New to BG1 - Party set up/dual classing.

Rhyd01

Hey guys I'm new to BG1 but i've played BG2 quite alot during my teenage years. Can you give me some advice regarding party set up and dual classing.

I'm thinking this time round, i'm going to roll a human fighter/thief dual class.

What level would you recommend i should dual class and weapon proficiency i should take.

Also thinking my party set up would be:

Kaigan - tank
Minsc - bruiser
Viconia - healer
Edwin - mage

6th character slot could be Imoen thief/mage or a ranger npc.

What do you guys think? Also what should my alignment/reputation be to keep my party from leaving?

I bought the enhanced edition from steam, could i port the saved game over to BG2?

I'm sorry for so many unstructured questions, i'm just listing them as they pop into my head.

And as always, thanks for all the help/advice.

KidCarnival

You have one good aligned NPC with a class that will fall if your rep is too low. So I'd rather switch out Minsc for Dorn or Shar-Teel as damage dealer.

I think Fighter/Thief is more fun as a multiclass. With dualing, you are restricted to human and miss out on racial extras like thief skills or 19 dex... So I'd probably multiclass an evil halfling F/T here. If you take a kitted thief (i.e. assassin for poison weapon), it takes a while to max the neccessary skills, so you dual late and spend half the game regaining your levels. I don't mind if an NPC is a bit of a drag, but charname shouldn't have a long downtime, if any. Just my preference.
For an evil thief and ranged fighter - Shar-Teel. She can dual to thief without a tome, and makes a mean backstabber with her strength. Get her early, give her the next pip in a ranged weapon of choice; before that, she can use throwing daggers quite efficiently.

Kagain - tank
Dorn - damage
Viconia - divine
Edwin - arcane
Shar-Teel - thief/ranged
...charname can be anything; I'd probably add an assassin or bard of some sort. Your rep can be anything, since it's an all evil party and no-one has a class that can fall.

Lemernis

If you're going to play just BG:EE, myself, I would dual at Fighter 3. If you plan to take the character into BG2EE then 7, 9, or 13 are the levels that I commonly read people like to dual at (starting as Fighter).

Personally, I dislike the so-called "downtime" of waiting to get the original class skills back, so that's why I dual at level 3 and only dual-class in BGEE. I do find it tolerable to do that way, and have enjoyed dualing as such. But I actually prefer multi-class to dualing.

Shar

Yeah you might want to consider getting rid of Minsc. if you going for a full playthrough you can dual a fighter preferably 9/13 i tend to prefer 13 but with 9 in bg2 you can do a Lich run that will give you 100000+ xp straight on very close to the start of the game.

Sorry solo lich run.

Rhyd01

Thanks for the many replies so far.

If i'm just going to be doing BG1 this play through, do you recommend that i dual or multi class my fighter/thief?

What weapon/s should he specialize in?

Corvino

While dualled fighter/thieves can be potent I usually find multiclasses just as effective throughout without any annoyances.

I'd advocate a multi definitely, probably dual wielding. Longswords, Scimitars and Shortswords are all good choices as weapons, though daggers or clubs also work. Bows can be good in BG1, but I like the flexibility that Dual-Wield offers.

As for race, it often comes down to personal preference and romance option in BG2. Half-elves gain little but lose nothing. Elves have bonus Dex, Longsword bonuses and sneaking skills but more limited Con. Half-orcs get great Str but no thieving bonuses. Dwarves and Gnomes get good thieving bonuses and saves. Halflings gain Dex and great thieving bonuses but have low Str which does hurt a melee F/T.

Lemernis

As a multi you level a little slower, but you have both sets of class skills for the entire game. The best benefits of dual-classing are realized in a full saga run in BG2EE when the character becomes uber-powerful at the end. But myself I can't tolerate the downtime to max as such--that trade-off isn't worth it for me personally (though I can respect that it is for others). For example, at Fighter13 you start over as Thief 1 and then have to reach Thief 14 to get the Fighter skills back. The main draw of playing a Fighter/Thief for me is to enjoy both sets of class skills simultaneously--not to be the most powerful character possible. So that's just too long for me to be without both sets of skills (and starting at level 1 of the new skill at that). But that said, in just a BGEE game dualing at Fighter 3 can be satisfying enough for me, because I will solo the bassilisk map right away. Then the downtime is minimized so that it really isn't felt much.

KidCarnival

Weapons, I'd take one ranged - there's a pretty good Long Bow early in BG1 (not that many in BG2, but won't matter in this case) and then probably Longsword and Dagger. Varscona +2 is an excellent long sword; Dagger of Venom can make backstabs even nastier. I'd probably go with elf, for the 19 dex and sword bonus. The con limit isn't that bad; there is a tome to raise con +1 that you can also get quite early.

Musigny

Hello Rhyd01,

My first playthrough with BGEE was with

Charname, multiclass F/T
Kagain
Edwin
Viconia
Dorn
Baeloth

I wanted to include the new evil npcs (Dorn, Baeloth)
I needed a thief and gave that role to charname (in BG1 a monoclass thief kit would fit nicely too).

That party setup was "overpowered" because of the newcomers (Dorn min-max stats + poison, Baeloth number of spells, even more astounding with a ring of wizardry).
This being said I really enjoyed the game.
Baeloth has no real in-game extra RP content except with a funny comment at the very end (well, not totally sure), I don't think I will reuse him.

As regards the dual-classing options please consider Shar-Teel as well...

Rhyd01

Ok thank you all very much for your advice. I've decided to make my main char an elf f/t multi class.

If I take shar-teel should I just spread all my thief skills between hide in shadows and move silently while shar-teel can handle the find traps and pick locks?

I've never really tried backstabbing before, do I just initiate a fight and have my thief hide and run to the back of an enemy and attack?

KidCarnival

Distribute skills for stealth to one thief, and traps/locks to the other. It doesn't matter which; as a fighter, you have good strength yourself for backstabs.

Disarm Traps/Lockpicking: each needs 100 to handle everything in the game. The traps you encounter before Cloakwood/midgame can be done with 40, so you can let that slack a bit at first.

The backstabber thief should get some stealth gear - Shadow Armor, Worn Whispers, invisibility potions.

To backstab, you "hide in shadows" - as the name says, it works best if you do that around corners, behind trees and darker areas. Have your backstab/melee weapon in hand already, since switching from bow to dagger would break stealth. Then have your stealthed thief scout ahead and position him behind an enemy and attack. That first attack counts as backstab. After that, you either melee or stealth again to sneak up again.
Invisibility via spell or potion works best in BG1, so load those potions in the backstabber's quick slots to stealth in battle. For quick withdrawing and re-stealthing, Oil of Speed, Paws of the Cheetah and casting Haste are options.

Backstabbing is a lot micromanagement, but it pays out. Many a caster will be dead or near dead after the opening attack. Dagger of Venom is especially nasty. While daggers aren't the highest damage output, the poison will make the enemy fail to cast and if it doesn't kill a mage, it at least disables him efficiently.

Demonoid_Limewire

Rhyd01 said:

Hey guys I'm new to BG1 but i've played BG2 quite alot during my teenage years. Can you give me some advice regarding party set up and dual classing.

I'm thinking this time round, i'm going to roll a human fighter/thief dual class.

What level would you recommend i should dual class and weapon proficiency i should take.

Also thinking my party set up would be:

Kaigan - tank
Minsc - bruiser
Viconia - healer
Edwin - mage

6th character slot could be Imoen thief/mage or a ranger npc.

What do you guys think? Also what should my alignment/reputation be to keep my party from leaving?

I bought the enhanced edition from steam, could i port the saved game over to BG2?

I'm sorry for so many unstructured questions, i'm just listing them as they pop into my head.

And as always, thanks for all the help/advice.

Kensai to thief is your best bet. Dual at level 13, so as to get most kit bonuses (the one you get per 3 and the other you get per 4 character levels... 3x4 + 4x3 = 12 + 1(starting level) = 13) and the second attack. 3 points to dual wield and grandmasteries in katana + scimitar are your best bets, because these weapons, excluding staff, are the most damaging thief weapons in his arsenal, plus able to backstab. Whatever points are left, put 2 in single weapon and 1 to either crossbow or shortbow (kensai can't choose long).

Shar

Damn it all these threads make my restartatis grow worse.

FinneousPJ

Demonoid_Limewire said:

3x4 + 4x3 = 12 + 1(starting level) = 13

That made my brain hurt

OP, since you're a first time BG1 player, I'd recommend multiclass.

Musigny

FinneousPJ said:

Demonoid_Limewire said:

3x4 + 4x3 = 12 + 1(starting level) = 13

That made my brain hurt

OP, since you're a first time BG1 player, I'd recommend multiclass.

Agreed !
Even as an experienced player it might be worth questionning such a dualclass move at lvl13.
Assuming a 6 member party this means all BG1 is run as a Kensai.
Half of BG2 chapters 2 and 3 as a Kensai.
Then dual class and the great depression, the other half is required to recover your kensai features.
HLAs not available till 4.25M. In other words : not in SoA unless you decide to investigate WK.

I am not saying this is bad but you need to be aware.
On the other hand a multi class F/T will be a constant satisfaction.

Rhyd01

I appreciate all the responses so far, thank you all!