Chargen Ennui? Not sure what to make anymore

v074

So after having made a few runs through of Baldur's Gate (Kensai, Swashbuckler, Blackguard, Berserker, one run of Stalker/Cleric before realizing R/C's spell transfer was patched out) I've been realizing I'm...not sure what to make at this point. I suppose part of my problem is that I generally can't divorce my main from the melee-focused classes, but that aside, I suppose I should start messing around with multi/duals? (I admit I really like straightclassing and the faster leveling rate that comes through that)

mf2112

I know what you mean, I don't want the groove to become a rut. After I finish my current playthrough, I think I am going to try a shaman after reading the article in the familiar and some posts here about how to play it more effectively.

JumboWheat01

Well if you want to mess around a bit with multi/duals, but still want to go single class, look at the Bard. It's (essentially) a Fighter, Mage and Thief. A bit weaker, sure, but Blades are pretty cool, and Jesters can be funny.

v074

I suppose that's definitely an option. At the very least, it'd save me the frustration of rolling for a 18/00 STR for a few hours (as would any dual-into-fighter, come to think of it)

Grum

A fighter/Mage or a blade could be fun for you. That or a fighter/thief who focuses on backstabs.

magisensei

Duals and multi-classes can be fun to play with. You've been heavily melee try instead a balance between melee and arcane for a different play through.

Of course a multi-class F/m is very powerful as is any specialist fighter kit dualed to a mage - you just have to wait a bit before they become power houses.

You could try for a blade - which is fun and different.

For a more strategic feel try instead a thief specialist kit like the bounty hunter or shadowdancer.

A cleric/mage multi - has awesome arcane+divine power - if you want to play with spells.

An Archer class is also good - lots of different ammo to play with - try one with a proficiency in bows and darts for some fun.

For something still melee but different try a monk.

jackjack

If you're looking for an unorthodox playstyle, it's hard to go wrong with a Jester. The wonderful mod Rogue Rebalancing replaces their silly HLAs with more appropriate ones, and makes their "song" much more useful.

Jarrakul

Archer and fighter/druid are my two favorite classes in the game. Both of them would be similar to the things you usually play, while also being a break from your typical style in one or two major ways. I'd recommend either one.

BillyYank

Let the universe decide. Set a minimum total you feel comfortable with and roll your stats outside the game. Take the first set of stats that's higher than your minimum and play that character.

Sanctuary

If you haven't tried an Illusionist/Thief multiclass yet, I highly recommend it. If you're hung up on thief types not being able to properly dual wield, just use the Rogue Rebalance mod, and you'll at least be able to get it up to the third rank. Main hand Celestial Fury, and Off Hand the Zerth Blade until ToB. The burst damage the class is capable of (even without the RR mod) is insane.

Plus if you use up all of your level 2 spell slots with Invisibility, you can get multiple backstabs per encounter without having to do the silly hasted run out of sight, hide in shadows each time you want to backstab. Invisible thieves are so much better than those without it for trap detection too, since trap detection and disarming doesn't break invisibility. Unlike hide in shadows for whatever strange reason.

Skatan

You can go with a dualed fighter to mage, stick to alot of melee in the beginning, then slowly transfer to more and more arcane power as you level up as mage. It might facilitate a more smooth transition for you, from very melee oriented to trying something new.

Multiclasses that are solid choices are F/C and F/D, both combine battle prowess with some supporting magic. F/M too of course, but you need more magic there since you have less AC.

Archer is another good choice. Still a warrior class, but different from your standard charnames. Also F/T plays out quite differently if you want it to, but you can still just slap on the biggest armor and weapon you can find and go to town in melee when needed.

Sanctuary said:

If you haven't tried an Illusionist/Thief multiclass yet, I highly recommend it. If you're hung up on thief types not being able to properly dual wield, just use the Rogue Rebalance mod, and you'll at least be able to get it up to the third rank. Main hand Celestial Fury, and Off Hand the Zerth Blade until ToB. The burst damage the class is capable of (even without the RR mod) is insane.

Burst damage with 2 APR or 4 with IH? I'm interrested in your thoughts here.

SirBatince

Do a solo!

Sanctuary

Skatan said:

Burst damage with 2 APR or 4 with IH? I'm interrested in your thoughts here.

I'm not sure what you're actually asking here, and if it's rhetorical. You can in fact do crazy burst damage with the Mage/Thief combo. Until the mid-high levels, it's hard to beat, let alone do as much damage as a 3x - 5x backstab > sequencer combo. Toss in RoV as well for Invisibility spam. That's before you even consider Mislead cheese or using the RR mod for even more attacks per round. No, you'll never have the thac0 of a Fighter, but you won't really need it as much either, especially if most of your melee revolves around backstabbing. Plus, there's always Tenser's for those fights where you really can't afford to miss.

Skatan

Sanctuary said:

Skatan said:

Burst damage with 2 APR or 4 with IH? I'm interrested in your thoughts here.

I'm not sure what you're actually asking here, and if it's rhetorical. You can in fact do crazy burst damage with the Mage/Thief combo. Until the mid-high levels, it's hard to beat, let alone do as much damage as a 3x - 5x backstab > sequencer combo. Toss in RoV as well for Invisibility spam. That's before you even consider Mislead cheese or using the RR mod for even more attacks per round. No, you'll never have the thac0 of a Fighter, but you won't really need it as much either, especially if most of your melee revolves around backstabbing. Plus, there's always Tenser's for those fights where you really can't afford to miss.

You were talking about dual-weild, which isn't really a pre-req for BS/mislead cheese, so it wasn't fully clear to me. Now it is.

JuliusBorisov

SirBatince said:

Do a solo!

And/or start in BG2, not in BG1 (I see this thread is in the BGEE section). This will give a change of your own experience (even if you played with all those characters in BG2 after BG1 as well).