All thieves

[I wish my name was Baggins]

In the past, (Once upon a thread) I posed the concept of the feasability of an all Mage party. It was decided by the forum that such a party would get worked and never survive to get to the high levels where they could be fearsome.

So with that whim behind me the conversation in a recent thread has made me wonder about an all thief party. After all I believe that I have encountered enough thieves in the game to fill out a party. Dual classing or Multiclassing could fill the holes in the party. Imoen=Thief/Mage, Monteron is already a fighter/thief I believe, and the character himself could be one as well. Healing potions could replace clerics and druids. Also having multiple thieves would allow you to specialize the thieving abilities and spread the duties around the party. For example you could have a lockpicking thief, a trap detecting thief, and a pickpocketing thief (after all how many of us really put THAT many skill points towards picking pockets when we only have one thief in the party? Gear could be common to all and the ranged attack of such a group would be ferocious. Trouble with the bosses could be bad but think of how long Daveron would dimension door around his quarters if he was backstabbed every time he apperated? (Sorry for the Harry Potterism but couldn't figure out another right word.)

Anyway I leave it before you my esteemed colleagues of the forum to help me figure this out and whether or not it is worth the effort.

[ 10-03-2002, 11:18 AM: Message edited by: I wish my name was Baggins ]

[Ar-Cunin]

I could work - every combination of six members can complete the game. It will just br harder than with a more balanced team.

And a all-mage team can work - you just need to rest more often.

[Keraptisdm]

The mere thought of an all thief party makes my Paladin, Rachael Starr, rush to attend a therapy session led by Dr. Lord Brass!!!!

Actually that idea is interesting, as the thieves can use ranged weapons with great skill. Imoen (Th), Montaron (Ftr/Th), Safana, Alora, Coran (Ftr/Th), Skie, Tiax (Cl/Th) + the protagonist.
But to make it a true thief party, you'd have to dump any multi-class members. Give it a go, Mr. B.

Rachael (after weeks of therapy) says this party configuration would only work if the thieves can actually DETECT traps. She returns for more therapy.

[SixOfSpades]

For the PC in an All-Thief party, you'd want to be a Cleric/Thief, or you won't have a Healer in the party until you get to Chapter 5. (And the problem with the Cleric/Thief is that they have only ONE Quick Weapon.)

Your Tank slot would be either Montaron or Shar-Teel (I have to say that Shar-Teel is a bitchin' Fighter->Thief; she'd be able to reach Grandmastery in Large Sword (if you have ToSC) if BioWare hadn't nerfed the rules.

Cleric/Thief
Imoen->Conjurer
Montaron
Coran
Safana
Shar-Teel, Tiax or Alora (Skie? Who cares about Skie?)

True, there are only TWO good Short Bows in the game, but the Fighter/Thieves can use Composite Longs if they want to.

And one guy (Curse me, I forgot his name--I think it began with an L) actually abandoned his All-Specialist-Mage party because it got too powerful. Whatever.....

[The Dude]

I you want a birds-of-a-feather party, I think thieves will make for the easiest time - and posibly the most fun as well.

I'd make the protagonist a fighter dueled to a thief at level 6. Start with two point in bows and two in long sword, continue putting points in long sword as you acquire them. Pump his hide in shadows to turn him into a back stabbing machine.

Imoen could concentrate on lock picking & traps until you duel her to a mage.

Those two alone could probably make a go at it - or add one more fighter/thief backstabber and you should have no trouble at all.

I don' t know how much using/abusing of backstabbing you've done, but one thing that is very effective is to hide in shadows, enter a new area - e.g. a house or cave (you start coming out of shadows, but you still have enough time to get in one backstab), then immediately leave, hide in shadows again, re-enter the area, repeat ...

There are lots of spots that are really tough if you enter with your whole party and are immediately put into battle - whenever you can, employ the above strategy to scout them out with a hidden thief first and it will really cut down on the number of reloads you'll need.

Two things I've done in the past to minimize the period of time from when you've dueled to when you recover your original abilities are:

1) I concentrate on the harder quests and leave the easier ones till after I've dueled and am weak

2) 'Almost' complete a bunch of quests. I.e. do the work, but leave out the final step of collecting the reward. I stash all those quest items in Beregost and then play postman immediately after dueling. This is good for a couple of fast level ups.

A party of Imoen + 2 fighters should be able to get through bandit camp & possibly even cloakwood before reaching the point where they have to duel - at which point you can go back collecting your queued up experience and cleaning up all the remaining quests.

There's going to be an awkward period of time when you have no trap detection no lock picking (till Imoen gets knock), so you need to take that into account when deciding what quests to do and what to skip.

I have an even more interesting strategy that I'm experimenting with in BG2.

[SixOfSpades]

The "Imoen Problem" is easy if you just know where to go; SPOILERS
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
The Traps are in the Nashkel Mines, Ulcaster Dungeon, Firewine Dungeon, the Bandit Camp, Cloakwood 2, and the Cloakwood Mines. So, just go do all those areas while Imoen is a pure Thief, then Dual, and you won't need her Thief half at all while you're running around doing the easy stuff. Also, I really lucked out one game: I'd planned to Dual her at Level 6, and she happened to hit Level 6 right after we hit the bottom level of the Cloakwood Mines. I disarmed the Traps, didn't need her Trap skills anymore, Dualed her instantly, and killing Davaeorn immediately shot her up to Mage Level 2 or 3.

[Lord Brass]

Originally posted by I wish my name was Baggins: So with that whim behind me the conversation in a recent thread has made me wonder about an all thief party. After all I believe that I have encountered enough thieves in the game to fill out a party.

Strange that you should think of this, I too have been thinking of this style of play and I'm champing at the bit to get on to this game straight away! It's a good idea, and it is one that I thought I make take up with Shady. (I can save a version and run through the game solo or with the Shady Gang.)

The cleric/thief isn't essential, but it would be nice. It depends how much time you're willing to devote to sneaking about and planning your assaults. Just having two people with missile weapons is enormous fun. The bad guys don't know which way to turn, 'cause as soon as they've stopped chasing you, you turn and shoot them in the backside!

Imoen and Montaran alone make good ranged weapon attacks. Add your thief or fighter-thief, and you're set. Feed Xzar to a hungry wolf and you shouldn't have any problems. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Horatio]

or just kill xzar yourself. That's what I did. Heh..
All thief party will work. I've done it. I beat Sarevok at the end with only my main char and monty alive tho...

[Lord Brass]

If, and I'm not saying anyone does, but if you wanted to have a mage on your party, you'd have to roll up a mage/thief. The HP isn't good I know, but the real drawback is the weapon slots. That's what you get for being able to do so much.

Six', it wasn't Larry_OHF that talked about an all-mage part was it? That was some time ago, and I wondered if he'd ever got around to it.

I say go for it, should be a lot of fun. You should be able to complete it easily this way. I did it as a solo thief, so hey, it should be a piece of cake for you [img]smile.gif[/img]