Giving a Swashbuckler backstab in EE Keeper?

maliagante1

Was thinking about making a two weapon wielding Swashbuckler who could also backstab -- does anyone know if that's possible to do in EE Keeper?

Balrog99

Don't know about doing it in Keeper but there is another way. Start with a fighter then dual to thief. After dualing, immediately change the thief class to swashbuckler in Keeper. When you level up you'll get swashie bonuses and be able to backstab. If you do it at level 2 fighter you'll be a backstabbing swashie with a few extra hit points and a minor boost to THAC0.

Not sure if you have to withhold leveling your thief until you get to level 3. I know it works when you edit a multi-class FT to FSwashbuckler though...

jmerry

The varying backstab multipliers for the various thief kits are implemented in a 2DA file, external to the character. It's not a stat you can edit in the save.

However, the system is buggy when dealing with multiclass and dual-class characters; it works properly if the kit is the front half of the dual, but not if the kit is the second half of the dual or if it's a multiclass. So the bug means multiclass swashes and other -> swash duals don't lose their stabs. Yay?

maliagante1

Great input, had not considered any of those things. Dualing it is, then. Thank you both!

lroumen

the clab file of the assassin has an effect that increases back stab by +1, AP_spcl332.
that is the one you want to copy to the respective levels at which you want the increase.

jmerry

And that workaround - using the CLAB instead of the table for the assassin's extra backstab multiplier at high levels - means that the assassin does work right as the second half of a dual. Fighter -> Assassin is actually pretty nice to play, as a high-powered backstabber with a smooth power curve.

It doesn't work properly in a multiclass, though. Because the number of thief skill points per level is also read off a 2DA table, and the fighter/thief entry takes priority over the kit entries.

GraionDilach

Yeah, multiclass CLAB entries are usually messed up. QD_MULTI merges them into the base class CLABs via op177 gates checking for the multikit kitID.

maliagante1

I'm afraid you've all started speaking advanced latin to me, I barely know my way around the most obvious buttons of Keeper. If I was going to do it that way, the advice would've had to be *very* specific on what to press/write (and where), I'm afraid.

But I'll go for the first suggestions of getting the backstab from dualing, thanks so much everyone!

jmerry

The fundamental takeaway is that the kit's "no backstabs" drawback isn't an effect on the character that you can edit with EEKeeper. It's maintained by other things that aren't in the save at all, so the direct approach has no chance.