Stalker or Fighter/Thief?

sivistojko

Hi guys. Its simple. I want a stelthy-backstabber + combat effective class. The idea is to play solo (and in multiplay) all the way to ToB and BG3 if it ever comes out.

I have some experience with Illusionist/Thief but his THAC0 sucks very much which makes him almost useless after making backstab. I want to be able to finish off opponents quickly after stepping from shadows. So the point is to make my battles a little bit versatile and not just backstab and run (I get burned out from that).

I'm not sure how much of a benefit will be those few mage spells after I get my hands on some powerful magic res. items and boots of speed.

Any thoughts?
Thanks

Madhax

Fighter/thief probably works better for this style as a solo class. The Ranger would be the better combatant, at least early on, but the F/T can also take care of locks and traps. Plus, at high levels in BG2/ToB the F/T gets Use Any Item, which opens up all sorts of potential tactics.

I should note, though, that you'll need careful planning in allocating the F/T's thief skills if you're solo. You're basically going to have to completely forget about set snares and detect illusions in order to reach sufficient levels in the stealth skills, open locks, and find traps. You'll also need to quickly find all of the skill-enhancing items, keep a steady supply of potions around, and perhaps have some metagame knowledge of exactly how much of each skill you'll need.

RnRClown

I had a similar dilemma with my most recent playthrough (which I have just started). I choose a Swashbuckler as I found it best complimented my needs with a nice combat boost (which becomes more apparent as the game progresses) in the place of backstab which I am not as concerned with this time around. If backstab is in the mix then we're looking at the Stalker or F/T.

Both classes can stealth with Hide in Shadows and Move Silently.

The Stalker will have an easier time of it in combat due to a better THAC0 and a higher HP total. They have backstab but at a reduced rate. They have no abilities to detect/disarm traps nor open locks.

The F/T won't be as versed in combat due to a lower THAC0 and a lower HP total. They have full access to the backstab multiplier. If you choose to develop the abilities; traps and locks are a doddle for a F/T.

I would lean towards the F/T for a solo run.

Fardragon

If you intend to solo, you will want Find Traps, which would rule out stalker.

Illusionist/thieves are greatwith invisibity so you don't need to put any points into stealth. They can finish off their opponents with spells.

As the game progressess, mages increasingly dominate the game, so illusionist/thieves become increasingly powerful at high level.

sivistojko

Thanks guys for your replies. I played both classes to the end of BG1 to test the differences and Stalker has better THAC0 indeed. However, Bg1 is too short game for classes to reach their full potential. I already played before with Thief/Illusionist and I don't like it. The Illusionist part is not all that useful for a thief as much as is it is for a Fighter for example. It just doesn't make a thief better as a class, just provides free invisibility.

With repeated plays through BG1 as a Fighter/Thief I raised the str. attribute to 22 with tomes (which is a sort of cheating), and that gave me the same THAC0 as Stalker's. At that point the multi-class becomes extra fun.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

NocturneN

As a Fighter/Thief you get access to both Fighter & Thief High Levelelled Abilities (HLAs) - the biggest reason to roll Fighter/Thief by far, imo! Pop Whirlwind (10 attacks per round for 10 seconds) then backstab...there wont be much left.

Stalker will have higher thac0 at the end of BG1, but T/F will get the same thac0 later in the game - it just takes longer to reach it due to levelling 2 classes simultaniously.

Oxford_Guy

sivistojko said:

With repeated plays through BG1 as a Fighter/Thief I raised the str. attribute to 22 with tomes (which is a sort of cheating)

!

sivistojko

@Oxford_Guy What did you meant with your comment? Raising attributes like that seriously breaks the game in terms of its basic concept. Halflings are not meant to be as strong as half-orcs. So, logically I'm assuming that running a char with 22+ points in a single attribute was not and never will be intended.

Edit:
P.S. Thanks for taking time to read and comment )

Oxford_Guy

sivistojko said:

@Oxford_Guy What did you meant with your comment? Raising attributes like that seriously breaks the game in terms of its basic concept. Halflings are not meant to be as strong as half-orcs. So, logically I'm assuming that running a char with 22+ points in a single attribute was not and never will be intended.

That's exactly why I said "!" - if you're going to play like that you might as wel just give yourself insane stats in Shadowkeeper, but if you had fun playing like this, then I'm not one to judge.

toanwrath

As earlier stated, I think for a solo game Fighter/Thief is a better choice. Stalkers are very fun, and have more hit points and can dish out damage a bit faster (two-weapon fighting earlier), but the fighter/thief has more uses in BG as a solo. In a multiplayer game, I would still recommend fighter/thief so that your friends can focus on other roles and then you don't have two backstabbers (unless you want two backstabbers and someone else is willing to play the thief--in that case, go for the stalker!)

Fighter/Thieves can also use heavier armor when thieving skills/backstabbing isn't required, so they can defend slightly better than a Stalker who are limited to Studded Leather.

Also, the nice thing about Fighter/Thief is you can be a halfling, Half-orc, Dwarf, Elf, Half-elf, gnome....pretty much every race (except human cause they only dual not multi). Rangers are stuck with Human (not good unless dualing) half-elf (meh for me, some people like them but I only use them for cleric/rangers and bards) and elves (less con but more Dex, pretty good at stealthing all things considered and +1 THAC0 with swords).

TL;DR
Fighter/Thief more versatile, Stalker useful in certain situations, probably go F/T.

sivistojko

@toanwrath Thanks for commenting. I actually took time to level them both to the top in BG:EE and everything is like you and others said. F/T doesn't hit as hard and efficient as Stalker but is much more versatile and fun.

Ekital

Shadowdancer/Fighter at the moment completely breaks the game.

Madhax

@Ekital
I daresay Shadowdancer-anything, or straight Shadowdancer, can potentially "break the game", at least BG1. BG2 at least has more enemies who can detect invisibility or see through it outright.

At least, on paper. As I understand it, Shadowdancers are currently extremely buggy.

Fardragon

A streight shadowdancer who is a halfling or elf is better in BG1, since they get effective stealth much earlier. As pointed out, in BG2, and especially ToB, there are lots of enemies who can see invisible, are immune to backstab, immune to Time Stop, and basically neuter Shadowdancers.

One of the current bugs causes shadowdancers to do much more backstab damage than they should be doing.