Easiest way/tips getting back XP after dual at 13

rickcr

I'm thinking of starting a Kensai > Thief dual.
After searching forums I think I'm going to dual at 13. What I couldn't easily find though are tips on how to get back my XP as soon as possible. Are there some things I shouldn't do while leveling up the kensai to 13 so as to make getting back the XP easier for my thief?
Some places I could immediately go (leaving my party behind) as a low level thief where I can pick a bunch of locks, or disarm some traps without conflict?

TIA. I'm sure this has been discussed before, but my search results didn't produce what I wanted.

magisensei

Are you doing the entire series BG, Totsc, SoD (optional), BG2, ToB?

How big is your party going to be? Some will depend on how big your party is and what quests you have left to do.

If you are only doing BG2 and ToB then dual at 9 instead otherwise you are going to be a lowly thief for a half the game. If you want to grandmaster dual at 12 the extra 1/2 apr at 13 is not worth it but if you are set on doing it then a few thoughts.

By the time you reach level 13 and dual you most likely have already done a good portion if not all the quests in chapter 2 (assuming a full party). This does not leave you a lot of options for easy xp for a newly minted thief. But on the off-hand you have not completed a few quests then here are some possibilities:

I don't think that there are enough doors and traps in Athkatla to be of any significant help. Plus if you are doing traps with a low level thief some of the traps are very dangerous and you might be stoned or worse. Not to mention the amount of times your party is waylaid just wandering through the city or even just walking around the amount of cut purses and dangerous things wandering the day and night - not good for a low level thief to be doing on his own.

Some places to hit for some easy xp opening locks (assuming you have not done these quests yet) - thieves guild, Mae'Var guild

(need to except the quest to do this - 2nd floor door exercise)

- a few interesting traps in the bridge district with locked doors with traps but without a high find trap I wouldn't try these; temple district has a few locked chests (wander into the temples; government district - maybe a house or two that are locked (oddly many houses are not locked in Athkatla) do not go into any homes while you are here by yourself.

Save the easy quests so that you can you them solo or with only another member.

Easy quests include Neera's Wild mage camp mini-quests from the wild mages there - a few of them are run and fetch type quest - make sure to speak to all the wild mages. If you get waylaid run for it or have a handy invisibility potion.

You also might be able to do part of Dorn's quest (first one or even the second one) - it will be you and Dorn - its slightly more dangerous but still doable if you are careful - be sure to read the dialogue options.

You can also do the first encounter with Rassad's quest (you and Rassad) and finding out certain things about his quest - just don't wander around too much or provoke people. Potentially more dangerous than Dorn's early quests.

You could potentially start a lot of the quests - like Umar Hills (finding things) to get xp and then do the quests later with a full party.

Umar Hill mini-quests - there is one or two there that are not dangerous - no fighting at all.

Mae'Var thieves guild - mini quests - some are just fetching quests.

Getting to level 14 with a small party is not that difficult of course this really depends on where you are in the story in BG2?

Ammar

Avoid turning in quests. Kick out everyone but yourself and a mage, and have him scribe lots of spells.

From a RP point of view it should be painful. It is a massive change for your character. Think Sherlock Holmes becoming a military officer.

rickcr

magisensei said:

Are you doing the entire series BG, Totsc, SoD (optional), BG2, ToB?

How big is your party going to be? Some will depend on how big your party is and what quests you have left to do.

If you are only doing BG2 and ToB then dual at 9 instead otherwise you are going to be a lowly thief for a half the game.

This would be a fresh start in BG2. I 'plan' to do the expansions. But yea, the downtime of a dual does seem somewhat painful.. but it obviously seems to be very popular (by the sheer number of dual class threads)

Lord_Tansheron

As I keep repeating in many a spot, I generally advise against dualing at 13 - not because you don't get nice things for those extra levels (you do) but because they come at too steep a cost. And that is particularly true if you're not playing solo.

Just dual at 9. You'll regain very quickly even without creative solutions, and with them it's practically trivial. What you lose out on will hardly matter in the long run even in a modded game, but the reduced downtime will be quite a noticeable increase in convenience and comfort.

jackjack

Dualling at 13 is painful in a solo run. In a full party run, it strikes me as madness.

magisensei

rickcr said:

This would be a fresh start in BG2. I 'plan' to do the expansions. But yea, the downtime of a dual does seem somewhat painful.. but it obviously seems to be very popular (by the sheer number of dual class threads)

Then I recommend just dualing at 7 or 9 - do not go to 13 (even solo this will hurt) this will be a lot of down time - with a party at 13 you'll get your kensai skills back probably around the 3/4 mark of the game - not really worth while as you don't get to really feel the power of a kenthief.

Dualing at 9 provides enough of the kensai bonuses and getting your kensai skills back is relatively painless - lots of easy quest to do - by the mid-point of chapter 2 depending on quest rewards you should have your kensai skills reactivated; waiting until 13 with a maybe run into ToB is definitely not worth the wait for a rather limited return of going to 13.

joluv

Some people have weirdly intense dislike of late duals, but they're fun to try sometimes. The OP said the plan was to regain the levels solo, so only 880k XP is needed. That's a piece of cake for a solo Thief.

Aside from traps and locks, here are some ways to get approximately that much experience with only a couple of very easy fights, as long as you're willing to make preparations and sneak. Make sure you get the Cloak of Non-detection before you dual, and build up your stealth skills early. Note that you could also delay larger parts of some of these quests and easily complete them as a low-level thief. And because of other XP sources, you almost certainly won't end up having to do all of this.

Before you dual, do the following but don't go any further in these quests:

- Kill the Shade Lord and Shadow Altar
- Clear the D'Arnisse Keep
- Clear the lair of the Unseeing Eye
- Get Conster's key
- Get Ihtafeer's head
- Get Mimic blood
- Clear Mae'var's Guildhall
- Get Beastmaster's Key
- Clear the slaver building
- Kill Prebek and friends
- Get Wellyn's bear

Now do the following, sneaking to avoid combat when possible. XP estimates are rough.

- Talk to Rylock, grab the "Montaron" bird, and talk to Xzar (70k)
- Report to Renal (45k)
- Solve the Bridge District murders (70k)
- Free the Copper Coronet slaves and let Hendak kill Lehtinen (60k)
- Assemble Lilarcor (20k)
- Free the slaves at the slaver compound and report back to Hendak (45k)
- Give Wellyn his bear (20k)
- Find Risa a caretaker (15k)
- Circus quest (65k)
- Report to Nalia (45k)
- Return Ihtafeer's head to the Djinni (10k)
- Sneak through the Druid Grove to Cernd to have him challenge Faldorn
- Report to Logan and Busya (40k)
- Free Garren's kid and report to him (70k)
- Give Vaelasa the acorns (40k)
- Give Mimic Blood to Jermien (40k)
- Talk to Madulf and Mayor Lloyd (25k)
- Kill Shadow Patrick and report to Lloyd (75k)
- Assemble the rift device and use it to kill the Unseeing Eye (55k)
- Return Rift Device to Diseased One and report to Oisig (90k)