Does a thief's % chance of failure with setting traps affect his/her ability to set HLA traps?

If i remeber right, yes...

I believe it does, but by the time you start getting HLAs, you're almost bound to have 100% Set Traps anyway. Jan, with 17 DEX and his Gnomish Thieving Bonuses, can get 100% in all 7 skills by Thief Level 23. A F/M/T should be roughly Thief Level 15 by the time he first chooses a Trap HLA....nowhere near Level 23, I admit, but then he's likely to be wearing the Mercykiller Ring as well.

Bards, however, don't have the slightest detail to worry about. Crack open any Bard with Shadowkeeper, and you'll see that their Set Traps skill is automatically set to 100%.

Part of me thinks that bites, that a thief has to expend points in set traps but bards get it at 100% automatically. The other part of me remembers how much stronger thieves tend to be than bards, and just accepts that it is a way to balance the classes out.

Part of me thinks that bites, that a thief has to expend points in set traps but bards get it at 100% automatically. The other part of me remembers how much stronger thieves tend to be than bards, and just accepts that it is a way to balance the classes out. </font>[/QUOTE]A MOD I've just stumbled across, located at http://www.gamesector.co.yu/avenger/
has a "Rebalanced Rogues" component, one aspect of which is...

"- Bards now gain new Chant HLAs instead of Set X Traps "

I just downloaded it so can't offer any opinions on it, but it seems like a good idea (as do the rest of the components).

- Imrahil

Just out of interest is there any reason to put any of the thief skills past 100?

Of course. Especially Pickpocketing, as any respected salesman in Amn will force heavy penalties to your PP score. Try to obtain 180-200 PP before stealing. Potions abound. ;)

When trying to go Stealth in broad daylight, you'll suffer penalties - for obvious reasons. Get HiS & MS to about 120 each.

100 in Find Traps & Detect Illusions will suffice.

99 in Find \ Disarm Traps & Open Locks is optimal. Any other points in one of them is a waste of time, due to the way locks and traps are implemented.

[ 05-19-2003, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: Alson ]

Really? I've had problems with Imoen disarming some traps, and that is using the Ring of Danger Sense. She gets most of them, but some few go "Trap Not Disarmed."

The only Trap I know of that does that is the one inside Deirex's Tower, and that's just a bug relating to that specific container--it'll say that no matter what your Traps score might be, and even if you get "Trap Sprung," nothing will happen. Future BaldurDash fix? Hopefully.

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Yep, that's the main one I've come across that does that. I didn't know it was a bug. It just kind of freaked me out when it said "Trap Not Disarmed," then equally surprised when it didn't do anything. There's also a certain trap in Saradush that Imoen has never been able to disarm, even with the Ring of Danger Sense.