THACO stuff

[Berethor]

WHat I find wierd with my party is this.

Berethor:Wielding Blackrazor and The answerer +4 with thacos of 7 and 9
Minsc:wielding silver sword with a thaco of -7
Keldorn: Wielding carsomyr + 5 with a thaco of -6
Jaheira: wielding spectral brand with a thaco of -1
Imoen:Wielding short bow of gesen with a thaco of 7
Aerie: Wielding staff of the ram + ?? with a thaco of 8

Why soes jaheira, minsc and Keldorn have so little thaco and the rest higher?

(this is off topic but aerie is pregnant )

[Curdis]

Simple, THACO is determined by level and CLASS. Not surprisingly class has a strong effect so all the fighter classes

e.g. Minsc:wielding silver sword with a thaco of -7
Keldorn: Wielding carsomyr + 5 with a thaco of -6
Jaheira: wielding spectral brand with a thaco of -1

have low THACOs

and Magic Users (Clerics/Thieves)

Imoen:Wielding short bow of gesen with a thaco of 7
Aerie: Wielding staff of the ram + ?? with a thaco of 8

have high THACOs. - Curdis !

[Berethor]

what about my character? are there any really good items that could raise my thaco thru the roof?

[Rav]

What class are you? Items that raise your strength to above 18 are always good for melee thac0, brcers of archery will work somewhat for missile thaco0. Whatver the combat form: the bigger the plus on the weapon, the better (lower) your thac0. Also havin more than one proficiency slotin the weapon you're using really helps - but investing more than one can only be done by warrior classes and swashbucklers.

Rav

[FireLighter]

Try to max out dual weild, that will lower the penalty of mainhand and off hand weapon THAC0. (That is, if youre not to high to get weapon profiencies.)

[sdwillie]

I'd guess you aren't playing a fighter-in which case you might notice that the three with much lower THACOs are all fighters of some sort and the three with higher THACOs aren't. Fighter classes get a bonus to THACO every other level (I'm guessing here), more frequently than every other class. Cleric classes get the bonus more often than rogues who get it more often than mages, who hardly ever get the bonus.

Also what Firelighter said about adding skill points to dual-wielding is important(the penalties are -4/-8 with no points, and are reduced by 2 for each point spent down to -0/-2 if you use the maximum three-and the last point won't give you +2 with your main hand, it just reduces the off-hand penalty by another 2).

Weapon proficiency reduces it further (-2 penalty with no points, no penalty with one weapon skill point, +1 with two points, +2 with three and after that I can't tell you since I use the Grand mastery mod and don't know where it differs from core game), and since fighters are the only classes that can put more than 2 points into a weapon skill your fighters are going to get more than +1 this way.

I don't understand how you can main hand a +3 longsword, off hand a +4 longsword and have a mainhand/offhand THACOs difference of 2, but that isn't important.

Assuming (again) that you aren't playing a fighter class your THACOs are right where they should be for early TOB.

Congrats of getting Aerie pregnant. She's a little girl. I hope you're proud.

[stramoski]

[QUOTE=Berethor]what about my character? are there any really good items that could raise my thaco thru the roof?[/QUOTE]

Just thought I should add clearly:

A lower number is better with THAC0.
Negative numbers are a good sign.


BTW, this is also true with AC, in case you're trying to raise that, too
Wear the Plate Mail of Arrow Attraction

[Berethor]

I thought I had mentioned this enough but my guy is an assassin. he can have 1 proficiency point in each thing, which throws profinces down the drain. Montiollos cloak helped me big time because of the 2 or 3 bonus to thaco with offhand.

[Rav]

Try things like helmets (Helmet of Balduran improves thac0 by 1 for instance), gauntlets of weapon skill, belts of *** giant strength, and the biggest plusses on your weapons with which you are proficient.

Since you are an assassin, and not proficient with bastard swords, you get a -4 with Foebane (Fighters get a -2 with weapons they are not proficient with, Clerics and Rogues a -4, and wizards a -5). Hence, it is imperative you stick with weapons you are proficient (have at least one slot in). You don't want to use bastard swords as an assassin anyway, because you won't be able to use your backstab multiplier.

Rav

[Berethor]

I think I sold helmet of balduran. I still have gauntlets of weapon expertise, and girdle of fire giant strength., but that wont solve my problems with aerie and imoen.

[Deadalready]

You just have to accept that some classes simply aren't fighters and because of that, they simple won't have the ability to hit as often as a pure fighter class.

This reminds me of my friend who just wouldn't listen to reason when he equipped every member in his party with two weapons including his pc mage and sent them into the fray. It's no small wonder that he never got anywhere in the game playing like that.


Remember that you'll hit more often and do more damage if you equip weapons you are proficient in, don't just go blindly slapping on weapons because they seem cool. Also remember that each weapon style has a series of masteries associated with it like "Dual Wielding" and "Two Handed Style", not to mention that each weapon itself belongs to a class group like "Short Swords" or "Long Bows".

[Rav]

[QUOTE=Berethor]I think I sold helmet of balduran.[/QUOTE]Can you buy it back? It is probably the best helmet in the game.

Rav

[Thrifalas]

[QUOTE=Berethor]I think I sold helmet of balduran. I still have gauntlets of weapon expertise, and girdle of fire giant strength., but that wont solve my problems with aerie and imoen.[/QUOTE]

Your *problem* with aerie and imoen? And that problem would be that they cannot hit?

Trying to kill something with an unbuffed mage in melee is like... Well, we all know what happened to Gorion once he switched to the dagger. Instant death.

Don't even try to hit something with Aerie. Imoen might hit once in a while using some nice bow, but well... Just don't bother. You have 3-4 fighters in your party, don't you think you have enough muscles? ^^

[Berethor]

well he is what I got

Me : 2 longswords(blackrazor/answerer)
Minsc; 2 handed weapon(silver sword)
Keldorn: 2 handed weapon(carsomyr + 5)
Jaheira: weapon/shield style(club +3,blackblood/ spectral brand + that dragon shield)
Imoen: Single weapon(short bow of gesen)
aerie: 2 handed weapon(staff of the ram +6)

to rav: nope, I sold in in athkatla.