Which lockpicker in HotU? (spoilers)

[Sever]

Recently carried my sorc across from SoU and was pleasantly surprised to find both Tommi and Deekin amongst the cast. (Especially Deekin - that little kobold has come a long way).

After the prologue, i took Deekin on as my lockpicker. I'm just wondering if he's up to the task. There's only room for one sidekick and i'm guessing that Tommi (and the rest) are available for hire later on. Has anyone played through with Deekin as the party's primary thief? What can i expect? Spoil me.

[edit: Hooyah! I'm in the 1000s Club!]

[ 10-02-2005, 06:58 AM: Message edited by: Sever ]

[White Lancer]

You can have 2 henchpersons... take tommi AND deekin if you wish

[Sever]

Just finishing up the first level of undermountain and i've realised that the bards in NWN aren't as adept as in BG2 at lockpicking. The bardsongs kick bum at stat buffing though.

I'll keep Deekin on as my sidekick. I kinda like the little fella. But i don't like having a large party so Tommi can hike back to the Tav when i find him.

[White Lancer]

Who need lockpicking skills when you have fireballs? Seriously though, if you take the pixie as your familiar, it is atleast as good a thief as tommi... cant fight very well though

[J'aran]

Originally posted by Sever: Just finishing up the first level of undermountain and i've realised that the bards in NWN aren't as adept as in BG2 at lockpicking.

Really? That would seem pretty damn hard to me, because in BG2, as in any game based on 2nd Edition rules, the only thieving skill a bard would get was pick pockets.

But seriously, in NWN any lock which can be picked can also be bashed open, and bashing open doors and chests will be very very easy once you get your hands on a weapon with elemental damage. Which you probably will quite soon, if you haven't already. So if I were you, I wouldn't make skill at picking locks the criterium for selecting henchmen.

[White Lancer]

After having played with deekin for a while, i can highly recommend him, even if only for his humor he is also a one-man-buffing-machine, with his spells and his song. a definate must for me.

[Sever]

Originally posted by J'aran: Really? That would seem pretty damn hard to me, because in BG2, as in any game based on 2nd Edition rules, the only thieving skill a bard would get was pick pockets.

You are absolutely right. It's been a while between visits to Amn so it's no surprise i got muddled on that one. I swapped one of my 2nd level spells for a knock spell and this has been more than adequate for my opening needs.

Has anyone else noticed that there are very few locked doors and chests in HotU when compared to vanilla and SoU? (Especially vanilla). One thing that really bugged me in my first NWN game was the frequent interruption of game flow whenever Tommi had to open a chest or door. Receiving randomised (and somewhat average) loot for his trouble didn't help the situation at all. I'm glad i don't have to worry about it in HotU. Deekin is proving himself very useful.

[Witchdoctor]

If lock picking is your main reason for taking along a henchman, then consider using the knock spell. True, you would have to give up spell slots that you could use for something else, like acid arrow, but then if you waited until after you had cleared out the level, you could just fill all your 2nd level spell slots with knock and open the chests at once. I prefer to solo so that I don't share the experience points.

I prefer unlocking to bashing since I like to save and re-try on the boss chests to get a better treasure. I also read in a post somewhere that there may be some difference in the treasure reward in an opened vs a bashed chest. More and/or better for the opened chest, though I don't really have any evidence or experience to back that up. Threw that tidbit in to see if anyone has actually noticed anything like that.

Minor spoiler,,,,


In HOTU, you will eventually get access to a genie lamp and the genie's magic item store. There is a chime of opening with 50 charges of knock that is very useful for opening any door or chest that is susceptable to knock or lock picking.

[Witchdoctor]

The other main reason for having a thief along is to disarm traps. If you take even 2 or 3 skill points in disarm traps and then examine every trap before trying to disarm it, you can disarm quite a few of the traps encountered. Examining a trap before trying to disarm it boosts your disarm trap skill by 20 for that particular trap. I have found that for a solo experience, those few skill points were extremely well spent. In addition to the temporary 20 point increase in disarm trap skill, examining the trap also has the benefit of telling you what kind of trap it is. Weak or strong or minor electrical or spike or fire trap, for example. Even if you can't disarm it, if you know what kind of damage it will deliver, you could prep your self with a ring or amulet or whatever of protection for that particular type of elemental damage.

[Sever]

Thanks Witchdoctor, but i've already got my opening needs sorted. That Chime of Opening is pretty handy.