seriously - make the Short Sword of Backstabbing do something

bob_veng

this item is unfinished. it was probably supposed to give a bonus to the backstabbing modifier but the original creators never got around to that...maybe coding it was a problem and maybe they just forgot

a nice *enhancement* would be doing something with this item that reflects it's name and description ("a perfect assassin's tool")...i can't imagine any player objecting to this and it wouldn't negatively affect game balance because the short sword selection is pretty terrible, so it would be a universal improvement


i would fix it like this (but just anything apart from it being a standard +3 weapon would be a big improvement):

special: +1 backstab modifier ...and maybe: +1 critical hit chance (note: the item upgrade mod does both of these); only usable by thief

Aerakar

I agree and have always felt the original SSoB is so underwhelming, especially considering it is only available late game in BG1. It is still a good sword regardless due to the +3 enchantment, but there should have been something more to make this weapon worth the wait.

I use the Rogue Rebalancing mod (highly recommended!) which in BG1 adds with the SSoB a +1 backstab modifier and +2 to hit for thieves only (otherwise it remains a basic +3 short sword). This adds flavor and makes the item more interesting late game and without too much of a power boost for a straight thief (would probably be a bit OP for a fighter/thief though). In BG2 it goes to +5 and later increases the crit range in ToB. That sword using SWS has an outstanding total crit range.