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How to build my evil Wizardslayer->Thief ?

Yann1989Yann1989 Member Posts: 92
Hello everybody,

Looking for your great advice here.

I stepped upon a very nice portrait, it gave me an idea to play evil ranged. This is the picture of a hooded man wearing black clothes, he handles a bow.

Now, when I looked at what classes are good for ranged, there is :
- archer (ranger kit) but cannot play because it's only good-alignment
- fighter, since you can get more than 2 pips in the ranged weapon of choice
- probably blackguard to some extent

So, when looking at fighter, berserker and kensai wouldn't be good because they cannot invest more than 1 pips in bows/crossbows, and the man on the picture is obviously not a berserker. Kensai can be very good at range with daggers, but it would not fit the picture.

I was left with the newest wizardslayer, which looks not so bad since it now inflicts a cumulative miscast 25 % everytime they hit a spellcaster, including when the enemy has mirror image and stoneskin, even if your weapon is ranged (or at least I think this is the case in the current version of the game).

Of course, not being able to use magic equipment besides weapon and armor sounds like a real challenge, but I plan to dual from Wizardslayer 10 -> Thief. It fits well with the evil character flavourwise and I'll ultimately get the UAI HLA, allowing me to use any items. I know it would be considered better to dual at 9, but I like to have exactly 10% magic resistance as a bonus.

Now my question is about proficiencies.
- Is it okay to go with crossbows rather than bows ? I read that the light crossbow of speed makes it viable to play crossbows (it also has a lower speed factor, that's useful against spellcasters). Crossbows also look more evil than bows.
- As I'll be able to get grandmastery in one weapon (maybe even 2 weapons in ToB), which one do you recommend ? Is it worth it to become grandmaster at bows/crossbows ??
- As for my other weapons, I think I'd like to go with daggers, and I was wondering if grandmastery in daggers would not be better than bows/crossbows, since as a melee weapon the pips would give me 1 more APR. It would also make use of my Strength of 19 (after using a tome).
- What other weapons do you recommend when I'm thief ? Should I go Katana, 1H weapon for backstab, 2 weapons style ?

The general idea is to get an improved thief, with better HP, damage and Thac0, useful in fight. Being able to stack magical resistance is also cool.

Thank you very much for your insight!

Happy new year :)

PS : I'm aware you can get very strong towards the endgame thanks to Carsomyr, and get close to 100% magic resistance, but I don't know yet if I want to cheese in that direction.
AerakarRAM021JuliusBorisov

Comments

  • joluvjoluv Member Posts: 2,137
    Briefly: definitely okay to go with crossbows; long swords are fun for an evil character; grandmastery in shortbows or crossbows is worth it; daggers aren't especially great if you're not planning to throw them; Staff of the Ram is the best backstabbing weapon.

    Assassin -> Fighter is another strong ranged build that would fit.
    AerakarYann1989thelovebatJuliusBorisov
  • RaduzielRaduziel Member Posts: 4,714
    @Yann1989 Yesterday I released a mod that may be interesting to you.
  • Yann1989Yann1989 Member Posts: 92
    edited January 2018
    Thank you for your replies!

    I had not thought about Assassin->Fighter but it also looks as a solid option to build a ranged character !

    Also, the detect illusion is a great idea to kill those mages :smiley:

    I'm playing on MacOsX (Steam version) so not entirely sure how to mod my game :sweat_smile:

  • Jaheiras_WitnessJaheiras_Witness Member Posts: 614
    Nothing wrong with a straight fighter for your concept, or something like generic archer kit from Tactics mod. You can get to grandmastery in your chosen bow type by level 9 and then even dualclass (if human) to something that adds even more sickness such as mage or thief.

    I guess wizardslayer/thief works but remember you will be playing two thirds of the trilogy (if with a party) until you finally get HLAs to remove the equipment restrictions and finally release the full potential. All that work and effort with a rather gimped character for the best part of the game just to get a payoff in ToB? Not my cup of tea :(
    thelovebat
  • thelovebatthelovebat Member Posts: 218
    edited January 2018
    An Assassin kit dual classed into Fighter would probably work really well for you, since IMO using a poison ability with a ranged weapon is just as good as the Wizard Slayer's miscast chance since poison effects interrupt spellcasting and also do a little extra damage at the same time. It also allows you to dual class in the 1st game and get your old class back if you wish, due to Thieves having fast level progression compared to other classes.

    You miss out on the backstabbing potential of an Assassin by dual classing in the 1st game, but if you don't intend to choose an Assassin for backstabbing and instead the abilities to help out your archery (+1 to hit and damage plus poison weapon) then those will combo well with a Fighter and you can still backstab occasionally for a small bit of extra damage if you can make yourself invisible. You also won't have a gimped character for a good chunk of playing the games like the Wizard Slayer restrictions would bestow, and the Wizard Slayer's restrictions were always tremendously bad especially for the 1st game, not to mention the magic resistance hardly helps unless you play a single class Wizard Slayer (there are Paladin kits that IMO do the Wizard Slayer's job better and without the bad restrictions, though only the Blackguard is evil alignment).
    Yann1989
  • NoloirNoloir Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 380
    A "certain helmet" can change this for Paladins. Though it'd have to be consoled into BG2EE. Unfortunate that they fall when their rep drops to 3 or below with it on though. A "fallen Inquisitor" should be considered a Blackguard with it's innate abilities so long as the helmet is equipped.
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