I was thinking of making a fighter or a wizardslayer dualled to a thief lvl 12.

Here's the dilemma, I know Two weapon style is better but...is single weapon style worth the try? Or is it a waste of precious prof. points?

Thanks in advance.

well even with 5 prof points in 2 weapon style ( and ull have to clarify this one but) you only get like +1 to the hit of your off hand weapon. Since most of the points went to getting rid off the minuses. If you had one handed style you;d be quite a good fighter with it, especially if you went evenly with single style and say long sword. By the end of the game you'd be quite good.

Edit: sorry this was badly worded im falling asleep

[ 03-13-2005, 08:38 AM: Message edited by: lost prophet ]

You can only get up to three proficiency points in TWF. I view Single Weapon Fighting, powergaming-wise, inferior to TWF. Sure, IIRC, you get some AC benefits, making it sometimes worthwhile to give to your tank, but lategame/ToB, I find that AC matters little, and the extra attack that you get with two weapons matters much more. (especially with IH)

plus the bonus the off-hand weapon will give you

as you're dualling to thief then definitely take some single weapon points as it increases the likelihood of a critical hit (and you only need 1 * for this)

the good news of the dynamics of this dual is that you get points almost for 'free' - dual-wield while you're a fighter and then take single-weapon style as one of your thief profs and single-wield as a thief and then take your pick when the fighter reactivates

I recently had an archer who used a single longsword, and he was an effective backup tank. I chose single weapon so that he could get his elf bonuses with longswords, and since dual wielding with a bow involves tedious item switching. Also, with HLA's having single weapon proficiency helps.

For example, by the time I got greater whirlwind, my Valygar had 2* in dual wielding and single weapon. During a fight, he would dual wield. However, when I used greater whirlwind I would have him drop his second weapon, getting the same number of attacks along with increased critical and AC.

Single Weapon Style is best used by Thieves, to increase their chances of getting a Critical Backstab and for improved AC when they're running away afterwards.

Dual-Wielding is best used by flank attackers, to carve up the enemy while the Tank is shrugging off blows. It's the most powerful offensive melee style, but not recommended for anyone but high-level Warriors, as only they have the THAC0 to kill their opponent quickly.

Using it on a mage isn't a bad idea, since it adds a bonus to AC. if a mage is unfortunate enough to be attacked in HTH combat, they will need all the protection they can get.

Pure Wizards caanot place any proficiency points into the Weapon Styles.

Agreed here: as a Fighter dualed to Thief, you'll have tons of proficiency points. Plan them out so that you don't duplicate/lose any as part of the dual-class, and you will have ample proficiencies for both weapon styles and a good selection of weapons as well. Here's an example:

Fighter -> Thief

Fighter pre-dualclass
7F: ** Long Sword, ** Two Weapon Style, ** Short Bow
9F: * Katana
12F: ** Katana

Dualed to Thief, prior to Thief level exceeding Fighter level
1T: * Short Sword, * Single Weapon Style
4T: * Dagger
8T: * Scimitar
12T: * Quarterstaff

Fighter -> Thief, after Thief level exceeds Fighter level
16T: ** Single Weapon Style

"Final", as level 12 Fighter / level 16 (and climbing) Thief:
** Long Sword, Short Bow, Katana
** Two Weapon Style, Single Weapon Style
* Short Sword, Dagger, Scimitar, Quarterstaff

Thanx all.

THis was a very good guide on planning my thief skills.

One more Q. I am doing a 6 ppl party game, and I just don't know how to manage till I get to lvl 13 theif.
Party suggestions? For good and evil parties plz...(AND everything in between)

If you've already decided to have a 6-member party, any party of that size will be able to cover for any difficulties your PC has as a thief before reactivating the fighter class.

Random tank-heavy good party:
PC (Fighter -> Thief)
Keldorn
Jaheira
Mazzy
Aerie
Nalia

First people you meet party:
PC (Fighter -> Thief)
Minsc
Jaheira
Anomen
Aerie
Imoen

Good-aligned spellcaster overload:
PC (Fighter -> Thief)
Jaheira
Anomen
Aerie
Nalia
Imoen

Not much variety for evil parties, but here goes:
PC (Fighter -> Thief)
Korgan
Haer'Dalis
Viconia
Jan
Edwin

Neutral with good leanings:
PC (Fighter -> Thief)
Valygar
Jaheira
Cernd
Jan
Imoen

Fighter-heavy mixed alignment (no fights should break out):
PC (Fighter/Thief)
Korgan
Mazzy
Anomen
Jan
Edwin

If you are playing in a party, dont level up until you reactivate your fighter and save all the points to put into long sword etc to get grand mastery.

Also, an alternative to people's suggestion to whirlwind with one weapon: Any main hand weapon, any offhand with +1 attack, imp haste. Thats usually 9 attacks (3 main, +1 off, +1 attack, *2). Unfortunately, the game caps non-whirlwinds at 9 apr, but you can then use greater deathblow, critical strike etc instead of whirlwind every round.

Nice party ideas.

WIll Viconia instead of Jaheira/Cernd in neutral party work? Also, how 'bout Haer'Dails instead of Jan?

Also, in Neutral parties, could dualling Yoshi to fighter till spellhold a good idea?
And...one more thing. I have ToB, and what would be a good lvl to dual? 12 as I thought or higher?

[ 03-15-2005, 07:54 PM: Message edited by: D*Ranged ]

i'd never thought (or heard) about that idea - nice one [img]smile.gif[/img]

I think it's time to start doing some searches of the board. Still, here goes:

Viconia: Valygar in the same party with Viconia may cause problems... I'm not sure on that one though.

Haer'Dalis vs Jan: Both are neutral and as far as I know have no conflicts with anyone else.

Yoshi dual to Fighter: If you were going to delay Spellhold for a long time and really need a Fighter, you could, but if you plan on doing Spellhold soon he may not have time to re-activate his Bounty Hunter class.

What level to dual-class: Search and you'll find TONS of threads on this topic for various classes with and without TOB. You'll find arguments for levels ranging as low as 7 and as high as 24 or more, depending on the specific kit and classes involved, what you want out of each, and the XP charts. The most common levels usually discussed are 7 (immediately after starting SOA), 9 (full HP for a Fighter dualing to anything), 13 (full 2 attacks for a Fighter dualing to anything), and 20+ (to get a couple of key HLA's from the first class before switching).

[quote]Originally posted by Klutz:

Quote:

I think it's time to start doing some searches of the board. Still, here goes:

Not to pick on you, but I hate when people say stuff like this. Moderators and posters get angry if old threads get bumped up, yet people get pissed if you don't "do a search first."

Do you really want a dead forum? Because that's what you'll get if people just do searches and never ask questions. The game has been around for 6 years now.

I think it's time to start doing some searches of the board. Still, here goes:

Viconia: Valygar in the same party with Viconia may cause problems... I'm not sure on that one though.</font>[/QUOTE]Keldorn is the only one with a problem with Viconia, as she is not a mage, he will have no objections.

Jan irritates Anomen almost to the point of violence, but will not cause a party break, Haer'dalis CAN cause a party break depending on dialogue choices if you have Aerie in the party (especially if you are romancing her)

When "Do a search first" is the first and automatic response to a question, I agree with you 100%. However, you'll note that was my third response to the original poster in this thread... and even so, I made sure to give an informative response in addition.

No offense taken.

Slight spoiler
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...And this is a bad thing how? [img]smile.gif[/img] Personally, I would dual-class him right before you entered Spellhold.

Hey, if you haven't gotten there yet, you're better off (assuming ToB is installed) waiting until 13th level to dual class.