A good melee character for HoF is a... shadowdancer?
Aerich
Member Posts: 276
Well, a shadowdancer13/fighter dual. What it loses in hp it gains in evasiveness. Hide in Plain Sight gives you a backstab every round, and means that if you get targeted, you have an easy and disruption-proof escape mechanism - which is what gives it a survivability edge over many other melee characters dependent on spell buffs (e.g. Ironskins, Stoneskin) that erode or run out. If not targeted, you get 3 Apr single-wielding (5 if dual wielding, 10 under IH, of course), with the first attack being a backstab, for as long as you want. It's not the ridiculous damage you get from a F/M/T with Misled backstabs, but you can backstab almost at will with limited risk all day.
Of course, this character has its disadvantages. A pureclass thief in HoF misses its backstab seemingly half the time, and is mostly useless at anything other than ranged combat and thief utility skills, so until it gets some levels in fighter it's not on the front line. It has ~30 HP less than a fighter to other dc. Using HIPS means other melee characters or your summons get targeted instead of this character. It is also very dependent on items to become a melee monster, in particular, items obtainable on Burial Isle and from the Luskanites. However, this character with 5 pips in short sword, Blood Iron, dual wield, Longsword of Action, Shadowed Studded Leather +4 (resistances, skills buffs, AC), and Gauntlets of Ogre Power is just nasty. If you want your party members to cast, it can flip to bows or just get an elemental ward and stay in the front.
Healing comes from Blood Iron (a favourite trick of mine is to dual wield and just go to town on an immobilized enemy if hurt) and over 100% elemental resistance combined with your party AoE. Major healing is rarely necessary, because this character doesn't take melee damage for more than a round at most, and is more than capable while wounded of withdrawing without stress and resurfacing on the edge to heal while hitting. I've found it provides more consistent damage and better survivability, after completing the dual, than a cavalier, at least in the portions of the game that I've used it in so far.
Of course, this character has its disadvantages. A pureclass thief in HoF misses its backstab seemingly half the time, and is mostly useless at anything other than ranged combat and thief utility skills, so until it gets some levels in fighter it's not on the front line. It has ~30 HP less than a fighter to other dc. Using HIPS means other melee characters or your summons get targeted instead of this character. It is also very dependent on items to become a melee monster, in particular, items obtainable on Burial Isle and from the Luskanites. However, this character with 5 pips in short sword, Blood Iron, dual wield, Longsword of Action, Shadowed Studded Leather +4 (resistances, skills buffs, AC), and Gauntlets of Ogre Power is just nasty. If you want your party members to cast, it can flip to bows or just get an elemental ward and stay in the front.
Healing comes from Blood Iron (a favourite trick of mine is to dual wield and just go to town on an immobilized enemy if hurt) and over 100% elemental resistance combined with your party AoE. Major healing is rarely necessary, because this character doesn't take melee damage for more than a round at most, and is more than capable while wounded of withdrawing without stress and resurfacing on the edge to heal while hitting. I've found it provides more consistent damage and better survivability, after completing the dual, than a cavalier, at least in the portions of the game that I've used it in so far.
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However, it needs also mind protection vs Harpies in TotL, for example. ⬅️
A couple further thoughts - you are absolutely right that the character needs mind protection (Wailing of Virgins cloak?) and I extend that need to elemental wards too, although potions could be used more also. This character shines in a small party. Too large, and the necessary micromanagement for best effect is too hard, too small, and some essential things are missing. I’d never use it for solo, because a solo pure thief, kitted or not, is not my idea of fun. Also, stealth isn’t true stealth, so a thief that has been seen before gets followed in stealth, which makes a solo thief practically impossible. A distracted enemy is easy prey for this character, but a bunch of enemies focused on it is bad news, especially if it’s escape potential is negated by being surrounded. Of course, in even a small party the shadowdancer can HIPS and the enemies will retarget.
My advice is to focus skill points in stealth and traps. You can put a few points into pickpocket too. I put a few points into locks, and regretted it, because I realized I couldn’t get locks and stealth high enough - so I put all the rest of my points into stealth and just opened locks with other characters (Druid shapechange and Knock). Level 13 gives the max backstab multiplier of x4, which the character badly needs.
Shadow step is also worth a mention. It’s one more escape mechanism, and can also be used for pulling. It doesn’t seem that AoE spells cause damage to the shadowdancer if it goes through them in shadow mode. I am also going to test whether shadow step allows trap spells (Skull Trap, DBFB) to be bypassed without triggering.
My Berserker(inactive)/Thief in Gloomfrost used mainly traps ?, 7 normal traps per area is actually the maximum! ? A level 30 Thief has enough proficiency points to put 120+ for all skills. ?
If doing a shadowdancer to mage dc, it would be possible to dc lower after maxing stealth only (and optionally find/remove traps), because the mage dc won't be able to make best use of the backstabs anyway. IMO, the mage benefits more from the extra survivability and ease of tactical placement one gets from the shadowdancer levels, although I suppose once can backstab with Mordy's Sword and BBD, so there would be some reason to get the max backstab with a mage dc too.
All right, I'm going first to the Burial Island in the search of that Blood Iron! ? I maximized stats of my Shadowdancer: STR=DEX=CON=18, CHA=19 (using CHA+1 tome from TotL). ?
Other members of the team: Berserker/Thief (lvl 29/30), Priest of Lathander (lvl 10). ?
LoL He will start to shine at lvl 29/30! ??
I'm planning to dual my shadowdancer at lvl 29, current level: 18. ?
In the case of this particular character, the only thing you get from higher levels is more thief skill points and more uses of shadowstep per day. It's really unnecessary, and the analysis clearly favours trying to get the completed dual online faster. Thief Thaco is irrelevant after a few fighter levels and backstab is maxed at level 13. I suppose one could use sneak attacks and continue to progress that upward, but sneak attack is inferior to backstab with this character and its ability to hide (thus backstab) at will. I would think all necessary skills - stealth, locks, pickpocket, remove traps - would have sufficient points by shadowdancer lvl 20 at the latest.
I understand your point but prefer to see a maximal dual-classed character anyway. ?
The key though, is to use Darkened Glory katana 1 handed with a pip in one handed, that gives you a 18-20 crit range on a katana of all things. Throw in Bard song and Chant and you will be endlessly critting endless backstabs. Its great fun. HIPS is stupid powerful in HoF/LoB, but super time consuming at lowe level: done a bunch of Shadowdancer in LoB in BG1 and it is tedious to say the least.
Overall a really cool concept but obviously it loses out to spamming Fire Elementals and Incendiary Clouds on HoF - also Bel has True Sight so your main "thing" is useless.