Thieves

[Merlin Al'Thor]

Are really good thieves neccersary in TOB, cause my party has only one thief and shes really shoddy (Imeon). I like my party as it is and i don;t want to change it, but if thieves are neccersary then maybe i'll change. So are good thieves nessecary or useful?

[daan]

Never had a thief in my party yet .. SoA od ToB ,.. quite doable without them I'd say [img]smile.gif[/img]

[syrneia]

i've always had a thief whether it was immy, jan, or gasp even garrick way back
cranked the f/r traps so i would never have to worry about them
it can be fun using invisibility to scout ahead and get the jump on lower level opponents, plus get exp for clearing the path of traps on the way, or disarming the Many locked chests and containers without concern {jan is great insurance}
the special abilities added on to thieves in ToB like assassination made them that much more deadlier too
i think they are a good addition to a well-rounded party formation, but definitely not necessary for story purposes; there is nothing a thief can do within the game to get you round the locks and doors that are designated as 'needing' a key..

[ 10-06-2002, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: syrneia ]

[DJG]

Things like Assasination were inscentives (Sp?) to have thieves in ToB, while they weren't essential in SoA.

I was always a Swashbuckler though.........

[--Twilight--]

Hello,
I like thieves. Use any weapon, traps, lockpicking, stealing. stealth, etc., etc. Not the key character, but good. I like to play with about 3 player characters, so I usually use a dwarven fighter/thief (mage/thief is also good - get a mage, who can hide, and can either cast spells or use good missle weapons EVERY combat round!!) kicking everything in sight. Some folks will dual a thief into an X, but the multiclassing has always worked for me.

- Twilight

[Framon]

First time on this forum , so Hi.
I'm nearly at end of SOA as an Assassin - and he's well mean - I'll be taking him & the rest of my party into TOB - he's level 25 and his "use any item " and assassinate ( all attacks are backstab x7 dam) abilites makes him IMO a great char. to use in TOB .

[daan]

Though not a single boss in ToB is vulnerable to Assasination unfortunately
Spike-traps are fun though [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[DJG]

Originally posted by Framon: First time on this forum , so Hi. I'm nearly at end of SOA as an Assassin - and he's well mean - I'll be taking him & the rest of my party into TOB - he's level 25 and his "use any item " and assassinate ( all attacks are backstab x7 dam) abilites makes him IMO a great char. to use in TOB .

WELCOME TO THE FORUM! [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

Anyway, I like Swashbucklers best, I use Thieves as Demi-Fighters and never use backstab, so I choose Swashbuckler.

They don't get the "Assassination" HLA, but they get "Whirlwind Attack" (Which is better in my opinion! ) instead!

I do like Poison Weapons though............

[syrneia]

agreed on the poisoned weapons, especially the Bleeder
good thinkin on that longsword

[Alson]

Thieves are NOT necessary in ToB - no class is. Soloing proves this.
However... (There's always a However, right? )
The thief's High Level Abilities, namely the Traps and Use Any Item, can turn him into a truly fearsome sight.

Spike Traps just kill EVERYTHING (well, except for 1 type of creatures, but they are rare, and it's easy to kill them anyway)...

Time Traps gives you a Mini-Timestop.
As mages can testify, stopping time is always useful (provided you can do something useful in the time given, of course). [img]smile.gif[/img]

Use Any Item is just... Too broken...
Just a few examples:

Minor Spoilers
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Here are some examples of what your thief can achieve:

All-Around Magic Immunity
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Abuse UAI and equip the following items:
Carsomyr - 50%
Human Flesh Armor - 20%
Gaxx - 10%
Sledarine - 10%
Now that's sums up to 90%.
So, be good at the selfish test in hell...
Voila! 100% MR! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Add another 5% from the machine of lum the man if you're a fanatic.

Almost Immunity to Physical Damage
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Again, abusing UAI, equip:
Jansen-Wear - 25% to physical damage,
Defender of Easthaven - another 20%,
Ascension powers (Evil) - A final 25%,
Which sums up to 70% Damage Resistance.
Not bad... shrugs 35 damage out of a 50 damage blow!

If only you were a Fighter/Thief, you could throw a Hardiness in and it'll be 110%...

Carzy THACO
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Read a Tenser's Transformation scroll.

Cast Imprisonment, Time Stop, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Simulacrum, Project Image, Protection from Magic Weapons, Tenser's Transformation, Stoneskin, etc...
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Self evident, isn't it? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Override class restrictions
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And equip your Kensai/Thief with armor, bracers, helmets, shields and ranged weapons, or your Wizard Slayer/Thief with all the magic items you want.

Override weapons resrictions
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And equip your Cleric/Thief with the Robe of Vecna to just about halve all your Casting Times, or equip the Staff of the Magi to turn invisible any time, anywhere.

Now, if you play a Swashbuckler, you can also have:

30 Auto hits for one round
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You picked some Whirlwinds for your swashy?
Good!
Cast Timestop from a scroll.
That'll give you three rounds of Auto-Hits bashing (because all attacks are auto hits during timestops).
Three rounds means three Whirlwinds, which is eventually 30 Auto Hits. [img]smile.gif[/img]

...And...

Rock bottom AC
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Come'on... Too easy! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Base AC = 10
-4 from 18 Dex = 6
-1 Initial AC for being a Swashbuckler = 5
-1 AC every 5 lvls, a total of a -6 bonus at lvl 30 = -1
-2, Ring of Gaxx = -3
-1, Ring of Earth Control = -4
-1, Cloak of Sewers = -5
-3, Amulet of Master Harper = -8
-1, Dusty Rose Ion Stone = -9
-1, Wonderous Gloves = -10
-5, Darksteel Shield = -15
-6, Greater Evasion = -21

Armor is for wimps!

Your Assassin can also go on a...

Backstab Frenzy!
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By reading a Mislead scroll and start backstabbing...

There is much more...
Just be creative. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10-15-2002, 04:19 PM: Message edited by: Alson ]