Assassin Trilogy
MacHurto
Member Posts: 731
I am finishing (again) my Reload-fest run with my head cannon (fighter dualled to mage after Chateau Irenicus) and I was thinking to try again a no-reload, this time with an assassin (which I think makes for a fitting evil run). Now the questions:
- i have never played a single thief. Is It a reasonable choice for a no reload? I play on iPad so I think poison hasnt been nerfed yet. Also it will be vanilla core rules
- is elf the best race? Or should I go shorty for the saves?
- Should I dual from assassin to something? I hear it is a bad idea (cannot shadowkeep an assassin multi.)
- Best weapon prof in BG1? Was thinking bow, dagger, scimitar, single style
- Will i need to spam resting?
- i have never played a single thief. Is It a reasonable choice for a no reload? I play on iPad so I think poison hasnt been nerfed yet. Also it will be vanilla core rules
- is elf the best race? Or should I go shorty for the saves?
- Should I dual from assassin to something? I hear it is a bad idea (cannot shadowkeep an assassin multi.)
- Best weapon prof in BG1? Was thinking bow, dagger, scimitar, single style
- Will i need to spam resting?
3
Comments
If you do go this route don't forget that you can get prof in daggers when you dual to mage so it's sort of wasted at the assassin stage. Single weapon style is great early on for the extra AC (I also put a pip in dual wielding in SoA) but why scimitar (especially when there's such a good long sword available fairly early on in BG1).
For thief skills I was going for hide/set traps and then see illusions. I will likely have Imoen for traps/locks
Edit: http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/Walkthrough2/items/short-swords.php
Assassin probably has an easier time in BG1 than a lot of classes because of poison. It completely neuters mages even through mirror image so the game becomes significantly easier, or at least it did when I was soloing on my Blackguard. Start fights with a poisoned backstab on mages if you can, and if not then just switch to a bow and get them that way. You won't be a super killing machine due to low thac0 so you want to start every fight from stealth, and you probably want to bring another thief along to handle traps and locks because you won't have many points to spread.
In BG2 it's much of the same for the first half of the game. Open from stealth when you can and switch to a bow when you can't, you don't want to be near the front line until you've got some good weapons and armour. The main difference here is that I think BG2 has a lot more undead and golems or just enemies in general that can't be poisoned or backstabbed, so in those fights you're basically useless.
For weapons I would go with Longswords or daggers and dart in BG1, you can get varscona and dagger of venom fairly easily. In BG2 you want to add Katanas (for backstabs) and short bows. Celestial Fury is one of the best backstab weapons in the early game, and Tuigan shortbow gives you more attacks per round to try and apply poison but keep in mind that you can only apply it once per round now. Later you'll want to switch to something like Gesen's for the better thac0 and damage.
Single weapon style is your best bet until ToB, then you should be able to dual wield semi-well with all of the thac0 improving items out there.
Halflings receive great thieving bonuses and the 19 dexterity, but only receive 17 strength so making their backstabs significantly less reliable later on (potentially remedied by one of the various strength belts though). They are more survivable due to the saves and better thieves.
Gnomes are also ok, receiving only 18 dexterity but also 18 strength (later 19), as well as most of the shorty saving throws and excellent racial thieving bonuses in both stealth and the mechanical skills.
1/2 Orc starting strength is tempting, but they receive no real racial thieving bonuses while Elves and Gnomes reach a similar level of strength early in the trilogy. It is a fleeting advantage.
Having played all of the above, personally I would go with Gnome (2) or Elf (1). That 17 strength is just not worth it to me on the Halfling, while I do not think the 1/2 Orc offers enough to offset the benefits of the others.
Human for if you want to dual to a mage, etc.
For power backstabs, quarterstaffs are also very good, especially with two-handed style. Many people reject staffs for their thieves and I used to be one of them also, but I have been converted to the proverbial staff-using dark side after seeing in-game how much stronger my backstabs became using THS. I have also recently been reading the Thieves World anthology books and some warriors and thieves are using quarterstaffs!
Daggers are fun for their effects in both games and a good supplemental throwing weapon in SoA due to the 2 returning daggers especially. The 2 returning daggers receive 2 APR if used in melee as a side benefit.
Edit: Yes, they can. Seems like I am going to be spamming that until I have enough levels to stop fast xp progression and get a meat shield
Oh well, that should teach me. Will roll another elf assassin and go for a no reload. Being careful and resting to recover poison, it should not be too difficult. I guess I will run into troube when dealing with groups that shoot or run fast.
The 2.0 poison change does reduce the power somewhat, but as you noted the poison was probably a bit OP before, especially for BG1.
Personally, I would never go with scimitars or longswords to spec the char for melee. You will suck in melee anyways, so don't bother. Even with the added THAC0 from elf and assassin (+2 in total) you will still do poorly in melee. With this said, it's also obvious I would not choose elf as race, nor would I choose halforc. The stat bonuses they get cannot compete with shorty saves. Do the Rasaad quest and get the belt and you will have STR in abundance, if you want it. You don't really need INT anyways. STR is good for daggers but not for darts, and ofc for qstaff once you start to BS with it. I always prefer dwarves, but really, any shorty will do just fine.
Pick up as many poisoned throwing daggers as possible as well, they are really cool throwing weapons. And as said above, in BG2 you get great returning throwing daggers, so investing in dagger proficiency is never wrong. I would skip katanas until very late in BG2 and just continue to use qstaff as the primary BS weapon of choice. The cheap +4 version is available early.
In SoD there's an easyily accessable returning throwing dart which would suit an assassin perfectly, too bad they have trouble releasing SoD on that platform. Would be great to have access to one of those without going for level 1 of watcher's.
Have fun!