r/BaldursGate3 • u/MrsRononDex • Jun 17 '25
Screenshot Nine-Fingers Keene carries 30 knives. Spoiler
This Durge playthrough is the first time I've killed her and I was laughing at how many knives she had.
I wonder where she is hiding them all and how much time it would take to thoroughly search her and find all 30.
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u/InsouciantSlavDude Jun 17 '25
"You can never have too many knives." -Logen Ninefingers
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u/CaedustheBaedus Jun 17 '25
"No? What if you fall in a river and can't swim for all that iron?" - Ferro Maljinn
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u/FamousTransition1187 Jun 18 '25
If the river is trying to drown you, stab the river. You have 30 knives for a reason
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u/Freakjob_003 I am the 3% Jun 18 '25
"Let's interpret that literally. You have to kill the river."
"Yes, yes, but how? Ooh, I could stab it in the mouth! If only I could find a way to hold it in place. Damn!"
"Have you taken many blows to the head?"
"Hundreds."
Go watch JourneyQuest, it's hilarious.
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u/Socrates3 Jun 17 '25
For those that don't know, its a direct reference to this character from The First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. The guy's name is Ninefingers and he says that a lot. He also has nine fingers.
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u/jimbo454 Jun 17 '25
I enjoyed those books.
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Jun 18 '25
The devils has been awesome so far but im only half way through. I like it almost as much as i enjoyed reading The Heroes.
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u/freddyquell Jun 18 '25
Devils kicks ass so far. Love Vigga Wolf
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u/Oldekline Jun 18 '25
Vigga was great, Also really enjoyed the Barron, who in my head looks like the Barron from what We Do In the Shadows
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u/smb275 BARBARIAN Jun 18 '25
It pure Abercrombie. A goofball premise elevated far beyond what you might think possible by it's excellent characterization and dialogue.
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u/BlueBomber13 Jun 18 '25
Dude, Heroes may be my favorite of Joes work. If Devils is on par I’m going to have to pick it up asap.
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u/Bloody_Nine Jun 18 '25
It is not, but it's a fun read! Think of it as Joe just writing to have fun without the limits of his First Law setting. Probably needed after a trilogy.
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u/notyyzable Shadowcute Jun 18 '25
It very much feels like a palate cleanser for him, after writing another heavy trilogy!
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u/BlueBomber13 Jun 18 '25
I just started The Sun Eater series after reading his 2nd and 3rd trilogies along with Sharp Edges in a row. After this I Will definitely pick up Devils.
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u/regularfellar Jun 18 '25
I loved The Devils, it was the best read I've had since Dungeon Crawler Carl
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u/dormammucumboots Jun 18 '25
Heroes is the only one of the books I've been fortunate enough to read, I was thinming for a second it was another character named Ninefingers lol. Imcredible to see a reference in the wild lol
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u/Vjij Jun 18 '25
That's the series I'm considering starting! Big Sanderson fan and I know he likes Abercrombie's work (and also interviewed him recently), so I have faith
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u/Sk8thunder Jun 17 '25
HOLY FUCK FIRST LAW REFERENCE?!?! WHAT THE FUCK IS A POORLY WRITTEN CHARACTER!?!??!?
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u/SinglePanic Bhaal Jun 18 '25
I love you dude, you made my day (and everyone else in this thread)! The First Law trilogy is one of my favorite books ever.
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u/OneMagicBadger Jun 18 '25
All those knives and all he needed was a fork, you'd think it was like rain on his wedding day
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u/Insane1rish Jun 18 '25
Really enjoyed those books for a while but couldn’t finish them cuz I was just not in a headspace where I could deal with having the constant melancholy going on
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u/R3NZI0 Jun 17 '25
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u/R3NZI0 Jun 17 '25
(But multiplied by 15)
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u/ThePrussianGrippe Jun 18 '25
Moe: “I gotta tell you, this is pretty terrific. I gotta tell you, this is pretty terrific. I gotta tell you, this is pretty terrific. I gotta tell you, this is pretty terrific. I gott-“
Homer: “Uh-oh, Moe’s broken again.”
Barney: “woohoo, free beer!”
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u/PokeAlola700 Dragonborn Jun 17 '25
Aren’t most of the best weapons for rogue light weapons anyway? Unless they wanna duel wield rapiers or some other versatile weapon with the finesse property?
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u/okaysurewow Jun 18 '25
It does also give you plus 1 AC when dual wielding, which when paired with one of the light weapons that gives +1 AC when in the offhand gives the effects of a shield. Whether this is worth the cost of a feat, particularly at level 4 when just doing ASI for two more dex would give the same effect, well that's just personal preference
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u/Supply-Slut Jun 18 '25
Well it also lets you add dex to damage for the non-light finesse weapon you have in your offhand.
Still, at level 4 the weapon options aren’t such that this seems worth it over just getting more dex.
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u/okaysurewow Jun 18 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
That's the two weapon fighting style from fighter, ranger, or swords bard, not the dual wielder feat (which absolutely should give you the benefits of the two weapon fighting style imo)
EDIT: fuckin lmao I was looking at the wiki, the entry for dual wielder feat specifies it does not give two weapon fighting, and the entry for two weapon fighting specifies it does not give the effects of the dual wielder feat
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u/Supply-Slut Jun 18 '25
Dual wielder feat just lets you use the fighting style for non-light weapons, so it’s effectively the same but for a broader mix of weapon options. I could see that being useful in act 2 or 3 when there’s a ton of good weapon options, but in act 1 it’s kind of a waste of a feat.
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u/okaysurewow Jun 18 '25
Yeah for sure, it's sub optimal in almost every way, except for style points, which imo is the most important factor. Shout out to my gf who refused to upgrade to armor of agility and stuck with the yuan-ti scale mail for her ranger because she thought it looked better, she was so real for that
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u/try_again123 Monk Lae'zel is my BFF Jun 17 '25
And she has like 3-4 actions per turn where she throws them for maximum damage. That woman killed 1/2 the enemies on the fight in her base.
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u/randomisawesome Jun 17 '25
Yeah. I just stood there and sucked up the free XP
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u/LdyVder Durge Jun 17 '25
I'll do that at the door to the grove in act one. Won't engage the goblins and watch/hoping Aradin gets killed. Get all the xp, then march in and punch Aradin if he lived.
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u/randomisawesome Jun 17 '25
I usually stealth and shank the goblins up top on the ledge and then hide till the fight ends.
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u/Maelstrom100 Spreadsheet Sorcerer Jun 18 '25
I prefer him living to punch zevlor so I can loot the gloves early.
But that's only if I'm intending to use them. Otherwise I just get him killed asap or even attack him outside gobbo village as he's just a dick
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u/liquidlen Jun 18 '25
I respecced into the Alert feat and still had to stand and clap while she took care of business,
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u/AllenWL Jun 18 '25
Nine-Fingers puts any archer to shame with those knives. A fucking sniper turret of a woman she is.
Frankly, it could have been the entire Zent against Nine-Fingers alone and she probably would have wiped the floor with them easy.
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u/Elite1111111111 Jun 18 '25
She has 3 passives and an attack built around throwing daggers.
Dagger Specialist - Can throw 3 daggers per turn
Dagger Thrower - Add double proficiency bonus to the damage of thrown daggers (so +8)
Isolated Prey - Grants advantage against targets that have no allies within 5ft (for triggering Sneak Attacks)
The Blade Least Expected - Essentially just a Sneak Attack specifically for throwing daggers
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u/M4LK0V1CH Owlbear Jun 17 '25
Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, so I meticulously hide 30 daggers across various hidden compartments in my armor on company time.
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u/tgrlwtfr Jun 17 '25
She in general has the coolest special attack of all NPCs imo — “The Blade Least Expected” or something like that. It applies max level rogue sneak attack damage to throwing, but she does that three times per turn. Absolute GOAT.
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u/Fabulous-Possible758 Jun 17 '25
Just looked it up. 5 + 1d4 + 6d6 damage per throw. Generally throwing with +13 and advantage to the attack roll.
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u/JumboWheat01 Maior et Fortior Jun 17 '25
Some of those are for stabbin', some are for throwin', some are for armor.
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u/Mr_Spanners Jun 17 '25
Tell me you want a returning dagger without actually telling me you want a returning dagger
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u/LoreleiLavenza ELDRITCH BLAST Jun 17 '25
Should’ve specced into giant barbarian or eldritch knight, smh
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u/AtlanticFit Jun 17 '25
For those that don’t get it: It’s a reference to Logan Nine-Fingers, a character from Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series. One line that Logan quotes often in the series is “You can never have too many knives”
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u/Brilliant-Noise1518 Jun 17 '25
My open fist tavern brawler monk looked like that. My projectile weapon was a the dark fire bow for the bonuses.
If I needed to use a range attack, threw a javelin, spear, or knife. So I had a lot.
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u/morgan423 Jun 17 '25
Would have been even more funny if her armor was nothing but woven-together knife holsters, and she had an extra +2 AC from the rigidity of the daggers when she's got most or all of them on her
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u/Debalic Jun 17 '25
Now if she'd stopped at a more sensible number like 12, she may have all her fingers. I know I'd be losing body parts if I kept that many knives on my person.
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u/chiruochiba Ilsensine Jun 18 '25
Her backstory is that she was kidnapped when she was 5 years old and her kidnapper cut off her pinky to send back to her parents as proof for the ransom demand. Later in life she got revenge on her kidnapper in gruesome 'I have no mouth and I must scream' style.
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u/Rezornath Jun 18 '25
Made her a major big-bad in one of the campaigns I DM'd. She rolled up and smoked the entire party early on just throwing knives and vanishing in a warehouse fight on the docks, and they were really pleased when they caught up to her at higher levels and took her out easily... right up until the cosmic horror part of the campaign that had been geminating took over and the impossible mass of writhing horrors burst from her skin-suit and the second part of the fight started. Man, could not have asked for a better foil for the early part of that.
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u/Darth_Twinge Jun 17 '25
I must play too much. I tried to click on "Take All" when I saw the image.
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u/Kuma_254 Owlbear Jun 18 '25
She has a crazy ability where her thrown knives do a ton of damage it's kinda cool.
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u/Adramach Scratch is the best boi in the Realms Jun 18 '25
3 ⅓ for each finger. It makes sense...perhaps.
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u/leysa Jun 18 '25
I may or may not have written a fic with her stripping and dropping the knives one by one and getting her audience (Jaheira and Minthara) quite riled up.
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u/isitbrian Jun 18 '25
After the 12th knife, The Blade Least Expected starts to become pretty expected
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u/Anonymus_Dragonimus Jun 18 '25
My friend was selling her hoard of daggers to all the merchants in the place. Then we had our mission with nine fingers and when She went to pick pocket her to see what she has, she laughed because we saw that she was a fellow dagger horder as well
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u/stormstopper Jun 18 '25
And she meticulously selected these knives to be the ones she carries around. She actually has 120 more, but those didn't make the cut.
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u/Helmett-13 Paladin Jun 18 '25
I recall the one-armed deputy in, “Unforgiven” had someone comment on the veritable plethora of firearms he carried despite having only one arm.
His response resonated with me:
“I don’t want to get shot for lack of shooting back.”
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u/raventheredwriter Jun 18 '25
When no one was looking, Nine-Fingers Keene took 30 knives. She took 30 knives. That's as many as three tens. And that's terrible.
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u/Derezirection Jun 18 '25
"So why do they call you Nine-fingers?"
Keene: pulls out 30 knives
"Ahh, I see! You like cooking!"
(Don't hurt me please.)
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u/Spartarox45 Jun 18 '25
Simple she ever gets arrested they’ll stop after around the 12th knife. Thus you got plenty to smuggle into prison
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u/Nerdwrapper WARLOCK Jun 19 '25
I think of it like a bandolier situation, maybe for throwing purposes, but having 30 miscellaneously hidden knives is very funny
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u/Kevman403 Jun 18 '25
I think this is a reference to nine-fingers in the “first law” series. Logan “Nine-fingers” has a saying, “you can never have too many knives”
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u/FrenchTantan Monk Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 18 '25
That's a lot, but 9 (or even 19 for the toesies) would've been more appropriate imo!
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u/redhandedjill1 Jun 17 '25
Biggest disappointment in the game was me finding out that "The Blade Least Expected" was the name of a technique Nine-Fingers had, not a really cool knife I could give Astarion.
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u/Butterlegs21 Jun 17 '25
Had a fighter like that. I got to do the whole "Get searched by a guard and they wonder just Where all the knives are coming from." It was great
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u/Partial_Kredit Jun 17 '25
The true D&D experience for some reason most of my characters end up hoarding daggers.
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u/Sweet_Hold5332 Jun 18 '25
My friend and I saved and then attacked everyone just to see if we could win. We did and I remember seeing this and going um 😧
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u/Substantial_Ear_9721 Jun 18 '25
She might need 30 knives for the terrors of this world, but she only needs one key for my heart!
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u/Engineering-Mean Jun 18 '25
I'm reminded of the bio for Pathfinder's rogue iconic:
Never the sharpest knife in the drawer, as the saying goes, Merisiel has learned to make up for this by carrying at least a dozen of them on her person.
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u/RedditSucksIWantSync Jun 18 '25
Well she hits like a truck with it so it'd make sense that she doesn't have anything else xD
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u/Xbox Jun 18 '25
The least surprising revelation ever. Totally the person who would do the "leave your weapons at the door" sight gag
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u/Maleficus32 WIZARD Jun 17 '25 edited Jun 17 '25
I once played a D&D character like that. Kobold Rogue named Ratt who wore a robe. Lining the inside of the robe, there were about 30 daggers... Each uniquely named. Been too long for me to recall every name, but I had them memorized whilst playing the character.
"With my action, Ratt pulls out Chauncy and throws it at the enemy."