Assassin + darts

Thrasymachus

It would seem that darts would be the best weapon for an assassin to use with the 'poison' ability, given the 3 APR. Or am I missing something?

Quartz

You ain't missing anything.

Using Darts, you could also equip a buckler for great justice!

Thrasymachus

@Quartz: thanks!

What I was thinking: buckler + darts + dagger of venom.

Eventually dual-class to mage (after getting 3 poisons/day).

Skaffen

Solid choice since you find tons of poison and stunning darts plus the returning crimson dart +3 in WK level 1. But dualing at 12 will take a while to get your abilities back...

If you dual to mage weapon won't matter anyway since you should go Melfs with 5 attacks! (yes, the poison gets applied to the meteors)

Thrasymachus

Skaffen said:

But dualing at 12 will take a while to get your abilities back...

I was planning on dualing at 9 (or possibly 10 at the very end of BGEE) for 3 poisons per day (1st level + 5th level + 9th level).

Thrasymachus

Skaffen said:

If you dual to mage weapon won't matter anyway since you should go Melfs with 5 attacks! (yes, the poison gets applied to the meteors)

Very nice.

Thrasymachus

The comment from @Skaffen makes me want to verify something.

Assassins start with one poison/day at level one, and gain one additional use every four levels. I had assumed that this meant: level 1 (one use), level 5 (two uses), level 9 (three uses), etc. But is the progression in fact level 1, 4, 8, 12, etc.? (BG is somewhat inconsistent on this. In some cases, every x levels means 1+x (e.g., bard spins), in other cases, every x levels means 0+x (e.g., swashbuckler bonuses).)

Skaffen

Normally it's per completed x levels with the exception that you get 1 use at level 1. At least for spell damage it's like that, you get your second flame arrow only at 10 and not 6. Don't know how it is with assassin though, just created one to see but he starts at level 8 and has 2 uses in any case. But you're right, BG is not consistent in this and many other things. So I honestly can't say if you need to go to 9 or 12 for your third usage - huge difference for your mage downtime though

Why don't you create one in Black Pits 2 and see how it goes to be sure?

If you play through BG1 I would not dual there anyway and go for level 10.

Thrasymachus

Just tested it with EEKeeper.

It is 1 + every four levels for the poison ability.

So one use at 1st level, two uses at 5th level, three uses at 9th level, four uses at 13th level, etc.

HandofTyr

In BG2 the shortbow of speed would match the dart's three attacks, and dual wielding speed weapons would do one better. In BG1 I don't think you'll find better though. You're probably already aware of this as well, but the arrows of detonation carry poison to all targets, which is a pretty bug boon for bows as well.

Skaffen

There's usually some competition for Tuigan though (depending on party setup of course) while at least I am drowning in darts most of the time so the approach has some appeal. Also he's going to be a primary caster and using weapons/poison mostly as backup/mopup at least after mid-SoA plus the MMM with 5 attacks so the bow should go to someone making more use of it IMHO.

Mazzy is just awesome with it, 4 attacks when you recruit her (she was lv 12 for me). 5 once she hits level 13 so 10 with improved haste almost from the beginning. A fighter/assassin built with shortbows and with a supporting caster providing the hastes would be really awesome with something around 100 damage/round quite early in SoA.

CrevsDaak

Don't forgot to pick the Golden Pantaloons, to search the Silver Pantalets and go for the Bronze IDK what in ToB so you can find a 5 APR crossbow with AoE, works HELL GOOD with Poison Weapon and Greater Deathblow.