Swashy/Mage: I like this guy....
Sharguild
Member Posts: 186
And, I haven't even reached the Mage part yet.
Main reason to try this dual is to provide my Mage;
- detect illusions
- not totally suck when a Kobold gets in his face.
Immy will stay a Thief this run and handle the yeoman tasks but I wanted to try out the 'Detect Illusion' stat.
As mentioned previous, I originally planned on doing an SD/Mage dual but screwed that up.
What I like about the Swashy though is the 2 points in sticks and swords I can give him and he gets full Thief point allocation to toss into D.I.
I could not care less on missing out on back-stab, that's Immy's job.
I plan on dual-classing to Mage at 5 (which is the principle focus of this build), unless someone has a better suggestion.
By then I should have sufficient points in 'detect illusion' and 2 points in sticks and that's all I really cared about.
Or not?
Any thoughts?
Main reason to try this dual is to provide my Mage;
- detect illusions
- not totally suck when a Kobold gets in his face.
Immy will stay a Thief this run and handle the yeoman tasks but I wanted to try out the 'Detect Illusion' stat.
As mentioned previous, I originally planned on doing an SD/Mage dual but screwed that up.
What I like about the Swashy though is the 2 points in sticks and swords I can give him and he gets full Thief point allocation to toss into D.I.
I could not care less on missing out on back-stab, that's Immy's job.
I plan on dual-classing to Mage at 5 (which is the principle focus of this build), unless someone has a better suggestion.
By then I should have sufficient points in 'detect illusion' and 2 points in sticks and that's all I really cared about.
Or not?
Any thoughts?
0
Comments
in fact for my power gaming groups, I will have a swashbuckler hit level 11 with 19 dex ( just high enough level to have 100 find traps, 90 open locks, 80 pick pockets, and around 100 or so for trap setting, plus they get 3 traps per day with the trap damage upgrade at level 11) then I will dual them over to fighter, and once that character hits level 12 in its fighter class, I have a fully functionally thief that completely tears it up in long range combat ( tuigan bow for 5 or 6 attacks per round dealing upwards around 15 damage a hit)
but for mages, I do the same thing, swash to level 11, then dual, than once my mage hits level 12, all the wonder magic yada yada, but the thing that's nice with a mage that has a least 10 levels of swash is the huge AC bonus ( 3 points is quite noticeable) and the little extra to hit and damage plus the ability to put two slots in daggers ( for the boomerang/firetooth daggers) and you end up with a mage that not only has some combat potential but can also do all your thieving and cast spells, quite a decent set up
now, I have no idea if this helps you out in your situation at all, but hopefully it gives a little insight on how awesome it can be to have swashbucklers dual over into another class, I say optimal level to do so is 11 ( this gives lots of thief points plus that trap damage upgrade is quite worth it, plus making it so it doesn't take to long to level pass the original class)
but if you plan on making class #2 useful in bg1 then I guess level 5 is a good bet, but be warned: if you plan on bringing that character over into bg2, then I highly suggest biting the bullet a bit, and cranking your swashbuckler to level 11 then dualling, SoA and ToB are bigger than BG is, and having that additional horse power and extra thief skills can come quite in handy
I think I may go a different way, personally.
I've power-gamed this series more times than I care to remember. Lately I've been focusing on trying though not exactly "gimped groups" but ones without uber-power.
Khalid is in fact gonna be my (shudder) tank (better part of valour!) for BG1 and Minsc for BG2.
I selected Swashy as it seemed the most viable to provide max points in "detect illusion" and still give a bit extra; i.e. 2 points in melee sticks ( In BG 2, Staff of Magi, Thunder & Lightning Staffs that can actually HIT). The focus will be on Mage attributes. More than enough "armour" with the spells I'll have.
The other thief skills hold little interest for my PC for as I mentioned, Immy will retain Thief for BG1.
Yes. it would be nice to have more thievery for BG2 but no shortage of thieves in that chapter.
I would like to know however from exp players, how high I need to take "D.I." to be effective throughout the full campaign ( 100 ? 150 ? 200 ?).
THIS more than anything will decide my dual-to-Mage level.
I probably won't have Keldorn along for "True Sight".
Ta
Plus, free Identifying after a few levels.
Any more will have no additional benefits.
Any less will risk it not working when you want it to.
with 6 you can still reach Max mage in BG1, you can max out Trap/Lock at 90 (it will turn to 95 with 19 dex) just enough to handle every trap and lock from bg1 to the endboss in TOB (with a hand full exceptions who need way way more than 100 anyway)
you got 20 sparepoints for traps , with 19 dex it hits 30.... that's good enough to lay a trap if you really want to.. (luck spell, potions , kiels buckler can raise that even more)
do NOT waste points in sneaking or Detect illusion you get spells for that. same for Pick Pocket(potions).
and you cant use detect illusions and cast a spell , let that do another thief or just use true sight later on.
for weapons i choose short sword ** Two Weapon Fighting **
with mage i chose dagger * ... holded my mage on lvl 5 and just leveled up as he could reach 7 in one go so i could spend the second ** in dagger.
Using throwing daggers in BG1, gonna switch to Boomerang Dagger+2 and Kudane+2 in BG2 , with those weapons you reach 4 APR in Melee (yes it works!)
you can enchant yourself with Magic weapon boosting them as weapons +3 in matters of hit needed for magical creatures. allowing you to mow down everything aside a few Bosses, and for those you are still a Full mage stripping them from protections and bringing magic pain.
and once you get Tensers Transformation even that mediocre THAC0 is gone. and a mage with a lvl 7-10ish fighters THACO Improved haste 8 APR a round is a thing to behold....and impossible to stop thanks to like -10AC stone skin mirror image and all the mage goodies.