Thief character and starting game play help.

I really want to get further than Shrouded hills as a thief in this game. I have tried many times and died when traveling to Durnholm. Can someone give me a good thief character build and some game play hints to get me started? I welcome spoilers. Thanks in advance.

I am leaning towards a melee/thief but don't think I can build both qualityies early to be effective.

 

IMO race/background don't matter that much unless you want a specific stat bonus/to roleplay.

I typically solo and go melee. I have never gone complete thief but here is some general advice which might help you.

Focus on dex and backstab earlier on. If you spend your points correctly you can get backstab level 2/3 after departing from the crash site. You may want to break into the Ritzee's stash and grab some gold for potions/training later on. You can do that with pick pocket.

Lloyd sells a dagger of speed. It has 20 speed on it which is lovely for a rogue. You attack quickly and its light. I usually do Tarant before Dernholm and Blackroot. In P Schylers and Sons you can sometimes find a cloack that is +2 to prowling which is awesome. If you max/become a master prowler you will be able to solo well. You can prowl out of combat.
Depending on where you go, make sure you save a lot and train up to apprentice/expert when you find the applicable trainers. Some trainers will refuse to train you if you do not listen to their story, for instance.

Then I would recommend grinding a few levels outside of Tarant. Just max your abilities in backstab and melee. Do the appropriate quests training to master. In total, this won't take longer than 20 levels; it goes by fast without people in your party sucking up exp, but you may choose to have them to protect you.

And if you're soloing, the most beautiful potions are the large pink ones that replenish full health and full fatigue. They are available at the mage shops in Tarant and from the gypsie ladies.

Thats my quickly scrawled advice for now...

 

Seems to be working great so far. Finished most of Tarant and hopped the train to Blackroot. Just one question about lockpicking.
It ups your tech skill so magic potions lose effectiveness correct? Do those wonderfull pink potions work with full points into lockpick? What towns are experts/masters in for backstab, prowl, and lockpick?

 

I think if I was playing a thief again, I'd go for Unlocking Spell rather than lockpicking.

 

The real problem with the Unlocking Sell is, that it is very loud, and could warn the guards. You could better unlocking it with picklocks.

 

Disarm. Real thieves steal people's shit from right out of their own hands. Love that spell.

 

Well, technically, quench life would be a great spell since you'd be stealing THEIR LIFE AND/OR SOUL from them, but since it sucks so badly I can't say I recommend it.

Regarding the OP, I'd have to agree with what dstanzler nicely typed out. Using backstab a lot in turn-based combat is a big benefit in combat.

 

My thieves usually go the technological route. Chemistry is kind of fun, as well as mechanical.

 

lol thats a great point about disarm. i never thought about that much. i always thought elven thieves were the most badass to play. there's nothing fun about playing a pudgy little halfling or a gnome.

 

Tech thief is a good play too. It's like playing Garrett in the Thief series but with a turn-based, isometric view. Can't go wrong there.

Now if only there was a mechanical eye schematic in Arcanum...

 

Backstab in turn-based is my saving grace. Never thought to use it before now. I have been concentrating on dexterity and perception, full ranks in lock pick, pick pocket, back stab, and slightly lower in prowl and spot trap.
Expert in all but spot trap. 3 ranks each in melee and dodge, expert in both. But my strength is still at 8 so backstab REALLY helps with the dagger of speed. I like using anestiser alot. Reached level 22 before deciding to hit the Black Mountain Clan. This is allot of fun since I am not seeming to be able to prowl past much there. Does wearing boots reduce prowling, I currently have fine stouts. I have been able to take on the ore golems by leaving Virgil at the top of the first set of stairs and luring the golem to them then heading up to virgil for healing at the end of each turn.

 

I just did the Black Mountain Mines solo. Man those traps are such a pain in the ass. Sounds like your build is going well. I had to keep porting out and repairing and buying more poitions.

 

I am thinking of bypassing the third level all together, not much down there I think except some XP for killing the other thieves. I haven't gotten to the end of the second level yet, just reached the second golem. But I think I might head back to Durnholm first and grab the machined gauntlets off whats-her-face with the big sword first. And maybe work on getting my prowling and spot trap up some more.

Edit: Now that I think of it, I have had only 2 really hard fights, one when I was on my way back from the Elven tomb with the head stone and didn't have my dagger equiped and ran into The Hand, they were 5 levels up from me too. The other was a pack of bad-ass wolves plus a gorilla just by the Black Montain mine, didn't survive that one, It was funny watching Virgil go full guns with his Arcane dagger on the wolves until he died too.

 

Whenever an item has NP, it affects your "noise penalty". Oddly enough, having a positive NP means you're quieter (Elven Boots, etc). Any piece of armor you or your allies has with NP is probably messing with your Prowling.

Also: Black Mountain mines is awful without either:
Healing Spell Character
Spot Trap
Flow Spectrometer.

20 Perception doesn't do crap.

 

The traps never really bothered me. I always got by with the detect scrolls that were on pretty much every humanoid dead body down there. Even my most technological characters were able to use them long enough to get through the traps.

Hell, I usually had enough left over to sell them and rake in cash earlier than usual in Tarant.

 

I found a better way to get past the ore golems. 1 point into throw with apprentice and a few explosive grenades to start off with and 3 or 4 fine steel daggers to use and throw away when broken, only got hit once out of all the golems in there.