When to dual-class?

Jeivar

I never played a spellcaster in the old games and I never dual classed, so I never bothered getting a feel for the mechanism.
I plan to import my Berserker into BG2:EE and dual into mage. What is considered the best level to do so?

pixie359

13 gives you the best benefits for the end game, but 9 doesn't miss out on much (1/2 an attack, some HP), and means you get your powers back much sooner.

alnair

Most frequent discussions on this forum:

#1 When is the next patch coming? (and/or assorted rants)
#2 Firebead quest is bugged
#3 When to dual fighter to mage

So, here you go

FinneousPJ

7, 9 or 13 are the best choices.

Jarrakul

What @FinneousPJ said. 7 gives you the first extra 1/2 attack, 9 gives you another proficiency point and the optimal amount of hp, and 12 gives an extra 1/2 attack (and an extra proficiency point). 3 also isn't actually terrible if you're going into cleric and don't want to lose-out for very long, but for mage the late-game benefit would be too small to bother with.

Lord_Tansheron

9 is generally the best, as it takes an insignificant amount of extra time over 7, while giving you an extra proficiency point and an extra use of your kit ability. 13 is for experienced players and small, xp-heavy parties (or solo play).

zur312

i think 13 is sooooooo not exp efficient that is almost unpractical

like 13level fighter is 1,250,000 exp
while 9 level fighter is only 200,000 exp
in BG2 without TOB 6 man party gains around 3,000,000 exp/character
so level 13 fighter for almost half of the game is gimped character

in bg1 multiclassing is so much better than in bg2
like bg1 you can get 7/7 fighter/ilusionist or 5/9 fighter/mage human
in bg2 you can get 9/28 fighter/mage human or 17/17 fighter/mage

so multiclassing in bg2 is kind of bad in some way

Lord_Tansheron

@zur312: it depends on the setup at hand. I noticed that I end up with so much XP at higher levels, that I almost wish I had dualed 13 and not 9. It can be a pain to play those low levels, of course (and to regain them) so that was the deciding factor for me in the end; but xp-efficiency certainly wasn't. I had almost 8 million xp per character at the end of SoA, so that really wasn't a factor at all.

zur312

but you are almost cerain playing with hardcore mods for uber quests and loot and that means even more XP so it is kind of easier(more exp)

my characters at the end of SOA i stoped leveling so i won't outlevel the content too much

elminster

I normally get around 3.3 million XP with a 6 person party in SoA. Thats without going through Watcher's Keep (in SoA) though.

Lord_Tansheron

@elminster: Yeah, WK is an absolute XP bomb >_> But as I said, mileage varies depending on setup. Nothing is set in stone.