Dual classing totemic Druid -> fighter

Astyanax

Hi all. Firstly, a big thanks to everybody involved with this release. Your hard work is much appreciated.

I have never played BG before (although I have played BG2 through most of SoA). I have decided to play totemic Druid -> fighter for my first run through the game. The only summon I'm going to be using is Summon Bear as I want to loosely RP 'girl with bear guardian' (trademark pending). I know it is hardly a recommended class, especially for a first play but it should be fun nonetheless.

My question is: what would be the best level to dual class? I originally planned to dual at 2 as I expected the summons to work like they did in BG2, where they started overpowered and weakened as the game progressed. However, I've read that they have been altered to scale with your character (at 1/3/5/7/10 I believe). This leaves me with a tough decision; do I dual class at 3 or 5? I would be able to get to fighter level 8 either way but it spoils the character a bit if I have to play a large part of the game without my bear. To limit downtime, I would rather dual at 3 but I don't want to be in a situation where the end game consists of my bear being fodder. If I do end up going 5/8, I'm going to be without the bear from 12k exp to 44.5k. I'm not keen on waiting that long but if 3/8 will leave me with too squishy a summon I'll have to make do.

One last question: do you receive the ability to summon twice a day at 5 or 6. I'm unsure as to whether every 5 levels means 1/6/11/16 etc or 1/5/10/15 etc. I'm assuming it is 6 but if it was 5 I suppose that would be one more reason to wait until 5.

Thanks.

Murkve

I'm pretty sure that it's at 1/5/10 etc. For example, Draw Upon Holy Might provides stats increases "every 3rd level" and then cites examples at levels 3 and 12, Both multiples of 3. I would expect the Totems to work at multiples of 5 as well.

I am also curious as to whether the animals were scaled to your level. That would be awesome, and would convince me to reroll as "Guy with Spirit Snake" (all rights reserved).

Astyanax

I can't find the thread now but I read somewhere on here that they definitely scale. For the bear, I think its hp went 12/24/48/72/96. AC and Thac0 also changed as well as other stats. I think a moderator (Tanthalus?) said that at 10 your summons are basically as they are in BG2, with immunities etc as well.

Thanks for the clarification on the second summon. Would 12k to 44.5k be a lot of downtime? It seems like quite a long wait with the cap only being 161k.

TJ_Hooker

Astyanax said:

One last question: do you receive the ability to summon twice a day at 5 or 6. I'm unsure as to whether every 5 levels means 1/6/11/16 etc or 1/5/10/15 etc. I'm assuming it is 6 but if it was 5 I suppose that would be one more reason to wait until 5.

I'm not sure, but I think when an ability states "x per y levels" it means multiples of y. It will then specifically state whether or not you start with a use at level one. So in your case at levels 1/5/10/15. Other spells will say something like "and x per y levels thereafter" or "and x per y additional levels". In your case this would correspond to levels 1/6/11/16.

sandmanCCL

@Astyanax: Dual-classing in general is kind of a pain for BG1. To really meta the heck out of your guy, you have to suffer through LOTS of downtime. If you also run with a full party, it takes damn near the whole entire game.

However, there's a lot of ways to abuse high XP mobs solo. I tend to not explore a lot of the coastal regions early in the game because I head back to clear them out after dual-classing. Bring a potion of mind clarity with you to go immune to the big threats, and you should regain 3 or 4 levels if you're alone.

ZanathKariashi

The summon is random between all the spirit beasts each time.

2, you actually don't need fighter levels. Druids are on the cleric thac0 table, which is only a tiny bit behind a fighter (in fact a 10th lvl capped druid only has 1 less thac0 then a warrior would at lvl cap). And in BG1, barely anyone, even fighters, gets bonus attacks till the end game anyway...and once you got to BG2, you could use Belm for a respectable 2 attacks per round, while using a shield, to off-set your armor choices (which aren't bad. There's a suit of leather right out of the prelude that is equal to plate with some other benefits, and later there's 2 suits of leather that are equal to full plate or full plate +3). Belm is only really useful vs mooks, but that's all you really need it for. By the time you get the enemies requiring +3 and higher, Harm plus a +3 or +4 weapon tends to handle things quickly. And your summons would actually be strong enough to be fairly useful.

sandmanCCL

If only you could dual-class INTO a kit rather than from it. Fighter/Totemic Druid would be friggin' sweet.

Astyanax

Dualing to a kit would be brilliant, it's a shame you can't do it. It would be fun to be able to use any combinations as well. Using a triple multi of paladin/bard/totemic would be goofy but fun. Singing songs about bravery and decency while Sir Bearington the Brave strikes enemies with his Paw of Justice (+2) would be gaming at its finest.

Thanks for all the tips an info. The game says that the summon is random but this is actually incorrect. When you hit summon, 4 icons pop up so you can choose your animal. Good job or I would have a lot of save/loading to do.

The Druid vs Fighter thac0 information is very interesting. I'm still going to dual as it is how I imagined the character and I won't be taking this character to 2EE so longterm isn't too important. At least it means that if the bear does end up being too squishy I have the option to play a pure totemic and still play a melee style.

ZanathKariashi

Hmmm..interesting....in BG2, it IS random...guess they changed it when they added scaling creatures.

leddyhs

Love dualing into a fighter at lvl2 for bg1 -only runs.. Getting stupidly fast grand mastery really speeds the early game up.

TPSullivan1

I'm new as well, and trying various mods. I'd love to find a cheat code for 'Paw of Justice +2'. Good luck and please keep us updated on how this plays out for you. ;-)

PugPug

I don't remember at what level it is, but druid spell progression stops much sooner than it does for arcane casters. In ToB, you can actually get all spell slots and also have 20 fighter levels for plate armor (if vanilla druid) a 0 THAC0, more attacks, grandmastery... You'd just miss out on extending buff durations and whatnot. Oh, HLAs.

Your XP from your first class in a dual class doesn't count toward the point you start getting HLAs. (5 million?)

Zutti

PugPug said:

the point you start getting HLAs. (5 million?)

3 million