For those of you with the (entirely legitimate) complaint of "I never pick up Alora. The game has a million thieves, she's super late-game, and she dumps a bunch of points into Pick Pockets." it appears that Overhaul has ... well, overhauled her quite significantly. She is now the best pure thief in terms of thieving abilities. Her Lucky Rabbit's Foot has been very, very largely buffed. Read on.
I'll start with the negative first.
* Found in the Hall of Wonders at night. Chapter 5 addition? Ugh! Situational and late.
* Drops half of her points into Pick Pocketing. If this is your forte, then okay this is a positive. Otherwise, gahhh!
* Drops a pip into Two Weapon Style. WUT??
* Of course, her stats are still laughable. 8 Strength, 19 Dexterity, 12 Constitution, 14 Intelligence, 7 Wisdom, 10 Charisma. So, only a bonus for 19 Dex, and her Halfling Saving Throws are at +3 due to 12 Con, that's literally all.
And now the positive:
* Halfling thief = +5% Open Locks, +5% Find Traps, +5% Pickpocket, +10% Move Silently, +15% Hide in Shadows. Fun fact: Halflings get the most bonus thieving abilities out of any race, +40%.
* 19 Dexterity = +20% Open Locks, +10% Find Traps, +15% Pickpocket, +15% Move Silently, +15% Hide in Shadows, +10% Set Traps.
* 19 Dexterity also means +3 to her ranged THAC0. She's pretty nasty with a Short Bow.
* +3 to Save vs. Death, Wand, and Spells according to Halfling constitution of 12.
* Her Lucky Rabbit's Foot? It has been buffed like crazy. This is now the item you wish your PC thief could have, just like you wish your PC mage could have Edwin's amulet. Before, it was a Luck bonus (and glitched, for that matter). Now, it is Luck bonus x2, an AC bonus of -2 (you heard me!) that doesn't even count as a "magical item", gives her a further -2 to all her Saving Throws, and gives her +10% to all of her Thieving Abilities. So basically, it makes her stupidly evasive (Shadow Armor + Rabbit Foot = -2 AC, amazing for a pure thief in BG1), makes her saving throws even more absurdly low, and makes all her thieving scores a good 10% better. Oh man!
Misc. information:
If you pick her up and she's level 4, her thieving abilities split half and half into Open Locks and Pick Pockets. If she is level 6, still a boatload into Open Locks and Pick Pockets but begins putting points into Find Traps as well.
Her proficiencies are Dagger, Short Bow, and Two Weapon Style. Ideal equipment for her is Dagger of Venom and Eagle Bow, then. I have had fun with that. When she hit level 8 I gave her a pip in One Weapon Style for obvious reasons. AC bonus and crit on 19 is very nice.
PS: I'm not biased. I thought she was pretty mediocre in BG1. I am very happy to say that in BG:EE she is definitely worth picking up.
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I really want to give props to Overhaul on this one. Alora was in a bad spot in this game, and they made the effort to make picking her up not completely insane. Yes, she's still a late game NPC, and yes, she's yet another thief. But now she has things going for her, things that make her very powerful, like any late game NPC should have. Props.
I'll start with the negative first.
* Found in the Hall of Wonders at night. Chapter 5 addition? Ugh! Situational and late.
* Drops half of her points into Pick Pocketing. If this is your forte, then okay this is a positive. Otherwise, gahhh!
* Drops a pip into Two Weapon Style. WUT??
* Of course, her stats are still laughable. 8 Strength, 19 Dexterity, 12 Constitution, 14 Intelligence, 7 Wisdom, 10 Charisma. So, only a bonus for 19 Dex, and her Halfling Saving Throws are at +3 due to 12 Con, that's literally all.
And now the positive:
* Halfling thief = +5% Open Locks, +5% Find Traps, +5% Pickpocket, +10% Move Silently, +15% Hide in Shadows. Fun fact: Halflings get the most bonus thieving abilities out of any race, +40%.
* 19 Dexterity = +20% Open Locks, +10% Find Traps, +15% Pickpocket, +15% Move Silently, +15% Hide in Shadows, +10% Set Traps.
* 19 Dexterity also means +3 to her ranged THAC0. She's pretty nasty with a Short Bow.
* +3 to Save vs. Death, Wand, and Spells according to Halfling constitution of 12.
* Her Lucky Rabbit's Foot? It has been buffed like crazy. This is now the item you wish your PC thief could have, just like you wish your PC mage could have Edwin's amulet. Before, it was a Luck bonus (and glitched, for that matter). Now, it is Luck bonus x2, an AC bonus of -2 (you heard me!) that doesn't even count as a "magical item", gives her a further -2 to all her Saving Throws, and gives her +10% to all of her Thieving Abilities. So basically, it makes her stupidly evasive (Shadow Armor + Rabbit Foot = -2 AC, amazing for a pure thief in BG1), makes her saving throws even more absurdly low, and makes all her thieving scores a good 10% better. Oh man!
Misc. information:
If you pick her up and she's level 4, her thieving abilities split half and half into Open Locks and Pick Pockets. If she is level 6, still a boatload into Open Locks and Pick Pockets but begins putting points into Find Traps as well.
Her proficiencies are Dagger, Short Bow, and Two Weapon Style. Ideal equipment for her is Dagger of Venom and Eagle Bow, then. I have had fun with that. When she hit level 8 I gave her a pip in One Weapon Style for obvious reasons. AC bonus and crit on 19 is very nice.
PS: I'm not biased. I thought she was pretty mediocre in BG1. I am very happy to say that in BG:EE she is definitely worth picking up.
-----
I really want to give props to Overhaul on this one. Alora was in a bad spot in this game, and they made the effort to make picking her up not completely insane. Yes, she's still a late game NPC, and yes, she's yet another thief. But now she has things going for her, things that make her very powerful, like any late game NPC should have. Props.