Questions about Assassins

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Now for some reason i got bored playing with a Cavalier(Although it is/was a
favorite class of mine. ) So i started looking towards classes that i did not
play before...not even when i played BG2 a few years ago.

And i will start with a Assassin pc this time. Now i am thinking about using
Katana's and maybe(Though i doubt it. ) even Wakizashi/ninja to's as
main melee weapons. I also want to take a ranged weapon, but i do not want to
use a bow/crosbow/sling.

Also..should i go for the single weapon style for the(Albeit a small one)
increase in ac? Or should i go for dual wield? Isn't using single weapon style
easier for switching to ranged?

Now i realize that you can take along a lot of quivers with you for ranged combat,
but i prefer to have my inventory as empty as possible. Now please
forgive me for asking this, but since i never used throwing daggers/axes or
darts with any of my pc, i do not know if there are any good throwing daggers/axes
ingame that can return to the user or have unlimited ammo.

If anyone knows of these type of throwing weapons that can be found early
in the game and later in the game then please let me know.

 

Katana is fine but Thieves can't backstab with the Wakizashi/Ninja-to.
My fav. backstabbing weapons in SoA is the Staff of Striking ( Staff of the Ram in ToB). They deal the highest minimum/avg damage and that's convenient for backstabbers.

Single Weapon and/or 2H-Weapons to increase the chance to (critically) hit. I don't recommend DW. It doesn't help you with the backstabs and tha Assassin is not a frontliner. Stick to what he's best at and that's the backstabs.

There is a good returning dart available in level 1 of Watcher's Keep but you have to earn it. But if you go with Single Weapon style or 2H-Weapons then why not use 1 of the good short bows? The Tuigan Short Bow + Poison Weapon+ whatever ammo you like is a nice combo.

 

That is good to know about the Wakizashi/Ninja-to, saves me a slot.
As for the staff..i will remember that.(Well write it down actualy. )

I thought as much, thanks.

Well it is not because i have something against bows/crossbows/slings, it is
just how i want to play him. I just want to play him as a character that
dislikes bows/crossbows due to their size. Sneaking around with those things
on his back is anoying to him.

And i know that slings are alot better ranged weapons then many might think,
but here it is just my characters ego as a Assassin that makes him think slings
are not for Assassins.(He is weird that way...or is it me that..nevermind )

So that is the reason why i want to find out if there are any good throwing
daggers/axes/darts that either return or have a unlimited amount of ammo.
If not(Besides the one you mentioned, then i will see what i do for ranged.)

 

Weapon speed is important in backstabs. Shortswords are a great for an assassin. Long swords are always a good choice. Proficiency in daggers will allow you to use magical throwing daggers (Boomerang and Fire Dagger). The staff proficiency opens up the most damaging backstab weapons in the game (the +4 Staff of Rynn is the best backstab weapon early in the game).

Stay away from axe proficiency until you've exhausted all the weapon you can actually backstab with. The same goes for darts (although the Crimson dart is just like the magic throwing daggers in that it returns to you).

 

Hmm a second vote for Staves. And although reading back on my previous post about my char doesn't like to carry around large weapons, it seems that a staff weapon is very dangerous weapon for backstabbing. I'm not sure how many slots i have when making my character so i will have to see which ones i will take first.

Noted, that is good advice.

 

I admit that a wooden stick probably isn't exactly the weapon you'd normally associate an Assassin with but once you get to see 80-90HP damage on very average business-as-usual lazy-sunday-afternoon backstabs you can't but love those staves.
For most unprotected mages that means sudden death.

 

80-90HP damage? hmmm, i am liking that 7x backstab damage more and more.

 

Suggestions: Make a half-orc. This gives you a 19 strength (assassins get an additional +1, but every little bit helps); good proficiencies are dagger, short sword, longsword, staff, club (there are some excellent clubs that will prevent a mage from casting spells even if they survive the backstab). Choose your weapon specialization based on the weapon you will use most. I find dual wielding to be overrated for thieves -- you need to use a mod for it to do any good and don't have very many specialization points to distribute. IMO, the assassin is about making the most in any situation and choosing the weapon that will be most effective against an opponent.

Excellent armor early on is the Shadow Armor and the Night's Gift -- you gain thieving abilities slowly, every boost helps.

 

Well they seem to get only 4 points at the start of the game,
so i guess i will go for Long Swords and Staff and then maybe
1 point in either Short Sword or Club.(preventing a mage from
casting spells could be very usefull indeed.)

The main weapon will be Long Swords, so the final point will
go in Single weapon style. As for the thieving skills, well i do not
realy see a problem with only getting 15 points with a level-up.

This evening i looked at how many points you get when making
youre Assassin. It's 4 points for weapons and such, and iirc around
a 145 points for the thieving skills. I was able to set the lock pick
skill to 50 and Find Traps/Move Silently/Hide in Shadows to 55.

When i first played BG2 a few years ago i also played with a plain
thief, and i remember thinking...now i will put many points in set
trap, only to find out throughout the game that i never liked using
it. So i will not place any points in that.(Yes i read about the
spike trap but that doesn't change my thoughts about it. )

So if i used my mind correctly this evening, and put all the 15 points
in Find Traps/Move Silently/Hide in Shadows right up to level 17 then
those 3 skills will be at 100. After that i could start putting the points
in open locks and detect illusion? Till then if there is a lock that i can
not open then i will use a Mages knock spell.

As for the race i do not know..Half-Orcs are the strongest race you
can choose alright and they can have a con of 19 aswell, but as a
assassin? Personaly i was thinking about either Human or Elf. Although
their con is lower then others, but the other bonuses look pretty good.

 

The CON doesn't matter because you don't get extra HP after CON 16, I'd play an elf with maxed out DEX (they have a bonus with long swords and bows iirc). You can get many items that will increase your STR anyway.

As for proficiencies, I'd take one pip in Short Bows, the poison ability works with ranged attacks and the increase rate of attack (at least 2 with a bow) makes it more effective.

Like T2Bruno said, don't dual wield, it won't work that well with one point and you don't get so many proficiency points.

Regarding staves, I consider this to be a bug (i.e. the backstabbing thing) it's cheesy and IMHO one of the dumbest thing about that game. Why not make a new HLA like this one: Backstab With Any Weapon (BWAW). Just go BWAW! Ever dreamed of using Carsomyr for some good old fun? Use BWAW! BWAW will hurt your foes not your friends. Recommended by the Guildmasters in Baldur's Gate and Athkatla. Munchkin goodness for the badassassin around the corner. Go BWAW!

But I guess many won't agree with me on that point which is fine really.

 

Don't, you'll gain thieving abilities even slower. I'd recommend elf, human or halfling, belts that increase your strength are available throughout the game.

You'll most likely be using some items that increase your thieving skills: Boots of Stealth, The Night's Gift + Mercykiller Ring = +55% hide in shadows, +40% move silently and +20% set snares. This allows you to put some points in open locks from early on.

Also, you don't need to put that many points in set snares, 40% is usually enough for one successful trap and it'll really help in some of the tougher boss fights.

Another vote for shortbow and staff.

 

The best race for assassin is halfling. You get 19 dex, extra thieving skill points and an enormous saving throw bonuses. Strength can be raised to 18/00 easily by casting the level 2 mage spell twice in a row or wearing special equipment.

The two magical throwing daggers in the game are extremely powerful ranged weapons. They grant high base damage, strength bonus and 2 attacks per round. You just have to find them.
You don' have to use quarterstaves if you don't want to. Short sword and club are enough to fight any enemy vulnerable to physical damage effectively.

Dualwielding the right weapons yields the most melee power by far, but having to enter the inventory each time you want to switch to ranged is very annoying.

 

BWAW good one. lmao

Yeah i thought as much, that's why i was already thinking about Human or Elf.

True enough, i will remember that. As for set snares..i do not know, like i
wrote before, i actualy found out i didn't use it at all. But i will see what
i do there. Back then i didn't use any mods and such so i will see.

Well i will start my new game tonight so since a couple of different weapon
styles have been mentioned i will see which appeal to me and go with that.
I guess that in the end it comes down to personal preference.

 

i would do a dual wield, with a katana/scimitar/ninja-to or for nice RP a Dagger
and a throwing dagger
that way you can do 3 attacks per round and at HLA you can use the scarlet ninja-to which adds poison to your attack.

i don't think it's that annoying changing for ranged weapons, and you don't really need to later in the game

the Quarterstaff backwhack thing is crazy i think, not on char with an assasin.

as for race i vote halfling as well, definately the best

 

Well it seems that a thief type char isn't able to put enough points in it to make it shine so to speak. I normaly like dual wield but with this character i will not use it. I realy do like the katana and you can backstab with it. But you can not backstab with Wakishashi and Ninja To. I'm not realy sure about Scimitars though.

Daggers i also like alot, so as i wrote in my previous post..i will try somethings out and after that go make the real char and then play with those weapons that appeal to me.

I think there is a small missunderstanding here. It is not that i find bows and crossbows anoying, it is just a little roleplaying on my chars end. He doesn't like to carry arround large stuff, they would only get in his way when sneaking around.

That is why i wrote this in a previous post of mine. I will see if i like it or not.

See first part of this post.

As for the race, well like with the weapons i will see which of the 3 races i like best for using with my Assassin.

 

You hit it on the head, Amdis. There are just not enough points for everything and assassins only get to put one point in anything. I think the fighter/thief is superior just for that reason. Of course, there are mods which eliminate such decisions. You should check out the Rogue Rebalancing thread. I think it's more unbalancing than rebalancing, but to each their own.

The fighter/thief and swashbuckler should dual wield. The single classed thief, assassin, and bounty hunter would be better off using one weapon at a time.

For thieves in general, halflings are best, followed by gnomes, with dwarves and elves about even. Half-elves are slightly better than humans and half-orcs (who are about even). The rankings come from who gets the most thieving ability boosts at the start of the game -- all races get the same thieving points based on class. As an assassin, you're not going to be an effective thief and should probably get another thief for the first part of the game. Your assassin can focus on abilities which help him or her kill things. Once those are at reasonable levels, the assassin can then start to focus on other abilities. That said, the halfling will give you a jump start on being stealthy.

 

i didn't say anything about bows, you can't use a ranged and a "non-ranged" weapon at the same time, so even if you where to use ranged daggers, you would still have to do inventory-swaps

as far as * go he will be somewhat inferior to the others in your group tank wise until he gets UAI and the "always backstab" HLA(can't remember the name) but when activating this under improved haste he will have 5 backstabs in a single round with his main weapon, very potent indeed


how big a party do you plan on taking with you btw?

 

Well i usualy take a full party, so i guess i will do that now aswell. As to who i will be taking into my party...i'm not sure there yet. At least i will take Jaheira and Minsc, and either Nalia or Aerie(Or perhaps both, i will see.) As for the rest well i will see.

 

okay then, i see your point about not dualwielding, you simply won't need to
also there will not really be a reason for it, seeing as it will not make a big difference other than perhaps very late in the game.

 

Just on a sidenote I found out the amount of backstab damage an assassin/cleric can do with the Staff of Striking and Righteous Magic.

252. Yup. Juggernaut of destruction indeed...add the poison weapon damage to that and there's not much anything backstabbable that can stand in your way.