Should i us a Swashbuckler or Assassin?

[Sramsay12]

Hey all, I am stuck between these two. I am more leaning towards the Assassin and dual class to Mage. I want to use Traps but the Bounty Hunter is apparently not great. I like Backstabbing. I also like Pickpocketing, locks etc.
Please recommend which and why!

[Philos]

Easy to understand why you are torn. Each has its good points, really more a matter of your style of play. "My" preference is the Swashbuckler because of the greater skills points to distribute when leveling. That was more critical to me than backstabbing for my PC who is going to dual to mage shortly. The reason is that many of the opponents (especially in ToB) can naturally see invisible creatures (like dragons) thus negating the opportunity to backstab. Also it seems as though most enemy spellcasters have 1 or more True Sight spells and auto cast them when you get within range (I would think a "Non-Detection" spell or the Cloak of Non-Detection should prevent that, but they do not seem to). So, unless I want to take the time to deliberately run them out of True Sight spells, not much use for backstab there.

Also didn't want my mage to be in the middle of the opponents in case my NPC mage would need to cast an area effect spell like Death Fog.

BUT, that is my style of play. The envenoming ability is very nice and might suit your style better.

[Stworca]

I'd go with a Swashbuckler, human, for two reasons.

Swashbuckler is a very solid character for solo roaming, even without backstab, he can stand on his own with the nice AC and bonuses to melee.
Backstabbing is all fun and games, until you get to the point where everyone, and their mom, is immune to it.

Dualed Swash is even more solid character, esp if done so to a priest.

With this being said, if you like stabbing, then assassin is the only choice.
And lastly, every character can waltz through this game easily.

[kmonster]

Appearances are deceptive, neither swashbuckler nor assassin will be as powerful as the kit you call "apparently not great".
Take a bounty hunter, this way you can both backstab for quadruple damage and set special traps.
Dual at level 11 (at lower level traps aren't worth it and waiting until level 13 for quintuple backstab will take too much XP).

Raise your trapsetting skill to 95 (including equipment, if you have installed the bonus merchants or the latest ToB patch which includes them you can buy the mercykiller ring which grants +20 to trapsetting and stealth and want to wear it you can stop at 75 unequipped, else 95), 70-75 in open locks should be enough considering the equipment you'll find, 90 in disarm should be enough to handle all disarmable traps. Put the rest into stealth (can be replaced with invisibility spells), for pickpocketing I'd just use powerword: reload or drink potions of master thievery to rob the whole town (if you're lawful neutral you'll get a familiar which can pickpocket very well), ignore detect illusions.
Keep in mind that you can raise your dex and and thieving skills temporarily with the "draw upon holy might" special ability during the early parts of the game.

Taking 11 swashbuckler levels instead can yield +3 to hit, +4 to damage, +3 to AC and 35 extra thieving skill, but you'll have less and worse traps and do only normal damage when backstabbing.
It's also possible to take only 10 swashbuckler levels and ignore trapsetting for a shorter dualing period and more skill points to spend for other skills.

Assassins get less skillpoints so you'll have to ignore trapsetteing. For the 9-10 assassin levels you'll get +1 to hit and damage, backstab*4 and powerful poison.

[Jared4224]

I personally love the assassin. It's a great class, not just because of the x7 backstab, but the amazing ability that is Use Poison! :mischief: This is a great skill combined with Darts (particular the Crimsion Dart. You find it on the first level of Watcher's Keep, & it's easy to find with a low level solo thief. In fact, I got the dart on my 4th day of adventuring (after getting the Cloak Of Non Detection). Your character (once finished dual classing) should stick to buffing with magic, poison your short sword / dagger, backstab, run, (use magic missiles to buy yourself some time) Hide again, backstab etc... Remember ti use the map to your advantage, for example, when fighting the two thugs outside the Copper Coronet, don't rush in like a fighter, beat them by hiding, backstabbing, & repeating the process. Takes a lot longer, but at least your not dead after the first round. Before Dual classing to a mage, focus on Trap's, Locks, & Hide in shadows/Move silently. You may want to rely on the Ring Of Lock Picks or the Mercykiller Ring you can buy from Deidre (Install the patch). Both rings give some useful thief bonuses. Anyway I've rambled enough, just remember backstab (IMO) can be a bigger lifesaver then the Swashy's bonuses...

Good Luck!

[kmonster]

Swashbucklers shine at the end since they keep on gaining kit bonuses until level 40 and can take whirlwind HLAs for 10 attacks per round. But you don't dualclass at level 40.

Assassins also need many levels to get their main kit benefit, they need 21 levels for backstab*7, until level 16 they'll have the same backstab multiplier as a normal thief or bounty hunter and not enough skillpoints to handle everything you'll want.

Bounty hunters shine the most at level 11-14 since their special traps are powerful while swashbucklers only have a small part of their kit bonuses and assassins still have the same backstab multiplier and limited skillpoints.
At level 30 all thief kits will have trap HLAs to set the most powerful traps, but no one duals that late, most dual at level 10-11.


Before asking for advice you should answer at least the following questions (else all answers will be guesswork) :

Is it your first time playing the game ?
Do you have ToB installed ?
Do you have any inofficial mods installed to change the XPCap ?
Does your character solo the game or plan travelling in a full party with 5 NPCs ?

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Why not just go a Thief/Mage multiclass?