My setup for BGEE2 suggestions?

tenkakahn

I am running:

Dwarven Defender
Wizard Slayer
Swashbuckler (pick lock/detect traps)
Cleric ( lightning shield one )
Summoner
Necromancer

They all have the best gear I can find in BG1 it seems -9 armor is the best I can do for the Dwarven Defender. It's a pure evil group also, so I was wondering how this setup would play out.

The wizard slayer (both weapons) and Dwarven defender are using the axe with silence proc with 4 specialized points into axe. The Dwarven defender uses Pella's shield also.

I farmed them all to max exp also.

tenkakahn

Good to go? Are there better combinations of classes or weapons or spec?

Sev

I reckon a Barbarian is actually better than a DD in BG2. They'll be able to get over 100% damage reduction with hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven (the main advantage of the DD in BG). However, the Barb's rage provides a huge range of immunities, including level drain and imprisonment (one of the nastiest spells in the game, and one which you come up against in some key big fights).

I also feel like this party (at least from a power perspective) would benefit from having multi-classed characters. For instance, a Ranger/Cleric multi-class is SUPER-powerful. They get a bigger range of spells than a vanilla cleric (the ranger side provides druid spells), and are awesome fighters (perfect for dual wielding flails / hammers).

Similarly, pure-classed thieves (even the Swashbuckler kit) aren't as powerful as F/T, or F/M/T multi-classes in BG2, because BG2 really heavily favours characters able to get fighter HLAs, as mixing these with spells like improved haste can make for huge amounts of dps.

elminster

Sev said:

I reckon a Barbarian is actually better than a DD in BG2. They'll be able to get over 100% damage reduction with hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven (the main advantage of the DD in BG). However, the Barb's rage provides a huge range of immunities, including level drain and imprisonment (one of the nastiest spells in the game, and one which you come up against in some key big fights).

Barbarians rage doesn't protect against imprisonment (it does protect against maze though).

marceror

Your cleric would be a lot more effective in BG2 with a good 7 levels in fighter. If you really want the cleric kit you can always use EE Keeper to assign it.

Your fighter levels will allow you to become a grandmaster in your chosen weapon and give you more attacks per round. You also will have higher hitpoint potential and some boosts to your saving throws. Not to mention access to fighter only gear.

tenkakahn

If I am at 161k exp now and I multi class what happens?

marceror

tenkakahn said:

If I am at 161k exp now and I multi class what happens?

Assuming you're referring to my post, first off, it's dual classing, not multiclassing. Multiclassing always happens at character creation and can be done only by non humans. Dual classing is done by humans only. You effectively neglect your first class and never level again in that class, in order to pursue a new class instead, but retain abilities from both.

That said, if you dual class at 161k exp you will lose the abilities of your first class until your second class is one class level higher than your first. Then you'll have the abilities of both classes for the remainder of your adventuring career, and will generally be a very powerful character.

For my suggestion I wouldn't dual class FROM a cleric TO a fighter. You should start as a fighter, and then dual class to become a cleric. That way at higher levels you will have extremely powerful cleric spells, along with being a very solid tank and fighter. Really, this combo is just so powerful.

tenkakahn

But shouldn't I wait until BG2 play through? If I dual class now level for first class will be stuck at 8-10 right?

If I wait until BG2 then do a fighter until middle 30s then dual class to a cleric wouldn't it be better?

marceror

No, you would never get your first class reactivated. The furthest you should push this would be a level 13 fighter, which means you would have maximum attacks per round. You would be without your fighter abilities for a pretty long time waiting to become a level 14 cleric, but you would be extremely powerful and versatile at that point.

Sev

elminster said:

Sev said:

I reckon a Barbarian is actually better than a DD in BG2. They'll be able to get over 100% damage reduction with hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven (the main advantage of the DD in BG). However, the Barb's rage provides a huge range of immunities, including level drain and imprisonment (one of the nastiest spells in the game, and one which you come up against in some key big fights).

Barbarians rage doesn't protect against imprisonment (it does protect against maze though).

Agh, you're right, it's the Berserker who gets immunity to imprisonment.