Dual to or from Thief?

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I want to add a thief component to a character and I was wondering what would be better? Human character dual classing from thief 13 to fighter or from fighter 9 to thief. I have a hunch that ending on thief might be faster but may not be as good with THACO.

What would you pick?

I'm not interested in multi classing because it forces the xp into thief class which is a waste. Level 13 thief is enough.

 

Definitely from. Once you've gotten all you want out of the thief, you dual. Just be careful it doesn't take you too long to get the levels back.

 

Dualing from fighter to thief is the better choice.

One important advantage besides more HP is the strength bonus. Unlike in BG, 18 STR + 1 STR = 18/01 STR. 18/00 STR really makes a difference.
There is only one item which sets strength high in the last chapter besides gauntlets of ogre power in the expansions.

You don't have to worry about thac0 with a fighter9>thief. Once dualclassing is complete he will be able to hit nearly any enemy with a natural rolled 2 because of the strength, specialization and weapon bonusses, even without help from spells or other things.

Fighters get an extra half attack at level13, but even a fighter13>thief will have finished dualclassing earlier than a thief13>fighter.

A thief13/fighter14 needs 2,160,000 XP. My party members didn't have that many XP when I finished HoW.
If you really want do dualclass from thief you'd better choose level 5,7 or 10.

More than 20 fighter levels is also a waste, since their THAC0 progression stops at level 20. (All other classes improve until level 29.)
If you don't want ***** in slings and ignore the little saving throw improvements until level 17 (thief saving throws improve until level 21) you can even consider levels after 13 as wasted. Lower THAC0 won't help against the IWD monsters.


If you don't have another thief in your party, multiclassing is by far the best choice.

If you use a fighter9>thief, more than half of the traps in the game will have been triggered before you get your thief in chapter 4.
A thief13>fighter14 will be a weak pure thief for 60 percent of the game and a pure fighter with poor HP for 35 percent of the game.

A HE fighter/mage/thief is far superior, even if you have two other arcane spellcasters in your party. The shield spell lasts long and is better than any thief armor you can find and the mage robes you'll find are even better. Mirror image makes your charcter nearly invulnerable.

A F/M/T will have about 14 thief levels at the end (after HoW and TotL), so there's not much wasted during the game.

If you play a double XP level like very easy you'll have more thief levels but you'll reach the important fighter levels anyway, if you play HoF mode you can reach level 30/30/30.

Many use a gnome or halfling fighter/thief, so they can use the helm of the trusted defender which gives +3 AC and immunity to fatigue.

You can easily beat the game without a thief, but triggering traps and reloading is not funny, so is standing around and waiting for hours until someone finally detects the hidden door by chance.

I don't recommend playing a long part of the game without a thief unless you have beaten the game before.

 

Thanks guys, but I think that I'll go with the dual fighter to thief. The multi-class is still a non-option, mainly because I've gone that path way too often.

 

Hi guys. This is my first post here.

I can't help but notice this post.

I've played thief9>Fig(x) a long time ago. The problem is low HP which is not good if you want to use the fighter skills in battle. And it take a long time before getting something to get his str up to 18/00.

A Fig9>Thief is a good option. But you have no thief until that elf hideout. Which is like 50% of the game ... i think ...

A thief8 then mage is cool. Get all the open locks and disarm traps. The mage's invisible covers for the hide in shadow. and mage spells covers for armor. Win..Win...

But the most fun is a MC F/M/T best made Elf with +1 to bows & swords. throw in a poison dagger** plus mirrors/sk then invisibility and you have an assassin. It levels slows though ...