Assassin/Fighter questions. Poison Weapon and APR.

Pblack

I'm thinking of starting one of those guys pretty soon.

Being recently convinced of the effectiveness of Poison Weapon ability I'm thinking of starting an assassin that focuses on ranged weapons instead of backstabbing. He/she will be backstabbing for sure, but what I have in mind is maximizing APR for PW with ranged weapons. I'll play through SoA and ToB with this PC.

1. I need advice on best weapon to achieve grandmastery in. I'm thinking short bows because of Tuigan and Geshen. Would that be best or perhabs using my points elsewhere and throwing daggers?

2. Also, Dualing at lvl 13 for x5 backstabs enables me to reach GM in SoA?

3. Now this is a question I wanted to ask for a long time. The proficiencies I choose with my first class, stay for the second? i.e. if i get 1 point into short bows with my assassin and then dual to fighter. When I get my assassin powers back, do I get my proficiency point back? does it stack with any points I might have put into short bows while leveling my fighter?

4. Does starting in SoA hurts me too much? starting with 18 str instead of 19 (that I would get from a tome in BG1) kinda puts me off. Same for dexterity.


Thx for the attention.

HandofTyr

1. It's not a huge issue what you choose, but given your premise of maximum poison, short bows for tuigan gives the highest number of attacks I believe. Throwing daggers are nice too.

2. Yes

3. The proficiency points should stack- with the caveat that this only happens after the first class is reactivated. So as an example, if you pick up short swords and long swords as level 3 assassin, then choose to get long swords to mastery (three dots) when you dual to fighter and get to level 3, when you reactivate your assassin levels next level you will have three dots in long sword and one in short sword. You could then freely assign more points to any weapon you choose as you gain them, up to the max of five.

4. The loss of strength isn't too bad, certainly workable. Plus, you could also console of EEkeeper and pretend you did BG1 if you really want the boost but really don't want to play through BG1.

bbear

I recommend playing as an Elf for 19 dex or Half Orc for 19 str. It would be interesting to see which level you want to dual.

Edit: Oops, I forgot that only human can dual. Forget what I said.

CrevsDaak

You HAVE to put points in crossbow if you're going to play an assassin, just because of the Big Metal Rod and the Frag Grenade Ammunition for 5 APR and AoE Poison Weapon.

Pblack

@CrevsDaak To get it i would have to play BG1 and bring the golden pantaloons along. But I did not know of AoE poison weapon. Indeed it is awesomely OP

@HandofTyr I'm on the iPad and dont know if I can just export/import savegames normally to edit in EE Keeper. I'll try that

mumumomo

I would not focus on backstabbing unless you want to bring another thief. The issue is that HIS/MS eat a lot of skill points to work reliably. I think the points are better used in find traps, set snares and detect illusion.

You can rely on potions and ring for the occasionnal backstab but that 's it.

As for GM : scimitars (tor each 5 apr with belm), short bow (big metal unit maybe op but comes VERY late in the game while you get tuigan immediately).

Finally starting in soa will indeed hurt you at the beginning (19 str) but not too hard since there is so many stat boosting items.

jackjack

Pblack said:

I'm on the iPad and dont know if I can just export/import savegames normally to edit in EE Keeper. I'll try that

For the record, I'm an iPad & PC consumer, and have had great fun (right Boo?) editing my iPad's saved games with EEKeeper. I use iFunBox to copy the save game folder back and forth.
I've used this method for the relevant purpose, adding in the ability score points that Jerrol, my BG2-only character, would've gotten had I brought him through BG1.

Pblack

jackjack said:

Pblack said:

I'm on the iPad and dont know if I can just export/import savegames normally to edit in EE Keeper. I'll try that

For the record, I'm an iPad & PC consumer, and have had great fun (right Boo?) editing my iPad's saved games with EEKeeper. I use iFunBox to copy the save game folder back and forth.
I've used this method for the relevant purpose, adding in the ability score points that Jerrol, my BG2-only character, would've gotten had I brought him through BG1.

I've done my research and I'm now installing BG 2 on my PC to do just that. Frankly, I'm a little bored with BG1 so I think I'll do it like this for a while.

abacus

Just a warning on point 3... They *do not* stack. One point selected as assassin and two points as fighter equals two points on reactivation. The point spent as assassin will be lost.

I'd recommend leaving your preferred weapon choice to only level up as fighter. (Sure it's only one pip, but that can add a bit of diversity if added elsewhere.)

Daggers is a solid choice as it also gives you a melee option (double bang for your 5*s).