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What is your favorite race for a fighter/thief?

gregorsamsagregorsamsa Member Posts: 24
edited March 2023 in Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition


The way I view it, you play a fighter/thief as either primarily a fighter with some thief abilities or as your main thief with decent THAC0/AC.

What is your favorite way of playing this class?
Post edited by gregorsamsa on

Comments

  • AerakarAerakar Member Posts: 1,049
    I think you nailed it in your e-mail above. If you want to lean fighter, dwarf (or Half-Orc) screams fighting thief to me. But if you want to be a thief that can fight, to me this is all halfling or gnome. Elf is sort of a middle choice, decent thief and decent fighter, especially with those weapon bonuses in BG1.
  • gregorsamsagregorsamsa Member Posts: 24
    True. That's why I feel Hexxat is underwhelming. I just can't envision going pure thief when the F/T (even human) is straight-up better.

    At a certain point, having all thief skills above 100 is a bit unnecessary especially when you can just cheese it by stacking potions of master thievery to open a certain lock or pick a certain pocket.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 6,002
    a half orc fighter/thief wields a carsomyr better than a paladin since a half orc fighter thief can hit a base 23 STR without becoming fallen
  • StummvonBordwehrStummvonBordwehr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 1,385
    sarevok57 wrote: »
    a half orc fighter/thief wields a carsomyr better than a paladin since a half orc fighter thief can hit a base 23 STR without becoming fallen

    And has more room for manoeuvre….
  • gregorsamsagregorsamsa Member Posts: 24
    sarevok57 wrote: »
    a half orc fighter/thief wields a carsomyr better than a paladin since a half orc fighter thief can hit a base 23 STR without becoming fallen

    An excellent fighter but a terrible thief
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    Why do you even care about super-high strength with Carsomyr? The main value of that weapon isn't the damage; it's the magic resistance and dispelling hits. Carsomyr's damage is just OK by the standards of endgame weapons. And two-handers aren't great for damage on an endgame warrior because you can't crank up the APR with dual-wielding; you get great damage spikes with Greater Whirlwind, but the rest of the time you lag behind.

    If I'm running a fighter/thief in a party without a good paladin, Carsomyr might be somewhere in the bag of specialty weapons to use when the situation calls for it. Without proficiency. That's as much respect as I'll give it.

    For a multiclass fighter/thief, I'll build for tactical flexibility. Ranged damage-dealing, melee tanking, or sneaky melee skirmishing are all achievable with just slight equipment shuffles. My fighter/thief duals tend to be much more focused on backstabbing specifically, because that synergizes so well with the grand mastery damage bonus.

    I've done a full run with a multiclass fighter/thief protagonist, as well as several older runs with fighter-thief duals. That was my "Wee Cant Spell" run in which all arcane and divine spellcasting was forbidden for the party. I went with a halfling for it; it takes a very long time to reach a permanent 19 strength, but potions can tide you over and the early skill boosts for being a 19 Dex halfling are fantastic. Weapon proficiency choices for her: start with scimitar and dagger specializations, add dual-wielding specialization by fighter level 6. Then in BG2, the next two proficiency points (levels 9 and 12) go to katanas. Level 15 and 18 are staves, 21 is two-weapon mastery, and 24 is two-handed proficiency.
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 665
    You missed out half elves! I have chosen an F/T half elf before because I wanted to romance Viconia in BG2.
  • BardsSuck_BardsSuck_ Member Posts: 133
    Im not a big fan of this class....solely from using monty. If i want a fighter i will use a fighter, if i want a thief i will use a thief mage.

    I dont see the point of this class even, actually.
  • gregorsamsagregorsamsa Member Posts: 24
    I think the point is that since thieves level really fast, they get way more thief points than they can use. Therefore, playing a pure thief is superfluous. On the other hand, fighters get a really get THAC0. And since the biggest problem with landing a backstab is bad THAC0, the Fighter/Thief solves this problem pretty nicely since as a Fighter his THAC0 is great, and as a Thief you can get those sweet backstab multipliers attacking from stealth.
  • DhariusDharius Member Posts: 665
    Yes, F/T is very much about better backstabs, but is also a beefier version of a standard thief that can hold his own in close combat. At very high levels in SoA/ToB I'd argue that dual and multi thieves are generally better than a single class thief with too many skill points to distribute, and backstab multipliers maxed out.
  • atcDaveatcDave Member Posts: 2,384
    Pretty much always a half-elf or Halfling for me. I love the idea of the plucky, upbeat scout. The role and character matter more than the math. Functionally I use them as archers when they’re not sneaking around, disarming traps and unlocking things. As previously mentioned, the xp table is so easy they will have points in abundance for that role, even if you go triple class. Always wished T/M/C was a thing…
  • AerakarAerakar Member Posts: 1,049
    @atcDave a big (like) to your comment.
  • atcDaveatcDave Member Posts: 2,384
    Obviously Aerakar, you have fine and discerning taste!
  • BardsSuck_BardsSuck_ Member Posts: 133
    gregorsamsa wrote: »
    I think the point is that since thieves level really fast, they get way more thief points than they can use. Therefore, playing a pure thief is superfluous. On the other hand, fighters get a really get THAC0. And since the biggest problem with landing a backstab is bad THAC0, the Fighter/Thief solves this problem pretty nicely since as a Fighter his THAC0 is great, and as a Thief you can get those sweet backstab multipliers attacking from stealth.

    Great answer, also you can put a helmet which is nothing to sneeze at :D
  • AerakarAerakar Member Posts: 1,049
    Indeed @atcDave indeed ;)

    I used to have a halfling F/T in our AD&D tabletop back in the day that was such a blast to play. I usually played magic users, so this guy was such a breath of fresh air and a reincarnation of a halfling I played in Basic even earlier. This thread is motivating me to build his next version, maybe with short swords and crossbows this time.

    Anyway, that was many, many moons ago indeed...
  • atcDaveatcDave Member Posts: 2,384
    I had a buddy who played such a character, and played him well as an annoying imp. And yet he was often shockingly helpful and useful. I often name a thief for him in Icewind Dale, but I haven’t done one as a Bhaalspawn yet…
  • gregorsamsagregorsamsa Member Posts: 24
    edited April 2023
    Halfling thief is so classic. Always think of Bilbo with his short sword, invisibility ring, and mithril armor. Hiding in shadows, pickpocketing a dragon, and his nephew Frodo rising to become one of the greatest heroes of the land.
  • atcDaveatcDave Member Posts: 2,384
    Yeah gregorsamsa, Frodo (and Bilbo) sort of define the whole archetype!
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,371
    Fighter/thief dual class is also one of the easiest classes to solo. The stealth is really useful for battle planning and spreading out larger forces into smaller groups. If you pick daggers you can forego other ranged weapons and just use throwing daggers for the early game. That's especially useful with a 19 STR half-orc or if youre going no-reload and want the shorty saves, a high STR gnome or dwarf. Once you get to UAI in SoA or ToB, they can even cast spells from scrolls, making them a poor-man's Fighter/Mage/Thief!
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 6,002
    jmerry wrote: »
    Why do you even care about super-high strength with Carsomyr? The main value of that weapon isn't the damage; it's the magic resistance and dispelling hits. Carsomyr's damage is just OK by the standards of endgame weapons. And two-handers aren't great for damage on an endgame warrior because you can't crank up the APR with dual-wielding; you get great damage spikes with Greater Whirlwind, but the rest of the time you lag behind.

    the reason why i do things like this is for the lewlz, i've had 1000s and 1000s of play throughs over the 20+ years that i have played this game and now when i play the bg series, im not looking for optimal teams, im not looking for the best fit for said player/ teammate

    i play "just for the lols" teams, i do things for spite or because i can, many times i will do themed type things, other times i will have play throughs that are not optimal what so ever just because

    at this point in time, i dont even play for story any more, sometimes i just come up with an idea and think to myself "what will this look like by the end?" and then i will do that play through, like the one i had where i had an evil team, and i made myself a kensai18/thief char who wielded carsomyr as well, and why did i do that? the same reason why i do every play through now;

    for the lewlz
  • BardsSuck_BardsSuck_ Member Posts: 133
    These threads are pretty cool because they make you think about possible characters and rp stuff.

    You can do some crazy stuff in rping, this is why this game is so cool and ages fine.

    You can do rp as bilbo, halfling with short sword. Pretend when you stealth you have the One Ring,

    You can rp as immigrant, half orc and max daggers. Demand reparations in suldanesselar.

    You can rp as spider man and shoot webs. Pretend Imoen is aunt May.

    Sky is the limit
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