Multiclass restrictions with armor and weapons

ginger_hammer

Just though I would raise a topic to clarify the restrictions when you create a multiclassed character such as a Fighter/Druid. Am I right in thinking that they can wear the armor of a fighter but are limited to the weapons of a druid? Is that the only restrictions? What about weapon proficiencies/spells?

I know that a Fighter/Thief can wear the armor of a fighter but cannot use any thief skills when wearing heavy armor, so its arguably better to wear studded leather so you can still use the thief skills. Fighter/Mages I think are the same in that you can equip heavy armor but it disables spell casting?

Fighter/Clerics are usefull as they are only restricted to Cleric weapons and you can use decent blunt/crushing weapons, while being able to use heavy armor.

There are many permitations with the multiclassing, just wondered if there were certain rules to go by. I thought this might be usefull for new players that are confused why they can't equip certain items, or why options are disabled when they do.

Majoca

Illusionist/thief, I know that multiclass inside out, you can use the weapons of a thief, and the abilities, if you wear any armour it disables the magic casting. Armour includes the body, helmets and shield, you can still cast spells with boots and certain bracers. Detect traps and Hide in shadows are the best skills for illusionist thief as you can prevent being attacked first by hiding in shadows and you can detect traps which helps you and your party. you also have knock as a spell which open locks.

Felix

I just started another run on BG2, my first Multiclass; Cleric/Figther and I must say it is pretty awesome as you have some nice spells but can still tank with the best of them. The only restrictions are that you can only use cleric weapons (which is not really that bad as BG2 has some epic weapons no matter what you play as) and a high Wisdom is a must.

DJKajuru

Cleric/Mage - you don't get high level spells that soon, but you have enough low level ones (divine and arcane) to set any strategy.

TJ_Hooker

@Majoca
The only inventory slot that affects arcane spellcasting is the chest/body. So for a illusionist/thief you can still cast spells while wearing any gloves/gauntlets, boots, or belt/girdle, as well as any shield or helmet, although you will be limited to bucklers and no helmets until you get Use Any Item.

Awong124

Majoca said:

Illusionist/thief, I know that multiclass inside out, you can use the weapons of a thief, and the abilities, if you wear any armour it disables the magic casting. Armour includes the body, helmets and shield, you can still cast spells with boots and certain bracers. Detect traps and Hide in shadows are the best skills for illusionist thief as you can prevent being attacked first by hiding in shadows and you can detect traps which helps you and your party. you also have knock as a spell which open locks.

You can't wear helmets with Mage/Thief anyway. But wearing helmets and shields in general doesn't disable spell casting. I've used Cleric/Mage before with helmet and shield and can still cast mage spells.

EDIT: I see TJ_Hooker already mentioned that.

Majoca

must of been a mod I was using, I remember there was a chance to fail spells with shields and helmets, I think it was a mod which allowed spell casting with Armour but it converted it to spell casting failure, so plate mail was like 60% to fail, but you could still try your luck as a mage/fighter. but thanks for correcting me

Awong124

Majoca said:

must of been a mod I was using, I remember there was a chance to fail spells with shields and helmets, I think it was a mod which allowed spell casting with Armour but it converted it to spell casting failure, so plate mail was like 60% to fail, but you could still try your luck as a mage/fighter. but thanks for correcting me

Probably some sort of mod to mimic 3E.

sandmanCCL

It is actually that way in natural AD&D, Awong, at least to the best of my knowledge. Not sure for arcane spell failure, but definitely for thieving skills.

So on topic:

In relation to gear you can use, weapons are restrictive, armors are granted. What I mean by this is any new armors you can now wear because of class, you can use. But new weapons, you cannot use. A fighter/druid can wear plate armor but cannot wield a longsword. A cleric/thief can utilize chainmail but cannot equip daggers.

Actually now that I think about it, this rule ONLY applies to Divine casters. You are limited to druid or cleric weapon sets, but wizards and thieves can still use any fighter weapon should they multi-class with them.

AHF

Majoca said:

must of been a mod I was using, I remember there was a chance to fail spells with shields and helmets, I think it was a mod which allowed spell casting with Armour but it converted it to spell casting failure, so plate mail was like 60% to fail, but you could still try your luck as a mage/fighter. but thanks for correcting me

There are mods where you can mimic the pen and paper rules for armor, etc. both for multic-class mages and for thieves (you can sneak in heavier armor but have bigger penalties, etc.).

ginger_hammer

Ok so a figher/mage can use all weapons but can only cast spells without any body armor. Sounds like it could be a pretty strong multiclass.

AHF

ginger_hammer said:

Ok so a figher/mage can use all weapons but can only cast spells without any body armor. Sounds like it could be a pretty strong multiclass.

The body armor that a mage can use without restriction to spell casting is elven chain. There are a few suits of it in BG2.