Can you get by with her as your only Thief in a party?

I'm just wondering, in case I lose Imoen in my no reloads game. I notice she has a good F/R Traps score, and I guess there I'd have to memorize quite a few Knock spells (at least until Crom Faeyr is assembled).

Anybody ever use Nalia as their only Thief? How did it work out?

No she's not a good thief. But yes, you can do with her being only thieves if you have no other alternative. Have knock spells memorized and hoard up on thieving potions.

But...

why don't you take Jan if you lose Imoen. He can do much better. And is a decent mage too.

Thanks ZFR.

The only reason I'd ever use Nalia as my Thief is if I lost Imoen in my no-reloads game. The reason I'd favor her over Jan (and believe me, I like Jan much more!) is that if I were to lose Imoen now, my only spellcaster would be my protagonist, a multiclassed illusionist.

Jan would be so far behind in levels, and he'd never have a chance to really contribute the way Nalia could for me.

I believe both Jan and Nalia are about the same level as Mage right now, but Nalia will advance so much faster.

I am a big fan of Yoshimo now. I didn't use him my first time through SoA, but this time he has been worth his weight in platinum. Nalia....baah! Meet me at the keep, bimbo! Sure she has Cloudkill when you first get her, but Aerie will have that VERY soon, and I spent so much gold on "Knock" scrolls & Potions of Master Thievery with her in my party last time. This time through I've already bought the Sword of Roses AND the Fortress Shield for my tank with the GPs I saved and the GPs he has seperated from their original owners! I might just take Yoshi with me to the end, he has just been that good.

Yeah, I don't normally find much use for the Bounty Hunter kit, but Yoshimo is still an excellent Thief. Of course, Jan is very good too, but it takes so long to get him weaned off of his items, and his low HP means he tends to die sometimes at low levels. Yoshimo is very reliable in that regard, and you can even Dual him to Fighter if you want.

You know what's funny? Besides that I realize that he has some sweet snare traps available to set, and has the Waikisaki or whatever sword that is (I just count that to his upbringing), I don't even think of him as a Bounty Hunter. I don't know if they have anymore special abilities or anything, but I play him like a very adept thief, which is what he is. He also had reasonable success in the De'Arnise hold using a crossbow, with which he had no proficiency points. I did it because he & Minsc had minimal Arrows of Fire, and he smoked some Yaun-Ti! Talk about resourceful!