I guess that depends on how much you like to use stealth.
Is there a method for stealthing/scouting ahead of your party while still detecting traps?
Sanctuary (level 1 Cleric spell) will also let you do it, but since Sanctuary is self-target only you'll have to mulri/dual to get it. Sanctuary is even stronger because you can open doors/containers while keeping it up, but you trade in the effectively infinite duration of Invisiblity. This is another reason why Clerics pair so nicely with Stalkers and Thieves, as you can get quite a few Sanctuaries late in the game and the only other things worth taking at level 1 are Armor of Faith and Remove Fear after a certain point in my opinion.
Stalkers are very much a niche class. If you want a stealthy lightly armored dual wielder then a Stalker is the way to go. I would definitely try to utilize backstab. Don't use them to tank but to either eliminate a single target with a backstab or to flank a monster that is already engaged with one of your other NPCs. They are the quintessential melee rogue in my opinion.
IMO Stalker advantages are minor in comaring with fighter/thief multyclass
More HP (40 HP max), some druid spells, two additional proficient points and... and nothing more.
Fighter/thief receive a better backstab, thief traps and skills (usual and HLA traps), ANY spellcast from scrolls and UAI
So from powergaming point of view at ToB Fighter/thief is better.
Stalkers will also level up faster and have no down-time whatsoever, on top of getting 2 free points in Two weapon fighting. The trade off is that they don't get other thieving abilities, but the stalker's a meaty backstabber that can hold his own in a fight no problem, and no split XP to worry about.
UAI is nice, but it benefits an actual Thief more than a Fighter/Thief, unless you're playing Kensai/Thief or Wizard Slayer/Thief, which benefit extremely well from UAI due to their prohibited equipment. Only other real useful HLAs for a Fighter/Thief that a Stalker can't get are Assassination and the Trap HLAs, and assassination is just a lazy person's backstab, but it requires you to first land the hit in a given timer.
Ultimately the Stalker is just a Backstabbing trainee with good skills and the standard ranger abilities to compliment him, but he's in no way worse off than a fighter/thief.
I found the stalker's 4x backstab to be plenty enough to kill your target. Once I added critical strike, my backstabs were well over 100. Anything more is unnecessary. What I really like is having a ton of proficiency points. It allows me to be specialized in a ton of different weapons. I like the fighter/thief as well but I just dig single classes. I like specialists and that's exactly what a stalker is.
The best is arguably Katanas, then Scimitars at least in BG2EE. I like longswords myself because you have plenty of options (and cause I usually play elves).
But as you say, if you go clubs anytime you backstab someone with a club you can be like "lets go clubbin"
Everyone usually uses those weapons and after many many years and play-throughs of BG I find using those boring now. There's a few decent clubs however, and the idea of backstabbing with a blunt weapon is amusing.
Comments
Stalker advantages are minor in comaring with fighter/thief multyclass
More HP (40 HP max), some druid spells, two additional proficient points and... and nothing more.
Fighter/thief receive a better backstab, thief traps and skills (usual and HLA traps), ANY spellcast from scrolls and UAI
So from powergaming point of view at ToB Fighter/thief is better.
UAI is nice, but it benefits an actual Thief more than a Fighter/Thief, unless you're playing Kensai/Thief or Wizard Slayer/Thief, which benefit extremely well from UAI due to their prohibited equipment. Only other real useful HLAs for a Fighter/Thief that a Stalker can't get are Assassination and the Trap HLAs, and assassination is just a lazy person's backstab, but it requires you to first land the hit in a given timer.
Ultimately the Stalker is just a Backstabbing trainee with good skills and the standard ranger abilities to compliment him, but he's in no way worse off than a fighter/thief.
But as you say, if you go clubs anytime you backstab someone with a club you can be like "lets go clubbin"
Everyone usually uses those weapons and after many many years and play-throughs of BG I find using those boring now. There's a few decent clubs however, and the idea of backstabbing with a blunt weapon is amusing.