How does a Thief prevent Level Drain?

[Desuma Malevois]

Originally posted by Lord Demerol: Quote: Originally posted by Assassin: Lord Demerol, IIRC, it's in the Thief Guild where you have to take down the organization for Renal Bloodscalp.

AAAAAARRRRGH!!! Not Mae'Var's Guild!... I did that one like three days ago!!!
Is the Buckler +1 in a chest or was somebody using it?[/QUOTE]On the second floor in the rightmost container on the north wall.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Just to clarify, Monks are not meant to be able to use the Amulet of Power. It was an oversight by the game developers and the Baldurdash Fixpack( and ToB) addresses this issue.

[Butterfingers]

Well, Monks are particularly vunerable to level drain. Out of all the characters, Monks are the ones that level drain proves fatal.

Loss of levels means you lose valuable AC, the power and damage of your fists, eventually reaching a point where you can no longer even strike the undead creeps draining you because of loss of magical enchantment on fists.

I don't see a problem with Monks using the AoP. They are spell casters in their own right, if the game designers wanted to fix something, why not fix the Monk's Laying of Hands so that it heals others, the way it was meant to. Monks are spell casters in their own right.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Monks can still use Protection from Undead. Anyhoo, their Lay on Hands is pretty potent already, as... ToB will show you. I do not really consider Monks to be spellcasters. Lay on Hands is more of a healing ability, while Stunning Blow and Quivering Palm are all martial arts, not spells. They are as spellcasty as Korgan. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Oh, and just for the record, they are not supposed to be able to use Wands either, another issue that the Fixpack and ToB fixed.

[Jon Irenicus]

Sorry, my bad... I forgot to mention that I'm soloing and dont have TOB. And about using the Stealth, Backstab tactic, I said that I always get outruned by those Vamps and I keep on running out of Haste potions...

[Butterfingers]

I don't remember at what level, might be level 16 or higher, Monks do gain some abilities in PnP that are considered "spells." Skills like Disruption, causing their fists to be utterly lethal to undead. Quivering Palm only works on living creatures, it stops the heart. They also gain some healing abilities, able to cure poison and disease in others, minor cleric type stuff. Also missing in game is the Monk's ability to Blur. Not like the mage spell... This doubles their movement rate for four rounds, gives them massive AC and saving throw bonuses, and makes them frightfully lethal in hand to hand combat. IIRC, they get this at level 18. As if Quivering Palm was not bad enough, they also get a special crushing assault that works much like a ring or a staff of the ram. Castle walls mean nothing to an angry Monk, it's a source of gravel just begging to be returned to it's true form.

[Dundee Slaytern]

Potions of Invisibility are every Thieves' best friend. Failing that... you have,

Ring of Invisibility
Ring of Air Control
Ring of Gaxx
Daystar( if you gotta go, at least take as many bas~ as you can along with you [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] )

[Dundee Slaytern]

Butterfingers, work with me here. I am basing it on the game. Kensais might have wings and fly around in PnP for all I care, but I am working with how the game works, and how the game is meant to work.

Strictly speaking, BG2 is not true AD&D, but a representation of what AD&D is like. If they wanted to be strict, Barbarians, Monks and Sorcerers would never see the light of day as those are 3rd Edition classes.

In any case, they forgot to assign the "Cannot Wear" attribute to the Amulet of Power for Barbarians and Monks. The game developers did not want that in their game, and when you think about how Barbarians and Monks work in the game, it makes sense.

It makes sense in the game.

[Butterfingers]

Slight correction.

Barbarians were first introduced in the First Edition (Second Printing) outlined exclusively in Dragon Magazine as a special class. They were re-introduced in the Second Edition (First Printing) in the Unearthed Arcana.

Monks existed in the Second Edition (Second Printing) and where offered originally as a thief subkit, and mirrored the thief specialty class, Acrobat. They were made their own class completely over time, and, eventually switched to cleric type character classing. Also, several monk subkits were invented for the Kara-Tur Adventure Packs. Second Edition (Third Printing) One kit in particular was infamous, the Fury Fisted Monk, and, was outlawed by many a DM for being HORRIBLY overpowered.

Sorcerers have existed since the First Edition (Second Printing) but where generally NPCs or encounters. A long and detailed outline that appeared in you guessed it, Dragon Magazine made them playable. They became finely polished and much easier to manage in the Second Edition (First Printing)

[Jon Irenicus]

Guys, I just ran into another problem... I read on the Planet Baldur's Gate it said that when Assasins hit L16, their Backstab is x6, but how come my one is still stuck on x5? Is it a TOB thing or did I just ran into a bug...