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Assassin Skill help

So i'm starting a playthrough as a halfling assassin and was wondering how i should divvy up the 15 skill points a get every level. i know open lock and find trap are useful, but what else should i do?

Comments

  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    There isn't much "else" to do with the few points, so you have to settle for something. If you try to split too much, you end up with medicore skills in everything. I usually have a second party thief or mage to handle locks, and focus only on traps. That's the one thing only thieves can handle; locks can be smashed (i.e. Dorn) or you give your mage or bard Knock. That saves you enough points to handle all traps. You can also have your mage learn Invisibility (and the improved versions) to save points on stealth. But an assassin can't do locks, traps AND something else.
  • amftronamftron Member Posts: 109
    Move Silently and Set Snare

    I wouldn't bother with anything else until BG2. But then i always keep Imoen as a pure thief and have her focus on open locks/disarm traps.
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,262
    I say hide and silently. Keep in mind that in most places you actually receive a significant penalty to your stealth skills because of the lack of darkness. It is desirable to eventually get about 150+ in both stealth skills to counter this. Of course by the level cap in BG1 you will only get up to about 100 in both stealth skills if you don't put points in anything else.

    Honestly I think set snares is a bit overrated since it is only practical in about 25% or less of combat situations. In BG1 there are very few places with traps so I usually don't put points in that skill and instead use potions of perception to raise my traps skill when I need to. Since assassins get very few points per level I would only spend points in skills that help with combat and use a second thief for other things. Remember that assassins only become better than other thieves in BG2 and effectively the only bonus they have at BG1 levels is their poison.
  • amftronamftron Member Posts: 109
    Tresset said:

    effectively the only bonus they have at BG1 levels is their poison.


    Which is pretty overpowered for BG1 really.

    Darts + posion weapon = dead things
    QuartzTresset
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited March 2013
    For an Assassin, I would emphasize Move Silently, Hide in Shadows, and Set Traps. Get another thief in your party to take care of Finding Traps and Picking Locks. More fun for your Assassin that way. If you wish to carry the character into BGII, you'll get high enough level (and thus enough skill points) that you won't need a second thief, but in BG1, not so much.
    TJ_HookersecretmantraAmeerHM
  • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,262
    @amftron Poison weapon + Blackguard = even more dead things.
  • secretmantrasecretmantra Member Posts: 259
    @Quartz

    Been thinking about playing an Assassin--might give your recommendations a go.
    Quartz
  • Copastetic1985Copastetic1985 Member Posts: 277
    A level 10 Assassin will have a total of 175 skill points. If I were you, I'd invest 100 in Detect Illusion, and split the other 75 in Hide and Move.

    Detect Illusion is flat-out awesome if you don't have a Inquisitor in your party. It dispels all illusions like Invisibility, Mirror Image, Improved Invisibility ( I think just the invisible part, not 100% sure ), Shadow Door, all kinds of goodies the Mages like to use. And it's free. Just click it and watch them pop up. You can also attack while doing it, just make sure you use your Find Traps skill after you start attacking.

    Hide and Move are kind of part of being an Assassin.

    As for the other skills, they're alright, but let Imoen deal with the traps and locks. She gets more skill points to have an acceptable level invested in them.

    I wouldn't mess with setting traps either. It's fine if you're a Bounty Hunter, but by level cap you'll have a whopping two traps. Big whoop.
  • QuartzQuartz Member Posts: 3,853
    edited March 2013

    @Quartz

    Been thinking about playing an Assassin--might give your recommendations a go.

    Awesome, glad I could help.

    As for the other skills, they're alright, but let Imoen deal with the traps and locks. She gets more skill points to have an acceptable level invested in them.

    Or ... you know, you could actually use a thief other than Imoen. Crazy talk, I know. I mean who wants to broaden their horizons and experience more NPCs when they could play Imoen over and over again for the sheer purpose of power-gaming?
  • Copastetic1985Copastetic1985 Member Posts: 277
    Quartz said:

    @Quartz

    Been thinking about playing an Assassin--might give your recommendations a go.

    Awesome, glad I could help.

    As for the other skills, they're alright, but let Imoen deal with the traps and locks. She gets more skill points to have an acceptable level invested in them.

    Or ... you know, you could actually use a thief other than Imoen. Crazy talk, I know. I mean who wants to broaden their horizons and experience more NPCs when they could play Imoen over and over again for the sheer purpose of power-gaming?
    Since this is a forum thread for new players, I'm going assume the OP is new, or newish.

    Nevermind. I'm not taking the bait. I don't care if he/she/you/anyone uses someone besides Imoen for thieving purposes. I said Imoen because BAM she's right there, and a good one.
  • BaxyrattyBaxyratty Member Posts: 190

    Quartz said:

    @Quartz

    Been thinking about playing an Assassin--might give your recommendations a go.

    Awesome, glad I could help.

    As for the other skills, they're alright, but let Imoen deal with the traps and locks. She gets more skill points to have an acceptable level invested in them.

    Or ... you know, you could actually use a thief other than Imoen. Crazy talk, I know. I mean who wants to broaden their horizons and experience more NPCs when they could play Imoen over and over again for the sheer purpose of power-gaming?
    Since this is a forum thread for new players, I'm going assume the OP is new, or newish.

    Nevermind. I'm not taking the bait. I don't care if he/she/you/anyone uses someone besides Imoen for thieving purposes. I said Imoen because BAM she's right there, and a good one.
    actually i've been playing BG since i was 9 but i've never been that good of a thief class player
  • The_Shairs_HandbookThe_Shairs_Handbook Member Posts: 219
    edited March 2013
    Assassin
    go for 18 or 19 dex (if you race gives you bonus in dex)

    Hide in shadow
    Move silently


    Set trap
    or
    See illusions

    I persionally take see illusions over set trap in bg1 in bg2 I give points in set trap...

    Use Safana as 2nd Thief for open locks and looking for traps (plus she's beautiful)....
    Quartz
  • KidCarnivalKidCarnival Member Posts: 3,747
    If I wanted traps so bad, I'd play a bounty hunter, not an assassin. So set snare is the skill I'd ignore first. Any of the early game thief NPCs will be able to handle whatever you decide to not have on charname. As only party thief, having reasonable points in disarm traps is helpful (and can be boosted with potions).
    The_Shairs_Handbook
  • amftronamftron Member Posts: 109
    I'd always take move silently over hide in shadows, the latter gets boosted enough by armour that you really don't need to invest many skill points in it. I like traps so i always put points in set snare but i can see the argument for skipping them in BG1.

    Detect illusions is useful, but i've never really bothered, again i don't think it's a massive advantage in the first game, maybe if you're running SCS or something it might be.

    Basically any other party thief, single or multiclassed will be able to handle open locks, disarm traps and pickpocketing.
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    edited March 2013
    Personally, I dislike having more than one thief on the team, so I would focus disarm traps, then switch to open locks. I would equip your assassin with a shortbow (or darts for a halfling) and use poison (which is awesome). Forget about backstabing till BG2 (or completly, if you are like me).

    Detect Illusion is viirtualy useless in BG1, and I hate "trapping" gameplay. It's boring.
  • GallowglassGallowglass Member Posts: 3,356
    Fardragon said:

    Personally, I dislike having more than one thief on the team

    Generally I agree, I'd rather have another warrior or another caster than a second Thief.

    However, there's only enough time in BG1/BGee to develop a couple of Thief skills to reliable levels, and of course the Find Traps and Open Locks skills are the most important ones which (almost) every party will want to develop, so with only one Thief that's usually what you'll invest in, leaving the less-essential Thief skills rather under-developed.

    Thus if you want to play in a particularly "thiefy" style (which is implicitly the case when your Charname is a Thief-kit), then I'd recommend taking an NPC Thief as well, so that one can do the ordinary Thief-work of dealing with traps and locks, while the other can focus on developing the other Thief skills (such as stealth and setting traps) which there isn't time to develop fully in a one-Thief party.
    Fardragon said:

    Detect Illusion is viirtualy useless in BG1, and I hate "trapping" gameplay. It's boring.

    I'd agree that Detect Illusion isn't useful until near the end, both because few early enemies use illusion and because you need to get close to 100% in it before it works reliably. However, for some of the later battles where you do meet multiple enemies who can use invisibility or mirror-image, it turns out to be quite handy. Of course you can use spells to dispel invisibility, but having a Thief with Detect Illusion means that your casters can memorise something else instead, and Detect Illusion also dispels Mirror Image which most of the anti-invisibility spells don't (although True Sight does, but you don't have access to that in BG1/BGee unless you play an Inquisitor).

    When I played through as a Swashbuckler in my previous run, I invested heavily in Detect Illusion, because (as always) I'm planning ahead for BG2, where there are loads of enemies using illusion and it'll be a very useful ability. However, I wouldn't have bothered with it if I had been playing the character only for BGee.

    I haven't yet got around to trying an Assassin in BGee, but I've got one rolled up and waiting to go next time I feel like playing Evil. When I do that run, I'll concentrate on stealth and backstabbing, because I reckon that's what an Assassin is mainly for, and I'll take another Thief to disarm traps and open locks.
  • TyranusTyranus Member Posts: 268
    @Gallowglass using SCS really increases the veracity of illusion-based spells in the game. In the base game, I wouldn't even bother with it and simply rely on your Mage/Cleric/Bard/Inquisitor to do the job.

    Find Traps is tricky. almost every trap in the game before Cloakwood can be disabled with 25+ skill points. You should be aiming for being able to take out 50+ skill point traps by Cloakwood. 75/100 point traps are only in certain areas of the game, Durlag's tower being a main culprit. So long as you can drink a potion or two that will raise your Find Traps above these levels, you'll be fine.

    I would agree with what others have said before and just pump Hide in Shadows and Move Silently, increasing Find Traps whenever you're about to hit chapters 4 and 6.
  • GallowglassGallowglass Member Posts: 3,356
    @Tyranus, I take your point, but this is the "Help for new players" section, so I think we should assume that we're talking about an unmodded game except when the question specifically says otherwise.

    Since I always build with the intention of eventually continuing the character into BG2, that affects my choices about some skill allocations. Find Traps is an example: there are (of course) more high-level traps in BG2, and even some of the early ones in BG2 require decent skill.

    As for the stealth skills, if you're playing a character which needs them, then it always makes sense to concentrate on Move Silently. There's no point investing anything at all in Hide in Shadows until you've got Move Silently to 100%. As I said before, I'd concentrate on stealth with an Assassin protagonist, although I'd focus on other skills with other types of Thief.
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