Roleplayers! How do you justify dual-classing in BG?
O_Bruce
Member Posts: 2,790
Just like in the title. While roleplaying, how do you justify dual-classing in Baldur's Gate series, considering it's mechanics? The fact that, for example, your experienced fighter suddenly decided to be a mage and thus, immediately forgotten how to hold a sword?
I was utterly unable to come up with a right justification, hence I never dual class my character. I just couldn't come up with any even half-reasonable explanation.
I'm just curious how other people approach this problem, if they conisder that a problem at all.
I was utterly unable to come up with a right justification, hence I never dual class my character. I just couldn't come up with any even half-reasonable explanation.
I'm just curious how other people approach this problem, if they conisder that a problem at all.
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It is a little wonky in BG because it does let you make that switch instantly. In PNP, most DMs I played with required a character to be out of action for months, or even years of training for a new class.
But either way, once the switch is made, we assume the new Mage is focused entirely on their new skills, and can't be distracted by their old profession until they've achieved some level of proficiency in their new one.
Just an aside, every 2E based PNP game I've played in the last 15 years has dumped dual class rules, and replaced them with some form of multi-classing open to everyone.
We do something a little like this in my line of work. I'm an air traffic controller, and I occasionally have had trainees transfer in from other facilities. First order of business, forget where you worked before, you're here now. Once you've made it through our training, in a year or so, you can think about applying past experience. But when you're training, I don't want to hear about it.
Now, the other piece of it that does bother me is that, in my PnP days, you had to take time off line (weeks or months) to train up a level or to another class. That is something that doesn't lend itself to any sort of mechanics that I am aware of, particularly in BG2 when you are on the clock to save a friend.
So basically, I justify it by saying that my character's decided that their current class isn't for them and that you're going to focus on something else. For example, when my barbarian dualled into druid, it was because she'd decided, after being out of Candlekeep for awhile, that she really liked this whole nature thing and that she wanted to be a part of it. To that end, she focused on connecting herself to nature and using that connection in battle (because she knows she learns best in dangerous situations), instead of relying on her old standby of "whack it with a stick until it falls down." Eventually she did connect to nature to her satisfaction, and she gladly started incorporating stick-whacking back into her fighting style.
This makes several assumptions about Charname's thought process, background, and natural capabilities, but is far from impossible. Optimally you'd be able to fall back on your first class's skills in a pinch, but considering the limitations of the engine I think it's fine.
But I'm glad that at least in some contects it can be justified. Like that Cleric example. Durning his faith crisis, he loses spells that his deity granted him, so naturally he have to learn something new to survive as an adventurer. It makes sense.
Anyway, this discussion is going to be more interesting than I've thought.
Let's say you're learning Spanish, and talk to someone who understands both Spanish and English. You're entirely capable of speaking to them in English, and would impart your point much more effectively that way, but you've made the decision to immerse yourself in the Spanish language. So, you struggle with your new language, rather than relying on your mastery of your old one.
Even though there's mechanically no difference, each class has a completely different style of combat.
A fighter fights in a completely different manner then thief, and in order to pick up their new skills quickly, instead of taking taking around a decade of training like getting to lvl 1 the first time does, they have to throw themselves into to learning their new class until their level of proficiency has exceeded their old class, at which point they've mastered their new class enough to blend their styles together without harming their learning speed. Their previous experience gives them a slight leg up on learning, and they can transfer some of it, to allow them to become level 1 in their new class quickly.
Wizards focus more on trying to avoid attacks, while still being able to cast spells, so they can't focus themselves to use their fighter thac0/extra attacks, because they're having to concentrate on the enemies attacks, while juggling spell components, hand-signs, and constantly weighing the situation as in, is it time to use a spell or should I just save it and wait since they don't have years of study of when a spell is and isn't actually needed.
She was initially trained as a Fighter by the Candlekeep Watchers. Like them, she fights mainly with a quarterstaff. Over the course of the journey, she realises that her personal aptitudes are more suited to those of a rogue, and so at some point she makes the conscious decision to change classes, which I guess is more an alteration in the way she decides to fight: she starts privileging stealth and first-strikes above the endurance her fighter training taught her. She also realises that she should try and gain aptitude with other types of weapon. She is also, as I mentioned, dualling into Assassin, rather than straight Thief. To accommodate this I usually turn to her companions. In some ways I actually found this easier to justify, since the reduction in Thief points per level could be RP'd as due to the fact that she was learning a new profession.
Since she was Evil (LE, to be specific), her long-term companions included, at various times: Montaron and Xzar, Edwin, Dorn, Shar-Teel, Viconia, Eldoth. (I should note that I also dual Shar to Thief most time and Xzar to Cleric, and I usually RP this somehow as well, but we're dealing with Bhaalspawn here). In my mind there are a few main skills I need to account for.
1) Basic Thief Skills: Montaron, initially, and later Shar-Teel since she duals prior to Charname and can give 'tips'.
2) A deeper knowledge of human and beast anatomy: Xzar, who as a necromancer likely has fairly in-depth knowledge of these things.
3 Weapon Proficiencies. In this case Longsword from Shar-Teel and Crossbow from Dorn.
4) The 'Poison Weapon' skill: Dorn, who actually has the skill.
I will also build into the character some innate but possibly buried inclinations towards certain things. For example, with this charname, I already RP that she has a certain fascination with the body and its strengths and weaknesses, due primarily to her trying to overcome a low Constitution score. She also has relatively high intelligence and is thus capable of memorising and learning information quickly.
The charname's divine heritage fully manifesting. I like this reasoning because it does away with the justification that the charname needs to train: he or she is simply discovering a new innate talent and his or her "old" skills fall by the wayside while she or he explores and becomes accustomed to these new found abilities. Once the charname fully "grows" (read: regains previous class abilities) into his or her new power, the charname is now confident enough to effectively combine these skills into a new fighting style. For example, a fighter =>mage is now proficient enough in spellcasting to confidently dual wield swords with the same skill prior to "discovering" his innate affinity for magic.
Moreover, in my mind it justifies why the charname no longer grows in the previous class. The charname has come into his or her "true" abilities (whether it be with arcane magic, divine magic, or increased strength and agility in the case of physically oriented classes). The charname just feels the divine power coursing through his or her veins and naturally these powers mature further over time/experience. As such the charname only keeps (but does not further develop) old skills while growing exponentially more powerful in his or her "Bhaalspawn" fueled abilities.
Now one might think, "Wait! I am good aligned character, I am fighting the call of my Bhaalspawn blood, not embracing it!" But, I also like this justification because it is generally consistent with the main plot as well (i.e. the dream powers you receive over the course of BG1 etc.). The charname gains "good" abilities by fighting against the origin of his or her power. In a sense, the source of the divine power is irrelevant: You are the spawn of an evil god, but how that power manifests is shaped by your individual character and the choices you make.
I realize now this justification does not work well with NPCs. But I never dual them (except Imoen...) so I have never put much thought into it. But in the context of "normal" people, a lot of the posted ideas work really well for me.