That works both ways, you know. Fights are either too easy, in which case it doesn't matter that Sarevok is weaker until around the time you start going after the strongest of the 5, or fights are too hard, in which case dual-classing is justified. A middle ground is hard to find what with all the ways you can boost his XP if you really wanted to, which is why I establish mine by doing just enough without being too obsessive.
I meant "hard" on the scale of SCS/Ascension. The only way "hard" is going to affect dual-classing downtime in ToB is if someone invented a "hard" mode that removes XP gain from scrolls and significantly reduces XP gain from combat. This is not BG1/SoA where you basically start with zero to work with, this is ToB. You have the tools to make life easier for Sarevok so he can start as a mid-level mage or thief, higher depending on how many scrolls you can dump on him/your mages.
Again, a mid-level mage or thief is going to be weaker than an epic-level fighter--I'm not comparing fighter Sarevok to a level 1 dual-class. The downtime disadvantage is still there, whether you say the game is hard or easy.
And in vanilla, the game's difficulty doesn't significantly decrease or increase over time. I said before that Ascension was a different story.
As I already said, you already have your pick of at least 7 other warrior-type NPCs. You dual-class him because you don't want another fighter. You are dual-classing Sarevok because the game lacks a Fighter/Mage NPC or a thief character with good combat abilities.
And the downtime will always be there, obviously. The trick is minimizing it, and you have much more control over that in ToB.
Really, I think I can agree Mazzy is more durable. I can remember Sarevok getting stunned from the symbols or croaking to finger of deaths/instant kills while yelling 'No! I..refuse!' All too much. Far more than Mazzy did. Aside from amazing saving throws, Mazzy can heal, haste, remove fear and cast special str on herself.
Really only thing Sarevok has is Deathbringer assault. And frankly I only had it seen on an enemy that was going to die from that hit or the next anyway. Or was stoneskinned.
Where was Sarevok when this was happening? Most people play Sarevok as a tank and Mazzy as a archer so Sarevok getting hit with more instant kill spells makes sense, considering he is always in the front line. At ToB level do shorty save really make that much of a difference?
Yes they do. I recently tested at ToB levels Celestial Fury and its stun on fail the save is still relevant. Also my level cap Sorcerer had some embarrassing failures in saving against some spells that forced a reaload. only the "power of reaload" nerfs the importance of good saves and of items and spells that boost them, but even if few play no reload imo we mast not include the "power of reaload" when analizing the power of a tactic, a character or anything else. Including the "power of reaload" in the analisis Chromatic Orb is the most powerfull and effective spell of BG2 OK, I am Joking, but good saves are important and relevant also at ToB level.
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A middle ground is hard to find what with all the ways you can boost his XP if you really wanted to, which is why I establish mine by doing just enough without being too obsessive.
This is not BG1/SoA where you basically start with zero to work with, this is ToB. You have the tools to make life easier for Sarevok so he can start as a mid-level mage or thief, higher depending on how many scrolls you can dump on him/your mages.
And in vanilla, the game's difficulty doesn't significantly decrease or increase over time. I said before that Ascension was a different story.
And the downtime will always be there, obviously. The trick is minimizing it, and you have much more control over that in ToB.
Also my level cap Sorcerer had some embarrassing failures in saving against some spells that forced a reaload.
only the "power of reaload" nerfs the importance of good saves and of items and spells that boost them, but even if few play no reload imo we mast not include the "power of reaload" when analizing the power of a tactic, a character or anything else.
Including the "power of reaload" in the analisis Chromatic Orb is the most powerfull and effective spell of BG2
OK, I am Joking, but good saves are important and relevant also at ToB level.