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F/m/t skill distribution?

ar057ar057 Member Posts: 9
in Archive (General Discussion)
I'm starting a new game as a fighter/mage/thief in BGEE. I understand that I'll only be able to max out 4 or 5 of my thieving skills by the end of the game. 
What skills should I focus in and what skills, if any, should I ignore completely? 


Comments

  • TheCoffeeGodTheCoffeeGod Member Posts: 618
    Depends on who else you will have in your party.
    As for me, I usually max out Open Locks first, then move on to Pickpockets, and split the last 50 points evenly between Move Silently/Hide in Shadows.
  • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
    I want to say pay a little bit of attention to Set Traps.
  • AHFAHF Member Posts: 1,376
    If I am doing a F/M/T, this character is going to be a backstabbing melee character so Move Silently/Hide In Shadows is #1 on my list of priorities. After that, find traps is next and open locks is last. The reason for this is that mages can open any pickable lock with the knock spell and you can easily buff your open locks skill with potions of master thievery. Find traps is much tougher to buff (potions of perception).

    Now if you want to use your 2nd level spells on invisibility, you can neglect the hiding skills but I figure that opening locks is something I will do much less often than rehiding after backstabbing or taking some other action that would break invisibility.
  • ReadingRamboReadingRambo Member Posts: 598
    In my current playthrough I maxed find traps then focused on stealth. I love running around stealthed with boots of speed and disabling traps. I had alora handle the locks. I just finished durlags tower and it worked perfectly
  • AnduinAnduin Member Posts: 5,745
    edited January 2013
    Remember the potions and rings you get.

    Ring of Danger sense gives 20 to find traps. Want to disable all traps in game? You only need 80.

    Open locks. Again ring help available but potions of master thievery give you +30 so leave at 70... Or just use knock. You are a wizard so act like one...

    Stealth? Just go invisible... Actually as a f/m/t these can also suck points as you have move silently and hide in shadows to dump the points in. You are a wizard! But you don't get the skill points!

    Pickpockets is hard... You get 30 from potion of master thievery, but by BG2 the skill points you need to be successful rise also. Go all or nothing... Get it up to 120 if you go for it... This could be a bone of contention... The awards for pickpocketing are gooood.

    Only skills you get no help with is set traps and detect illusions ( have I forgot one...)

    Detect traps gets no racial or dex bonus. But powerful in ToB all or nothing dump at the end... 100 in...

    Set trap is a lifestyle choice. If you like traps max to 100. If not use skull trap :)

    Lastly, why not use an xpcap remover and live a little ;)
  • AHFAHF Member Posts: 1,376
    Is there a ring that helps with open locks in BG:EE? I haven't seen it but would be curious to know.

    The potions of master thievery boost open locks and pick pockets by 40 points. Potions of perception do a 20 point boost in find traps, open locks, hide in shadows and pick pockets.
  • Oxford_GuyOxford_Guy Member Posts: 3,729
    Depends what the other thief in your party is like (if you have one)
  • ar057ar057 Member Posts: 9
    Thanks for the great responses. I had thought of using invisibility instead of focusing on hide/move silently, but I may reconsider that notion.
  • TJ_HookerTJ_Hooker Member Posts: 2,438
    edited January 2013
    Anduin said:

    Ring of Danger sense gives 20 to find traps. Want to disable all traps in game? You only need 80.

    But it's not available till BG2. 80 is still a good number though, just save some potions of perception (+20 to find traps) for Durlag's Tower.
    Anduin said:

    Pickpockets is hard... You get 30 from potion of master thievery, but by BG2 the skill points you need to be successful rise also. Go all or nothing... Get it up to 120 if you go for it... This could be a bone of contention... The awards for pickpocketing are gooood.

    Pickpockets is probably the least useful skill to put points in. The actual number of targets isn't really that high, so you can always just use potions of mastery thievery on a case by case basis. The potions stack, so even with no points invested you can rob just about anyone with about 3 potions (+40 per potion). They have fairly long duration, so you can rob multiple people as long as you don't have to travel to a new area (you could rob everyone in Baldur's Gate in one go because there's no travel time between sections of the city).

    Edit: Stealing from stores does get more difficult in BG2, but there's also more potions of master thievery. What you can do is wait till you accumulate about 4 or 5 PoMT, find a merchant that sells them (there should be one in Athkatla), drink the potions you have, then steal all the potions from said merchant. You can then proceed to rob everyone in the city (no travel time in Athkatla, just like Baldur's Gate) and end up with a net gain of PoMT.
  • DebaserDebaser Member Posts: 669
    If I was doing one...I'd make an Elf FMT with:

    ++ Longsword (For THAC0 Bonus)
    ++ Single weapon style (Crit Bonus for Backstabs and AC Bonus)
    ++ Longbow (For THAC0 Bonus)

    100 Detect Traps
    100 Hide In Shadows
    100 Move Silently
    And whatever extra can go to Detect Illusion or Set Traps

    I'm not sure Pick Pocket is worth the trouble...the best item I can think of to pilfer is a ring of Regen in BG2.
  • bbearbbear Member Posts: 1,180
    I thought the thief rings (danger sense, pick lock) gives 25 bonus instead of 20.
  • AHFAHF Member Posts: 1,376
    bbear said:

    I thought the thief rings (danger sense, pick lock) gives 25 bonus instead of 20.

    I am only aware of a thief ring that boosts find trap and it does give a 25% bonus in BG2.

  • Oxford_GuyOxford_Guy Member Posts: 3,729
    AHF said:

    bbear said:

    I thought the thief rings (danger sense, pick lock) gives 25 bonus instead of 20.

    I am only aware of a thief ring that boosts find trap and it does give a 25% bonus in BG2.

    *Only* in BG2, right?
  • FrozenCellsFrozenCells Member Posts: 385
    Stealth is such a points hog though. I'd rather have Open Lock, Find Traps and Set Traps maxed and then move on to Detect Illusion than put points in stealth and have to miss out on one of those. Backstab isn't really all that amazing to begin with anyway and once it gets more useful you'll already have the spells/potions/items to backstab when needed. And then Mislead and Assassination are down the road, neither of which use stealth.
  • FrozenCellsFrozenCells Member Posts: 385
    edited January 2013
    double post
  • AHFAHF Member Posts: 1,376
    Oxford_Guy said:

    AHF said:

    bbear said:

    I thought the thief rings (danger sense, pick lock) gives 25 bonus instead of 20.

    I am only aware of a thief ring that boosts find trap and it does give a 25% bonus in BG2.

    *Only* in BG2, right?
    Right.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    I find the thief rings in BG2 handy if you're using Nalia/Imoen to do your trapfinding/lock picking, but I dislike juggling rings on my main character all the time.
  • bbearbbear Member Posts: 1,180
    I think those rings are specially designed for Nalia. With those rings, she can pick and disarm almost all locks and traps in the game.
  • AnduinAnduin Member Posts: 5,745
    I thought my post would cause controversy! Great come backs @AHF and @TJ_Hooker.

    Yep. Potions of thievery give 40 bonus. Plus they stack. The rings available in BG2 of lockpicking and dangersense add +25 or 20. Not had chance to verify. The potions also last, so you can plan your thieving in advance and go on a crime spree.

    Items can also add to stealth Boots of Stealth and Shadow armour (I'm doing this from memory lol!)

    Nothing adds points to set traps, detect illusions. Detect illusions doesn't even get dex or racial bonus!

    It should also be made noteworthy that you only need 100 points in all the skills to make them, well, 100 effective.

    APART FROM!
    Hide in shadows
    Move silently
    Pick pockets

    Pickpockets can be easily boosted...

    So shove points into... Set traps and detect illusions! You can still go invisible!

    I don't believe there is a wrong answer on this... Lol!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    I really like Detect Illusion, but it's often slower than using a divination spell, and not very useful in BGEE, where enemy mages rarely use anything more inconvenient than a Mirror Image (which you can take down faster with attacks than you can dispel with the Detect Illusion skill). I'd wait until BG2 before I started pumping that skill up.
  • TJ_HookerTJ_Hooker Member Posts: 2,438
    Anduin said:

    Nothing adds points to set traps, detect illusions. Detect illusions doesn't even get dex or racial bonus!

    Actually, gnomes get +10 to detect illusion.
  • badbromancebadbromance Member Posts: 238
    TJ_Hooker said:

    Anduin said:

    Nothing adds points to set traps, detect illusions. Detect illusions doesn't even get dex or racial bonus!

    Actually, gnomes get +10 to detect illusion.
    Correct and I believe Dwarves get +5
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