Assassin/Cleric Musings.

[Lemmy]

"{A high level assassin Backstabbing with Corsamyr}."

You can wield it, but you can't backstab with it. IIRC: Backstab is only possible with an item a thief can use normally. And that excludes two-handed swords. It also excludes the mega-cheese potential of Staff of the Magi, since it restricts use to Mages/Sorcerers right on the label. There was a fairly interesting thread about this a few months ago or so.

-Lem

[Cerek the Barbaric]

{sigh} I didn't think that worked. Oh well, I can still dream.

[Alson]

Cerek, do you have the Item Upgrades Mod installed?
If so, you might be interested in a certain dagger that will serve your Assassin quite well...

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Why yes, Alson, I DO have the Items Upgrade Mod installed. Which dagger do you speak of?

I actually have a short sword that was created by an IW member for me that is specially designed for thieves in general....but especially for assassins.

It is a true Sword of Backstabbing - because it increases the Backstab Multiplier by 1 place. So my assassin will eventually be able to do x8 damage with his Backstab attack. It also increases Hide in Shadows and Move Silently by 25% each. I got SO tired of finding "Shortswords of Backstabbing"...only to find out that they offered NO bonuses to the Backstab attack. They were just ordinary +2 or +3 swords with no special abilities at all.

I found a dagger in Arundor's Adobe that would work really nice also. It's called a Blast Blade and has a percent chance to release a small Fireball with each strike. The beauty of my Sword of Backstabbing is that the attack doesn't have to be made with that sword...the bonus multiplier applies to the weapon in my off-hand as well. Currently I am using two short swords for my melee' and Backstab attacks. So far...it works really well.

[Alson]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: Why yes, Alson, I DO have the Items Upgrade Mod installed. Which dagger do you speak of?

It's called Quietus +4.

Item Spoilers!
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Ingredients:
Bone Blade
Pixie Prick
4 Potions of Master Thievery
15,000 Gold
Quietus +4 (Dagger)
Increase backstab multiplier by 1. Target must save
vs. poison at -2 or suffer blindness or sleep
for 12 seconds.

Think x16 on Critical Hits...
Don't underestimate the effects, too. Every monster and its grandfather are immune to sleep, but Blindness immunity is probably the rarest of immunities. Blind creatures suffer huge penalties to their AC and THAC0, and are, well... blinded.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

X16 DAMAGE!!!!!....Oooooooooo, I LIKE that!

I don't know if it would really work that way, or if it would just add one more to my damage multiplier. Still x9 Damage is nothing to sneeze at either.

I will be anxiously seeking the required daggers. I hate to give up 4 Potions of Master Thievery, but it would be worth it.

BTW...is it even possible to steal from Ribald. I am desparately trying to relieve him of a certain Light Crossbow of Speed, but he is very alert to my movements. I have a 50% chance to Pick Pockets..and a potion increases that to 90%, but that apparantly still isn't enough to overcome all the negative penalties he applies.

Ah well...I am a patient man. Eventually, it will be mine.

[Desuma Malevois]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: X16 DAMAGE!!!!!BTW...is it even possible to steal from Ribald. I am desparately trying to relieve him of a certain Light Crossbow of Speed, but he is very alert to my movements. I have a 50% chance to Pick Pockets..and a potion increases that to 90%, but that apparantly still isn't enough to overcome all the negative penalties he applies. Ah well...I am a patient man. Eventually, it will be mine.

I assume you are actually asking about Bernard at the Copper Coronet, as his shop has the light crossbow of speed and the steal icon while Ribald's doesn't. Anyway, it is possible to steal from him, although it is very difficult. You need to get your pickpocket score up to around 200% (Potions of Master Thievery will stack). Next quicksave, and try to steal the item. If you fail, then reload, do something like hide in shadows, then quicksave and try again. Rinse and repeat until successful. The reason for the hide in shadows is that BG2's random number generator for determining success is not truly random, and by doing this you change the number to something that might be more in your favor.

[Cerek the Barbaric]

Aaargh...you're right, Desuma, I did mean Bernard. {I only wish I could steal from Ribald [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] }.

I figured Bernard would have some of the highest penalties since he also has some of the best equipment. I also knew that Potions of Master Thievery would stack...but right now I only have 1 potion. I did NOT know about Hiding in Shadows first. I will have to try that after I find a couple more potions.

I also was doing the "Quicksave/Reload" method. I would Quicksave immediately before talking to Bernard, then initiated dialogue and try to steal from him. When it failed, I would instantly Reload and try again.

The evening wasn't a total loss though. I purchased one potion of Master Thievery from the Gaelen Bayle's upstairs neighbor. I then quickly drank the potion and proceeded to help myself to some other items of interest in his inventory (such as a Light Crossbow +1, the Glasses of Identification, and some more potions of Thievery and Extra Healing). After getting what I wanted from him, I made a hasty dash to the Coppor Coronet so that I might try my luck with Bernard while the first potion was still in effect. No luck, though.

I was hoping to pick up some more potions from the Slavers, but that didn't work either. Well, I'm sure the Shadow Thieves have some I could..uh, purchase {yeah, that's it}....

I'll pay a visit to Renal and gang and pick up a few potions there if I can.

[Alson]

Originally posted by Cerek the Barbaric: X16 DAMAGE!!!!!....Oooooooooo, I LIKE that! I don't know if it would really work that way, or if it would just add one more to my damage multiplier. Still x9 Damage is nothing to sneeze at either.

Why x9?
Critical hits double the damage after the backstab damage is multiplied. If you have x3 multiplier, your critical hit backstabs will deal x6 damage.
On this logic, since your Assassin will eventually reach x7 multiplier, which will become x8 with the help of Quietus +4, your critical hits should deal x16 damage.

[Bardan the Slayer]

Bernard's store file reveals him to have a -137% modifier. If you want to be guaranteed of success, you need your pickpockets to be at about the 240% level [img]smile.gif[/img]