[Riftmaker]

Here's some advice on thieving skills:

FT/OL: You want these over 100, 125 perferably to handle all traps efficiently.

HiS/MS: Don't get these if you don't plan to use them. 80 isn't high enough for effective 24/7 use. If you want to get them higher, you'll be paying for it with levels.

PP/DI: Don't get PP if you're only gonna keep it at 80. You want to be able to succeed at PPing 100% of the time. As for DI, the higher the better, but it can still be useful at around 80ish.

Set Traps you won't find very useful if you're not a BH, so just leave it be.


(edit)
If you're simply going to dual to a mage, I'd even take those first 8 levels as a swashbuckler rather than a simple thief. You get the same amount of points, but no backstabbing (which you wouldn't be using at level 8 anyway). If you are actually going to use backstabbing, an Assassin->Mage dual could be quite deadly. I may do that with my game now that I've thought of it.
(/edit)

When you start out in BG2, you will be level 8 as a thief, giving you this many points:

60 + (20*7) = 200.

Now, if you only want to use FT/OL, dump 100 points into each, and you're good to go. Simply dual to a mage right there and then.

If you want to spread out a bit more, you're going to have to wait somewhere between 2 and 5 levels to get all the points you want. This can get annoying, especially in large parties.

So I'd suggest making your thief, dumping 100 into FT and OL, and dualling to a mage straight-away after starting BG2.

As for a party, if you're sure nobody will kill Ewdin, and you want to keep Viconia for romance purposes, you're going to have trouble controlling reputation.

You
Edwin
Viconia
Anomen
Valygar
Nalia -> for handling thieving until you come out of dual.

Viconia is a great tank if you get her strength up to where she can wear full plate. Simply resolve / prevent the bug, and she'll be amazing.

Anomen / Valygar can handle the bashing. Anomen also makes a great backup cleric.

Nobody ever complained about having 3 mages, and you only really need 2 tanks, and Viconia can help out in that department.

If you don't care about the Viconia romance, but you still want a romance, either make your character female, or kick Nalia and take Jaheira/Aerie. You can simply do non-thieving quests until you get your XP high enough to get your thieving skills back.

[ 10-21-2004, 08:14 PM: Message edited by: Riftmaker ]