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new thief level for jan!
i'm at the beguin (chap 2), were is better to put the new skill point for jan?(thief)

wich values must I reech in next levels for each skill?

There's no "next level" for most thief skills, as I recall, except trap laying, which has a precise numerical relationship to the number of traps a thief can lay. Jan's a terrible trapper; so I would ignore that. I suggest putting your skill points in lockpicking, sighting traps, and disarming. You can always use a potion to pickpocket, and Jan's magely abilities allow him to cast invisibility, which is a lot more reliable than skulking in shadows. Just my POV.

Well..

Just to add my 2 gold worth to Fable's excellent advice:

Whht you want is a full skillset, useful to your party. You fairly much need the following abilities:
Find traps (priests can also do this)
Disarm traps
Pick locks
Detect/see invisible/truesight (many classes can do thsi, some innately)
Hide in shadows/move silently - you need BOTH (Rogues and rangers)
Set traps - very handy but not so critical untill later
Pickpocket is really secondary.

So consider what abilities you have covered by other party members.

Good gaming!

start values for jan are good in :

open lock (95)
find traps (105)
pick pocket (80)
detect illusion (90)

bad values in

hide in shadow (15)
move silently (20)
set traps (5)

last skills are very low, so I must put on them many points...and them'll be yet low...

so the doubt is: superspecializations in few skills or medium values in all?

wich values are accetable in later game?

(my pally inquisitor has true sight...)
I've the ring of invisibility too (and the robe)

Re: Well..

Originally posted by nephtu
Just to add my 2 gold worth to Fable's excellent advice:

Whht you want is a full skillset, useful to your party. You fairly much need the following abilities:
Find traps (priests can also do this)
Disarm traps
Pick locks
Detect/see invisible/truesight (many classes can do thsi, some innately)
Hide in shadows/move silently - you need BOTH (Rogues and rangers)
Set traps - very handy but not so critical untill later
Pickpocket is really secondary.

So consider what abilities you have covered by other party members.

Good gaming!

find traps: monk (innate abilities) and ranger (spell) can also do this;
Pick locks: mage through the spell knock and everybody with very high strenght can do this;
Hide in shad....: clerics (sanctuary spell) and everybody with spell/potion of invisibility can make you not visible;
Pickpockets: bard and familiars (LN) can do this;

In addition to that there are various items that can improve your abilities.

For find/remove traps, lockp-picking and set traps don't need more than 100, the others the higher your score the better.

That said my suggestion is to raise find/disarm traps (nobody can perform that) at least to 90 and lock picks to 80 and boost set traps/detect illusion to 100/100+; only later boost the other abilities.
Remember of dex. and race bonus in the count, so check the real value in the abilities of Jan to see if and how much points are needed to be raised to get to optimum level.

More...

Skills much over 100 are of limited utility. Given that skill profile, I would raise first set traps - traps are very handy - and then either stealth skills (if you want him sneaking) or start bringing up his abilities in find/disarm traps and pick locks. Detect invis is handy, but your inquisitor can cover it for now.

Pickpocket is the most limited, IMAO

PS - Great summary, Lompo, much more exhaustive

and boost set traps/detect illusion to 100/100+

But why bother with using Jan for these? For one thing, that means spending a ton of skill points on setting traps, since he's terrible at it. As for Detect Illusion, he's a mage: he can cast the spells, or use his visors which already provide one charge of illusion detection per day.

If you don't have a monk in your party, and don't want to constantly sleep while your ranger regains the spell to find traps, Detect Traps would seem to be a great way to spend many of Jan's skill points.

As for using strength to batter locked chests open--have you tried this? I've found many chests completely resistant to battering, even if Minsc is doing it.

Having a priest or a monk detect traps is not so useful as they cant disarm them. The skil is as pointed out find AND remove traps and it is useful to have more than 100 in that, atleast for ToB. Same goes with pick locks. I agree with fable, many doors and chests cant be bashed and dont forget the xp bonus you get for it.
I would raise the find/remove traps and pick locks to 100+ first and then begin raising set traps and detect illusion and lastly the stealth stats.

thanks to all!!

another question:
after the seven vales, now I've the ring of invisibility and the cloack of non detection

how can I use those items? can jan supply to his low stealt ?

my 2c on jan's skills:

i find that 100% in find/remove traps, lockpicking and detect illusion is enough, even in ToB. jan has items that boost these skills, and later in the game you may want to use better items (gloves, headgear) - so the skills should be risen to 100% without the items.
now, if you want a to use him as a scout, hide/move silently should be risen above 100%, as there are some areas in the game (outside, daylight) that give penalties to the stealth skills.
traps come next... usefull skill, and you WILL have enough points to max it, eventually.
ultimately, however, the allocation of your skills depends on the role jan will play, and other charachters in your party.

as to the items you found:
ring of invisibility just lets you cast the spell. if an enemy uses true sight/detect invisibility/etc., it will be dispelled, and you will become visible. so use it only when the enmy does not use invisibility-detection spells, naturally.

the cloack is one of the most usefull items in the game. it provides immunity to invisibility detection spells, even true sight, but ONLY if your using stealth or have invisibility provided naturally by holding an item, not by item you have to activate, such as the ring of invisibility. use this cloack on a stealthed thief or stalker to backstab true-sighting mages...

I've invariably given the ring to Jan. It simply adds to his arsenal of invisibility spells, very useful when I want him to do a little repeated scouting our launch the first spell, at a distance, against a group that then charges him. By that time, my group has buffed up their spells, and is ready for Jan's strategic retreat.

I don't give the ring to any non-thieves, since invisibility, in and of itself, is a pretty weak spell. Any aggressive action, be it spell-casting or wielding a sharp stick, kills the spell; and, if your character is surrounded by enemies, that may mean the character is killed, too. Far better to use some of the higher level anti-detection spells which permit support spell-casting, IMO.

More...

I'd like to re-emphasize the point that assigned roles define where you should put characters' skill points.

The ring of invisibilty is handy for anyone who might want to suddenly turn invisible, especially if they don't have the ability themselves.

The cloak of non-detection is awesome on a high-stealth thief or a sneaky ranger like Valygar (the best point man in the game, IMAO).

A point I neglected to mention: a priest (or ranger/paladin) can cast find traps and sanctuary, and so be able to detect traps while invisible - rogues cannot do this. A useful point to keep in mind for some of the trickier dungeon bits. They won't be able to disarm them, but scouting them out can be pretty handy.

Good gaming!

still, you can't avoid being in awe of a share power of a mage (or a short illusionist/thief ) holding a *cough* certain item *cough*, wearing the cloack, and casting "mislead" -> "protection from: abjuration"... he'll be untargetable by spells AND weapons, with his undispellable clone will just standing there, grinning and making those trademark jan-omly remarks... than he can just Magic Missile his foe to death...