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Hi all!

I'm trying a little experiment where I am soloing a halfling thief through BG to export and turn into an assassin to solo through BG2.

It hasn't been too hard so far I'm level five (thieves advance really fast) and I'm just starting down the mines.

I was just wondering, what equipment combo would you find, "ideal". So far I find that I am much better with missle weapons than melee. Should I go for pickpocketing Drizzts scimitar or that nice little Dagger of venom.

My plan is to get to cloakwood as soon as possible to get the boots, and then just use hit and run tactics from that point onward.

Any suggestions?

Greywolf's longsword +2
Shortsword +2, then shortsword +3 (backstabbing).
The dagger of venom will give you the backstab advantage you need.
Shadow Armour is a must.

What missile weapons? Shortbows are poor - the Eagle bow can be got soon after entering BG. Slings are prolific in ToSC (are you going to do ToSC?

Good luck.

Slings!

Doh!

I don't know why that didn't occur to me... I was thinking darts or shortbow. Don't halflings get bonuses with slings?

Plus they can still use a buckler!

I do have TOTSC, so I could get Kiels buckler and the sling +3. Although soloing Durlags tower doesn't seem like much fun...

I find my biggest problem with melee is that I can't hit anything, even with backstabbing,
does the Short sword of backstabbing give backstabbing bonuses?

I pumped my con to 18 so I could use Claw of Kazagoth without a HP penalty. Thanks for the tip.

Darts are a good idea - with a thief proficiencies you can spare one for darts - don't underestimate darts of stnning & wounding, there are plenty lieing around.

Shortsword of BS ( ) - no bonus, just a +3 to hit. If THACO is your problem, this will be better than the +2 Longsword.

Get the Ogre gauntlets (+ to hit for a 18/00 stength) and/or the strenght tome, and the weapon expertise gauntlets for THACO bonuses.

With darts, shortsword, sling you can indeed use that buckler.

Remember, only a cons of 16 affects thieves HP (what is the negative modifier on the claw???).

Gauntlets pose a problem, straight thieves cannot wear gauntlets of ogre strength, i'm not sure about the expertise gauntlets...

I'm probably going to go for bracers of archery, and use that to get my THACO decent for hit and run missle attacks.

A trick I like to use a lot on the assasins is to walk into an inn hidden, thn backstab, run outside, hide again and repeat.

Gauntlets pose a problem, straight thieves cannot wear gauntlets of ogre strength, i'm not sure about the expertise gauntlets...

I'm probably going to go for bracers of archery, and use that to get my THACO decent for hit and run missle attacks.

A trick I like to use a lot on the assasins is to walk into an inn hidden, thn backstab, run outside, hide again and repeat.

Gauntlets pose a problem, straight thieves cannot wear gauntlets of ogre strength, i'm not sure about the expertise gauntlets...

I'm probably going to go for bracers of archery, and use that to get my THACO decent for hit and run missle attacks.

A trick I like to use a lot on the assasins is to walk into an inn hidden, thn backstab, run outside, hide again and repeat.

Oh yeah. Hmm, I'm not sure about the expertise gauntlets - there is one set which is +1 THACO, +2 dmg and another which is +1 THACO, you may only be able to use the latter.

Thinking about it, THACO is going to be your problem.

Imoen is using the gauntlets of weapon expertise in my game right now and she used g. of weapon skill as well, so you should not be in trouble here. Another advice to stay alive - steal the cloak of Algernon. It was indespensible for my solo bard. Good luck! (BG is much more boring when you play solo than BGII, I think, I could not play it after 3-4 chapters, just got bored )

Haven't had much time to play, but I'm at the bandit camp... Having some problems getting rid of the bandits. Do I have to kill any bandits to advance the story? Or could I just steal the documents and leave?
I want to get to cloakwood asap to get those boots of speed, upon which point I encision everything getting a lot easier.

One note, Claw of Kazagoth is nice if you have an 18 dex, but now I can't tell when I'm hidden or not because blur effect overules hiding.

You just have to get the documents from the chest - but you may be better off killing the 4 guards in there first.

Otherwise you don't acually have to kill the bandits. Lots of scalps though

You could probably sneak into the main tent where the documents are, but there are some tough opponents waiting inside. Potions of invisibility would help out here. Outside, you could use Algernon's cloak to "recruit" some friends.

You could have also "infiltrated" the camp by saying the right things to certain bandits in Larswood or Peldvale.

[ 04-25-2001: Message edited by: Sojourner ]

Algernons cloak! Great idea, that's why I love this board!

I don't really need any scalps, I have plenty of money. It's amazing how little money you need when you are only equipping a single character. I have pretty much bought everything I want and I'm only in Chapter 3.

Hi all,

Finally finished with my Solo thief this weekend, my setup was...

drizzts longsword
Shadow armor
Claw of Kazagoth
buckler
boots of speed
ring of fire resistance
cloak of Balduran/nymphs cloak
I forget the necklace
Sling+1

I could have gone for Kiels buckler and the sling +3, but didn't feel it necessary.


In any case the worst battle was definitly the one where I had to protect the council members. A room full of greater dopplgangers is friggin imposible!

I finally used the sleep wand to sleep half of the nobles BEFORE they turned into Dopplegangers. (First time I've ever seen multiple Biff the Understudies) I killed them all off with flaming fist help and then managed to get the rest.

Final battle was a pain because my THACO was so bad... But a few potions of invisibility and well placed backstabs later Saverok was deceased.

On other thing of note, when I transfered this guy to BG2 the Claw transfered with me, I got that instead of the helm of balduran. (This kind of sucks, because I wanted to play a party first and then solo with him. But I guess there are plenty of good helms for my fighters)

So it is possible to win legit with a solo thief.

UberJason

@UberJason,

My hat's off to you. I never would have thought it possible to solo any class in this game, due to the starting hit points being so low. I've started a solo assassin in BGII - and used hit-and-run tatics, combined with those handy potions of speed to fight every battle in the starting dungeon. I love poison! Most valuable potions for solo thief in BGII: Master Thievery, Perception, Mind Focusing (+3 DEX for 12 hours), and Speed.

I did a solo fighter/mage in BG1, but soloing a thief is a real accomplishment.

That fight with the dopplegangers is a tough one. I ended up encasing the nobles I needed to protect in Otiluke's Spheres to keep them alive

[ 04-30-2001: Message edited by: Nighthawk ]