Fighter 3/Mage ??

malachi151

What are thoughts on this? Is it worth it to lose specialization?

Doing this I would likely put my pips into Shortbows, Crossbows or Daggers. If I wanted to be OP I would go Berserker with Daggers, but maybe just regular Fighter with Bows is more appropriate.

Pantalion

The usual: Do whatever makes you happy applies, but:

1: You are giving up the ability to specialise your mage, losing 1 spell slot/level, and/or losing out on being a Wild Mage or Sorcerer.

2: You are gaining very little from 3 levels in Fighter. Fighter 10 can still hit max level in mage, fighter 13 gets 2 APR and level 28 mage, Fighter 3 gets... Nothing much of note. THAC0 picks the best available, so a Mage's crappy 13 THAC0 will still be 13 THAC0 with level 3 Fighter, their saves will be basic Mage saves, the only upside would be three levels of Fighter HP, which is not worth 1 spell slot/level, helmets etc, and weapon proficiency applying as a Fighter, which are also not worth 1 spell slot/level.

3: Mages are already better than Berserkers at pretty much everything. They do not need to be berserkers, and do not become more OP with Berserker levels.

dunbar

Dualing a fighter at level 9 to mage works best for me.

Re. prof points: Don't waste your early fighter pips on weapons you can pick as a mage anyway (daggers).

If you really want to do a low level dual to mage I can recommend assassin 2 to mage: You get missile weapons plus poison.

recklessheart

I think you can 100% make this work. When I did the classic Fighter-dual-Mage combination, I did it as a level 6 Fighter. The sheer breadth of functionality that it unlocks means that it is a promising combination. Namely, you'll get to use things like The Answerer, Staff of the Ram, and Daystar. The other big benefit here is, of course, that you get to play through BG1 as a Mage and you don't have much downtime for the Fighter perks to kick in. This build will likely have noticeable effect on BG1's difficulty, whilst being more of a stylistic choice in BG2 to add options to a conventional Mage build.

Consider higher STR and DEX scores to supplement your melee damage and AC. CON is less of a priority as a melee Mage relies on forms of resistance other than HP. Find Familiar will also compensate you greatly for any bonus HP from CON you would lose by neglecting it. A bit of WIS to accompany a high INT score is good if this character is likely to have the highest potential in your party for a good Lore skill. CHA is up to you depending on how magnetic you think the character would be.

ThacoBell

One could think of low level duals as makeshift kits. Opening up new equipment options and tactics with a small penalty to the main class.

malachi151

I'm thinking that even when you dual at 9, less so at 13, by ToB you really end up acting mostly as a Mage, not a Fighter.

If you dual at level 3 then you can basically be a "Fighter/Mage" through almost all of BG1.

By dualing at 3 it lets you use helms, shields, more weapons, you have a little more HP, an extra APR, but you're still basically a Mage.

I think doing Beserker/Mage like this is a bit cheesy, I mean, getting that massive Rage power. Losing out on extra spells from specialization will hurt in BG1. But by the time you get a few rings in BG2 and then level some more it doesn't matter much.

I think I'd g for straight Fighter with 2 pips in Daggers and 2 pips in Short Bows to start with one more into Daggers at 3, then put a pip into Slings when I go to Mage.

With that you can mainly use Firetooth, which is good because I often don't have a user for Firetooth other than my PC. Probably Firetooth and the +5 Sling would be the main weapons, with ability to use Shortbows prior to getting Firetooth and for opportunistic use of arrows.

DreadKhan

Its not a powerbuild in ToB, but you'll be a much better archer in BG1 than a pure mage. Fi 3 to Mage will have a period thats very strong in BG1, but will be stuck being a vanilla mage in BG2.

Berserker might not make a wizard 'stronger', but it makes the game much, much easier.

malachi151

Yeah, this is intended to be a vanilla Mage with just a bit more powerful ranged attack.

Berserker is too unbalancing for this IMO. It's kinda cheesy to just get a couple of levels to get the Rage power it seems to me. Berserker with Daggers would definitely be the most powerful way to do it though.

DevardKrown

If you start out in BG1 and don't want to be a specialist mage or Sorcerer and just want to beef up your MAGE a little then Fighter3/Mage is for you.

LvL3 Fighter/Mage
+ Strength Bonus (obsolete once you get 19 strength but good to have like ~70% of BG1)
+ 24 Bonus HP
+ Can Grandmaster up to 2 Weapons until max level and thus 1 APR extra (+1 pip for mage transition spare weapon)
+ Can wear Helmets
+ Can wear Shields
+ Can wear Armor (okay to do in low mage levels until you get more spells)
+ Super Short Dualing Phase. (just 14k xp total)
+ full spell selection.
+ Better game start (less squishy)

- Cant be a Specialist mage. and losing out on 1spell/per spell level/a day

my tip for weapon choice would be a 1 Handed throwing weapon preferable dagger , they get 2 APR and the magic ones in BG2 hit like a truck (2d4!!) and a Crushing melee as second ..hammer, mace or flail/morningstar to smack piercing immune enemy's. this way you can still use shields for the AC and other bonuses they might add.

for the short mage transition you have one pip for darts or sling , darts chug more try's to hit stuff down the road.



if you start in BG2 you are already a lvl7 fighter and get 1/2 bonus APR from that , you can then arguably Dual right away at 7 , at 9 for max HP or if you want to play your mage more as a front line melee fighter at 13.