quote:
Originally posted by Guardian Jarelia (TGOD):
It's a female elven assassin which look very cool when wearing leather or studded leather armor. Her name is Curare and allignment is true neatral.
I also need some advice with what party i should walk. I want to have the best. I was thinking of having Minsc, Keldorn, Anomen, Nalia, Imoen and myself.
Hi Jarelia,
That's 3 thieves in one party! (Well, two and Nalia...)
How you allocate your skill points depends entirely on what role you plan to play in your party. There are three ways you could go:
1) Primary Thief: You are the thief for your party. You must scout, disarm traps and pick locks.
2) Backup Thief: You are not responsible for finding traps or picking locks. You can concentrate on the fun stuff, like setting traps, moving silently and hiding in shadows.
3) Solo Thief: You are the whole party.
It sound to me like you are going to do # 2. If so, you should ignore for now Find/Remove Traps, Open Locks and Detect Illusion. You can put Set Traps up to 70% and then put the rest in Hide in Shadows and Move Silently. (Move Silently isn't important at first, so put more points in Hide in Shadows.)
Elves get a bonus to-hit when using Long Swords and any kind of Bow. Use that advantage -- with your thief's THAC0 you'll need it -- and so pick for weapon proficiencies:
+ Long Swords
+ Single Weapon Style
+ Short Bows
I disagree about Katanas being good for thieves. Ask for a detailed analysis of average damage if you want to know the nitty-gritty of why. There are some good katanas, but if you want to use them, take Valygar or get another fighter to take proficiencies in them.
If you are planning on taking Annomen for romance, you obviously have no substitute.
About the rest of the party: Minsc and Keldorn are similar. In my humble opinion Keldorn is superior, but many people are attached to Minsc's personality. There's no harm in taking both, but if you dump Minsc for Jaheira, you'll have access to some good spells. If you want P*O*W*E*R, though, dump Minsc and take Edwin!
Don't take Nalia. Instead, take Haer'Dalis. He's got a good personality, has a bard song, picks pockets, can hold his own in a fight (with the armor you get when rescuing him, stoneskins and offensive spin) and is a fine backup mage. Since you're planning on being a backup thief, take Yoshimo when you exit Irenicus' dungeon. Plan on dumping him when you rescue Imoen.
-- Nifft
PS: Random note on solo assassins: you can hide in shadows whenever you can't see any red circles. so run around pillars (like that big formation in the middle of the crystal room in Irenicus' dungeon) until you successfully hide. Lure foes out of groups by hiding in shadows, moving until you can just barely see them, then leaving shadows intentionally. The foe will see you and move to attack. Run away (behind a corner or something) and hide. You ought to be able to do it with the good lead you've got. To make a neutral face a different way, talk to him or her. You don't need to "close the deal" and actually talk to them, just start to, then move away. They'll follow you, turning to face where you are. Then they'll lose interest and remain facing where you were. This is nice for positioning people you plan to backstab.
[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: Nifft the Nimble ]