[The Hairy Caveman]

My favorite character I ever ran through the game was an evil kensai->thief. He had grandmastery in dual-wielding and katanas. I switched him over to thief at lvl 21 (3,250,000 exp). It took a long time to get the 2,640,000 exp for lvl 22 thief but once I did....good lord. Easily the most destructive single attack character I can imagine. Some would argue an assasin->fighter is better but the bonus to ac and hit/damage still apply when you're just going toe to toe; making much shorter work of annoying things like mind flayers and mages that you want to take out quickly. However, this character was in a 4 (later 5) person party that did virtually everything to get exp so you'll want to dual earlier to avoid playing in TOB as a straight thief with no armor (it sucks). You should dual-class after level 13 so you get the exrta 1/2 APR, but if you want to wait till lvl 15 you should be allright too. Also, unless you have tactics or the item upgrade mod, place your proficencies in something like long sword or staff that you can backstab with and find copies of higher enchantments. Remember, celestial fury is an incredible weapon, and you can do a 250+ backstab with ease, but if the weapon can't hurt something all you've done is stepped out of the shadows and pissed of something thats likely stronger than you are. I think you'll also be very pleased with the thiefs HLA's which are among the best in the game. However, Kai lasts 7 seconds and assasination lasts 1 round so you won't be able to use both at once,(man did that disappoint me)but if you time-trap and assasinate nothing should survive anyways. [img]smile.gif[/img] As far as playing after the dual but before the reactivation I would highly recomend the Firetooth throwing dagger. I used that, and a normal dagger if something got too close or I wanted to backstab. Also, you can get the single weapon class while thief to help with the no armor/AC problem but you should be in the back row anyways. Good luck with your character and keep us informed on how things turn out.

[ 04-14-2005, 01:02 PM: Message edited by: The Hairy Caveman ]