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I was reading a guide somewhere that said a good strategy for a Fighter/Thief is to take Fighter and max out your skill in short bow and than immediately change to thief this way you can have very good bow skills and thief skills... kind of like a mock Archer/Thief without the bonuses...

Has anyone tried this? Is it a good build at all?

It could be decent. What kind of character are you trying to build?

Well, I have a sorcerer right now that I'm playing. I wanted to try something different. I like the idea of an Archer but they would be too boring to go through the whole game with... all they do is fight... nice to have the thief skills to be able to do other things.

An archer-like fighter NPC is already in the game: Mazzy. You could use Shadowkeeper to see and possibly edit her stats.

is it possible to dual class an Archer with anything?

An archer can only be dualled into a Cleric.

Actually, an Archer cannot dual class at all. The only Ranger classes that can dual class are a base Ranger and the Beast Master.

Are you familiar with moderations (mods) to the game, Xazev?

If you are, there is a mod called Tactics--which can be found at [url="http://www.weidu.org/"]this[/url] page--that allows your character to choose the fighter kit 'generic archer'.

From the ReadMe:

Fighter-Class Archer Kit

Basically, it's just like the Ranger-Archer except that:
(1) you can specialize in melee weapons
(2) it is a fighter kit
(3) so any race and alignment are OK
(4) and humans can dual-class later to thief/mage/cleric

GENERIC ARCHER: The generic archer is the epitome of skill with the bow.
He is the ultimate marksman, able to make almost any shot, no matter how
difficult. To become so skilled with the bow, the archer has had to
sacrifice some of his proficiency with melee weapons and armor.

Traditional missile weapons are slings, short bows, long bows, darts and
crossbows.

Advantages:
- +1 to hit, and +1 to damage with any missile weapon for every 3 levels
of experience.
- Every 4 levels he gains the ability to make a called shot once per day.
When he activates this ability, any shot made within the next 10
seconds is augmented in the following manner (according to the level
of the archer):
4th level: -1 to THACO of target
8th level: -1 to save vs magic of target
12th level: -1 to strength of target
16th level: +2 bonus to damage

Disadvantages:
- An archer can only specialize in melee weapons; he may never obtain
mastery.
- An archer cannot wear any metal armor.

This means you can dualclass or even muticlass if you know how to with Shadowkeeper.

Crenshinibon wrote:Actually, an Archer cannot dual class at all. The only Ranger classes that can dual class are a base Ranger and the Beast Master.

Huh, you're right. Still, I remember doing this, and I've avoided mods that allow illegal dual classing.

Maybe you could do this dual class legally before ToB is installed (?)

Xazev, it's interesting that you want to create a Fighter/Thief in order to use a bow. Most players enjoy the extra skill that the Fighter class brings to backstabbing.

I'm not sure why your friend recommended short bows over long bows. However, a good case could be made for short bows simply because some of the most powerful bows in the game are short bows.

A Fighter dualled to a Thief should be a very effective character. You can start SOA with a 7th level Fighter who has a total of six proficiency points, and you can put five points in bows (either long bow or short bow). But you can get extra benefits if you dual at 9th level instead of dualling immediately, including more hit points (especially if your character has Constitution 18), better THAC0, and better saving throws.

Keep in mind that your character must meet the minimum stat requirements for a dual-class character and cannot be Lawful Good. Also, while your character is a Thief and has not yet regained his Fighter abilities, you should not put any proficiency points in the same weapon types that you selected when your character was a Fighter, or they will be lost when your character regains his Fighter abilities.

Klorox wrote:Huh, you're right. Still, I remember doing this, and I've avoided mods that allow illegal dual classing.

Maybe you could do this dual class legally before ToB is installed (?)

One of the early versions of SOA allowed Archers and Stalkers to dual-class. It was either one of the patches or the TOB expansion that removed that option.