Where can i find a good theif?

Mrpenfold666

i have neera and aerie in my party so i dont want nalia the mage theif, who else can i have is a decent theif and not hexxat?

[spoiler] i ask this because i killed hexxat after doing her quest, im playing a druid so it made sense to kill the unnatural vampire...if you've read this and didn't know i tried to stop you with this spoiler box)

Akihiko

Jan is a neutral mage/thief, and Imoen is a good mage/thief. And unfortunately, that's your only other options.

Mrpenfold666

hmmm this bodes unwell, im not sure i want three mages might make my party a bit squishy, so far there is:

Me: druid
Jaheria: druid / fighter
Minsc: ranger
Neera: mage
Aeria: cleric/mage

if you could name a decent cleric ill take a mage/theif again as i only took aerie for turn undead, i got stuck in a dex full of undead i could barely hurt in the windspear hills so after every fight i needed to use all my healing magic to repair most of the damage. (my memory of everyone in this game is a little fuzzy) viconia could be useful i remember her but i dont remember where she is, any other clerics?

Akihiko

Viconia, evil, in Government district. Cernd, neutral shapeshifter (druid) in trademeet, and Anomen, neutral fighter/cleric in copper coronet, and I think that's it since you already mentioned Aerie and Jaheira.

Mrpenfold666

hmmm would have to be a cleric of turn undead....so it looks like im going with anomen, i could always use another heavy hitter to take the heat of me and minsc. cheers!

Mungri

Jan is NOT squishy.

Mage multiclasses are the TANKIEST characters in the game.

You cant go wrong with Jan.

Mrpenfold666

perhaps they aren't, but lets face it, mages stay in the back ranks throwing magic / buffs or using slings and darts. they aren't going to be wading into combat head first, ill be sticking them to walking around and hitting the weaker enemies behind if i am to humor close combat for them.

Mrpenfold666

....so i got anomen,

he sucks. he has barely survived every fight i've had so far, and that includes going toe to toe with an archer

Xannis

Try him with the dex gloves and DUHM/AOF.

Disgruntler

Mrpenfold666 said:

....so i got anomen,

he sucks. he has barely survived every fight i've had so far, and that includes going toe to toe with an archer

He'll get better with levels. You need to burn some of his slots on buffs for himself, which he can make good use of, thanks to his fighter levels.

If you need a thief, you can always use Yoshimo.

Until you break his heart

elminster

With Anomen using buffs on him is essential. Try having him use some (or all) of the following spells before combat.

Holy Power (level 4), Armor of Faith (level 1), Righteous Magic (level 5), and Draw Upon Holy Might (level 2).

elminster

That said if you are looking for a good thief Jan's your man. Most versatile character in the entire game by far.

Alsn

Mrpenfold666 said:

perhaps they aren't, but lets face it, mages stay in the back ranks throwing magic / buffs or using slings and darts. they aren't going to be wading into combat head first, ill be sticking them to walking around and hitting the weaker enemies behind if i am to humor close combat for them.

I think you are a bit confused as to how melee combat works in this game. Or maybe you just don't *want* to have mages wade into combat for roleplaying reasons which is fair enough.

Basically, a thief is just as shitty a warrior as a mage/thief is. In fact, if you count self-buffs like Tenser's transformation or Protection from magic weapons, single class thieves are much worse at "wading into combat head first" than a mage/thief. They do the same amount of damage base as they both get only their single attack per round and can only place one pip into a weapon. As such the amount of damage they deal in melee will largely depend on which weapons and strength items you have equipped and those restrictions are equal for a thief and a thief/mage(a mage/thief can use anything a thief can use, they just can't cast their spells if they wear armor but spell based armors are better than leather anyway).

If you can't use Hexxat, there really is only one choice, and that's Jan(stick a Kundane +2 in his offhand and the 19 str belt from the adventurer's mart and he'll be kicking butt in no-time). Also, the mislead spell is absolutely godlike on a mage/thief.

Mungri

Mrpenfold666 said:

perhaps they aren't, but lets face it, mages stay in the back ranks throwing magic / buffs or using slings and darts. they aren't going to be wading into combat head first, ill be sticking them to walking around and hitting the weaker enemies behind if i am to humor close combat for them.

My mages go in toe to toe and kill things with weapons and mage buffs that make them immune because of thief or fighter splashes.

Don't confuse pure mages with multi or dual classed mages. Jan is the best backstabber in the game bar none.

Thief / Mage is superior in every way for anti squishiness to a pure thief because you get mirror images, stoneskin, spirit armour, mislead, protection from magic weapons added on top of your thief levels, and higher hit points and to hit bonuses from the thief levels.

You do know that thief / mage and fighter / mage make the strongest and easiest classes to play in this game? They are the top choices for players doing solo runs because they destroy everything and are virtually immune to everything with the right mage buffs.

SpiffyMcBang

Part of this depends on what you want the thief for. If you're not tripping about stuff like detect illusions and are content with the very basic stuff, I believe Imoen has 100 in open locks and find traps. Also, three mages does not make for a squishy party, especially later on. They're tremendous for the most difficult fights.

kjiflrf

mazzy or yoshimo are good

rathe101

kjiflrf said:

mazzy or yoshimo are good

Mazzy is a pure fighter, though she does use a short bow, so i can see the confusion.

Yoshimo has his own problems, unless they 'fixed' his quest, which i doubt, though it really should be canon, due to the fact there is dialogue for him at the end of SoA

moody_mage

Mrpenfold666 said:

....so i got anomen,

he sucks. he has barely survived every fight i've had so far, and that includes going toe to toe with an archer

Stick with him, his quest line can potentially upgrade him significantly.

Mrpenfold666

i use my mages not for buffs but threat control so they are rocking spells like haste, polymorph other, dispell, hold person and all 2nd level slots are always melfs acid arrow incase i run into a troll. level one spells on nalia are identify, and for neera its the dwemonor spell becuase that can become every spell, its the ultimate utility, and higher chance for wildsurge which is always awesome ^_^! that and all my mages know the lesser drain spell so they can heal themselves in combat without me having to take me/ jaheria/anomen away from the fight

Mrpenfold666

i need a theif for traps and locked doors to be honest and i need a cleric for turn undead mostly, and a few buffs if i remember to cast them, between me and jaheria we have healing spells down

acw18

Jan is definitely the guy, he is an exceptional thief and because he has Mage spells you can easily buff him to be a front line thief (stone skin, strength, blur etc) he can also be quite good in the back line with a crossbow (fire tooth xbow is one of the best items in game IMO)

tennisgolfboll

Jan is THE thief

Mrpenfold666

thanks for all your help ill add your opinions to my party advice thread

msiqueira

The thiefs in the game are:


Yoshimo, Imoen, Nalia, Hexxat and Jan Jansen.

Imoen can only come back to party later in game. So, you need someone else earlier.
Yoshimo will later betrays you, so you will need to replace him, but by that time you can put Imoen back.
Imoen is a good thief, that with the right items can save you from traps and open the locks, all you need, and she is a good caster.
Jan Jansen can be a better Thief later but isn't a better caster.
Yoshimo is a true thief, so he's good at early game.
Hexxat might be the best Thief, true class i mean. And Nalia, Nalia sucks as a Thief, she is just a mage. And being a mage, i prefer Imoen, because she is good as nalia into casting spells and she can be a Thief for sure, be a thief for what you need, traps and locks.

element

I don't really understand why they made the only real single class thief a character that so many players wont be able to take

in answer to your question id go Jan or Imoen personally id take yoshimo and switch to imoen for story purposes