Mage/Thief kit

jubango

Hi, everyone. This is my first time playing bg and I'd like some advice on choosing a kit. I plan to play an elf Mage/Thief, and use eekeeper to add a kit. What I'd like to find out is whether it would be better to take a thief kit like swashbuckler, or to take a mage specialization. I like my characters to feel very mage-like, so something like illusionist or wild mage looks like fun, but the ac and thac0 bonuses from swash seem really nice. Does anybody have any advice?

JuliusBorisov

For your first time playthrough I strongly advice NOT to change anything. Just feel the game like it is.

If you want a kit, take a gnome - he'll be an illusionist/thief multiclass, a very strong character.

If you want an elf, take a vanilla mage/thief multiclass, still solid enough.

If you want a kit for a thief, take a human and dual-class him into a mage later (although for a first time playthrough I can't recommend dual-classing either).

abacus

^ Solid advice.

Corvino

+1 to Gnomes. They get great save bonuses as well as the very solid Illusionist/Thief multiclass.

It does depend a little though on whether you are playing BG1 or BG2. The major disadvantage of playing a Mage/Thief in BG2:EE is that you'll be less likely to take the NPC Jan Jansen along (same multiclass combo), who may well be my favorite.

If you're willing to play through BG1:EE purely as a thief and then become a very powerful mage in BG2:EE then dual-classing a human at level 10 might be for you. You play the first game as a thief, then dual as soon as you start the second game. You'll have good thieving skills and advance pretty rapidly as a caster, getting access to high level spells before the multiclass.