoors during the day or well-lit dungeon areas) and I don't even know what they are. Personally, I just get up to 100 in both skills and put any skill boosting items I find to use; then once everything else is taken care of I blast everything in there just to make sure.

4. Yeah, I just ignore that the backstab only counts as one hit and just wail on the spellcaster. You can get one down with Breach and backstab, but the rest go down nearly as quickly with just plain hacking.

And listen to Prine; he knows what he's on about for the most part. (Though I do disagree about Jan not needing stealth; stealth Fireballs, Cloudkills, Death Fogs, and Incendiary Clouds are my favorites. )

 

Whee.

Mind you, you can play 'stealth bomber' with mislead if you like. It's the cheatiest form of invisibility available.

 

You can't also backstab golems, dragons and some special creatures, or especially tough monsters introduced by mods. Are ToB bosses immune to backstab as well? They are all immune to critical hits IIRC.

A K/T will be super powerful, with cheesy thief trap HLAs and the fighting power of kensai levels. Though he will never get GWW, with improved hasted and dual-wielding the right tools, he can have up to 8 attacks per round!

BTW, get true Grandmastery fix, it makes GM worth the slots, so you can GM a nice weapon with your kensai levels. (katanas or scimitars)

 

Most of the TOB bosses are immune to backstab. The giant and the dragon are, obviously. Balthasar is for some reason, and Illasera too. Sendai isn't.

With regular weapon specialisation, 13 fighter levels, Belm or Kundane or something in the offhand and the gauntlets of extraordinary specialisation, you can get ten attacks per round with improved haste. Don't even need improved grandmastery, though if you get it you don't need the gauntlets.