4 archetypes in 2 characters

JoenSo

So I was thinking about making a concept run through BG or IWD with the four fantasy archetypes: warrior, priest, mage and rogue. But with only two player characters, using multiclasses to cover all archetypes.

I'll probably not have time for this run, but how would you go about it? Fighter/mage and cleric/thief for mirror image fighting and backstaffing? Fighter/cleric and mage/thief for buffs and armor? Fighter/mage/thief and single cleric? So many combinations!

Chad

I would personally go Fighter/Cleric and Mage/Thief, allowing the F/C to act as tank while M/T handles crowd control and blasting. While F/M might be the 'better' build, the Cleric/Thief would not have as many options in melee. limited to slings as range weapons and very little in the way of group debuffs until 5th level spells for greater command.

The F/C can focus on buffs such as Armor of Faith and DUHM even at lower levels while the M/T can use spells like sleep, glitterdust and web while using a short bow to help with damage.

Edit: That said, F/M and C/T are still both great classes so either way can work, I just think F/C and M/T would be able to get through more encounters without resting.

Grum

Human Thief (assassin)>Mage

Get just enough skill points for 100 in find traps and open locks. Use magic for sneaking and detecting illusions. Thematically a really cool character.

Dwarf Fighter/Cleric (always a favorite) or Human Fighter (Berserker)->Cleric.

The human paths maximize spel potential. Both can 'tank' as the mage has spell protections and the fighter/cleric is naturally tanky. Both are full of useful spells and summons.

CrevsDaak

I'm going to suggest Priest of Lathander->Fighter (PoL's innate is broken on Fighters, and the kit is very good for early BG2 and all of BG1) and Swashbuckler->Mage (here is why that one is a good dual class in BG2), since a duo doesn't have a high demand for Divine spellcasting and you'll already have good melee damage from the Swashbuckler early on, you don't really have a reason to sacrifice Fighter HLAs for more Cleric spells you can save by correctly micromanaging your spells (which sucks but oh well), and you'll have a lot of high level Mage spells which are crucial unlike Cleric spells.

dunbar

I would definitely go with assassin>mage and I like the idea of berserker>cleric.

gorgonzola

F/T and M/C
with only 2 people in the party each class get XP at 1.5x rate than a single class in a party of 6, so they grow fast. You will have a rogue that can fight like a real fighter, a lot of backstabs, and later with UAI for the pally sword (that can be useful with its dispell even if he probably will be DW most of the time), and you will have the ultimate caster of the game, that can mix the magics is the sequencers and contingiences, and that can also buff himself to tank and to do some good physical damage, with 25 STR and a sling or DW FoA and DoE or a good mace. once a day the F/T can use the helm to have his simulacrum doubling his mlee/backstab damage and late game, but not too late the M/C can cast a simulacrum to help him mlee and tanking (buffed in a way that no one can touch him) and then PI to unleash all his magic.
The F/T at high levels can benefit from the ring the M/C gets to grind one more STR point on top of the best belt and some thief HLAs will improve his survavibility.

There are also some cons, the main is that you can cast only 1 spell round and having only 1 spellcaster slows down the things, but the backstabs can offset this.
Is a good party if you like to use rogue tactics and clever magic more than raw power.

Gallowglass

Every combination of the four archetypes into two characters is undoubtedly playable, and the choice is really dependent upon your own playing style, so of course there's not going to be a universal "right" answer.

I'm very unlikely ever to try this myself, since I prefer to recruit NPCs for the banter rather than run custom parties - it feels much more immersive to me that way. However, if I were going to do such a run, then I'd probably go with F/T + C/M ... although if I wanted to do something more complex, then I might also be tempted to go along with @CrevsDaak's suggestion of PL->F + Sw->M.

Francois

A F/M/C and a bard, because anything else would be too easy. Replace the bard with a vanilla thief if we want someone who can remove traps.

gorgonzola

Francois said:

A F/M/C and a bard, because anything else would be too easy.

With a bard that level up at 3x speed and get very early the enhanced song, that he can use while attacking, and a F/M/C that level up at regular single class speed in each class, with the buffs that he have and the song bonus on top I think that it would be as easy as the others. Before that point they have still a lot of power.

FinneousPJ

FMT + F(M)C should be the most powerful

gorgonzola

You loose lev9 arcane spells, but with a FMT and a FMC they are not really needed.
I agree.