Bounty Hunter?
Papa_Lou
Member Posts: 263
Hey dudes.
I'm nowhere near ready to start a new character, as I'm only halfway through SoD with my current saga run, but I always like to plan ahead and hype myself up for the next playthrough. Granted, that probably won't happen right after I finish ToB, but it never hurts to have ideas on the back burner.
Anyway, I'm ashamed to admit that I've never played a Thief to its full potential before. I've always used them as archers that can pick locks and find traps, occasionally going in for a backstab or two. I want to change this on my next play through, and one skill I've never used, ever, is set traps. With this in mind, the Bounty Hunter seemed like a pretty fun class to play to really take advantage of this ability. I'd planned on building him as a sneaky guy, scouting out the area and backstabbing as much as possible, all while setting up traps for his enemies- pretty much how the class is intended, as far as I can tell.
I guess my question is, is this class as awesome as it seems? I plan to take along another thief to handle the lockpicking so I can focus all my attention where it needs to be (set trap, HiS, and move silently). Has anyone played this class before? Pretty much all my playthroughs will be BG1 all the way through to ToB, so is the Bounty Hunter still viable late game? How do his traps hold up against some of the more difficult enemies you encounter?
Thanks dudes.
I'm nowhere near ready to start a new character, as I'm only halfway through SoD with my current saga run, but I always like to plan ahead and hype myself up for the next playthrough. Granted, that probably won't happen right after I finish ToB, but it never hurts to have ideas on the back burner.
Anyway, I'm ashamed to admit that I've never played a Thief to its full potential before. I've always used them as archers that can pick locks and find traps, occasionally going in for a backstab or two. I want to change this on my next play through, and one skill I've never used, ever, is set traps. With this in mind, the Bounty Hunter seemed like a pretty fun class to play to really take advantage of this ability. I'd planned on building him as a sneaky guy, scouting out the area and backstabbing as much as possible, all while setting up traps for his enemies- pretty much how the class is intended, as far as I can tell.
I guess my question is, is this class as awesome as it seems? I plan to take along another thief to handle the lockpicking so I can focus all my attention where it needs to be (set trap, HiS, and move silently). Has anyone played this class before? Pretty much all my playthroughs will be BG1 all the way through to ToB, so is the Bounty Hunter still viable late game? How do his traps hold up against some of the more difficult enemies you encounter?
Thanks dudes.
6
Comments
The -5 thief skill points per level (compared to standard thief) is negligible considering how quickly thieves max out their abilities anyway. Pick a gnome or dwarf for a starting boost in set trap ability (dwarves have a max starting dex of 17 which dings other abilities as well, making them less attractive, IMO).
I do have an extra question, though. The BH's special snare apparently encases the trapped creature in an Otiluke's Resilient Sphere at level 16 or so. If I understand that spell correctly, no damage can enter or leave the sphere, so the Bounty Hunter essentially goes from doing crazy damage (4d8+something? I think.) with his special snare, to not being able to damage the creature at all? That seems odd to me.
Bounty Hunters are awesomely funny, but you need to be prepared to use them as Trap-centric Thieves. (eg, set traps, scout ahead, backstab or snipe enemies and then lead them for a painful stroll around the booby-trapped valley of doom. Not melee fighters.)
Meta-gaming in knowing, when to prepare a trap before a fight helps. If you do not know the game by heart, or do not want to meta-game, fair enough but be prepared to play cautiously (as said before - prepare a few traps upon entering a new area, scout around in stealth and in case of a tough fight, lead the creatures to your snares) Luckily, a Bounty Hunter has double the traps a normal Thief has so this approach is viable.
My take from this - if you like to play Thieves as versatile characters that use every trick in their sleeve and LOVE traps...go for it. If you like to just click on an enemy and wait for them to die while your charname whacks them with a twohander - forget it.
To your question regarding the special traps and Otiluke's Resilient sphere - the special traps become not a damage dealing instrument, but an instrument of crowd-control. You catch half of the enemy's group in bubbles, unable to do anything and kill the rest. Once they emerge, their friends are dead and they are about to be slaughtered by the survivors. Crowd control.
Southpaw, resident brain surgeon and Thief enthusiast
Also, look at https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/61347/bounty-hunters-wanted, where I link several threads with playthroughs by @Blackraven - he likes to use bounty hunters. That was about a bug that affected lvls 1-7: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/34471/known-bounty-hunter-special-snare-should-not-create-an-otiluke-sphere-at-levels-1-to-7, https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/35421/dupe-bounty-hunter-special-trap-casts-otilukes-sphere-and-hold-at-first-level
Now special traps in BGEE and BG2EE should work fine.
At higher levels that issue is not as relevant though, as skill points will be adequate and the +1 ranged bonus will be less important. But the +5 death/poison save and regeneration remain benefits.
I agree the early regeneration is not really a factor so it comes down to +1 dex versus +5 poison saves.
Anyway, that's going off topic. I only wanted to affirm you're doing the right thing for teaching yourself how to make good use of snares. Altogether, it promises to be a fun class. I agree that it may be best to take a second Thief along with you, although a multiclass Thief like Montaron might do the job.
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere is a very useful ability, though perhaps less so when deployment isn't as certain as when a Mage plainly chooses the target. I'm not sure how frequently it is saved against either, as it has been a long time since I used that strategy - but it was once one of my staples! In any case, the mid-late SoA point is definitely a low-light for Thieves, as well as being one of the longest stages of the game in my opinion, so regardless of how effective you find your kit abilities to be by that point, you'll not be having the time of your life comparative to if you'd played a Mage.