>Plinking away from a distance isn't something you actively build a thief for. It's something you tell them to do if they don't have any better option at the moment.<
.....OK, again I should probably have been a bit clearer. I agree with your statement in general; however, there are times when I have ALL of my party members plinking away with missile weapons. Like when I send in a wave of summoned critters ... skeletal warriors. elementals, spider spawn ... whatever ... to soften up a tough group of foes before closing in for the more definitive melee action. Hexxat swaps the bow for Usunos's Blade when it's time to get up close and personal. And even then, I'll have her engage in melee preferably only after a sturdier ally, like Korgan or Dorn, has gone in first to take most of the heat. Backstabs once open melee starts aren't easy to set up, but I have managed it on occasion. Like maybe twice.
.....My own character, being no fool, is almost always attacking at range. Offensive spin + Melf's Meteors is da bomb!
.....Ah, here's a case in point. We just finished the Shroud of the Unproven quest. The final guards of the Shroud consisted of this bloated spider demigoddess and her mutant spider acolytes. Apparently she was the one responsible for killing the Unproven in the first place, so not a nice person. Hehl Viconia freaked out. "I left the Underdark to get away from Lolth, and you bring me to this??" Good one on the writers part; that was cute.
.....Anyway, me mum didn't raise her no stupid chilluns; no way was I going to melee some hugely obese demi deity who had gods knew what abilities. I sent forward 3 skeletal warriors and two spider spawn of our own to engage those bozos, while everybody else rained their best ranged weapon shots down on them. Scratch one spider deity and her lackeys.
Considering that she opens with a Physical Mirror spell, you really should have entered melee. All those "best ranged shots" were being reflected right back at you. And if you'd paid attention to the log, you would have noticed the spell.
Basically, she's just a high-level cleric, except that her melee attack is a spider's natural weapon rather than anything manufactured.
Odd, I didn't notice any missiles coming back at us; we certainly didn't take any damage. I sent the conjured allies in first; could they have disrupted her casting by hitting her in combat?
Addendum: I just fought a vampire named Tanova, who also was a spellcaster. She probably did have mirror spell in effect, because she was bouncing my meteors back at me. This has happened to me once or twice during other combats in the past when using ranged type attacks. I would presumably have noticed this during the Shroud fight; it's hard to miss that effect.
Physical Mirror is a cleric spell. Tanova is a mage. If she's bouncing meteors ... ah. Spell Turning. Which works on targeted spells rather than physical projectiles, but MMM darts are basically both.
Sheesh; so these guys could have either of those spells in effect. Hmm, how bothersome. Melf's is my usual goto combat technique. Would remove magic work to get rid of those protections? How about something like K's Warding Whip?
Physical Mirror (the divine spell) is a combat protection. Breach or dispel. Spell Turning (the arcane spell) is a spell protection. Secret Word or the like, not vulnerable to dispel effects.
And if you pay attention to the combat log, you will be warned. Protective spells consistently show up in the log. Use that to make plans.
The thing is, consistent backstabbing is actually best achieved through invisibility potions, scrolls, spellcasts or item abilities. Hide in Shadows is better for scouting or in conjunction with thieving stuff for a small number of quests. So you can still make an effective backstabbing thief while leaving your hide in shadows scores low.
Yes, I have a bunch of invisibility potions stocked up for just such situations. However, gotta be careful. Many higher level foes will toss up true sight or some such. I give my thief the cloak of non detection to cover that eventuality.
Comments
.....OK, again I should probably have been a bit clearer. I agree with your statement in general; however, there are times when I have ALL of my party members plinking away with missile weapons. Like when I send in a wave of summoned critters ... skeletal warriors. elementals, spider spawn ... whatever ... to soften up a tough group of foes before closing in for the more definitive melee action. Hexxat swaps the bow for Usunos's Blade when it's time to get up close and personal. And even then, I'll have her engage in melee preferably only after a sturdier ally, like Korgan or Dorn, has gone in first to take most of the heat. Backstabs once open melee starts aren't easy to set up, but I have managed it on occasion. Like maybe twice.
.....My own character, being no fool, is almost always attacking at range. Offensive spin + Melf's Meteors is da bomb!
.....Anyway, me mum didn't raise her no stupid chilluns; no way was I going to melee some hugely obese demi deity who had gods knew what abilities. I sent forward 3 skeletal warriors and two spider spawn of our own to engage those bozos, while everybody else rained their best ranged weapon shots down on them. Scratch one spider deity and her lackeys.
Basically, she's just a high-level cleric, except that her melee attack is a spider's natural weapon rather than anything manufactured.
Addendum: I just fought a vampire named Tanova, who also was a spellcaster. She probably did have mirror spell in effect, because she was bouncing my meteors back at me. This has happened to me once or twice during other combats in the past when using ranged type attacks. I would presumably have noticed this during the Shroud fight; it's hard to miss that effect.
And if you pay attention to the combat log, you will be warned. Protective spells consistently show up in the log. Use that to make plans.