Monsters running away?

[Crowley9]

Sometimes when I leave and enter the screen to retrieve my trusty saurus after a battle, there is a monster in the screen I enter which starts almost right next to the hero and then quickly runs away to the opposite side of the screen. Is this a bug or is there some logical explanation for why the monster would do this? I thought maybe it is supposed to represent the saurus being busy chased by monsters, but this has happened both in the screen I lost the saurus and in adjacent screens, with monsters running in opposite directions in each.

[Erpy]

Actually, it's not really like that.

If you're sneaking and your stealth is high enough, you're simply able to approach a monster without it becoming aware of your presence. If you don't feel like fighting, you can simply let them walk off the screen. If not...ZING.

[Crowley9]

Ooh, so that's what it is! Kinda makes me wish there was a chance to launch a surprise attack on unaware monsters. Who's the monster now!

[Erpy]

Why don't you try that next time it happens. It might just work.

[Heavenslaughing]

I can get the monster's attention by standing up straight or by throwing a dagger or a rock at it. By the time the no-action djinn pointer becomes my action icon on entering any given desert screen, the monster is no longer near me, so melee has been consistently out of the question. Following the monster to the next screen hasn't worked, either; it's consistently gone. The hand icon just gets a laugh line, e.g. that the terrorsaurus would make a poor mount. Is there some way to launch a sneak attack that I'm missing?

[Goilveig]

I can get the monster's attention by standing up straight or by throwing a dagger or a rock at it. By the time the no-action djinn pointer becomes my action icon on entering any given desert screen, the monster is no longer near me, so melee has been consistently out of the question. Following the monster to the next screen hasn't worked, either; it's consistently gone. The hand icon just gets a laugh line, e.g. that the terrorsaurus would make a poor mount. Is there some way to launch a sneak attack that I'm missing?

You have to hit it with your very first dagger throw.

And trust me, once you master that, the art of thief combat is open to you. The sneak attack damage bonus is very, very big.

[Heavenslaughing]

Heck yeah! I actually just quit gameplay and returned to the forums to report that very discovery. Unless your speed is on low, hitting these monsters on the first throw can be tough. With a calm spell, however, it's no problem. You have to be very quick on the draw, even to do it with Calm. Totally worth it and lots of fun, though. Very much in the spirit of thief abilities, and it helps justify the thief's weakness in combat.

[Goilveig]

At normal difficulty, at 200 str/200 throwing, you'll one-shot every monster except the terrorsaurus, and that requires only a single normal dagger hit to finish off its tiny remaining HP.

In short, if you don't miss, you'll never need to actually do combat again.

And I agree, this is a great way to really differentiate between the fighter and thief classes in combat. The fighter gets much better inside combat, the thief gets the sneak attack to make up for their general suckiness once combat has begun.

[Erpy]

Heh, of course, hurting calmed monsters is bad karma. Then again, backstabbing humanoids (no matter what the circumstances) decreases honor too. But since it's the thief we're talking about and since backstabbing doesn't hurt the honor stat nearly as much as it hurts the bad guy, I doubt many people have issues with it.

[Goilveig]

Heh, of course, hurting calmed monsters is bad karma. Then again, backstabbing humanoids (no matter what the circumstances) decreases honor too. But since it's the thief we're talking about and since backstabbing doesn't hurt the honor stat nearly as much as it hurts the bad guy, I doubt many people have issues with it.

Low honor is a mark of pride for a thief

[Prio]

Low honor is a mark of pride for a thief

Eh, most of my thieves donated generously to charitable causes, just to balance out their vile misdeeds.
...that is, after they were finished buying daggers. A lot of daggers. One walkthrough for QFG2EGA advised carrying at least 20 daggers at all times; ultimately, I found that number rather low for my tastes.

[Goilveig]

Low honor is a mark of pride for a thief

Eh, most of my thieves donated generously to charitable causes, just to balance out their vile misdeeds.
...that is, after they were finished buying daggers. A lot of daggers. One walkthrough for QFG2EGA advised carrying at least 20 daggers at all times; ultimately, I found that number rather low for my tastes.

You only lose daggers if you flee. Remember to use the hand on the corpse, the hand on the battle screen background, the hand on the normal screen background, as there's three different places they can end up.

Oh, and you lose them in the --SPOILER-- brigand in the city --END SPOILER-- side quest.

[Prio]

You only lose daggers if you flee.

I know that. :P
I didn't carry thirty or so daggers into battle because I wanted a reserve to replace the ones I lost, or something silly like that: I carried all those daggers because I intended to throw every single one of my spares at the enemy (before and then during combat) before using my last one to fight up close. On maximum difficulty, a pool of thirty daggers is not excessive at all.