D/C:ed Shar-Teel as the party thief viable ?
Carnifex
Member Posts: 16
Hi,
I'm planning to do a playthrough with an evil party with the following setup:
Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric
Dorn
Edwin
Shar-Teel
Optional additions: Kagain, Viconia.
Now to the question at hand: If I rush to grab Shar-Teel, when would it be optimal to dual-class her, seeing as she'll be the only thief I'm going to use. I considered 6 for another pip and even 7 for another ½ attack, but I fear that will keep the party w/o a thief for too long.
Thing is, I want her to get some proficiency in longbows, I don't want her in the frontlines with a CON score of 9, so my plan is to set her up as an archer with the option to do some serious backstabbing, utilizing that nice STR score.
How would you go about dualclassing Shar-Teel ? Or would you rather not bother and pick Montaron instead ?
//C
I'm planning to do a playthrough with an evil party with the following setup:
Half-Orc Fighter/Cleric
Dorn
Edwin
Shar-Teel
Optional additions: Kagain, Viconia.
Now to the question at hand: If I rush to grab Shar-Teel, when would it be optimal to dual-class her, seeing as she'll be the only thief I'm going to use. I considered 6 for another pip and even 7 for another ½ attack, but I fear that will keep the party w/o a thief for too long.
Thing is, I want her to get some proficiency in longbows, I don't want her in the frontlines with a CON score of 9, so my plan is to set her up as an archer with the option to do some serious backstabbing, utilizing that nice STR score.
How would you go about dualclassing Shar-Teel ? Or would you rather not bother and pick Montaron instead ?
//C
0
Comments
So, if you dual her at level 3 fighter, she'll remember her fighter pips VERY fast (I prefer this variant).
If you dual her at level 6 fighter, she'll have the same amount of pips in her main weapon for the backstab as if dualled at level 3 (so the only point to do so is to have more HP and 1 additional pip in some other weapon).
If you dual her at level 7 fighter, she'll have additional 1/2 ApR BUT she WON'T have x4 backstab (only x3) - so you must decide what you want more. I'd take x4 backstab any day.
Montaron is a good thief but he doesn't have such a big strength and he can't have x4 backstab.
In my party till some point I had both of them: Shar-Teel was a real backstab killer and Montaron had many points in Lockpickting and Disarm Traps. But after Shar-Teel got 80 points in both Hide in Shadows and Silent Movement (+ bonus from the armor bought in Beregost) I started to give her points in Lockpickting and Disarm Traps and Montaron gradually became excess.
By the way, you won't have time to spend pips into longbows if you decide to be a high master in either dagger or longsword. As a thief she'll be able to put 1 pip into a shortbow and 1 pip into one-handed style - I think that's the best for her.
Myself, I would dual her at Fighter 3 just because I feel deprived during the dual-classing mechanics. If I dual at levels higher than that I feel that I'm missing too much of the game during which I would want the character to possess both class skills. But that's just my preference.
I'd say dual at 3, per @bengoshi 's outline.
Other options are 6 and 3. 6 is better of these two, but is more ideal for a backstabber than an archer.
In the original BG1, I would get Shar to level 3, give her a third prof point in either large or small sword, and then dual her. This way, you'd end up with a thief with mastery in at least one melee weapon.
Now that BG:EE has altered her distribution of prof points, I don't know what I would recommend giving any extra points in.
Long Sword +
Dagger +
Two-Weapon Style ++
Get her a second prof in daggers at level 3 and dual class to a thief.
Take 1 in either shortbow or crossbow and 1 in single weapon style (for the greater critical hit chance in backstab) in the 1st thief-level and improve the chosen missile weapon to 2 at level 4. You will now have a very efficient thief-fighter-archer.
Don't go for the longbow proficiency. And don't wait till level 6 to dual class.
Only Coran comes close to this build. Imoen, Safana, Skie, Montaron and Alora are all inferior.
Long Sword +
Dagger ++
Cross/Short Bow ++
Single Weapon Style +
Two-Weapon Style ++
Wouldn't it be better to add a third point in daggers and maybe use throwing daggers for ranged? You'd need her in melee most of the time anyway. One point in crossbows should be enough.
I'd go with:
Long Sword +
Dagger +++
Sling + (for the strength bonus, if you want a dedicated ranged weapon) or Single Weapon Style +
Club + (for resistant enemies)
Two-Weapon Style ++
Putting the level 8 dot in either Longswords or Clubs depending on what your party uses.
EDIT: I forgot about the bow's 2 APR. Shortbow is probably the best choice then, rather than Sling.
Then single weapon style for backstabs and clubs as you say.
Then for Shar-Teel, if she is wielding both Dagger of Venom plus Varscona, it's the DoV that's getting the multiplier, to which is added the damage from Varscona. (With DoV's continued poison damage after the attack that's an impressive combo.)
How does attacks per round factor into the calculation for the backstab here? Let's say she is dualed to Thief at Fighter 3...
That said I wonder which is better:
Longsword ++
Dagger +++
or the reverse?
You'll want to have single-weapon style for backstabbing thanks to the increased crit multiplier. (Or two-handed weapon style if you're doing it with staffs.)
But doesn't dual-wielding increase the chance of a backstab since you attack more times? This works really well with weapons that have low Speed Factors.