In BG1, the dagger of venom is probably the most powerful backstabbing weapon. In BG2 and ToB, many enemies are immune to piercing damage, but none, as far as I recall, to blunt damage. Blackblood does 1d6+3 damage + 3 acid damage for a total average of 9.5, multiplied by your backstab multiplier. Gnasher is useful against mages for its residual splinter damage.
In BG1, a bow is a useful thing for a thief to have at lower levels, but by mid-level, their THAC0 starts to fall behind that of fighters and having them shoot at stuff seems like a waste of time when you could arm them with items like the necklace of missiles or other area effect items. A higher level thief almost always has something more useful to do than toss a few extra arrows into the fight.
In BG1, the dagger of venom is probably the most powerful backstabbing weapon. In BG2 and ToB, many enemies are immune to piercing damage, but none, as far as I recall, to blunt damage. Blackblood does 1d6+3 damage + 3 acid damage for a total average of 9.5, multiplied by your backstab multiplier. Gnasher is useful against mages for its residual splinter damage.
Thanks for the tip, though are there many enemies immune to slashing damage? If not a good longsword might be better for backstabs than a club for those resistant to piercing? Although I guess the are some foes that you can only hit with blunt weapons.
In BG1, a bow is a useful thing for a thief to have at lower levels, but by mid-level, their THAC0 starts to fall behind that of fighters and having them shoot at stuff seems like a waste of time when you could arm them with items like the necklace of missiles or other area effect items. A higher level thief almost always has something more useful to do than toss a few extra arrows into the fight.
I suppose that's true, I hadn't really thought of it that way, perhaps different for fighter/thieves, though?
There are more enemies resistant to piercing damage than slashing by a large margin, but I think that blunt weapons are efective against everything. Between a +4 or better staff or club and a plain ordinary longsword, I think you can damage everything except liches that manage to get a protection from magic weapons spell up.
When it comes to backstabbing weapons, I'd try maximizing the chance of hitting, since hitting the target in the first place is the hardest thing for a pure thief to do. The Staff of Rynn gives +4 to hit, does an average of 9-10 damage per hit (so multiply that by 3, 4 or 5) , will damage most anything, including Kangaxx, and is available right at the start of BG2, if you have the gold. Add the belt of hill giant strength (also available at the start) and you can average about 50 damage with a successful triple-damage backstab, at a total of I believe +11 to hit (+4 for the staff, +4 for the backstab and +3 for 19 strength).
Long swords are generally more useful because of the special powers they have than their raw damage dealing ability. Likewise for short swords: they are mediocre damage dealers, but Ilbratha and Arbane's sword have nifty powers that a thief can always benefit from. Celestial Fury is a good backstabbing weapon, but not good enough, in my opinion, to devote a proficiency slot to katanas for a backstabbing thief.
That said, I find that backstabbing can get tedious and is only of limited effectiveness; fighter/thieves do a better job of it than pure thieves, but it isn't that useful against multiple enemies and it isn't useful against the most powerful enemies, where the extra damage could really come in handy. When it doesn't work (at minimum, 1 in 20 attacks are critical misses) you are left with the problem of what to do next. It is, however, good for taking out an enemy mage as an opening combat move, which is why I also like weapons like Gnasher which do residual damage for a number of rounds and interrupt further spellcasting.
I miscalculated the staff of Rynn damage: it's only an average of 6-7, so with the belt of hill giant strength, you're looking at about 13-14 damage times your backstab multiple. Still not too shabby.
There are more enemies resistant to piercing damage than slashing by a large margin, but I think that blunt weapons are efective against everything. Between a +4 or better staff or club and a plain ordinary longsword, I think you can damage everything except liches that manage to get a protection from magic weapons spell up.
Okay, I may go for clubs for my pure-class thief, party for RP, partly because my Fighter/Mage will be getting the best staves (and two-handed swords and halberds...), but probably crossbows first (in BG1), then longswords (mostly for the special powers), then clubs, then single-weapon fighting (maybe earlier with that)
When it comes to backstabbing weapons, I'd try maximizing the chance of hitting, since hitting the target in the first place is the hardest thing for a pure thief to do. The Staff of Rynn gives +4 to hit, does an average of 9-10 damage per hit (so multiply that by 3, 4 or 5) , will damage most anything, including Kangaxx, and is available right at the start of BG2, if you have the gold. Add the belt of hill giant strength (also available at the start) and you can average about 50 damage with a successful triple-damage backstab, at a total of I believe +11 to hit (+4 for the staff, +4 for the backstab and +3 for 19 strength).
Okay, understood, but see above... clubs can be combined with single-weapons fighting, though for double crit chance (of course the same could be said for staves and two-weapon fighting, but SWF can work with swords too)
Long swords are generally more useful because of the special powers they have than their raw damage dealing ability. Likewise for short swords: they are mediocre damage dealers, but Ilbratha and Arbane's sword have nifty powers that a thief can always benefit from. Celestial Fury is a good backstabbing weapon, but not good enough, in my opinion, to devote a proficiency slot to katanas for a backstabbing thief.
That said, I find that backstabbing can get tedious and is only of limited effectiveness; fighter/thieves do a better job of it than pure thieves, but it isn't that useful against multiple enemies and it isn't useful against the most powerful enemies, where the extra damage could really come in handy. When it doesn't work (at minimum, 1 in 20 attacks are critical misses) you are left with the problem of what to do next. It is, however, good for taking out an enemy mage as an opening combat move, which is why I also like weapons like Gnasher which do residual damage for a number of rounds and interrupt further spellcasting.
I agree with @PlasticGolem. Thieves just don't seem to hit the enemy enough! The poor THAC0 means that, in general, they sit around, damaging nearly nothing, until CHARNAME or Minsc comes to swat the offender. Maybe as a mage killer, they're good, but I had more luck using a monk for that. Bad THAC0, but so many attacks, that, generally, one succeeds.
Comments
In BG1, a bow is a useful thing for a thief to have at lower levels, but by mid-level, their THAC0 starts to fall behind that of fighters and having them shoot at stuff seems like a waste of time when you could arm them with items like the necklace of missiles or other area effect items. A higher level thief almost always has something more useful to do than toss a few extra arrows into the fight.
When it comes to backstabbing weapons, I'd try maximizing the chance of hitting, since hitting the target in the first place is the hardest thing for a pure thief to do. The Staff of Rynn gives +4 to hit, does an average of 9-10 damage per hit (so multiply that by 3, 4 or 5) , will damage most anything, including Kangaxx, and is available right at the start of BG2, if you have the gold. Add the belt of hill giant strength (also available at the start) and you can average about 50 damage with a successful triple-damage backstab, at a total of I believe +11 to hit (+4 for the staff, +4 for the backstab and +3 for 19 strength).
Long swords are generally more useful because of the special powers they have than their raw damage dealing ability. Likewise for short swords: they are mediocre damage dealers, but Ilbratha and Arbane's sword have nifty powers that a thief can always benefit from. Celestial Fury is a good backstabbing weapon, but not good enough, in my opinion, to devote a proficiency slot to katanas for a backstabbing thief.
That said, I find that backstabbing can get tedious and is only of limited effectiveness; fighter/thieves do a better job of it than pure thieves, but it isn't that useful against multiple enemies and it isn't useful against the most powerful enemies, where the extra damage could really come in handy. When it doesn't work (at minimum, 1 in 20 attacks are critical misses) you are left with the problem of what to do next. It is, however, good for taking out an enemy mage as an opening combat move, which is why I also like weapons like Gnasher which do residual damage for a number of rounds and interrupt further spellcasting.