Solo, HoF, EL1 Ironman (SHEL1I) Runs - Thief

iwdee_fmc_solo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RUN STATUS & HISTORY
0 / 1

Let's be honest, Thieves are in the SHEL1I dumpster tier

Not sure I'll be doing a new vanilla Thief run any time soon. The class is just terrible for this game mode. Not reliable, not practical, and not interesting for SHEL1I. From a powergaming perspective, even a dual-class begs the question "why not just multi-class?"

If you're interested in Thief solo HoF content check out @Yigor and his Bounty Hunter run here:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/87754/developing-a-dual-classed-bounty-hunter29-fighter30
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mogritha (RIP)
- Half-orc, Thief 6, 19/18/19/10/10/18
- Thief Skills: 35/45/35/25/20/0/105
- Died in Prologue: Goblin Bridge
- Surrounded by two Goblins, and one passerby around Old Jed's house

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just like every solo, HoF, EL1, Ironman veteran knows the power of the Druid, so too does every veteran know the power of the Thief. However, unlike their spellcasting brethren, the Thief cannot and will never have the natural power of the Druid to summon lightning from the sky, and an army of beasts. Nor will they have the awesome might of the F/M/C to buff themselves one step shy of godhood, becoming a one-man army that rends through its foes wielding black blades of disaster.

To solve their problems, the Thief must be crafty, and resourceful. Their martial skill is even worse than Fighters so they have to rely on staying hidden, planting traps, and stabbing their foes in the back.



As part of an ambitious project to create a comprehensive guide for solo, Heart of Fury, EL1, Ironman challenge runs I will be doing them with every single class, and kit. The basic thread is here:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/88835/solo-heart-of-fury-el1-ironman-runs-every-single-class-and-comprehensive-guide#latest (Awaiting mod approval)

A few notes:
(1) Rolls are done with the console + subtraction. I cannot find an autoroller for Linux that I can make work. Disdain me if you must, but these will only increase the consistency, not the reliability, and practicality of a run. Yes, it is not as great an expression of skill. Yes, I'm okay with that.

(2) Double quest XP is on. It's a part of the game mode, and classes need to hit certain benchmarks at specific times for a reliable and practical run. This helps with that.

Yigor

A vanilla thief vs hordes of undead will become quickly boring, unless U have an enormous quantity of patience and time. 😼

However, I'm soloing a Bounty Hunter 🪙 on HoF (planning to continue in the near future):

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/87754/developing-a-dual-classed-bounty-hunter29-fighter30

Aerich

I’ve run a Shadowdancer dc to fighter or mage in parties. I would never, and I mean never, run a pure class thief as a lvl 1 HoF solo. My masochism has bounds. The low level thief can’t hit and can’t cast, but can only kite and hide.

iwdee_fmc_solo

@Aerich @Yigor Believe me fellas, I understand. Grisella's Beetles literally took 700 arrows to kill

A lot of non-summoning classes are going to struggle mightily with getting to Kuldahar, and even more so with going beyond it (need to run numbers on XP to be more exact), but I think it's possible for one to at least start the game as a pure class thief, albeit a human so you can dual-class.

Their ability to hide is intriguing because it means they have a chance to reliably and practically get through the pass. I think most martials don't due to the sheer number of goblins, and Goblin Archers specifically.

My plan here is to see how far Mogritha can get with focused play, but I suspect that at best she is going to die in the VoS, and she is definitely non-viable as a pure class half-orc.

iwdee_fmc_solo

Welp, Mogritha didn't get far.

After killing Apsel's Wolf by kiting it around Old Jed's house (which is an incredibly tight space, but also has a nice corner to duck around and set a snare), hitting EL 6, and gaining access to another trap, she pulled one of the Goblins from Goblin Bridge. Only the Goblin never appeared, so she went back to pull again, and this time the second Goblin (and the first) chased after her.




Running back to Old Jed's house, Mogritha's mind and wits were supposed to be working, but all they could come up with was to replicate the same plan as with the Wolf: kite Goblins around Old Jed's house, rest at Snowdrift to replenish her traps, repeat. However, with two Goblins, and one unwitting passerby, there were enough bodies to surround her, and surround her they did.



Is there a more efficient location in Easthaven to kite enemies around and ensnare them? The honest answer is no. Old Jed's house is the only one with a connected track around it. Snares require a clean line-on-sight, meaning no enemies in your vision, and being able to duck around the corner is extremely convenient for creating this. A more reliable, but less practical method, would be to run far enough away that you have the time to Set Snare before the enemies reappear.

🪦 🌹 🪦

Mogritha was a Half-Orc, and a vanilla Thief. Even had she made it past the Goblin Bridge, it is unlikely that she would have made it much further. She will be remembered for the lessons she taught us about the reliability, (yes) and practicality (not really) of Thief SHEL1I runs.

Without the HLAs of the BG trilogy, solo thieves are best used as the base for a dual-class to a Cleric or Mage. Routing this is a non-trivial matter that is beyond the scope of the end of a forum post. It is likely that the only reliable way is to dual while in Easthaven, but this calls into question the utility of the pure Thief levels in the first place, precludes dualling into a Mage, wastes XP, demands a specific route for gaining access to Animate Dead before it is needed (perhaps by the same process as the Fighter / Druid), and forces one to wonder why a Cleric / Thief was not rolled to begin with.

Ideally, any dual would occur in HoW, but it is a significant challenge for the Thief to make it here in the first place, making this likely unreliable and / or impractical.

Aerich

Because stealth is bugged, I doubt that any pure thief can make it through in a reasonable way. I do think a shadowdancer would have the best chance with hide in plain sight. However, one failed check and it would be dead. Further, killing anything in melee with a rookie thief is a lengthy and frustrating exercise.

iwdee_fmc_solo

I agree, I would even go so far as to say it's the worst class for a run, although the kits have potential. Maybe @Yigor's Bounty Hunter solo HoF run will give an idea of how well their traps can clear.

Aerich

For me, a lvl 1 HoF pure thief (kit or no) has to be at least part of a duo, not a solo. It’s not viable in melee, and the process for killing anything at all is too painful. I guess bounty hunter has a somewhat more efficient path, but it’s way less efficient than a non-mage spellcaster.