How do I stalker?

Battlehamster

Inspired by someones suggestion to play a character based of one of the (horribly inaccurate, but ego fulfilling) DnD personality/ability tests I am playing a character based off a quiz who has the following stats before any in-game boosts.

Class: Ranger - Will kit to Stalker upon importation to BG2

STR: 14
Dex: 16
Con: 17
Wis: 16
Int: 16
Cha: 15

I'm more focused on this character from a RP stance and I'm thinking a stalker would make the most sense being having the intelligence and wisdom to be a DnD secret agent dude. Problem is, I'm used to playing Archers and have NO idea how to really play a stalker. Does anyone have any tips out there how to play one which has meh strength as far as warriors go?

SionIV

Strenght isn't important for backstabs which just happens to be the stalkers speciality. Also remember that even though you're a stalker, you'll still be great as an archer. So get a nice weapon that you can backstab with, a good bow and then go from there. Stealth ahead and scout out your surroundings, and when you're against a group of enemies try to get a backstab on the soft targets (Mages, clerics, etc) and after that let the rest of your team join in while you switch to bow and fire away.

A stalker is really just a normal ranger, with the exception of what armor he can wear and some nifty abilities he gets in BG2 along with the backstab.

Awong124

STR is still important for THAC0. At early levels it will be hard to land a backstab even with the +4 to hit bonus.

Battlehamster

The good news though is that I still haven't received any of the STR bonuses from BG1 or BG2. And given I have vanilla BG1, I just pincushion everything to death right now.

meagloth

I like stalkers!

meagloth

That was useful ;P I will stop before this becomes spam.

ZanathKariashi

Basically, until you get 55+ stealth stick with a bow, and once you do backstab mercilessly (dagger of venom is especially nice, since the hit reactions will allow you to get out of LOS easier pre-BoS). Once you get the shadow armor, you have enough AC to be reasonably safe and can stick around to fight in melee afterward, if you want.

You basically just play them as a backstabbing thief who has no other utility but stronger melee presence.

sarevok57

I wouldn't be surprised if your stalker could wear some mithril chainmail +4 and still be able to stealth.......... plus I don't think stalkers can wear the shadow armor can they? I thought only thieves could wear it

ZanathKariashi

Rangers and thieves.

And no, stalkers can't wear Drizzt's mail, since they're limited to no armor higher then studded leather.

Lateralus

Meet my power gaming elven-stalker, Fletcher

STATS START/END
STR 18(69)/19
DEX 19/20
CON 17/18
INT 15/16
WIS 14/17
CHA 15/16

You want role playing? You came to the right forum. Here's how you do it.

First you need a good background...

Fletch spent 100 years reading nearly all of the books in Candle Keep, he knows more about the realms than Volo. Or so he thinks. His strong mind and inquisitive nature caught the attention of another elf, who offered him insight via carrier hawk for several years. In time, he took the Oath of the Woodlands, but he is no mere ranger. He is a secret agent for a mysterious sect of rangers that do not have a name for their organization. His primary motive is to gather intelligence. Fletch has a problem with discipline, and often deals with the situations on his own, and thoroughly. Reporting back via carrier hawk, what he feels they need to know. The Agency fund his efforts with cleverly concealed caches of treasure throughout the Sword Coast, or the knowledge of where hordes belonging to others can be ascertained.

Now that you have a purpose, you need a playing style...

Expertly trained in the arts of stealth, negotiation, divine magic, arcane magic, archery, martial combat, and survivability. Secrecy is the most important aspect of Fletcher's ability. He acts as a traveling bowyer/huntsman who often sells his wares from town to town, keeping a low profile and traveling by night, never resting in cities unless there is no choice. While on the move, he is constantly taking to the shadows, using the element of surprise. Letting loose the first arrow, or plunging the first blade. Against great numbers or more powerful opponents, he uses varies magical items that The Agency directed him to acquire, so that they don't fall into the wrong hands. Most useful among these are his Wand of Sleep, Ring of Energy, and Necklace of Missiles.



Gorilla warfare.

TJ_Hooker

ZanathKariashi said:

Rangers and thieves.

And no, stalkers can't wear Drizzt's mail, since they're limited to no armor higher then studded leather.

Nope, @sarevok57's right, only thieves can wear Shadow Armor, at least in BG:EE.

lamaros

Yeah only thieves. Stalkers are stuck with +2 Studded Leather in BG1. They are quite squishy unless you use potions of defence or invulnerability.

Southpaw

...am I the only one who read this as "How do I stalk her" ?

Battlehamster

Dear God man, I'm a hamster not a rapist. Er...well as long as we don't involve that unfortunate incident with Minsc. That was a necessary evil.

Note: I'm playing vanilla (non-EE) right now so I'm stuck with a basic ranger until I kit-up in BG2. At this point the advice I'm looking for is centered at addressing that game.

Corvino

Well, Shadow Dragon Scale armour is probably the best armour you can get for a Stalker in BG2. You'd also be mad not to dual wield, given you get 2 pips in it for free. The "Staffs are the best for backstabbing" brigade will naturally object to this.

You'll have proficiency points enough that at level 9 your should have 3 pips in dual wield and 3 weapons at specialised. Arguably go for scimitars or shortswords for one of these to use Belm or Kundane for your offhand. For Mainhand you can then choose whatever you like (though I think only thief weapons can backstab). Katanas are a decent choice for the high damage range and because Celestial Fury is amazing. Scimitars can again be good as Usuno's blade is a +4 weapon available on the first level of Watcher's Keep, and later on Spectral Brand is great.

As for class role, treat it similarly to a fighter/thief. So open with a backstab, don't act like a tank and try and get everything to hit you. Use your spells judiciously, minor spell deflection can be useful, and the Stalker's haste won't fatigue you.

Southpaw

I'd agree with @ZanathKariashi. Dual wield, but also take up a bow.
In BG1/BGEE I'd prefer to choose something along Long Swords**, Long Bows** (you'll get ** in DW for free anyway)
You will probably scout around and start a fight by backstabbing some squishy mage to kill him/her asap and then continue with taking out the warriors.
However, Long bows are just too darn useful not to use them in certain situations. A lvl 7 Ranger has about 3APR with a bow. If you know you are going to face someone, who probably would take you apart, use some good arrows (arrows of biting, acid arrows, arrows of detonation) and snipe them. With this, most enemies will stand for 1-2 rounds tops and then die. Useful for example for the 4 amazons, once you get out of the Nashkel mine - my F/T (otherwise sneaky character, no?) killed them all alone.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

sarevok57

i had a stalker in ToB hit -16 AC and just used him as a melee tank, one time he had mass invisibility on him and he hit an enemy and it said; backstabbed failed, and i was like right on, completely forgot they could do that and it didnt even work haha, but i still think they can be an alright class, even in SoA i can have a stalker hit around -11 or so AC and those ACs are not from being a charname

Battlehamster

Dumb question: Can you backstab with a longsword? I was always under the impression that you could only backstab with a Shortsword, daggers and clubs?

Corvino

Any weapon a thief can become proficient in can be used to backstab, including daggers, clubs, shortswords, staves, longswords, scimitars and katanas. I think that's most of them. If a thief can become proficient in it then you're good to go.

Aranthys

How do you stalk her ?
Try to peep through her bathroom windows

elminster

Edit: I would probably go with scimitars as one of your choices. Mostly for the APR bonuses (belm).

Awong124

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i01Vt7REXGQ

[Deleted User]

Corvino said:

Well, Shadow Dragon Scale armour is probably the best armour you can get for a Stalker in BG2. You'd also be mad not to dual wield, given you get 2 pips in it for free. The "Staffs are the best for backstabbing" brigade will naturally object to this.

Staffs are best for backstabbing, but you aren't backstabbing 24/7, so it makes sense to dual wield for general combat (though switching weapons can be a pain). You only need three pips for staff backstabbing (specialize in staffs, one pip in two-handed style), so you can get that and devote the rest of your pips to other weapons and two-weapon style.

lamaros

Stalkers are great because they can stealth and backstab with fighter health and THAC0, and they get a lot of proficiency points out of the gate. This means they can do some impressive damage in BG1 in the early game. However their AC is very ordinary without the special armor that exists in BG2, so they can be pretty squishy. You'll want to keep a bundle of potions of defence and invulnerability around for when you need it.

Elf is the easy choice to make for the race of your Stalker.

Come BG2 they are still very good in the early game. They get a few spells to throw about, will continue to do great damage, and will get some more equipment options to cover the AC penalty.

However all in all they're still a flavour kit, not a power one, and won't be able to stand up to the damage and overall ability of a Fighter/Thief dual or multiclass in the long run.

I'm a fan of Valygar if you want to play with a stalker, as a PC it's still fun though.

zur312

STR: 14
Dex: 16
Con: 17
Wis: 16
Int: 16
Cha: 15

get str belt
use good blade weapon or staff (there is pretty good one) + some specialization 1handed/ dual wield/ 2handed
1handed 2handed for easy melee/range switch in combat

boots of speed or haste and just run around the corner to hide + go back backstabing mages and other weak also start a battle with good backstab

Battlehamster

Lots a good stuff here!

My typical combat strategy as typically been a greek formation though, have the tanks at the front and everyone else behind the power hitters. I think what my plan with this class is going to be is to have him proficient in bows and longswords, after the initial backstab of course - Haste + Stealth and backstab is going to be FUN.

Then, stay semi-close to the front line but somewhere hiding will be easy. Once the front line is engaged disappear into the shadows and backstab the biggest threats. Or better yet, kill the ranged enemies/mages and steal their place in combat lol.

I think the biggest challenge for me is going to maximizing the utility of the spells. The spells the stalker gains seem useful but other than haste I'm having difficulties figuring out how to get the rest to play to the Stalker's strengths.

Remenissions

Battlehamster said:

Dumb question: Can you backstab with a longsword? I was always under the impression that you could only backstab with a Shortsword, daggers and clubs?

Answer: thieves can backstab with any melee weapon (special TOB ability let's them backstab with ranged for a set amount of time). This also means they can backstab in TOB with another special ability that lets them use any item. Yes, they can suddenly wear plate and wield carsomyr AND backstab with it. Ridiculousness, i know. Thief in TOB > all but monk. Properly working shadowdancer in TOB > ALL!

Corvino

I'm not 100% sure about assassination, but Use Any Item does *not* let you backstab with non-thief weapons. You can use them, but you won't get a backstab damage multiplier for attacking from stealth.

As I said, I don't know about the Assassination HLA the wording of which may allow backstabs with non-thief weapons. Even if this is the case then you'll only be able to do it for 1 round per day.

zur312

"your weapon is unsuitable for backstab"

after trying assasination + foebane on my fighter/thief
foebane = bastard sword = not thief weapon

ZanathKariashi

You can only backstab with weapons available to a single class thief, without UAI. Even a weapon like the Scarlet Ninja-to, which is a legal weapon type, because it's monk only, it can't backstab. Same with staff of the magi, which would be utterly broken otherwise.