Dual fighter/arcane caster advice

Sereph

So the first charname i actually managed to stay interested in long enough to beat the game with is a fighter focusing on greatswords and fiddling with crossbows, but has always had an interest in the arcane arts. Gorions death put a bad taste in her mouth about learning magic, but interacting with Neera and Xan and overcoming the final trials of BG1 convinvce her to look back into it blah blah blah.

So where i need advice is what level should i get to before dual-ing? A cursory glance at the exp chart makes me think its not worth trying to fit in the second class during the first game, and that level nine seems the most obvious choice to get the most HP. What else is there to consider?

Then i am still torn between mage and sorc. I always kean towards mage because i like the feeling of a well planned memorization working out, but the extra spells per day are very appealing, even if it doesnt fit the backstory as well.

Any suggestions and discussion very welcome and appreciated!

ZanathKariashi

First and foremost, Sorcerers can't be dual'd (at least not without some excessive modding), so mages are the only option for dual'd Arcane. (If it was vanilla BG1, you could dual into a Specialist for roughly the same spells per day a sorcerer, albeit at a cost, but BG2 and EE don't allow it)


If you want to dual in the first game, 7 is you main option. That gives you a 1/2 attack, which with a specialized weapons is an extra attack, and most but not quite all of your Hit dice progression.

7D10 +3D4 (wizards and rogues roll HD till 10, rather then 9 like priests and warriors). Depending on your Con, you lose roughly 1-2 HD overall. Due to the bugged proficiency system in EE, you can GM in the first game, so ultimately, as long as you don't mind losing a tiny speck of HP that doesn't matter in the long-run...dualing in BG1 is fine.

a 9 dual in the sequel is ideal if you plan to use a 4+ NPC party, as you'll get your mage abilities back MUCH sooner vs a 13 dual, and really only miss out on 1/2 an attack. For added bonus, you can GM without an engine exploit, compared to the 7 dual, so there's that as well.

13 Duals are mostly for solo's or duo's. Solo, you can get your abilities back about about 1/4 -1/3 of way into SoA, give or take, depending on if you want to cheese scribe/erasing for lot of free xp. Duo's are pretty much the same. This maximizes your fighter contribution, without doing some over the top ridiculous 20+ dual set up. Though it takes a pretty good while to get your abilities back.

Sereph

Awesome news with a far more detailed response than i expected, very awesome. +1 internets to you

Djimmy

Fighter/Mage multi is my advice. It fits the story perfectly, starting with both fighter and mage class. It is nice, it is powerful and looks gorgeous with Robe of Vecna or Asylferund's Chain, dual wielded scimitars/katanas/long swords and Helm of Balduran. It almost has no drawbacks. Make it an elf and you get even more awesome stuff like 90% resist to charm and sleep and additional THAC0 with longswords and longbows. Pure awesomness.

Oxford_Guy

I'd agree with Djimmy and go fighter/mage - either an elf fighter/mage or a gnome fighter/illusionist, though the elf fits your backstory *much* better and gets +1 THAC0 with *all* swords (including two-handed - though I think multi-class Fighter/Mages are better dual-wielding, as you can't put more than 2 pips into a single weapon):

Elf Pro:

* Gets +1 THAC0 with *all* swords (not just longswords - scimitars and wakazashis etc., katanas, short swrods and even two-handed swords and bastard swords count) and bows (not crossbows, though!)

* 90% resist to charm and sleep, max 19 dex, but only max 19 starting Con

* Can have 19 starting Dex

* Infravision (for what it's worth, i.e. not much)

* Not short, looks better in a robe (hey, I'm shallow...)

Elf Con:

* No shorty Con-based saving throws for spells/wands

* Can only have 17 starting Con

* Can't romance Viconia in BG2 (but then neither can gnomes) - think only humans, half-elves and halflings can


Gnome Pro:

* Con-based saving throws for spells/wands

* Gets an extra spell per level

* Can have 19 starting Int (but you don't really need it)

Gnome Con:

* No +1 THAC0 weapon bonuses

* Can't cast Necromancy spells (e.g. Horror, Skull Trap, Vampiric Touch, Spirit Armour , Animate Dead, Finger of Death, Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting, Wail of the Banshee - the last two in particular are *great* spells)

* Short, doesn't look as cool as an elf (subjective)

* Can only have 17 starting Wis (no big deal, though some like to have 18 Wis for Wish spell on BG2, I'd rather just use a potion and spend my points elsewhere)

* Can *only* romance Aerie in BG2...

In my main current BGEE party I'm playing a neutral evil female elf fighter/mage "Lisbeth", currently level 6/5 and have only recently started doing quests in Baldur's Gate city itself. Also have Dorn, Montaron, Viconia, Imoen(!) and Edwin. Have 2 points in long swords (currently dualwielding +2/+1 cold damage Varscona and +1/+3 vs, Undead Harrower) and 3 points in dual-wield, and one point in Scimitars (mostly to prepare for BG2). No points in Bows, but with high Dex, the elf bonus and the Deadshot Longbow, you don't really need to...

I'm having a blast with this character, she uses the new "Posh British" female voiceset and the new blue female elf mage portrait, which I think suits. Most of her spell use is for buffing herself for melee combat - protection from evil, blur, mirror image, haste, ghost armour etc. (also, as reputation mostly low, I got some offensive spells as Bhaal ability innates through the dreams..)

BTW don't forget the familiar you get is dependent on alignment, Neutral Evil gets the Dust Mephit, which can cast Glitterdust once a day and Glass Dust twice a day, which is nice...