A F/M/T is very powerful if you tend to play with xp cap removed, and if soloing. Otherwise, he will still get the most HLA's, but he will be able to cast only lvl 8 spells, will be unable to choose any of the mage's HLAs except additional spell slots 6,7 and 8. Otherwise, he will be a powerful trap setter and a backstabbing attack with a warrior's Thac0 and Critical Strike/Smite is devastating.
A F/M seems to be a better choice, either solo or in a party. He will be able to pick many HLA's and ninth lvl spells and also mage's quest lvl 10 spells. But he has too few spell slots for lvl 9 - only two slots, which is too few if you ask me.
Lately, I played an Invoker whom I dualled to a thief when I reached level 20. I was soloing, BTW. I simply used my spellcasting to get rid of each and every enemy on the entire map. But I didn't complete almost any of the non-battle quests(i.e. exposing Reijek the Tanner, freeing Montaron and so on). And in battle-involved quests, like Edwin's quest, I simply killed the enemies that I had to but still didn't pick the xp point reward(killed Rayic Gethrac but didn't go back to Edwin, killed Tor'gal but didn't assemble the Flail of Ages and didn't go back to Nalia). Also, almost all of the treasure chests were left locked and trapped. Thus, when I dualled to a thief, I had many powerful items stored in the Promenade district, had many free experience before me for picking(free from battle quests), had many items insuring my safety(rings of invisibility), had nice armor and weapon selection and money.So, dualling an Invoker to a thief at lvl 20 is doable. By the way, each disarm trap and lockpicking attempt after I dualled gave me 3250 and 1550 xp points(the maximum available), so this was another good xp gain.
The Invoker/Thief has too few HLA's(3 Mage and 6 Thief), but they're enough, provided you have already three ninth level slots. And the restrictions which include the enchantment spells are not anything to cry about, since the enchantment school has the weakest and silliest spells available.
Yep, Detect Illusion is indeed a nice ability, which isn't stopped by SIToxeus wrote:I am absolutely not consent. It's thief's strongest ability, allowing to dispell every combat illusions: mirror image, invisibility, mislead, project image, simulacrum. And the most important - mage can't protect himself with Spell Immunity: Divination.
That is useless.
. But it is stopped by Non-Detection, and as the game goes, you'll meet many enemies who seem to have innate Non-detection running. That's why a solo thief was given the Thieves' Hood item, which can cast True Sight 3 times per day. Anyway, the Detect Illusion ability is something you have to emphasize on, but after developing 100% Disarm Trap, Set Trap, Hide in shadows and Stealth.As for Pickpocketing - it is useless to develop it because the potions of Master Thievery stack, thus allowing you to gain 200 and higher skill even with a newborn baby thief who had 5 potions of MT drunk instead of milk.
For Setting Traps - I fully agree this HAS to be the first skill on 100% after disarm trapping. Or 80%, since the Mercykiller Ring adds the additional 20%. Traps are a thief's greatest weapon.
