cleric/mage guide

Mandragora

Hello,

I'm thinking about building new char who would be necromancer/cleric at least in concept.
So i'm looking for any tips or guide on how could i do it. What would be most viable. Multiclass? Dual class? At what level?

mf2112

Maybe check this thread? https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/59743/kitted-multi-classing

Clumsy_Dwarf

The Robe of Vecna is your friend. It is an arcane exclusive item but it does speed up the casting of of divine spells. Also keep in mind your contingencies and sequencers will work with divine spells. For example, you could have Negative Plane Protection, Draw upon Holy Might, and Free Action for those pesky vampire fights.

mf2112

Clumsy_Dwarf said:

The Robe of Vecna is your friend. It is an arcane exclusive item but it does speed up the casting of of divine spells. Also keep in mind your contingencies and sequencers will work with divine spells. For example, you could have Negative Plane Protection, Draw upon Holy Might, and Free Action for those pesky vampire fights.

Good point, don't forget about Chaotic Commands. I always forget until I get dominated that first time in BG2.

jtth

You definitely want to multiclass. It's slow going if you solo because you're worthless in melee, but you grow in power geometrically.

Arunsun

Dual classing from an spellcasting class is often a bad idea. You'll get only low levels spells, and most of the useful low level spells are useful because they scale well with your level, which will be capped by the dual-classing.
Thus I'd advise going for a multiclass. I usually recommend Gnome for a race, because of the specialist mage even when multi-ing, but unfortunately illusionist's opposite school is necromancy which leaves only Half-Elf as an option.

So, there you go, Half-Elf multi C/M

Considering the few tips to remember:
Sequencers and contingencies can use divine spells.
Though you are primarily a caster, you should not overlook some more melee-ish/Brutish strategy. For that to be effective, you should always have a couple of holy power/Draw upon holy light memorized. Those two spells will givr you a decent enough Thac0 to dual wield, say, flails, et with improved haste you'll get rid of golems, for example, much faster and at a much less important cost than with summonings or lower magic.
Note that you have quite a few damage spell that can be cast instantly with robe of Vecna and Amulet of power. Using Harm+ one of those spells will get you rid of more than one enemy before they can react, if you approach invisible. Casters are very efficiently taken down with this tactic.

magisensei

The only way to be necromancer > cleric is of course dualing. This is probably not the best idea as mage spells are better than cleric spells in general. Both classes especially the mage consume a lot of xp so if you dual from a moderately high level mage you will not see your spells for a long time when you become a cleric. So probably not the best idea or build to dual from mage into another caster.

A multiclass is the best choice as seen with Aerie - Imagine your PC as a cleric/mage with better stats then Aerie and you will be awesomely powerful as a caster. Being able to use both category of spells allows for a lot of options when using sequencers and contingencies as you can put both divine and arcane spells in it - makes for some instant buff spells which are nice.

If you just want some of the flavor of a mage but don't want the high level spells in your spell book - then dual around level 10 or so in order to get at least spell immunity (lower if you just want stone skin). After that if you want to use wizard spells just have a ton of scrolls and wands - being a low level mage dualed to a cleric makes you rely on your scrolls and wands more. As there are usually more than enough scrolls (except for high level ones) lying around this is not really a problem since you will be mostly a cleric but have some arcane ability tossed in.

How are you composing your team?

If you dual from mage > cleric - then this is basically a cleric with some mage abilities (mostly the use of wands and scrolls) - this will probably be your main cleric.

If you go for the cleric/mage multiclass this character can be both your cleric and mage for the party - saves a slot so you can build take anyone or build any character that you like.

jackjack

Doom is a great Cleric spell with a loooong casting time, which hurts because it's for combat. But it's perfect for sequencers!
For example
1. Greater Malison (make sure this goes first)
2. Doom
3. Whatever spell you want that gives a chance to save.
Enemy saving throws are obliterated, so whatever spell is in the third slot lands almost every time. After all, why leave things to chance when you're a Cleric/Mage?

DevardKrown

you can do a Necromancer to Cleric and it will work fine , but if you wanna pull out the maximum out that character i recommend Highly flipping it to a Cleric > Mage

a lvl 9 cleric gets 1d8x9 instead of 1d4x9 HP ..so roughly double. you get 5th of 7th level Spells and most cleric spells have set timers/effects and are buffs while mage spells mostly work with caster level in matters of duration/effect. and if you start out of BG1 the cleric is going to have a way easier time than a mage. (not to mention 3 Wisdom books granting a crapload of bonus spells/day)

also the really good mage items like Amulet of Power/Robe of Vecna who reduce cast-time come in BG2, at which point you can easy compensate for your lost Plate armor AC with ghost armor.
and lastly the high level mage spells will throw shade on the high level cleric spells.

Moonheart

A Mage/Cleric multiclass with the Robe of Vecna in a 3 or less party is the most utterly overpowered character ever.
As soon you get your first HLA, you can just cast about 80 spells in a single round.

Pteran

If you can use EEKeeper just add the Necromancer kit yourself. All the perks with none of the hassle or drawbacks of a dual. Multi is definitely the way to go with this class.

Mandragora

i guess necro/cleric will only be lore-wise
Gonna go for dual class half-elf. I was playing around with Aerie and found out about sequencers and divine spells, everyone will be doomed..
Thanks for replies !