The Thief of Fate

[--Twilight--]

Hello,
I am sure that this has all been covered somewhere within the last 20,000 posts, but, well, I would rather play the game
than search...

Is a thief necessary to have? I so far think so (well, at least as important as a fighter or mage), but what choices do we
really have? Nalia, Imoean, and Jan are all low-level thieves who converted to mages. Yoshimoto (*mini-spoiler*) is good,
but you can't count on him to stick around. Nobody else can dual class into a thief (except, maybe, Sarevok). I don't
remember any other choices. One could use the main character, but, you shouldn't have to. Any ideas? I know that you are
NOT supposed to be able to put-together a "perfect" party, but I think that our choices are strange, considering that fighter,
rogue, and spellcaster are the three major branches of AD&D characters.

My solution: hacked the game shamelessly. I changed Minsc into a fighter, raised his DEx +1 (lowered CHR and WIS -1), and
dual classed him into a thief. He is working-out quite well. Imagine - Minsc the Thief!! As I live and breath that is funny and oddly
wierd, but it works (well, we'll just pretend that Minsc has always had an interest in traps while a ranger and in mechanical things
during his childhood/pre-head wound years).

Also, I like Imoen a lot better as a BARD than as a low-level thief/mage. Anyone agree? No, really, she works well, at least for
me (think: high pickpocket ability, a longsword, a heavy crossbow, and plenty of mage spells up to the 6th level).

[If you're curious, my party is composed of:

protagonist human paladin
BG1 PC half-elf fighter/druid (Jaheira is suddenly not too important anymore)
BG1 PC half-elf mage/cleric
Aerie (elf mage/cleric)
Minsc (human ftr-8/thief, dual)
open spot (Nadia, Jaheira, Jan, etc.) until Imoen (human bard) is returned].

Then again, who really needs to open all of those locked chests and things (we'll just keep memorizing knock spells)?
Traps? That's why we have clerics!
Perhaps, I've blown this out of proportion?

[Charean]

I know someone who goes through the game solo and he is a ranger. Yes, you can go through the game without a thief... but you miss some goodies. And as long as you can heal yourself after your traps... there ya go!

[--Twilight--]

Solo, eh? That is a tough challenge in and of itself. I did an all player-character (via multiplayer) party in BG1, and, I must say, they were tough. Tougher yet, to the extreme, to go solo. Perhaps just to show that it can be done.

However, I wanted to get "more" out of the game, and I realized that such an approach really minimizes the role-playing. I wanted to try some NPCs, just for fun. But, no thief? Really, I don't want to cast find traps and knock every other screen! It's too bad that other classes within the thief genre (bard, perhaps monk and ranger as cousins) can't do the job AT ALL. I have never been big on thieves, but I always had one good one (BG1: dwarf fighter/thief, what a multifaceted powerpack!), and now BG2 gives me none. Anyway, cry, cry, cry, cry....

- Twilight

[Avalon]

Personally i think it is an attempt to get you to take Yoshi with you, thus (SPOILER) getting Imoen back without having to lose someone else in your party

I hate it too, so my main theory is to have a thief with me, made from multiplayer and then converted to single player.

Not the same though, just not the same

[Xero279]

if you really want a thief (or any other class might i add) just go to multiplayer, create one, and convert to single (if thats what u play), give it a script, and use its abilities. [img]smile.gif[/img] i did that when poor poor korgan died, i made him a brother [img]smile.gif[/img] hehehe , at that time i couldnt res and didnt wanna spend 5k for scroll. anyway, hes better than korgan

[hermit09]

The title of your post brings back fond memories of the Bard´s Tale, my friend.

Anyway, I finished the game without a pure-class thief, and plenty of people solo through without thieves, so I suppose it´s not strictly necessary to have one, but I think it would be useful nonetheless.

[Arnabas]

Ah... Bard's Tale... One of the first games to keep me up all night until two hours before I had to go to work...
Like any class, a thief would be useful, but not totally necessary. You can make do without.

[Radek]

You need not hack the game. It is possible to have more than one "home made" character in the party.
1. Start a singleplayer session.
2. Create all needed characters. Create one character, let the initial cut-off scene run, export the character, and start from scratch with a new character. You need not create all 6 characters.
3. With the last character, save the game so as you have a legally saved game on the disc. We don't want to investigate what tables the game keeps and where and what the tables contain.
4. Start a multiplayer session. Create new session. Lock it. Import all your characters (it is possible under multiplayer!) and give them all access rights.
5. Let the initial cut-off scene run and save the game.
6. Quit the game completely. Delete all files in the folder with the saved game from the singleplayer session (saved in step 3). Replace them with files from the folder with the saved game from the multilpayer session (saved in step 5).
7. Start the game in singleplayer and load the game saved in step 3. Right, the game which was saved under multiplayer will be loaded. You have more than 1 home made character in a singleplayer session.
This works perfectly. You can create your own party completely if you want. You can create only necessary characters, for example a protagonist and a character with thieving abilities according to your needs, and complete the party with standard characters from the game.
But beware. There are some but's about the custom characters:
1. They cannot be given their marching orders. Once you release them you lose them forever.
2. They must not be imprisoned or stoned. Well, you can free them or un-stone them but they will behave like released characters, i.e., they will say "Ok, I am leaving" and vanish from the game.
3. You cannot have love story with a home made character.
4. They will not give you any character specific information. For example, when they see Neb, they remain silent instead of crying "Neb? That swine?".
5. On the other hand, they will not complain about wasted time, your reputation, missing wings, your idea of helping others, and so on.

[--Twilight--]

Hello,
well, there's always Jan...
I already have 2 PCs in addition to the protagonist, so to avoid having anymore pizzazz drained out of the party, I'll stick with my mutant Minsc.
["Look Boo! Minsc opened lock! Evil you can't hide from me! I will open you!"]

- Twilight

p.s. Somebody should post a disclaimer/ no trespassing sign over the
Rune "Club" in the Bridge District (I'll be returning much later),