What the hell is Silke?!

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Now, Silke has been an irritant at best, up until now. She claims to be a bard, but can cast 4th level spells (Improved Invisibility), which would require her to be 10th level! Provided that she's lying, and is in fact a wizard, she would still have to be 7th level. Up until today, I was just fine with this, but now she's gone too far.

This time, I was unable to prevent her from casting Improved Invisibility, but when she became partially visible while trying to cast Lightning Bolt, I was able to disrupt that. Okay, no problem yet. But then, she immediately attacks me, and somehow BACKSTABS me in the FACE with her QUARTERSTAFF for QUADRUPLE damage! (40 hp. Needless to say, my 2nd level pally died instantly.) Now this would require her to be a 9th to 12th level thief, IN ADDITION to being able to cast 4th level spells!

Now, before you ask, yes I have TotSC installed and fully patched, which unfortunately only means that I can't backstab unless I'm behind them, but any monster who can backstab can do it through my shield and breastplate. However, I draw the line at being backstabbed by a MAGE with a QUARTERSTAFF! It's just not right!!!

EDIT: Also before anyone asks, she does not have any spell scrolls. I've checked by Ctrl-Y ing her before she could even so much as think, and she was not carrying any scrolls.

[ June 27, 2005, 19:08: Message edited by: Felinoid ]

 

I suppose the AI cheats sometimes.

 

I could tell you what she is but I would certainly break the forum rules if I did.

Anyway I really like her, she is a great challenge to a low level party.

'Thespian extraordinaire'

That Backstab thing looks weird though and I thought she dropped some scrolls when she died... I'm baffled here, I guess I'll have to get a look at the game, it's been a while.

Btw there is some thief in the South West who was immune to magic if I'm not mistaken, he was quite a tough customer too!

 

Are you talking about that schmuck by the Xvart Village? I think his name was Bordum or something like that.

 

Yes that looks like him. Man did I get my ass kicked the first time I ran into him!

 

I never had any trouble with him until I installed TotSC, because he would always resist his own Mirror Image. He kicked my ass the first time with TotSC, though. Man was I pissed.

 

Silke casts Improved Invisibility? I've only had her lightning bolt me!

 

Do you have TotSC? Besides, how do you think she backstabbed me in the FACE with her QUARTERSTAFF after trying (and failing) to cast Lightning Bolt? After all, you have to be invisible or stealthed to backstab. (Not that it would necessarily stop the grand f***ing Silke from doing it anyway. )

Not to mention that it's generally a good idea to disrupt a mage's first spell to make the fight both easier and shorter. So you may have never noticed what spell she was going to cast first, because she never managed to get it off before you smacked the b****. I've been through the game so many times solo that bad luck was eventually going to catch up to me, and she finally got that first spell off.

 

No, I was honestly surprised. I've never played without TotSC, so that's the only way I've experienced it, and she's never cast Improved Invisibility.

However, to be fair, I usually utterly cheese her fight, anyway. Before I talk to her, I get her surrounded by my melee characters, and stick my archers off, sometimes even pre-emptively guarding the area.

From the description of her abilities, though, I'd guess she must be a mage/thief. I might look her up in DLTCEP to find out, now; I'm curious.

 

Borda is supposed to be a drow swindler, I guess.

The game often "cheats", you have to get friendly with this fact sooner or later.
Especially in TotSC, spellcasters (e.g. Shandalar or the Deathknight) cast their spells uninterruptably, the game uses the scripting command used only in cutscenes. The class of the Air Aspect is Mage (!!) by the way. And so on.
But for me this doesn't cause any problem, I love this game.

 

@MrNexx: Please do. I'm dying (or should I say killing ) to know. And pre-emptive tactics are not cheese; it's just being prepared for anyone to attack you, which is a reasonable precaution considering that there's a bounty on your head.

@Baronius: I don't mind the comp cheating spells for the big guys (Demonknight, Aec'Letec, etc.). After all, they're bigger than life. So they have a little extra; big deal. What I object to is when the game breaks its own rules. In this encounter, it broke one or two:

1. Mages (and Bards) cannot backstab, and thieves cannot cast spells. While it would be possible for a mage/thief multi or dual, Silke simply does not have enough HP (28-32) to have enough levels to do all this.

2. The one I'm really pissed off about, with the previous one just doubling it: You cannot backstab with a six-foot pole of wood! Thinking about what that might look like reminds me of the pole vault.

[ June 28, 2005, 03:19: Message edited by: Felinoid ]

 

Nah, not a mage/thief. A level 10 bard. She has only those spells that she casts, and has no spell slots on other levels. As I've said, game characters don't follow the rules. But it's okay, it's artificial anyway to check game characters' stats via DLTCEP. The game is fun and that's the most important.

 

As I said, Bards cannot backstab. Especially not with a quarterstaff!

 

You are right that Bards can't backstab. But I'm afraid she's a bard.

 

So are you saying that you can script a backstab? Also, from what I've heard, she's actually a mage.

 

She's a bard.

There is a scripting command called BackStab() indeed. But we have two problems.
1. It is used nowhere in BG. And Bioware confirmed that its use causes crash.
2. Silke's script doesn't contain anything special.

I think that the phenomenon you experienced is normal in the game. Maybe not even a bug. Invisible NPCs can backstab with a quarterstaff too (well it's bad if someone hits you with a rod from behind, it might break your neck).

 

Are you actually trying to rationalize this to me? Besides, it's a backstab, not a backwhack, and breaking someone's neck would be a called shot with a Strength check to break the vertebrae. (I used to be a DM. )

 

You can also stab with the end of it, while aiming at the enemy's spine (if the creature has such). From 90 degrees, it can be dangerous.
/End of rationalizing/

To tell the truth, I also find your experience very interesting. I also remember something similar faintly, not sure that it was with Silke though.

 

*once again thinks of pole vault image*
You would have to build up a bit of steam for that to be practical (or a Strength check with a significant penalty), not to mention it would be another called shot.
/End of DMing/

Besides, I was facing her (melee attack) when she 'backstabbed' me.

 

Yeah backstab from that direction is interesting... but it is also unrealistic that in a shiny day in a nice lit plain area (just with short grass with no area objects), a thief can "stealth" among a group of hobgoblins (any enemies)...

Yeah, DMing...I'm no specialist in that or AD&D, but I also don't care too much of rules.
Well, rules are important, but they can be avoided as long as the game's fun gets better and the balance remains.

There's a pickaxe in one of my BG mods, now backstabbing with that could be cool, couldn't it? (No strength check needed, as it has a tip, right? ) (too bad that it's paperdoll animation is a hammer)
Back to the topic, well, I've no idea. I can just say the same: that kind of NPC backstabbing/whacking is probably a normal game phenomenon.