Bard Pickpocket Skill back to 15% at max level

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Hi, quick question. I've recently got my laptop fixed and on a whim bought, installed and played BG Complete, from GoG - it includes the original/classic version of BG + ToTSC. All went well, except...

By the end of the game, with everyone in the party at max level, I noticed my Bard's pickpocket skill kind of rolled back or went over the limit and crossed over to 0, then 15%. In other words, there was a steady increase per level until it (I forget the exact percentage), but at max level, it went from something like 80% to 15%.

Sure, I don't really need to pickpocket much of anything at the endgame but it's still weird.

Is this a bug? I don't have any mods installed, btw.

 

The maximum in most old games is 255. More and you go around and start with 0 again due to an integer overflow. As far as i remember you could e.g. not have more than 255 colonists in Colonization.

In the original BG+TOSC the maximum pickpocket skill (without racial bonus and boni from equipment) was 100 as far as I remember.

With TOSC the Experience cap is 161000 XP,
https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Experience_Tables
so your Bard could be no more than 10th level which would mean that his Pickpocket skill would be 85
https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Bard
plus racial bonus plus dexterity bonus.

My guess would be that at 9th level and pickpocket of 80 as a Bard you gained a level that took your pickpocket to 85 but with the addition of the racial, dexterity and perhaps equipment bonus you went over the limit.

Is your bard wearing equipment that enhances pickpocket or his dexterity? If so try to unequip that and perhaps your pickpocket score returns to the normal range again.

 

That would be a weird form of overflow, though. I mean, it definitely seems like overflow, the way it wraps around, but if it's integers, and the value is defined by a byte, it should overflow at 255, not at 85 or 100. You'd have to do something special to make it work that way. Then again, games are typically full of hacks and weird programming, so maybe it's just one of those quirks.

 

It could be an oversight on the table. I have played a bard, but only after installing Baldurdash and/or the G3 tweaks and G3 Fixpack.
I'd recommend you download Infinity Explorer and look at SKILLBRD.2DA. If the table doesn't extend as far as your current Bard level, then it will default to 0 and that 15% comes from your DEX and any other bonuses rather than any skill points.
I just took a peak at my own file, and it's been extended to level 20 with levels 16-20 at 99%.
I have no idea which mod did it. I don't even recall what's installed at the moment and it's certainly NOT 100% vanilla.
I do recall a bug like this that was addressed with something, probably Baldurdash.