Gnome Fighter/Illusionist, sweet ...

Anaximander

I don't think I've played a multiclass caster in a good long time. This guy is super tough, wicked good saves - blindness debuff, image, new elven chain, find familiar ... super hot! Can carry a party with Neera and Rassad and Jaheira easily hehe ... once mirror is had should rock hard even against those inevitable attrition crits

Maybe won't max out caster levels in bg2 but should be good until what point? I figure with crom and ninja-to and greater haste will be svelt ...

I really really like blades but kinda bored, if I don't bother with blaster spells this guy will still serve his purpose as a hard to kill melee specialist right?

Bit of a ramble ... Love this iteration of BG, can't wait for the fixes, mp, bg2ee etc kudos Overhaul

Anaximander

Hmmn no spike trap, no use any item ... maybe not so sweet sometimes, ... will the ftr/illus get many HLA's in bg2?

vekkth

Anaximander said:

Hmmn no spike trap, no use any item ... maybe not so sweet sometimes, ... will the ftr/illus get many HLA's in bg2?

both fighters and mages. and f/i is a great fun to play in PnP, never tried it in computer games tho.

moopy

The elven chain drops now?

Anaximander

... no I just consoled it in since it reportedly was meant to drop ;D

Quartz

Yeah, I'm running a Gnomish Fighter/Illusionist at the moment, too. It's completely beast. She wields the Chesley Crusher halberd and the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy. Very deadly, and the Elven Chain helps for sure.

moopy

I consoled in the elven chain for my Blade who used the Chesley Crusher, and wow Chesley Crusher + Offensive Spin is destructive. I normally just pick up a arch robe of whatever alignment if I'm a ??? / Mage though.

badbromance

moopy said:

I consoled in the elven chain for my Blade who used the Chesley Crusher, and wow Chesley Crusher + Offensive Spin is destructive. I normally just pick up a arch robe of whatever alignment if I'm a ??? / Mage though.

That sounds like it would be a sexy sight to behold!

moopy

@Quartz

Does the Chesley Crusher end up staying strong once the fighter would have had more attacks from level or specialization?

With my blade I figured I wasn't getting over 1 attack per round anyway so it could never hurt, and with offensive spin it was 2 (not sure if that is a bug or not) and max damage on that was crazy.

In my plays with Kivan I normally give him the Chesley Crusher, but obviously it almost never gets used.

Quartz

moopy said:

@Quartz

Does the Chesley Crusher end up staying strong once the fighter would have had more attacks from level or specialization?

It's broken right now, haha ... the "1 APR" drawback isn't working. Right now it's literally a +2 Enchanted Halberd that does +6 Damage, +2 THAC0.

moopy

Ah, I'm guessing it shouldn't be giving me 2 APR with offensive spin then either. Thanks for letting me know.

I kind of want to go make a half orc kensai specializing in halberds. Strikes while Kai was activated would rule.

Justarius

My gnome fighter/illusionist is using the returning throwing axe +2. If he doesn't have a spell to fling he flings an axe instead. With the bonus from high strength it seems to work reasonably well.

HugoRune

About the HLAs, yeah, you'll get both the fighter's and the mage's but you'll have little use for the mage HLAs until well into ToB because you won't have 9th level spells until you reach 6,000,000 exp. Plan on taking whirlwind attack and hardiness a couple of times and perhaps extra spells. Still it's a great character all the way through. I think fighter/mages are actually far and away the best tanks in the game. They stay very competent fighters all the way and while they lack armor, with just a little bit of preperation you can actually make yourself completely invulnerable in any fight.

I just ran a fighter/illusionist all the way from BG:EE to ToB and it was a blast. I ran him as a dual wielder going for two longswords in BG1, switching to katanas in BG2 and then picking up axe proficiency towards the end of SoA for the Axe of Unyielding in ToB. Stoneskin, Mirror Images and (perhaps) Ghost Armor or Spirit Armor (from Imoen) meant that he could go toe to toe with anyone being much less in danger than an 18 dex sword and board fighter with full plate. Not to mantion that this guy has much better protection against mages when it's needed and can actually bring down their defences too.

ZanathKariashi

To be honest, Whirlwind is a waste...it's inferior to just using improved haste, unless you're using the staff of the ram, and even then it's only 1 more attack, that you could've combined with CS under IH instead. With Dual-wielding you could hit 10 attacks ridiculously early. And IH lasts for like 20 rounds per cast, vs 1 round for GWW (or 4 rounds from the ring of Gaxx).

HugoRune

You can reach ten attacks with dual wield and Imp Haste only if you either have true grand mastery plus multi class grand mastery installed, which I don't do, or use Belm, Kundane or Scarlet Ninja-To which means you miss out on other great(er) weapons. It sure is a good way to go but it's a trade-off one should think about. Without those you'll have a maximum of 4 apr/8 with improved haste and that assumes the gauntlets of extrarodinary specialization.

Improved Haste is great and should be almost standard casting before any fight late in the game but whirlwind attack has it's own slight advantages.

It's activated instantaneously, it gives you more apr if you don't make trade-offs to maximize your apr (or install mods that are arguably cheats), it can be activated during a timestop and your simulacra won't lose it as they will probably lose improved haste. And there is the already mentioned fact that a fighter/illusionist has no use for most mage HLAs until very late in the game and most other fighter HLAs are even more useless than WW. So it's extra spells, hardiness maybe once or twice, maybe critical strike, even though it's even more of a waste in most situations and then WW until you get 9th level spells and can use improved alacrity.

BTW are you sure about 4 rounds duration of the Ring of Gaxx improved haste? Because it always seemed even shorter to me.

ZanathKariashi

And at the end of the day, it's overkill (which is largely why I consider it irrelevant)....there' only 3 enemies in the whole game can survive more then 5 attacks per round (that if you're using CS CANNOT miss since it gives you automatic 20's on all the rolls), and you'll kill those few in 2 rounds no matter if you're using IH or GWW. The only difference is, with IH, you can blow through several rooms of enemies on a single cast. And no, GWW isn't instant (cast speed 1 and can be interrupted), and counts as your spell action for the round as well, if you're using the robe of cheese, both it and IH would be instant cast, so the cast time isn't worth considering.


And it's definitely 3 rounds or 4 rounds...I tend to lose count..it is pretty short though.

Sick_Boy

Funny, yesterday I planned to make a new BG2 walkthrough with a fighter/illusionist, with Sword Coast Stratagems 2 and Ascension installed. I think is pretty achievable.
I plan to use Axe of the Unyielding + Belm + Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization + Improved Haste to get those sweet 10 attacks per round, this combined with Critical Strike would make him a beast.
¿Do you think there is any better main-hand weapon than Axe of the Unyielding? I think it's the best since all its damage would be doubled by criticals, it hasn't got elemental damage.

ZanathKariashi

I'm partial to FoA myself (it's slow works on everything, has some nasty bonuses and once slowed, they basically can't fight back anymore due to lowering their weapon speed to 10)...while the chance for instant death is nice, most enemies you'd really benefit from instant death are immune (except dragon form Abazigal, and most dragons in general, I know all the SoA dragons can die from it). 2ndly, most enemies are immune to crit damage because Bioware is gay like that. They stuck helmets on damn near every enemy you might conceivablely benefit from criting against. Also blunt is the safest damage type to use. Nothing is immune to it and very few things have any significant resistance vs it. And splint mail is the only armor with a minor AC bonus against it..the others either have no bonus at all or in case of chainmail are weak vs it. Though yes, not having elemental damage hurts, since you can't pierce stoneskin without it, making you dispel which could cost you.


If not for the +5 version having free action the fully upgraded FoA would be about the best weapon in the game period due to the ridiculous damage it deals, on top of that nasty, no save slow. I usually just get the +4 poison version and call it finished..while you do lose 6 damage a hit not going all the way, it's still overkill already so no real loss.

HugoRune

It's very doable, I also had both those mods installed. The axe of unyielding is probably your best bet, I'd say. With your insane apr you're guaranteed a vorpal hit almost every round (even though many of the tougher enemies won't die from it). However, don't count on all the damage being doubled by CS as most enemies will have some sort of helmet to avert critical hits. Most of the time all CS will do for you is negate that remaining 5% miss chance you'll probably have at that point against most enemies.

Another thing I have thought about but never tried yet is using Foebane as a main weapon with a setup like yours. 9 hits per round should mean 9 Larloch's Minor Drains, giving 9-36 hp per round to the wielder. Together with the Ring of Gaxx this should make one very hard to kill bastard.

Edit: Oh yes, FoA is also a great option, of course.

ZanathKariashi

Foebane is ok...but you don't get the awesome version until ToB...the +3 version is pretty meh. And the extra healing is useless against enemies with high MR...which depending on the fight you might not be able to spare the spell room to debuff them. It does pair well with the Answerer though...but you don't get that till half-way through ToB.....though it's nice for the last few battles. Hit the enemy 6 times with Answerer, swap Foebane to your MH, and you have 4 rounds with -90% MR.

Sick_Boy

You convinced me Zanath, I think I'm going for Flail of Ages +4!

moopy

I find it hard not to upgrade the flail of the ages all the way.

Tinter

http://www.shsforums.net/topic/44317-pnp-free-action-v2/page-2

Neat little mod that stops free action from cancelling haste. Lets you enjoy the glory of FOA +5!

ZanathKariashi

I just really don't like it cause it stops you from using haste for that character...and haste is awesome...it feels like slogging through mud to suddenly go from being ridiculously fast since shortly after the prelude to being 3/4 through the end of ToB and suddenly BAM, slow-motion and having to use GWW for 10 attacks...yes the damage is damn nice but ugh...

hansolo

FoA +5 with GWW and single weapon style is the most damaging weapon in the game.
Since there aren't that many ennemies that really need that GWW treatment, and you'll have several uses of it anyway sooner or later, not being able to use IH isn't that much of a deal, honestly.
(And I consider it a bug, that free action cancels out haste. PnP allows for free action + haste).

Tinter

Hence the mod that stops free action cancelling haste

Oxford_Guy

Quartz said:

Yeah, I'm running a Gnomish Fighter/Illusionist at the moment, too. It's completely beast. She wields the Chesley Crusher halberd and the Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy. Very deadly, and the Elven Chain helps for sure.

There are pros and cons with an elf fighter/mage vs. a Gnome Fighter/Illusionist:

Elf Pro:

* Get's +1 to hit with *all* swords and bows (great for a fighter/mage)
* 90% resistance to charm/sleep
* Can have 19 Dex
* Can cast Necromancy spells (Skull Trap, Finger of Death, Horrid Wilting, Ghost Armour...)
* Wider range of romances in BG2 (but not Viconia)
* Slightly easier to roll good stats for (slightly higher min. stats) - only really an issue if you limit your number of rolls on character creation (I usually limit to best of 10 rolls)

Elf Con:

* One less spell/level than Gnome illusionist
* No con-based "shorty save" bonus
* Max 17 starting Con

Gnome Pro:

* Get's one extra spell/level
* Get's shorty con-based save bonuses (though not vs. Death/poison, like a dwarf/halfling)
* Can have 18 starting Con
* Can have 19 starting Int

Gnome Con:

* Can't cast Necromancy spells
* No THAC0 bonus for swords and bows
* Max 18 starting Dex (and only 17 Wis, but who cares for a Mage?)
* Can only romance Aerie in BG2 (apart from BGEE NPCs)
* Slightly harder to roll good stats for (slightly lower min. stats)
* Not everyone likes having a shorty as CHARNAME...


I'm currently running a neutral evil female elf figher/mage through BGEE, currently dual-wiedling the +2/+1 Varscona and +1 (+3 vs, Undead) Harrower long swords, has 2 pips in long swords, 3 pips in dual wield, has no pips in bows, but uses the Long Bow of Marksmanship when she needs to use a ranged weapon and still gets a good THAC0 (the elf bonus also helps). Spell focus is mostly on self-buffs, She's currently level 5/5 and is getting pretty lethal.

ZanathKariashi

So in other words, the gnome wins handily?

Oxford_Guy

ZanathKariashi said:

So in other words, the gnome wins handily?

I still prefer to play an elf myself...

moopy

I use to not like having a shorty as CHARNAME until I played a Dwarf F/C and got a taste of those saving throws. Now I think I've only made a Dwarf, Hafling, or Gnome since then.

Anaximander

The more I think about it, i like the gnome ... ... the saving throws are so nice! I keep revising my party and alignment choices atm hehe, a bit stuck ... I hope to stick with a playthrough to the end at some point *laugh