Starting SoD with thief as PC

pwaring

I've played through Siege of Dragonspear several times and on each occasion Imoen has been swapped out for Safana at the start of the game (moving automatically from BG:EE after killing Saverok). However, on this occasion Safana hasn't joined my party, and I was wondering if this is either a bug or intentional, given that my PC is a thief (specifically a bounty hunter)?

If it's intentional it's a hit to the party as my PC doesn't have any points in Find Traps, so I won't be able to find/disable the traps in the first chapter, plus I'll have five characters dealing out damage instead of six.

ThacoBell

Yes, its intentional. If you have a thief pc, Safana does not replace Imoen in your party. I'm not fond of the desicion myself, as my thief pcs focus backstabbing and detect illusions and can't disarm traps or locks well.

Mortianna

@pwaring The Flaming Fist Healer in the first chapter sells 5 potions of perception and 5 potions of mind focusing, so your PC thief shouldn't have any problems finding/disarming traps if you use them well. Their effects stack, so your trap detection/removal skills will continue to increase when you drink multiple doses.

Each potion of perception will raise your F/RT score by 20% with each dose (duration: 6 hours), and each potion of mind focusing raises your dex by 3 (+15% F/RT) and lasts for 12 hours.

pwaring

In the end I just charged through the traps, all of them were survivable. I thought about the potions but they only last for a certain amount of time and if you rest you basically lose the effects. My PC only has the minimum in Find Traps so I'd have to take several potions to bump up the score.

Mortianna

@pwaring said:

My PC only has the minimum in Find Traps so I'd have to take several potions to bump up the score.

That was the whole point of my post. You start with plenty of gold. Why not use it?

And resting in a crypt full of hostile undead shouldn't even be possible, RP-wise. But, hey, it's your game. ^.^

pwaring

Mortianna said:

@pwaring said:

My PC only has the minimum in Find Traps so I'd have to take several potions to bump up the score.

That was the whole point of my post. You start with plenty of gold. Why not use it?

The number of potions you can buy are limited.

UnderstandMouseMagic

pwaring said:

In the end I just charged through the traps, all of them were survivable. I thought about the potions but they only last for a certain amount of time and if you rest you basically lose the effects. My PC only has the minimum in Find Traps so I'd have to take several potions to bump up the score.

I've done this as well, my charname had dual classed and so had no thief skills at all and Safana.......ugh, no thanks.
Viconia is good to use for triggering traps, high magic resistance.

But couldn't open any locks on chests, that was the main drawback I found.

pwaring

Fortunately I had a mage (Neera) with Knock in her spell book, so I could open all the locks.

Personally my preference would be for Imoen to remain in the party until the end of the dungeon crawl, as she doesn't need to leave for plot reasons until later.