Nalia....

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Is it true that you can't make Nalia a good thief? I had planned on using her as my thief/mage. I could give her all the rings to make her better, and I don't mind using the slots up for the knock spell since I don't use a lot of level 2 mage spells. I plan on having the following in my party

Minsc
Keldorn
Me, cleric
Jahiera
Nalia-->Imoen
Haer'Dalis

 

Forget about her...she is a real terrible thief.
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If you're going to take a mage/thief just wait until you take Imoen and do a good game. Even Nalia is not a good one, but near her Imoen rocks!!!!
And well...I know Minsc is a real good NPC..he's funny, cool and sometimes real powerful and versatile. But I would take a real fighter instead of him. It's your choice. I know Haer'Dalis is a good one to be put on the front line but he lacks armour...so it's not very wise to abuse it from him. And, as the same to Keldorn, you don't seem to have anyone able to have more than 3 slots in weapon proficiences...this could bring you problems...but as I said before it's your choice!!
Good luck on it then.

 

Nalia is not a terrible thief. I've used her in numerous games and she has done just fine. Occasionally you need to augment her skills but other than that, she is more than adequate. Based on your party if you're going to do a lot of pocket picking, Haer'Dalis can take care of that.

If you're wanting a true mage/thief, though, your only choice is Jan.

 

The problem with Nalia is she dualled from a thief early (level 4). She's OK at finding/disarming traps (IMO 1 of the 2 the most essential thief abilities), so-so at opening locks (the other one), and useless at the rest. Jan is definitely the better choice for a thief, and good enough as a mage if you're replacing them with Imoen anyway. Besides, with Haer'Dalis, you have an OK mage anyway.

 

That's it exactly. Most of the game, you're either picking locks or disarming traps. Nalia is more than capable of that. If you want to pick pockets, Haer'Dalis is your man. The rest of the stuff is fine and good if you've got an evil party or if your PC is a thief.

Depending on when you go to rescue Imoen, Nalia will have gained a tremendous amount of experience and become a very good mage. To get rid of a high-level spellcaster and substitute it with a lower level one never made sense to me, but to each their own.

 

correct me if i'm wrong but doesn't Imoen kinda stay around the same level as you when you go to get her? The last time I play she was fairly high level. Like if you're low level when you rescue her then she'll be low level, but if you are a higher level then she will be to. Does this even make sense??? haha well it does to me.

 

If you need a thief, and are opposed to using Jan, your best bet is Yoshimo.

Yoshimo can be replaced by Imoen when you find her, as Imoen has decent scores in the thief skills that really matter.

Personally, I love Jan. The guy is funny as anything, makes a great backup mage, and with his items, he's probably the best thief in the game. Besides, if Imoen is far behind Nalia in level, and you don't want to wait for her to catch up, Nalia's lack of thieving skills won't matter (or you could ditch Jan, and have two butt-whoopin' mages!).

 

I would never take Nalia as my party thief, although with the right equipment she can be adequate. But, I quite often take her as my party mage. She is the BEST good mage in the game and only Edwin is better as magic than her. I usually take Nalia as mage and Yoshimo as thief and then swap Yoshimo for Imoen at the appropriate time.

 

It seems people complain a lot about Nalia's being a useless thief/mage, but they don't really get the point.

Look, it's only level 4 and cut at that. Level 4, 5000 XP worth. What does 5K matter when you have a million or more? In exchange, she gets slightly better thac0, leather armour allowance and a wide selection of weapons to wield, most notably katanas and shortbows. A mage with benefits. What else would you expect from a level 4 thief, anyway? If you change your perspective and look at her as a mage, things change.

 

You indeed need a good thief. Imoen just can't fill the role properly, since she cannot advance anymore in her thief class. Forget about Nalia, she only has a fairly good find traps skills, and little else. You can use her far better as a mage. Besides, I think you lack hitting power. You need better warrior/mage types in your party or it's going to be a hard trip.

 

Nalia is a mage, not a thief/mage like Imoen.
Those 4 levels make her somewhat more versatile and ease some of the restristions on a mage but they dont make her a thief.
If you want just a thief go for Yoshimo.

I personally prefer Jan as he is just so much more fun, AND will give you that added edge arcane. That is if you dont believe in backstabs
Ofcourse he then makes Imoen non crucial

 

The thief skill boosting items easily collected in SOA allow Imoen to handle about 95% of all thieving tasks in the game. An occasional potion gives you the rest.

 

"It seems people complain a lot about Nalia's being a useless thief/mage, but they don't really get the point."

But the poster started the thread asking about whether or not Nalia was any good as a thief, so maybe you missed the point....

Noah Fence

 

What Chev is saying is that Nalia isn't meant to be a Thief, she's a Mage that can use the Gensen Bow and has a couple points better THAC0 than a single-class mage.

Imoen is a decent enough thief to get you the the critical thieving obstacles, but having Jan in the party is more fun because you can then use traps, detect illusions and pick pockets. With his stuff all of his abilities are boosted by 25%.

I personally don't like Jan attitude much, so having a PC Fighter/Thief, Kensai/Thief or Mage/Thief is the logical conlcusion (except you don't want to play a thief EVERY time!) Jan is the best thief though, even better than any PC thief/mage because of his reletivly high DEX and his equipment.

 

Nalia is frustrating. Once I used her and when I found Imoen back, Nalia and her where the same level. Imoen had one spell more by level, maybe it's a bug.

 

And what would be the remaining 5%. In my games Imoen easily takes care of 100% of the thieving tasks.

I haven't tried Nalia (and haven't well looked at her thieving abilities) but I think with some equipment and the occasional potion she can be an okay thief, BG2 doesn't take that much out of a thief.

 

Contrary to what a lot of people have said, I think you have a fairly well rounded party.

A few points of advice...
despite what is written in the manual Hear'Dalis is not a good fighter as he cannot wear any armour (if you want to cast spells) has lousy THACO and only has around 40-50hp for most of the game. Also the only ability that makes him seam like a good fighter are his defensive and offensive spins which you probably wont end up using bevause as soon as they wear out he'll take a lot of dammage. He is only redeemed by being able to use those wands that you pick up and the Bard only items. If you have to have a bard be one yourself and pick up Viconia and drop Hear'Dalis.

However assuming you want to be a Cleric and have a neutral/good party I would advise you to have Nalia for your mage as she will get to be a higher level mage than Imoen and that you have Jan as your Thief/back up mage, if not for the dialogue.

 

Slightly

I don't know how you've ever played Haer'Dalis, but I've found him to be quite an effective fighter and powerful spellcaster. He's no tank, that's for sure, but he wasn't designed to be one. I will say, however, that with stoneskin, strength, and protection from normal weapons (in addition to the offensive spin) he's very dangerous and near invulnerable.

 

More
In the quest to free Haer'Dalis, you get a great set of bard armor (Melodic Chain) that he can wear and cast spells with.

Back on-topic, there is little demand for thieving skills in the game. If all you're looking for is trap disarming and lockpicking then Jan, Nalia, or Imoen can handle anything in the game with the skill boosting items and a few potions.