Multi Class or Straight Mage

Valferys

I have a level 8 (soon to be 9) pure mage, getting close to finishing BG and moving into SoD (for the first time!!) and BG2... Considering multi classing to Mage / Cleric but not sure if its worth doing. I kinda want to try to avoid Aerie in BG2 (she kinda annoys me quite a bit) and was thinking to make my main character a good replacement for her, and maybe drop Jaheria for a better healer (if main cannot cover her role too)

When should I multi class? Or should I even bother?

Kurumi

You can't multi-class at later levels (you can choose it at character creation only) and I wouldn't recommend to dual a mage with a cleric. Keep your mage as it is or create a multi-class Mage/Cleric from scratch & do a restart *^_^* !!!

Valferys

I meant dual not multi, my bad... Thanks for the response, I don't want to restart at this point, so I will keep my pure mage...

Quartz

As a general rule, it's considered unwise to dual away from any spellcasting class. (The exception, of course, being Ranger->Cleric, but the Ranger is hardly a spellcaster anyway)

BGII has some very good divine casters anyhow. Jaheira does it well, and she's an excellent tank. Cernd has lackluster physical abilities, but makes for an excellent exclusively-healer kinda guy. Viconia is an awesome single-class cleric, and can tank decently thanks to her low AC (but her constitution leaves much to be desired). Anomen is a Fighter(7)->Cleric dual, which makes him a solid warrior who now focuses on improved divine casting (unlike a Fighter/Cleric multi-class, who will be forever divided in his/her focus). His wisdom leaves something to be desired, but it can be raised significantly upon completion of his questline.

JumboWheat01

Mage/Cleric is one of the few combos that I never recommend dualing, multi works with it much better as you can keep improving BOTH spell casting powers to very tasty levels. Stay as a mage.

billbisco

You really should have gone Cleric-> Mage. You would get the extra hit points and be able to overtake your Cleric levels quickly. If you go Mage -> Cleric at this point you won't benefit from the increased HP.

I would suggest you shadowkeeper yourself as starting out as a Cleric or restart or just stay as a Mage.

Gallenger

I would just stay straight mage - mainly because BG2 has plenty of clerics for all alignment types, but very few straight mages.

Abi_Dalzim

I wondered if a specialist mage dual-classing to cleric might be interesting to take advantage of the saving throw penalties with Cleric spells as well, so Enchanter or Invoker would probably be ideal for those jobs. Probably not worth it, but potentially interesting.

DJKajuru

Abi_Dalzim said:

I wondered if a specialist mage dual-classing to cleric might be interesting to take advantage of the saving throw penalties with Cleric spells as well, so Enchanter or Invoker would probably be ideal for those jobs. Probably not worth it, but potentially interesting.

You could dual a level 2 specialist for the saving throw modifiers and access to wands , then move on with your cleric life.