Swashbuckler: weapon and ability progression
BanArd
Member Posts: 60
Running an evil swashbuckler on SCS soon and I've got a few questions!
1. I plan to get him into dual wielding scimitars, but I'm not interested in cheesing Drizzt and it will be a long time until I get both Rashad's Talon and all the required gear to turn him into a good tank (Claw, RoP+2, Cloak of Balduran/Displacement and multiple Potions of Defense). Should I be using a ranged weapon until then? I'm particularly interested in Daggers.
Throwing Daggers are nice, 2 APR and the natural high charname strength bonus applies, and they are also the most "Swashbucklery" of the options. Geez, I've used a knife-juggling Shar-Teel in the past and she was a monster, doing ~70 damage per round with negative THAC0 when drunk on potions. In BG2 I could get the Boomerang Dagger+2 and Firetooth, which I never used before but are apparently pretty good.
2. I plan on keeping Safana in my party for the first two thirds of the game at least, and she should take care of scouting and Find Traps for the time being, so which thief skills should I focus on? I might put a few points in Open Locks (60~) and complement it with thief potions and Edwin's Knock. Set Traps is attractive and new to me, but I'm not sure if the few uses available in BG1 are worth the points. Detect Illusion seems pretty decent for a SCS run, but it's either max or nothing.
3. Come ToB, which abilities should I take? Swashbucklers get Whirlwind and for the first time Great Evasion looks good with all the AC stacking.
1. I plan to get him into dual wielding scimitars, but I'm not interested in cheesing Drizzt and it will be a long time until I get both Rashad's Talon and all the required gear to turn him into a good tank (Claw, RoP+2, Cloak of Balduran/Displacement and multiple Potions of Defense). Should I be using a ranged weapon until then? I'm particularly interested in Daggers.
Throwing Daggers are nice, 2 APR and the natural high charname strength bonus applies, and they are also the most "Swashbucklery" of the options. Geez, I've used a knife-juggling Shar-Teel in the past and she was a monster, doing ~70 damage per round with negative THAC0 when drunk on potions. In BG2 I could get the Boomerang Dagger+2 and Firetooth, which I never used before but are apparently pretty good.
2. I plan on keeping Safana in my party for the first two thirds of the game at least, and she should take care of scouting and Find Traps for the time being, so which thief skills should I focus on? I might put a few points in Open Locks (60~) and complement it with thief potions and Edwin's Knock. Set Traps is attractive and new to me, but I'm not sure if the few uses available in BG1 are worth the points. Detect Illusion seems pretty decent for a SCS run, but it's either max or nothing.
3. Come ToB, which abilities should I take? Swashbucklers get Whirlwind and for the first time Great Evasion looks good with all the AC stacking.
Post edited by BanArd on
2
Comments
If high strength, Daggers are good as they let you add your Strength bonus to damage... also they'll allow you to specialise (**) for extra THAC0 and damage...
Darts are another option... they won't do as much damage as daggers, but they fit a swashbuckler thematically, have 3APR and a number of different ammo types.
Swashies get 25pts/level, so they're rolling in skill points so you'll max everything reasonably quickly... can't see a great deal of point in the stealth skills without backstab though.
Detect Illusions and Set Traps are great investments if you have another thief to handle locks and traps. Detect Illusion is all or nothing, but with Swashbuckler's high rate of skill point gain, you should be able to get it up quickly. And while you only get 2 traps in BGEE, that can still be a pretty significant advantage for tough fights.
For High Level Abilities, you should of course get Use Any Item ASAP. After that I'd get a mix of Whirlwinds and Spike Traps, and sprinkle defensive HLAs in as necessary.
I also like throwing daggers for high-strength thieves of all flavors as noted by @Kaigen and @abacus. For early pre-scimitar melee the dagger of venom is outrageous against spell-casters even without backstabbing.
I also agree with @abacus on darts. They are good missile weapons with the plethora of special effects available, darts of stunning especially. With both darts or daggers you could also use a buckler until your TWF is up to par (Rogue Rebalancing mod adds a number of fun buckers in BG1 and 2).
On detect illusions, of course best to max it, but I find it useful even if used with a somewhat low skill (e.g. 25%) in BG1 with SCS. It takes longer to work, but if you are invisible and lurking or if you are attacking with ranged weaponry you can still utilize this skill if one is patient, so it can provide additional tactical and defensive options.
2. Dorn with his poison ability and haste
3. Kargain to tank
4. Viconia to heal
Then kill drizzt. It isn't cheating to tank and poison.
Then happily wield scimitar and dagger for fun and profit!