So I'm back playing BG2...

[Ivelliis]

Re-installed, patched and modded, I'm back playing probably my favourite game of all time. Usually my party would be all fire power, ignoring buffs and debuffs for pure damage spells. This time, I'm going to approach it a bit more tactically. There shouldn't be any spoilers in this post, but I'll make warnings should I post any.
Here's what I've done so far:
Party consisting of Isa (assassin) Jaheira and Minsc
Dungeon-Be-Gone out of Chataeu Irenicus.
Circus, picked up Aerie
Picked up Kelsey
Picked up Viconia
Solved the skinner murders
Rescued Haer'dalis from that wizard.

I've had a few fights I've had to reload and use different tactics. That group in the Den of Seven Vales Inn, and the one in the sewers, were tricky first go around, but eventually fell to the might of my party.

Using Jaheira with full plate mail, a club (normal one, I haven't found a better one yet) and a large shield +2 (which I accidently bought) so she has a -7 AC (with a ring/cloak/necklace of protection+1).

What is the best way to use an assassin? Usually I send her in stealthed, scouting for enemies, and position her behind the weakest looking (mages). Then I send in Jaheira and Minsc, with Viconia shortly after, and finally Kelsey and Aerie firing away. Then she pops backstab and poof, most times the mage is gone.
She's using a longsword+1 in her main hand, with a dagger+1 in her off. I'm not too sure how backstabs work, but a harder hitting weapon would be best, right?

Also Viconia. At the moment she debuffs and she heals, occasionally buffs but not much attacking unless it's with her sling. Does she, or clerics in general, have another use I don't know of?

It's been a long while since I played any D&D games, and I was never too sure of the "rules" of how some things worked anyway, hence the nuke 'em before they nuke me theory (which worked all the way to the end of ToB *grin*)

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Quite frankly, if Dundee's latest story thread isn't "Assassin 101: Assassination for Dummies," I don't know what is.

[ZFR]

More like "Tactics for Dummies". Most of it was not about how to play out an assassin but how to play out tactics. Ivelliis is not playing tactics, so quite a lot (e.g fighting dragons) is not applicable.

I played a halfling assassin through SoA and ToB. Besides thieving duties, he was mostly an archer, mainly due to roleplay reasons. Also I found his 1 apr to make him a poor meelleer. I would backstab occasionally but usually it would be one backstab then retreat and fire arrows. Unfortunately many enemies in ToB are immune to backstab and those who aren't are ones you can kill easily anyway.

[ 08-15-2006, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: ZFR ]

[Dirty Meg]

To get the most out of an assassin you need to backstab a lot. Potions of invisibility are useful, as is running round a corner and hiding in shadows (Boots of speed are useful for this).

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I once played an assassin. When I was doing Bodhi's crypt in chapter 5, in order to avoid getting level drained I had all my party drink invisibility potions on entering the graveyard district. For some reason the vampires scattered, and distributed themselves around the level. Stalking them predator style was one of the best times I've had playing BG2.

[Neo the Warrior Cat]

Assassin?


Snag the Tuigan short-bow and use your poison ability. Obliterates most early-game enemies that aren't immune (it stacks).


Or you could combine it, like scout ahead, super backstab, then run away and shift the aggro to your tank, turn and fire.


But seriously, to get the best use out of the Poison ability, you want the multiple APR bows provide, and the Tuigan bow provides you with 3 ApR, which is good for a thief.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Light Crossbow of Speed + Bolts of Biting + Poison Weapon

Darts of Wounding + Poison Weapon

Poisoned Daggers + Poison Weapon

Asp's Nest + Poison Weapon

Tuigan Bow + Arrows of Biting + Poison Weapon
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These are good in SoA for the most part, but against enemies with good AC, you will want to switch tactics.
~~~~ ~~~~

For backstabbing with a 1-H weapon, do not put anything in your off-hand, and have a proficiency in One Weapon Style.

This will increase your chance for a Critical Hit, which will greatly enhance your backstab damage.

[CerebroDragon]

In my most recent game through BG2, I played a TN Assassin and ended up using the Gesen bow with the Equalizer as my melee weapon by the time I got to ToB. The stacking of poison plus the electrical damage was rather nasty at times. Definitely use this to your advantage.

Clever and abundant use of the poison weapon ability as Dundee overkillishly emphasises and a good stock of invisibility potions (nod to DirtyMeg) for mage killing backstabbotage was also the order of the day for my character. Some traps can come in handy too.

As for Viconia, I really like to purchase the Mauler's Arm+2 mace for her early on to negate her low strength and give her that little bit more punch in melee. I also like to use her as a supporting tank now and again - particularly when she is able to cast spells like holy power, righteous magic and champions strength. So other than summoning for help (I got rather attached to Aerial Servants) and the usual buffings, vic's clerical abilities can serve a diverse range of purposes.

[Armen]

all i'd add to your mage killing tactics is to take the risk of stabbing the mage before the rest of your party charges in - otherwise you risk the mage triggering his/her stoneskins/ protection from magic weapon etc. spells

then you run, run, run away [img]smile.gif[/img]

and, as you asked, generally the most damaging weapon that you can use is the way to go for backstabbing power

[Ivelliis]

Well I *did* have a pop at Tactics....Tactics wasn't my thing *grin* I got royally whooped from step one, so struggled a bit and although the fights were fun, spending a good few hours and not getting very far kind of p-eed me off *grin*

[ister]

Originally posted by Ivelliis: Then she pops backstab and poof, most times the mage is gone. She's using a longsword+1 in her main hand, with a dagger+1 in her off. I'm not too sure how backstabs work, but a harder hitting weapon would be best, right?

As mentioned, never use anything in your offhand for backstab. Go for single-handed style to get more critical hits. In general what matters for a backstab weapon is the enchantment. A +3 dagger does the same damage (on average) as a +1 long sword. But:
-Your THAC0 is 1 better with the dagger. This means that you in 10% of all backstabs the dagger will hit and the long sword will miss. Missing is the worst thing that can happen in a backstab.
-The damage from the sword (ignoring various modifications that will affect both the sword and the dagger) is 2-9. The damage from the dagger is 4-7. If you have a quadruple damage backstab the sword will do 8-36 damage, while the dagger will do 16-28. And it is true that 36 damage is a big improvement over 28 damage, getting 8 damage is a real problem. In my opinion is much beter to have reliable damage inflicted than to be hopign to get lucky.
-The dagger has speed 0, while the sword has speed 4. This means that, for the sword, there will be a delay between when you order the backstab and when the attack happens. If the enemy happens to move away in that interval you can lose the backstab.

In my opinion you want the following characteristics (in order) for backstab weapons:
-Speed, because it is incredibly annoying if the enemy wanders off and you end up without the backstab multiplier
-Enchantment, because you must maximize you chance to hit.
-Any nice secondary effect that disables or cripples your enemy.

I think that daggers are probably the best choice - they are all very fast, and you can get very good ones early on. Stiletto of Demarchess with 20% stunning is great, Neb's dagger is nice and the Pixie Prick is lovely. You can buy a +2 dagger immediately and it's pretty cheap.

Plus I like the rpg of an assasin with a dagger.

Of course there are plenty of fast short swords, and later in the game there are several very fast long swords, so those are good choices too. I think that you can do better than a +1 long sword though.

Also Viconia. At the moment she debuffs and she heals, occasionally buffs but not much attacking unless it's with her sling. Does she, or clerics in general, have another use I don't know of?

I think sanctuary is often underestimated. You can cast some decent spells out of it, and it allows you to position a second character next to a weaker baddie. As I'm sure you know, Hold Person and Silence 15' radius are both very useful early on in the game. Glyph of Warding is a halfway decent blasting area attack. But generally clerics are best for buffs.

I wouldn't bother with Mauler's arm myself. If I'm going to use Viconia in combat I'll have all the following going before fighting (and probably use sanctuary to get up close to the baddies)
-Righteous Magic (if I've got level 5 spells [img]smile.gif[/img] )
-Holy Power
-Draw Upon Holy Might
-Protection from Evil
-Armor of Faith (every little bit helps)

With those in place Viconia will chew enemies up. Especially if you give her the FoA.

[ 08-16-2006, 09:44 AM: Message edited by: ister ]