On soloing

[Sythe]

You heard me! I will start the game as a Elven Fighter/Thief. How should I start out? What should my stats be and I want my character to have a lot of finnese.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

First, max out DEX, then STR, and CHA. Make sure you steal the star sapphire and some of the other goodies in Winthrop's Inn in Candlekeep. Also make sure you can use bows.

(Ooh, I'm so excited, Slythe! I've never seen real live heroes BEG for their lives!)

((Couldn't resist...))

[Nerull]

You should max out Dexterity first and foremost, as Illumina mentioned. Since you will be going lighter armor (assumed, since you are playing a thief and are stating "finesse"), the extra 4 points of AC will be a lifesaver. In addition, missile weapons rule in this game (lots of out of doors fighting with distance between you and targets, plus every target you hit at a distance is one that is not hitting on you in melee).

Next I would say Constitution, then Strength. You have precious few hp to start with as a beginning character, compounded with the fact that you are multiclassed (instead of getting fighter d10 each level, you get an average of d10 and d6). Since you will not have much in the way of armor, you'll need all of the hp you can get. Strength is next because you'll need it to dish out damage in melee.

Finally, Charisma should be maxed after the other three. It helps with the money, but with only one character to equip (and as a thief, the ability to steal equipment you need), money should not be too much of an issue. Charisma helps on some quests, though, so still need to put points in it.

Intelligence and Wisdom can be largely ignored. Just make sure they are both 10 or more (so you can use protection scrolls, etc.).

As far as thief skills, put points in stealth and pick pocket at first level (and possibly second level, or more if you choose), then go with open locks and remove traps. If you stick to the wilderness areas in the beginning, you really don't need open locks and remove traps right away. Stealth is absolutely critical, especially if you plan to backstab. Besides, stealth will keep you alive in hairy situations. You just need pick pocket to get items you can't afford right away, or to supplement your income (can avoid it if you choose, but if that is the case still max out stealth first then go with open locks and remove traps).

Weapons are your choice, but if you are going the finesse route, then you'll want weapons with low speed factors (strike quickly). Besides, faster weapons help when trying to disrupt spellcasting. Good candidates are both long and short sword, daggers, and the quarterstaff. Considering that elves get a +1 with the longsword, that seems the logical choice.

My suggestion as a soloist would be to stike out into the wilderness right away (especially the western side of the world map), and rack up plenty of xp before going along with the main plot. There's lots of smaller encounters out there that are easier to handle for a solo character. Oh, and once you find a merchant that sells invisibility potions, buy any and all that you can find. There's nothing like having a random encounter with your character surrounded, and invisibility potions help immensely.

[ZFR]

I would go along with what Nerull said but...
Put more thief points in open lock rather than pickpocket... IMO there is much more to steal from locked chests than pickpocket...

[karlosovic]

I played through a lot of BG2 with a solo thief. It was the only time I ever bothered with picking pockets and stealing from shops, and I quickly found it boring. Picking pockets is only rarely useful (in BG1, there's a sword and a cloak, both over-powered... that's about it). By the end of any game I always have tens if not hundreds of thousands of gold, and most of the best weapons and equipment are found on corpses, not stores (because if it's worth having, someone probably bought it already).

[Ilander]

Though that begs the question...If we want sunglasses of coolness +2, can we buy them, or do you need to have an...ahem...accident?