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Thief/Assassin template - Need help!

Theron

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
So I have a character that I've been using as a thief just to get stealables in dungeons.

This is the current template with a Burglar's bandana, Shadow Dancer Leggings and a Cloak of Silence:
Magery 100
Wrestling 100
Ninjitsu 120
Hiding 100
Stealth 120 (90 real)
Stealing 120 (90 real)
Snooping 100 (90 real)

Now since training Ninjutsu without a sword skill seems next to impossible (how am I going to spam Death Strike?) I Stoned Snooping and Wrestling and am now training Tactics and Fencing.

Is this a viable template just to steal from dungeons and go PK?

Maybe I should also replace Magery with Chivalry as it allows to cast Sacred Journey and hide / land hidden (or so I have read).
 

Theron

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Magery has great utility including an extra way to get into hiding. If you don't want that I'd recommend marking a nice runebook with runes in every major area and travelling with recall scrolls to free up the pts completely. I prefer using magery because of the heal/cure/mark/summon pet etc utility.

You can't steal with items in your hands so I'd build the template with that in mind. Deathstrike doesn't require a weapon in your hand, or weapon skill, to do damage. HCI also doesn't apply to DS attempts(try it on test). Wrestling is a good choice simply because it activates your defense in your template, it counts as a weapon skill for defense chance calculations which you need if you have no weapon skill. The stun/disarm is nice too.
Thanks for replying. It's hard to get an answer in this part of the forum these days
 

MeTheGreat

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I built a thief that I do not really have time to play; I'll get to the template in a moment.

Ninjitsu (using deathstrike) can be trained with a mage weapon or wrestling.
Keep in mind that you only need to get to 90 to start using mastery spells (which will take you to 120 faster than death strike).

My template, which is heavily dependent on gear for extra skill points, is:

100 Evaluating Intelligence
100 Hiding
110 Magery
120 Ninjitsu
100 Snooping (Swap for 100 Detect Hidden when doing VVV)
120 Stealing
85 Stealth
120 Wrestling

I had to sacrifice ep, hpi, and some eval and magery skill to make everything fit.
(Suit uses shadow dancer legs, cloak of silence, royal guard cloak, magery/eval mark of travesty, alchemy bracers, shanty waders, blackthorn-tangle ninja belt)

I think it'll be fun, I just need to come up with playing time :/
 

Theron

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
That's great, I didn't know you could train Ninjitsu with wrestling and no weapon skill.

Come to think of it, Wrestling is the only hand-to-hand combat we have in UO, isn't it?

Can I use Wrestling and Ninjitsu to kill opponents, without a weapon skill?
 

Theron

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
Yes you can, but you're in the wrong mindset for a thief. Thieves aren't built to kill, they are built to steal AND get away. You'll never want to be caught standing around with a freshly stolen item in your pack since you can't perform any other skills for 10 seconds right after a successful theft.

Wrestling works for a thief because of the empty hands requirement and the fact that wrestling skill counts as a combat skill and so your DCI comes into play. Without a combat skill your going to have 0 defense even if your suit says 45 DCI. Wrestling stun/disarm also plays into the "get away" mentality, it's not going to kill a seasoned target.

Consider getting rid of ninitsu too, seriously. You can lower hiding and stealth to 80 each and never fail in medable armor but if you want ninjitsu for DS you not only need 120 ninjitsu but you need 100 hiding and probably 120 stealth for decent damage. It's a lot of points!

Check it out....

120 stealing
120 wrestling
100 magery
100 Snooping
100 Detect
100 Tracking
100 lockpicking
80 hiding
80 stealth
-------------------
900 total (180 over cap)

That template has it all, lockpicking for dungeon chests or exodus detecting/opening chests, snooping for players, tracking and detect to find hidden players in fel, magery for full utility(heals, cures, summons, marking, teleport etc)... it has everything. It's 180 over cap, is that super expensive or even possible? Yup, the cost will be in the 120 power scrolls for stealing and wrestling, the rest is cheap...

100 pts from jewels(30 stealth, 30 mage, 20 wrestle, 20 stealing)
30 pts from Burgler's Bandana (10 snooping, 10 stealing, 10 stealth)
10 pts in stealth from +10 robe
40 pts from shadow dancer leggings (20 stealth, 20 stealing)

Training is easy too, you just buy 10 stealth and the other 70 comes from items and done. 70 magery, 70 stealing... same thing. It's not hard to build since you don't have to actually get to 100 on the expensive skills. The suit: 70's resist, 100% lrc, 45 lmc, 45 DCI etc... not hard to do with a legendary or all player made. The end result is a thief that can do anything/everything but his fighting is designed to give him time to escape, not to kill. Works in pvp and pvm, stun, cast invis and walk away. You don't get animal form but you can't use skills/specials in animal form anyway. Have a macro rdy to cast invis if hiding fails(it rarely will unless a monster is too close), mount up and run.

The synergy between thief and wrestling, and the 3 items mentioned above, give you an exceptional thief BUT... you have to get out of the kill mentality for a thief, you don't care about killing, just getting away.

P.S. you can remove something like snooping if you won't be stealing from players and add something like resisting spells if you spend time in doom and are constantly getting cursed. Or you can add eval instead and equip a spellbook with +10 magery to get a summoned demon to beat up some monsters for you if you need that. It all depends on your playstyle.

I can't help you if you are wanting a DS thief for PvP, I'd preper using a toon built for pvp to do that. As a thief you have too many pts tied up in non-pvp skills to compete vs skilled players.
Wow that's a great guide, thanks.
Guess I'll have to find out an assassin template for a different toon.
 
Last edited:

Suri

Visitor
That's great, I didn't know you could train Ninjitsu with wrestling and no weapon skill.

Come to think of it, Wrestling is the only hand-to-hand combat we have in UO, isn't it?

Can I use Wrestling and Ninjitsu to kill opponents, without a weapon skill?
Yes, you can use wrestling and Ninjitsu to kill opponents. I'm a very unsavory thief, when I feel like collecting insurance from people I'll death strike a freshly res'ed guy. They flee in confusion and die.
 
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