Rangers and attacking from Stealth

wavingbug

Hello,

only the Ranger kit Stalker is able to backstab. But in the article Ranger - Baldur's Gate Wiki I read that when a hidden character is melee attacking they gain a +4 THAC0 bonsu. That is new to me, does this apply to Icewind Dale too?

Thanks

kjeron

It's built into the invisibility state (which stealth uses).
It is not reliant on backstabs or sneak attacks.
It applies to IWDEE just as it does BGEE/BG2EE.

In addition to that, an invisible creature with a (backstab value greater than 1) or (sneak attack value of at least 1d6) also ignores the target's dexterity AC modifier, when attacking in melee, even if their weapon is unsuitable for backstabbing/sneak attacks.

wavingbug

kjeron wrote: »

It's built into the invisibility state (which stealth uses).
It is not reliant on backstabs or sneak attacks.
It applies to IWDEE just as it does BGEE/BG2EE.

In addition to that, an invisible creature with a (backstab value greater than 1) or (sneak attack value of at least 1d6) also ignores the target's dexterity AC modifier, when attacking in melee, even if their weapon is unsuitable for backstabbing/sneak attacks.

Wow, that is really good to know. I always wondered how useful Backstab or Sneak Attacks might be for thiefes because they have a lower THAC0 than fighters. Ignoring the AC dexterity gives in addition to the THAC0 bonus the attacker gets is surely helpful in that regard.

_Luke_

kjeron wrote: »

... also ignores the target's dexterity AC modifier...

Guess you're talking about "DEXMOD.2da", right?

kjeron

Yes

wavingbug

So if my character is stealthed and attacks a target wit AC 0 and Dex 16 it is like the creature being attacked had an AC of 6, because it loses the Dex Bonus -2 and my THAC0 bonus of 4?

Balrog99

wavingbug wrote: »

So if my character is stealthed and attacks a target wit AC 0 and Dex 16 it is like the creature being attacked had an AC of 6, because it loses the Dex Bonus -2 and my THAC0 bonus of 4?

Yeah, you really needed to get at least a passing grade in Algebra to figure out 1st and 2nd edition D&D. That's why only nerds like me used to play back in the day!

wavingbug

Balrog99 wrote: »

wavingbug wrote: »

So if my character is stealthed and attacks a target wit AC 0 and Dex 16 it is like the creature being attacked had an AC of 6, because it loses the Dex Bonus -2 and my THAC0 bonus of 4?

Yeah, you really needed to get at least a passing grade in Algebra to figure out 1st and 2nd edition D&D. That's why only nerds like me used to play back in the day!

I don't think that the forumulas are a problem, it's that there are always so many ifs and whens one probably did not consider. Of course there is rule A but there is rule B and C too you probably did not think of. Same happened here. I knew about the connection between THAC0 and AC {rule A}, but wasn't aware of the stealthed THAC0 bonus for the attacker {rule B} and the loss of the Dex bonus for the attacked {rule C}

I remember when I played some pen and paper games (The Dark Eye) when I was younger I was overwhelmed by the bible of a rule book that came with it.