Well, I still hadnt decided which class to play next, and the thief group of classes/multiclasses are looking very interesting to me right now...but I also had a few questions which I find pretty confusing...

Firstly, the Thief/Cleric multiclass is available, but the weapons are limited to a cleric's ethos...which means, a thief cant use bladed weaponry, etc...which also means the thief cannot backstab ? Am I right ? Or can I be a Thief/Cleric and backstab with the Crom Faeyr and Flail Of THe Ages...hehehe, would be great fun!

Secondly, if I dualled a Kensai to a Thief, would I still be unable to wear armor? I've kinda decided to play that class now, i.e a kensai lvl 15 dualled to thief for the +5 to hit and damage, but if I can't wear leather armor...then the AC problem would be very annoying.

Thirdly, there is a dagger in the game, Quietus+4, which increases the backstab multiplier by 1. Just for kicks, if I CLUA'd the thing in, and dualweilded it, would the backstab additions stack ? Also, if my thief were at max lvl for backstabs to increase, i.e if Backstab Modifier were ALREADY at Quintiple damage, would it increase to Septuple damage, i.e Assassin level ?

And if an Assassin dualweilded those, would the damage go upto 9x ?!?!?!?

Just playing around with those points, and depending on those answers, I think I'd probably play BG:SoA and ToB with the Kensai/Thief and Tashia along for the magic support and the romance...but thats it... I still dont have the heart for soloing the game with a non Magic using character.

And I remembered to ask now, which multiclass is best for soloing the game?

Yes, the backstab multiplier for an assassin would be 9.If dual classed, he can be so deadly it isn't funny any more. I've backstabbed and been lucky enough to land a critical hit. We're talking over 200 damage. I took out the entire Illithid Cavern with my Assassin/Fighter and about 15 potions of invisibility. If they caught me with their hold spell, I was already invisible and safe. It was a cheesy way to exploit the game, but it was hilarious to see a Mind Flayer suddenly explode from a 180 damage backstab. I was invisible before they could catch me. I was also using a few other items from other mods. There are some gloves or something that raise that multiplier by 1, along with a dagger that raises it by 2, called Yalla. This leaves you with an open hand to place another blade. And a swashbuckler can now backstab. If you look, you'll see that his backstab multiplier is set at 1 and doesn't increase with level. But since he does have it, it can be increased. I learned this late in ToB and never had the chance to take advantage of it. My proficiencies were all spent,and daggers didn't seem beneficial early in the game. I think I heard someone say you can backstab with a staff, but I haven't confirmed this.

if you dual class a kensai to thief you cannot wear any armor until you get the "use any items" ability.


but it's exactly the use any items ability that makes the kensai\thief so attractive.

kensai\thief is one of the best characters in the game because, in the end, you will be one hell of a fighter (think kensai with armor, bracers\gauntlets and helmets) can set traps and backstab (and hide) and cast spells from scrolls.
You will also get alot of hp.

The assasin\fighter isnt as good a fighter and won't get as much hp, instead it will get insane backstab damage.
get profiencient in quarterstaffs and use staff of the ram +6 (that daggger of yours in your case if you wish), to get 25 str. use fire giant belt and sign of cleric and do the evil path in hell to get that +2 str bonus. (22+1+2=25). this of course can only be done if you have a cleric in your party that gets the clerics sign. (can also be done if you do a kensai\thief with a cleric in your party).

Those two classes works best as solo characters since it takes long time to regain your first class when you have dualed classed due to that both classes works best if you dual class late.

to get 25 str. use fire giant belt and sign of cleric and do the evil path in hell to get that +2 str bonus. (22+1+2=25). I don't think that will work, since the Fire Giant Belt sets the strenght to 22. It may actually lower your strength if it's higher that 22.

A thief/cleric multiclass can only be a gnome, and can backstab with a club or a quarterstaff only. The backstab will fail if using a "non-thief" weapon, meaning that a regular thief could actually use that weapon without considering Use Any Item HLA.

A human dual class on the other hand, thief to cleric is hopeless because the only weapons that even as a cleric they can use are clubs or quarterstaves. As a cleric to thief you a still stuck with the same. It's rather tough to do this.

it works....

u see, if you equip the fire giant belt, it set the strength to 22. If you then equip clerics sign or get the hell bonus it stacks.

so when having equipped fire belt (str 22) and equip clerics sign (str +1) its stacks and become str 23. also the hell bonus (+2 str.) stacks becoming str. 25

watchers keep str bonus doesnt stack though, but you don't need that one.

and to the guy who mentioned the cleric......i agree. its better to take an kensai\thief or assasin\fighter, which was what he asked about (and what i and the other guy talked about,

First of all, there are more options than a gnome for thief/cleric. A half-elf can pretty much be everything - besides a paladin. And half-orcs can be theif/clerics as well. Yes, you are limited to three weapons as theif/cleric - quarterstaff, club and sling. You can backstab (even though they are blunt weapons) with the quarterstaff and club.

As for the getting the 25 strength by using the belt of fire giant strength, the cleric symbol, and doing the evil path in hell, all I can say is if that works than it's a bug. Items that set your strenth to a certain number do just that - your strength is "fixed" at that number until you remove the item. Items that increase you strength by say, +1 like the cleric ring should not affect you if you're wearing a girdle. I can't say for sure whether it works or not, as I've never tried it, but what I do know is it SHOULDN'T work.

@Aldeth-Unless he cheats, there's no way it will. You do Hell before you can even get the fire giant belt.

He's right in saying that the hell bonuses will increase something that's equipped setting stats to a certain level, but what he says is impossible due to placement of items.

rastor, it's true that you get fire belt after hell bonus, but it still stacks, you have an str of 20 (or whatever) after hell bonus, and when you equip fire giant belt it set the str to 24, not 22. equip clerics sign for the last str. point to get str of 25.

Heh, never thought about it like an bug really.

Anyway, i mentioned it to help the guy who created the topic, wether he wanna use it or not is up to him :)

The strength you receive from the fire giant belt does not stack. It sets your strength to 22 while it is being worn. The hell bonus, Machine of Lum the Mad, and the cleric ring will increase your normal strength score; not your augmented one. The same thing will happen if you arm Angurvadal +5 -- it will set, either by raising or lowering, your strength to 22 while it is equipped.

Your highest strength boosting item trumps all other strength scores. If you have a natural score of 19, and equip the Gauntlets of Ogre Power for example, your strength is REDUCED to 18/00. By that same token, if you also equip Angurvadal, your strength will be raised to 22, Gauntlets or not. Not 100% sure about the Cleric holy symbol, but AFAIK that should boost your strength by 1 over your belts. But your natural strength score won't stack with anything that SETS strength.

That's how I understand it, anyway.

I know for a fact that the cleric ring stacks over and above any belt - not sure about swords, though. So if the fire giant belt gives you 22 strength, putting it on, say, Anomen and then giving him a Cleric's symbol will make his strength 23 -- this is sweet, assuming he's not already wielding Crom Faeyr. You put 2 rings on him (leaving Aerie with mage rings) he'll go up to 24. Sweet deal.

Death Whisper is correct in that the hell strength bonus does stack, but only with items that you are wearing at the time. Unless you've got the fire giant belt before doing hell, you won't get 24 strength. Strangely enough, if you're wearing the 21 strength belt, get the hell bonus, then remove the belt, your strength is 23 permanently. The hell bonus actually sets your strength to 2+ whatever it is when you get the bonus. It's wierd Bioware coding.

The cleric ring does stack with belts and such, so...

@Rastor:
Does that also include effects under a spell or a potion?

well, no matter if its 24 or 25, its still a nice bonus for a kensai\thief :)

thx for all the help in clerifying this up people :)