Hi,

I am trying to understand the benefits of putting thief points into "Move Silently", as opposed to "Hide in Shadows". Are both used for stealth mode? Does the "Hide in Shadows" ability help you enter stealth mode while "Move Silently" detemines how long you can remain there while walking around? Any insight would be appreciated.

I can't say exactly how it applies to BG2, but in d&d when you enter the shadows you have to roll to "move silently". If you fail your "move silently" roll, you may still be in the shadows but others will be alert to your presence.

I guess in a way it's similar to the effect of a character that has the "improved invisibilty" spell on him that is attacking. Enemies know that he's there, but can't lock any spells onto him and receive a severe penalty when attacking.

Move silently just goes hand in hand with hiding in shadows. You can't have one without the other. You can be hiding all you want, but when you move you're going to make noise...

However, that's just coming from d&d experience... i don't know how exactly this is transferred to BG2.

Good Q MageBoy, I never quite got that Myself...
Just a quick related question, can Jan hide in Shadows?
coz he seems only to have points in "Move Silently"...
just a quick Query...
Its really funny/strange/stupid, I have Jan with "Girdle of Hill Giant strength", and the sword of backstabbing...
he could get some good crits... (if he could hide in shadows)...

Bugger that, just have him memorize a dozen invisibility spells.

Thanks for the ideas.

I also have Jan in my party. Early on he was almost impossible to get into Stealth mode. They I pumped thief points into "Hide in Shadows" and it got a lot easier to enter Stealth mode. The problem was that as soon as he approached an enemy, he left Stealth mode immediately. So I started pumping points into "Move Silently" and now he seems to remain in Steath mode no matter what he does.

By the way, with the Mercy Killer ring you can buy from Diedre (if you have the bonus CD), Jan gets very respectable stats for both of these abilities (especially when you boost them with thief level up points).

The Girdle/Stealth/Backstab strategy sounds great. I'll have to try it tonight.

I suspect the hide in shadows is the percentage chance your first attempt to hide works and move silently is the test for whether you remain in after your first success at hiding.