Question about Dual-Class

JasonPogo

So I have looked around for info on this but most info seems to assume you know about it already...

So say I wanted to make a Fighter/Cleric (Berserker) If I lvled the Fighter to 12 then Dual-Classed to a Cleric dose that mean I start over as a lvl 1 Cleric and lose all my Fighter skills? Then when I lvl up the Cleric enough I get my Fighter stuff back?

Also if I was lvling up my skill with say a sword as the fighter would I lose all that when I switched over to Cleric? Would it then lock me into blunt weapons until I get my fighter skills back?

As you can see I am confused as to how exactly this works.

Mungri

You lose access to your first classes abilities after you dual class until your second class is one level higher than your inactive levels.

Also you gain nothing from dual classing at level 12 fighter over dual classing at level 9. The fighter levels to dual class from are either:

Level 7 - +0.5 attack per round
Level 9 - Max fighter hit die.
Level 13 - +0.5 attack per round.

Oh and also after dual classing to a cleric, you are permanently locked to cleric weapons and will never be able to equip swords again, so you need to put your proficiency points into blunt weapons from the start of your fighter levels.

moody_mage

Most of what you have said is correct. However you would not regain your sword skills once you regained your fighter skills as clerics cannot use edged weapons and this would override the fighter options available to you. As soon as you choose cleric you would forever lose those sword skills.

If you had placed pips in a blunt weapon as a fighter then yes you would regain all those once you gain back your fighter levels.

Personally I would also wait until fighter level 13 to dual in your case as fighters gain additional attacks per round at level 13.

Wilbur

You get back fighter skills when you get to cleric level 13 (the level of the starting class plus one), but you can only use weapons a cleric can naturally use so no point in putting proficiency points to swords etc. other than role playing reasons. If you your fighter points to say mace, then you get them back at cleric level 13.

Edit. And also don't put cleric proficiency points in a weapon/weapon style you have already invested fighter points in until you get those fighter points back at cleric 13. Otherwise you will lose those points.

Edit2. Too slow

Lord_Tansheron

I recommend dualing at level 9 for anyone not intimately familiar with XP metagaming. Regaining 13 levels is going to take quite a while, even in a fairly small party. So long, in fact, that the extra 0.5 APR you gain out of it is likely not worth the effort. Level 9 on the other hand can be regained very quickly in BG2, and already offers you maximum hit dice plus an extra use of your fighter kit's ability.

Mungri

Yes its better to dual at 9 for a fighter, or at 10 for a rogue if you arent familiar with dual classing (that in BG2 btw). If going with a rogue and you arent into backstabbing, the swashbuckler kit is perfect, otherwise if you want to backstab stay unkitted.

In BG1 dual at level 7 fighter or 6-7 rogue.

Dualing at 12 is not a good idea over 9 or 13.

Valferys

whats best level to dual-class human mage to cleric in bg1? or did i eff up by not going cleric - mage?

fanscale

First thing to do is to check if you have the stat requirements.
When dual classing you should aim at progressing in your second class. Trying to pick up skills from both classes will take away attention and fun out of the game.

Because you can only start with a kit I recommend using EEKeeper to transfer your kit to the second class. An easy way to do this is to start as the kit. Save the game. Go to EEKeeper. Switch the character to the first class. Save. Load the modified game.

Shikao

Was this post supposed to be a reply to this thread?

FinneousPJ

Cleric to mage is better.

Cleric 5 -> Mage 9 can do max level mage in BG
Cleric 7 -> Mage 8 is the highest level Cleric dual finishable in BG

FinneousPJ

Mage 6 -> Cleric 8 is doable in BG

Wowo

FinneousPJ said:

Mage 6 -> Cleric 8 is doable in BG

Can be done by Xzar and Dynaheir too.

abacus

For the case in point (Berserker) level 10 would also be a good point to dual, as you'd gain another use/day of the excellent Rage ability.... Just to further thicken the stew...

Jaheiras_Witness

That happens at level 9, not 10. Enrages are gained every 4 levels, so 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21 etc

Jaheiras_Witness

By far the best point to dual from a fighter is level 13. That's not just for the extra 0.5 APR but also saving throws - fighter saving throws improve massively at level 13 to 5/7/6/5/8; classes like mage and rogue cannot get close to those saves vs death, petrify and breath even at their highest levels.

However, fighter 13 requires 1.25m XP. Thief 14 only takes 880k XP and is doable fairly quickly. Mage 14 requires 1.5m XP and cleric 14 requires 1.35m XP, so those two are much slower to reactivate.

Fighter 9 only takes 250k XP and any class can get to level 10 in no time at all in BG2. Thief 10 only takes 160k; mage 10 requires 250k, cleric 10 requires 450k. So level 9 is often the most practical time to dual as you have max fighter hit dice (9d10 + CON) and reactivation is very quick.

abacus

Jaheiras_Witness said:

That happens at level 9, not 10. Enrages are gained every 4 levels, so 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21 etc

My bad...