But hey, like I said in my first post, it's your game. Play it how you want.
I agree with you that it doesn't make sense from purist point of view, by the paper rules regarding the advancement in inactive class.
But even if you can it oversight, which may or may not be the case, they didn't fix it and decided to go with it as a game balance feature for a reason IMO.
All that dual vs multi stuff is just to give humans some kind of edge in 2E. They got rid of it in 3E and gave humans other benefits (although they still became less powerful than other races). And it makes for some interesting builds.
Of course if you use this just like some guy above proposed, 2-3 fighter levels as a starting point to other base class, it can seem to be prone to abuse - although they balanced it by making that you can't dual-class into a kit or a specialist mage (which are more powerful than plain mage/thief/cleric) or into any of the new cool classes really.
So really, I don't see how it's an exploit or cheese. Especially when they further balanced it by nerfing the grandmastery in original BG2.
You think this is cheese but things like Pal2/SorcX in 3E is not? Mkay... like you say, it's your game.
I don't see why humans need an "edge". The way I see it, dual classing is more accurately compared to single-class than multi-class. Look at a thief and a fighter3->thief side-by-side. The fighter3->thief is a master in one weapon and specialized in another, potentially has exceptional strength, can wear heavy armor at the cost of stealth as needed, has two extra proficiency points, and gets slightly better HP and THAC0. That seems worth giving up being an Elf to me. Being able to eventually reach grandmastery in his chosen weapon is gratuitous.
Not sure where I started talking about 3rd edition, my only experience with it is Icewind Dale 2 which I haven't mentioned in this thread. That system is completely different, and comparing it to 2nd edition is unfair. Besides, there's a difference between milking a combat system for all it's worth and exploiting oversights within the system to achieve unintended advantages.
Oh my, my intention was not starting a war of editions and rules ^^
My guy is doing swell, I wanted to recruit Safana at the start of the game, and went east, but I guess I went to wrong area..in the seashore map, that ogre horde kept kicking my lvl 1 guy's butt somewhat sore, (reload, sigh) so I used the oil of fiery burning obtained from Arcand the Mad guy. (do you need 18 CHA for that? Heh) that thinned out them and made it workable with Immy's oil of speed and kiting. Still, couldn't find Safana, went back, recruited Kivan and Kagain, then Silke was going to roast my guy with a lightning bolt, so he used an invisibility potion in time to foil her spell casting.
Then stabbed her dead, though it was not a backstab. (oh how I wished!) Immy went on a thieving spree around the town and had flaming fists on our tails, we ran and met Neera and her little encounter triggered, flaming fists still hot on us. They attacked her too and slashed her with their swords brutaly, but she did not die. Obviously she can not die before entering party, so we took her and she casted sleep BUT it surged into a lightning bolt that killed Kivan as we ran...woah! Level 2 fighter now, that was a fun gaming session. ^^
3k XP (ogre berserkers, Arcand quest, Marl, Silke, etc.) even before entering Friendly Arm Inn! I will dual very soon! That is the true fun of the build, it does not take too much time to get it working and, hopefully, will still be effective!
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Not sure where I started talking about 3rd edition, my only experience with it is Icewind Dale 2 which I haven't mentioned in this thread. That system is completely different, and comparing it to 2nd edition is unfair. Besides, there's a difference between milking a combat system for all it's worth and exploiting oversights within the system to achieve unintended advantages.
My guy is doing swell, I wanted to recruit Safana at the start of the game, and went east, but I guess I went to wrong area..in the seashore map, that ogre horde kept kicking my lvl 1 guy's butt somewhat sore, (reload, sigh) so I used the oil of fiery burning obtained from Arcand the Mad guy. (do you need 18 CHA for that? Heh) that thinned out them and made it workable with Immy's oil of speed and kiting. Still, couldn't find Safana, went back, recruited Kivan and Kagain, then Silke was going to roast my guy with a lightning bolt, so he used an invisibility potion in time to foil her spell casting.
Then stabbed her dead, though it was not a backstab. (oh how I wished!) Immy went on a thieving spree around the town and had flaming fists on our tails, we ran and met Neera and her little encounter triggered, flaming fists still hot on us. They attacked her too and slashed her with their swords brutaly, but she did not die. Obviously she can not die before entering party, so we took her and she casted sleep BUT it surged into a lightning bolt that killed Kivan as we ran...woah! Level 2 fighter now, that was a fun gaming session. ^^
3k XP (ogre berserkers, Arcand quest, Marl, Silke, etc.) even before entering Friendly Arm Inn! I will dual very soon! That is the true fun of the build, it does not take too much time to get it working and, hopefully, will still be effective!