Best theif/bard

garazdawi · #1 (**permalink**) 06-26-2002, 12:30 PM

Ive just got a question.

Who do you think is the best theif/bard character?

Personally I don't like any of them so I mostly just use find trap with Viconia and knock with Edwin. In the beginning I choose Yoshimo but when he betrayed you this relly cool character beceme unavailabel

serjeLeBlade · #2 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 04:49 AM

Choose a Blade, and you get:
Bards' knowlege. No more Identfy spells needed. Forever.
Good pickpocketing ability. Useful at the beginning, when you have no money AND no equipment.
3 attacks per round when you want to fight (using offensive spin and double wielding). No other bard/thief kit will EVER get to this attack rate; a Blade can get it from the very beginning of SOA.
(When using his special ability-attack spin-, obiouvsly).

Plus, you have wizards' spell and level up faster than any mage in the game.

Plus, do the Planar Prison quest and you get Melodic Chain... magic chainmail usable by bard only.... Allows spellcasting while equipped. (Don't give to Haer Dalis, he doesn't deserve it)

(Beg pardon in advance for composing an ode to myself... )

garazdawi · #3 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 05:00 AM

In case you create your own char I have to go with an assasin because of the 7 times backstab multiplier. Of cource equiped with cloak of Non detektion and dual weild two kick ass short sword. I once dealt 238 dmg!!! with one single blow. I almost soloed TOB (for some reson I couldn't get past Mellisan in the very final battle) with that char ahhh those were the times

I killed Balthazar in only two blows and Irenucus died with the poison of just one blow!!!

serjeLeBlade · #4 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 05:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by garazdawi
Ive just got a question.

Who do you think is the best theif/bard character?

But... was your question about npcs?
Sorry I didn't understand!

garazdawi · #5 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 07:05 AM

I meant NPC's but it really doesn't matter

I just wondered if I should waste the main char to be a Rougue or take in an NPC. The purpose of the question was to see what to choose main char or NPC rougue.

serjeLeBlade · #6 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 07:16 AM

Imoen always did just fine for me, in TOB.
Jan could be seen as a better thief... but you just do not need one.
The only good reason to make your main character a rogue is if you like to do it, imho!

garazdawi · #7 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 07:34 AM

The problem with Imoen is that if you go through both SOA and TOB she's missing in half of it

and I never did like all the long talks that Jan terrorised my PC with

The way to go is probalby with Korgan running over all traps and bashing all doors with Crom feyr equiped or something like that

VonDondu · #8 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 12:50 PM

There's one advantage to having a Thief unlock doors and disarm traps (instead of letting other characters do it): A Thief earns experience points for doing it. Over the course of the game, it adds up to hundreds of thousands of XP points for your party.

From a practical standpoint, there are only two NPCs who have enough thieving skills to take care of all the doors, chests, and traps: Imoen and Jan.

Personally, I enjoy playing Fighter/Thieves and Swashbucklers. If you have a multiclass Fighter/Thief character, the High Level Abilities rock. Deathblow and Power Attack make ANY backstab an instant killer, even with a "paltry" 5X backstab multiplier. Watch the screen shake and the body parts fly.

garazdawi · #9 (**permalink**) 06-27-2002, 01:41 PM

The extra xp gained is not really needed if you don't plan on using 6 chars wich would be to overkill the whole thing.

I did a swashbuckler/fighter once it worked out really nice. It's not a dual to solo with but with Korgan or Mazzy as tanks you should do fine especially whaen you get UAI.

Querschen · #10 (**permalink**) 06-29-2002, 02:06 AM

Come on people, in every cool dungeon crawling party there is a thief. They provede the humor and you should just have one because a part in all of us wants to be able to pickpocket people and disarm traps. Take a thief, they are all dual or multi class, even Nalia is ok when she quaffs a few potions of perception/master thievery, but Imoen and Jan both provide adequate service, and if you ditch Yoshimo so he doesnt get destroyed in Spellhold he is on eof the best fighter/thieves around. I highly recommend a thief and they few hundered thousand XP you can rack up is far more than any other NPC quests...

PS dissarming and setting traps are fun

Impaler987 · #11 (**permalink**) 06-29-2002, 09:24 PM

I like to start w/ an assassin and dual him to fighter between levels 13 and 17.

7x backstab doesn't seem as important when you can wind up poisoning your weapon at will and activating greater whirlwind, smite, etc., all w/ the fighting prowess of a fighter and not a weak assassin.

Even at 5x or 6x the backstab killed many important enemies with ease. Plus I have more than enough thief abilities by the time I dual.

If you haven't tried an assassin/fighter yet, do so; they're lots of fun and not cheesy like a certain dual class combo that makes no role-playing sense.

jerubal · #12 (**permalink**) 06-30-2002, 06:51 AM

I was always a fan of Haer'Dalis, but I take Imoen along for the crack.

gnomethingy · #13 (**permalink**) 07-03-2002, 08:05 AM

Is it just me, or am I the only person who ever plays a theif.. just a regular ole theif.. no kit.

I think they rock, all the dmg they save yer party from traps, the hassle from lockpicks.. pickpocketing nice items, setting traps and backstabbing...

The regular theif is the only char with enough abilities to safisfy my limited attention span aside from a mage

Btw.. I normally play multiplayer, wth a pc whatever and another pc theif... then a few npcs couse I dont think any of the npc theives are worth a second look, for one reason or another

Impaler987 · #14 (**permalink**) 07-03-2002, 06:30 PM

I usually play a swashbuckler if I want a character effective as an actual thief. They get the same amount of thief points as normal thieves do, plus they can actually fight some. The only thing they lose out on compared to the straight thief is backstab, which the straight thief sucks at.

If I set up a solo multiplayer game I would create a swashbuckler (one who could even dual-class to a fighter or a mage if I felt like it) for the essential thief skills (traps, locks, pickpocket, detect illusions). Then if I wanted a backstabber I would take a class that actually makes it effective, such as an assassin (very fun and even more effective when dual-classed to fighter), a multi-class fighter/thief, or even a stalker (who, despite the lower multiplier, still usually does more backstab damage than a thief, not to mention far more consistent damage, and unlike the thief hardly ever misses).

Blucher · #15 (**permalink**) 07-03-2002, 07:00 PM

Make Imoen more useful.

Leave the 1st dungeon.

Go to the Copper Coronet, free Hendak and clear out the slaver boat and sewers.

Sell the loot for 15k gps to pay Gaelan Bayle.

Complete Aran's tasks.

Off to Spellhold.

Maybe a one 20th of the game before you get Imoen back.