Halfling fighter-thief

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Just finished BG1 with a halfling fighter-thief, NG alignment.

I'm going to take him through BG2 now, and have the following planned as a party:

Keldorn
Minsc
Anomen
Nalia
Yoshimo/Imoen

Yeah, I know it's a little cleric light, but IMO, cleric is the least useful class, given the huge number of spells that get at relatively low levels. Worst case scenario is I have to rest 16 hours instead of 8 to heal everyone.

I'm wondering what to do with the fighter thief. Is he a front-liner, or stand in the back with bows/slings?

His stats are as follows (obviously buffed up by books in BG1):

Str: 17
Dex: 20
Con: 19
Int: 10
Wis: 10
Cha: 15

So obviously, if this is a front-liner he is going to need some strength enhancing equipment. However, the thing is, do I really need any more meat up front, given that I have Anomen, Minsc and Keldorn? Perhaps some sort of missile weapon would be my best bet.

 

Actually, you're really not cleric light at all. Anomen is by far the only cleric you need, so that's really not an issue. As for your character, I personally would load him up with Potions of Invisibility and have him skulk around the battlefields backstabbing to your hearts content. I agree that you don't need anymore tanks, per se. But you've also got both Imoen and Nalia to handle ranged attack, and that's more than enough. If you keep your theif hidden and use him to scout ahead and backstab, I think he'll fit into this party rather nicely.

[ February 23, 2004, 17:48: Message edited by: Xindell ]

 

Well, none of them are of a fighter class but I think they will be able to handle themselves. And since you´re no beginner, it´ll be allright.

So, I agree with the missileweapon plan.
It´s always nice to have one that is skilled in the ranged arts to disrupt magespells and such. I´ve always liked composite long bows, but maybe a crossbow would be cool on this fellow since he´s kinda short. Out of an RPG view it would be pretty silly seeing a halfling lass with a bow longer than himself.


[Edit]

About the scouting thing.
I dont know if any experienced players still use that, I know I dont. By now you know where everyone is so scouting isn´t really nessecary. And by what I´ve read so far on these boards I think you´re pretty much like me Aldeth when it comes to gameexperience?

 

Multi F/T's are my favorite class, and let me assure you that your PC will tank just fine. There's nothing better than having a PC that can actually backstab for some damage and then not have to run away. I'd recommend getting the Cloak of Non-Detection at your earliest convenience, though. Hide in shadows and the cloak makes you invisible to True Sight.

IMO, using missile weapons on a character with those stats and class is a big waste of potential.

I'm with Xindell; Anomen is more than enough cleric.

 

I agree with Xindeel and Camdawg either. Anomen is an excellent cleric, especially after he gets the bonus wisdom. And his 2 attacks per round can be effective. He did crazy things for me with Crom Faeyr!
There are many characters in your party who are good for melee, so your protagonist should be a "ranged person" generally. But every battle is unique, so it is good if he has a good melee weapon as well.

 

Well it goes without saying that I'm going to backstab at times. So naturally, I'm going to take some proficiency in some thief-type backstabbing weapon. (Ironically, I may actually go for clubs, seeing as how I can get a really good club with the item upgrade mod in Trademeet.)

My basic question was (and many hit on this) what am I going to do when I'm not backstabbing. No, I'm no newbie to the game, so scouting isn't that big of a deal. Also, I'm not the kind of person who is so patient that I attempt a backstab for every fight. Sure, if there is a mage around, I'll definitely try for a backstab, but there's no way I'm going to sneak up behind a goblin and try to backstab him when my melee specialists can simply wade in a take them down in three seconds. For those of you who haven't gather this yet from my posts, I'm much more a hack and slash gamer. Sure spells are nice, and definitely help with some battles, but most of the time, Nalia and Imoen won't be casting spells, but rather firing a short bow.

As for the missile weapon, I may actually have to go for slings. I believe halflings get an automatic THAC0 bonus on slings (I suppose halflings are inherently good sling users), plus there are two really good slings available - the Sling of Seeking for most of the time - and then the Sling of Everard (sp?) for when I'm fighting something that requires better than a +2 weapon to hit.

The other option I've been thinking of is daggers, because it sort of kills two birds with one stone. I can backstab with daggers, plus there are a few throwing daggers that return to your hand, so it's two uses for one set of proficiencies.

If anything the problem comes down to having too many choices. Nalia and Imoen are going to use bows - the one in Trademeet that doesn't require arrows, and Gesen. Keldorn is using Carsomyr. Anomen is going to be proficient in maces and war hammers, and with Minsc, there's simply too many good axes in the game to not get him proficient in those. So as for melee weapons, I have practically every thief weapon available - daggers, short swords, long swords, scimitars, katanas, you name it - and there's simply no way I'm going to get good at all of them. The party is actually going to pass up some really good weapons along the way. For example, I don't think anyone is going to be using the Flail of the Ages, and I can't remember the last time I have been able to say that!

 

Trust me Aldeth, I'm a hack n' slash player as well--your F/T will be able to melee with the best of 'em. You don't need to backstab every fight, but it's nice when you can take out an enemy party's mage or cleric in the opening round.

 

As far as weapons go, I'd recommend daggers. The Firetooth dagger (sold in Ust Natha) is one of the best weapons around, especially for a F/T. It deals great damage, including fire damage, and is very versatile - you can use it as a ranged weapon or for melee/backstab. Also makes sense from a roleplay perspective to have a halfling use a dagger.

Before you go down to the underdark, your club/sling strategy isn't bad at all. You could also try quarterstaff and buy the staff-mace (2d4+2, one-handed). Can't remember who sells it though.

For armor, Aeger's hide is a must for a F/T, especially considering you have Item Upgrade.

 

IIRC, it´s Ribald that sells the Staff-Mace.
It has never occured to me that it´s a one-handed weapon though...

 

I seem to recall getting the Staff Mace as loot somewhere. Xzar maybe? He might have the Staff Spear, though. It's been a while.

 

I just started a game to doublecheck, and I could buy it at Ribalds.
I have ToB and TDD installed, but I´m pretty sure this is how it´s always been.

 

I never knew the staff mace was one-handed either. Since it's listed as weapontype: staff, I assumed it was two handed. I admit though that I have never used it before, so maybe it is one-handed. I have another question: Has anyone else noticed the cloak of non-detection doesn't always work? That party in the sewers always screws me woth that: the mage casts true sight, and even when I have the cloak of non-detection on, the bastard can see me - totally not fair. And I won't even start with the "how could he know to cast true sight" arguement.

 

That's odd--he always one the mages I like to laugh at right before I backstab him with my cloak. Are you patched and Baldurdashed?

The staff mace is one-handed. If memory serves, Haz has one and you can also buy it at the Adventurer's Mart and one of the temples.

 

Your Fighter/Thief can tank with the best Aldeth. I am assuming that you are going to take this party to high enough levels that they get HLAs.

That being the case, the minute your guy gets access to unlimited (well, atleast till you keep getting levels) Greater Whirlwinds and Assassinations...he will be a MONSTER!

For kicks, once he gets more than one Assassination (I know its a bug in the game, but hey! ) you could have Nalia or Immy cast Improved Haste on this guy and watch him GO!! He could do around 500-600 points in melee damage EASY!

 

@ Camdawg - Yes I have the latest patch.

@ Faraaz - Why is it considered a bug? Are you only supposed to have one Assassination? That brings me to another point - having never had a high level fighter-thief before - what about the HLA's?

I know I want a couple specialty traps, but when it comes to thinks like GWW or Assassination, is there a consensus as to what I'm better off with?

 

For HLA's go for critical strike as soon as possible. Your backstabs will do double damage!!

Why don't you have Imoen use the Tuigan bow? True, she will have a lower THAC0 but the increased attacks will be very useful. There are other items that improve the 'to hit' as well. This is much better than Tansherons as far as I have seen. (I use the Ease of Use to let me stack arrows higher which sways my opinion away from infinite arrow bows)

What about the Item Upgrade dagger? Quietus +4, but is only good for backstabing - so it may not be very useful for you if your not backstabbing much.

The mages ussually cast True Sight when they hear you (move silently) though this should not happen with the cloak

Because of improved haste and the like I never take Whirlwind or GWW. The Imp. Haste and critical strike is much more effective -but because your a hack n slash gamer, GWW might be more effective as its less hassle.

Assassination was only supposed to be taken once, but multi's could take it over and over.