Kensai/Mage vs Cavalier

dakrach

Hello to all,

I'm planning a new BGEE run and then import my character to upcoming BG2EE. Now the biggest question in my mind is of course the most basic question: which class should I go with?

I'm pretty certain that I'll go through with Human with lawful alignment good or neutral. In this particular case the question is about a LN Kensai/Mage vs LG Cavalier.

For Kensai/Mage what I'd do of course run through BGEE as a Kensai first and then dual class to a mage at level 9 in BG2EE. I know that it's a very famous power-house option, which however I had never tried. My opinion even though the first game would be very hard, in BG2EE when high level spells become available the ultimate power will be mine!!!

For Cavalier of course, the immunities and resistances would be very useful in early game and bonuses against fiends and dragons would be very useful in later game! Plus, I'll get to use the best defense (aka magical full plate armors) and one of the best weapons in the entire history of D&D.

C'mon folks what's your ideas? Help me out! Should I be cold, silent, deadly blade-mage or should I be classic evil ass-kicker?

Southpaw

Play both...simultaneously.
Choose a party for your Paladin PC and choose another (completely different) party for the Kensai PC.
Play a few hours with both.
Take different dialogue and quest options, take different approaches to the fights, different path thru the Sword Coast.
May be, that you will find out you like one of them more and will continue that play through and abandon the other. Or you will like both and play them simultaneously. I don't know. Depends on you, and the fact that YOU have to have fun is the most important question here.

I personally don't like Paladins and would choose the Kensai...but I am not you.

Battlehamster

I can say this, Cavaliers are exceptionally fun to play if you are doing a powergame run. And once you get the +5 holy killy sword it doesn't really matter that you can't get grandmastery anymore. Combine that with the insane bonuses against a lot of the more powerful late-game enemies and Cavaliers beast it like you wouldn't believe.

sarevok57

if you are going to be a kensai, you should at least wait until you hit level 13 for that extra half attack per round ( I think if you do that, you will only miss one level 8 spell or something at worse) and it is true that kensai are squishy because of no armor but, once you get protection from magical weapons, armor is really no longer necessary, plus stone skin and mirror image, but on the flip side, cavaliers are a lot of fun to play, I used to play cavaliers all the time, and I was never disappointed with them, especially if you play it right, you can hit 90 % magic resistance in ToB

Erg

.. or you can play a Kensai/Mage and install Isra as additional NPC. She is also available for BG2: Isra (BG2).

Dreadnaught

To be honest, if you were a saying you were an inquisitor; instead, of a cavalier I would have said Palidin. But I think the kensai/mage is the best tank in the game.

Dreadnaught

sarevok57 said:

if you are going to be a kensai, you should at least wait until you hit level 13 for that extra half attack per round ( I think if you do that, you will only miss one level 8 spell or something at worse) and it is true that kensai are squishy because of no armor but, once you get protection from magical weapons, armor is really no longer necessary, plus stone skin and mirror image, but on the flip side, cavaliers are a lot of fun to play, I used to play cavaliers all the time, and I was never disappointed with them, especially if you play it right, you can hit 90 % magic resistance in ToB

True but if you dual at lvl 9- you will be able to cast the full repitoire spells. I remember in the vanilla version there was a experience cap and you might miss out on some pretty heavy spells if you late til level 13 to dual. But to me it only matters if you play through throne of bhaal otherwise it doesn't matter.

IkMarc

You can create a multiplayer game and use them both in your party

Erg

IkMarc said:

You can create a multiplayer game and use them both in your party

I agree, that's definitely an option, but because of a bug, affecting specifically multiplayer games and not yet fixed, it may present some risks like having to face an horde of hostile beggars

Edit: More info on the Curse of the Beggar here.

sarevok57

Erg said:

I agree, that's definitely an option, but because of a bug, affecting specifically multiplayer games and not yet fixed, it may present some risks like having to face an horde of hostile beggars

Edit: More info on the Curse of the Beggar here.

I prefer the curse of the infinite ramaziths that one forum user had, infinite rings of protection +2 hell yeah

IkMarc

Erg said:

IkMarc said:

You can create a multiplayer game and use them both in your party

I agree, that's definitely an option, but because of a bug, affecting specifically multiplayer games and not yet fixed, it may present some risks like having to face an horde of hostile beggars

Edit: More info on the Curse of the Beggar here.

lol, I was personally stalked by a horde of noblewomen a while ago...

wampa

I've only dualed K/Ms at level 9 in SoA-only playthroughs - dualing at 13 is definitely the long-term power-option, but you'll spend a truly obnoxious amount of time waiting to get your Kensai abilities back - 1.5mil XP to hit Mage level 14. Granted with stored spell scrolls and saved quest rewards you can put yourself a long ways toward getting back those abilities, but even so it'll probably be an annoying slog. With ToB installed I'd usually rather just play a F/M multi than dual at 13 - 1.5mil XP taking place almost entirely in SoA as a pure mage is just annoying.

Mungri

You can also make a multiplayer game, make as many custom characters as you like, then copy the save folder to the single player game folder and play a single player game with as many custom characters as you like.