Newbie in need for some assistance.

[galraen]

For a thief the first thing you should look at is the armours NP (Noise rating) the hiigher it is the harder it is to prowl successfully. Something like oiled thieves leather or chain is fine through the middle of the game.

Damage resistance is just what it says, how resistant you are to damage, and can be more important than the AC rating. Utilising armour that has no NP but decent DR along with items that boost DR and Force Shield can get your DR up to as high as 95%, i.e you only take 5 hp of damage for every 100 inflicted.

How effective equipment is is very dependent on your technology/magic rating. If you're heavily techno then all that nice magic gear will do you no good whatsoever. Conversely, if your highly magical tech gear is virtually useless. You can get something out of both if you're evenly balanced, but won't get the full benefit of anything. IMO, for the easiest game go full tilt at magic, and if you're evil then the gypsy ladies often sell a helm that make getting ultra magical (and evil) dead easy. Being hi-tech is more difficult, but more financially rewarding, and IMO makes for a more interesting game.

[GawainBS]

The only drawback of wearing Technological items while being too Magic, is that you suffer a crit failure chance, which is indicated for each item equipped.
Being neutral allows the full benefit of Technology.

[Mr. Pastorius]

Originally Posted by GawainBS

The only drawback of wearing Technological items while being too Magic, is that you suffer a crit failure chance, which is indicated for each item equipped.
Being neutral allows the full benefit of Technology.

If I recall correctly, being neutral also gives you a minor critical failure chance, some 2-5% depending on item type (weapons give a highest penalty).

[GawainBS]

My slightly magical character suffers no penalty from the Chain gloves. First item I noticed where Battle Gloves or some such, with a chance of 5% for a very magical character.

[Mr. Pastorius]

Originally Posted by GawainBS

My slightly magical character suffers no penalty from the Chain gloves. First item I noticed where Battle Gloves or some such, with a chance of 5% for a very magical character.

Try wielding a rifle of some sort, I think the penalty increases with weapons and more complex technological items. Although I might be wrong.

[AmericanNinja]

After playing the game for a while now, I can with certainty confirm that you backstab whenever your behind your target. In battle, I circle around the mobs to attack them from behind and my damage is way more than it is upfront. Only drawback is that you lose action points from moving, but they go down as flies

[Deadalready]

Is there any command to keep Virgil away, to just have him stand in one specific spot? Whenever I use the F5 command "back off"(?) he just keep following me.
Back off is just for them to keep a bit of a distance, they'll follow if you stray too far.

To Lockpick, is there a specific skill button or do I just _use_ the lockpick set?
You need a set of lockpicks equipped in your tools bar to make use of them.

When pick pocketing, do I have to pay attention to the surrounding NPCs(can they spot me?) or just the NPC that Im stealing from?
I don't believe other characters affect your pickpocketing, but you'll want to make use of your sneak skill to stand any chance of making a sucessful steal. Standing in their face has a high chance of being discovered.

~

Thieves are awesome characters to play in Arcanum. I played a backstabber with high sneak and wore a "Smokers Suit"(?) for the entire game and basically no armour.

As a thief, I found followers pointless, sure they're good for carry room but the fact is they get in the way of a good thief. Most items that need to be carried are just sold anyway, what's the point of selling something when a thief can constantly break into a shop and steal all the money every few nights? I must make a good couple of thousand dollars on my first visit to Tarant through stealing. Add to this every couple of nights shops restock their coffers makes stealing effortless.

Sneak is very important, the faster you can pump it the better. Early on consider getting the "Entangle" spell (not sure which spell tree). Entangle is a spell which ties a person to the ground for a short duration, allowing cheap backstab for one or two turns without worry of defence. Entangle makes a certain early encounter possible. Bear traps are possible choices too, but require carrying heavy equipment and simply being able to get someone to step on the right spot.
The funniest thing is having max sneak, since then it's possible to sneak at any point, especially in a battle. Having someone run up to attack and just going into sneak mode makes them stop and stand still.

Steal is a weird skill, there are occassions to use it but not many, stealing keys is probably the best ocassion but I remember it simply not working well even at max level.