Pros and Cons of Dual-Classing my Beastmaster?

ZaramMaldovar

I'm considering Dual-Classing my Beastmaster into a Cleric (I have mods allowing me to do this) when I get to BG2 and I was pondering the pros and cons of doing this. Please help me make a decision.

TheArtisan

Your weapon selection is really bad. Like, clubs, slings and staves bad. Other than that, it’s not unplayable. You still have great hit points, stealth and all the utility clerics have to offer. The question is if it’s really worth losing access to all the best blunt weapons in the game to get some extra summon spells and a familiar when clerics can already summon anyway.

ZaramMaldovar

@AionZ
Well considering Beastmasters can't use metal weapons amyway it doesn't sound that bad.

Can I still use Bows?

TheArtisan

Noooo. What I meant was the cleric dual makes your already barren weapon choices even worse. You lose access to bows, crossbows, spears and darts. Slings and staves aren’t terrible, but the beast master doesn’t really have any synergy with the cleric over a normal ranger or even a fighter so it’s hindering yourself for no real gain.

Of course, this is all talking optimized gameplay. You can still do it and have a decently strong character. It’s just subpar.

OlvynChuru

A Beastmaster/Cleric can actually be really good. The main advantage of a Beastmaster is being able to cast Animal Summoning spells at a lower level than they would otherwise. Normally Animal Summoning III is a 6th-level spell, but Beastmasters can cast it as a 3rd-level spell! Of course, if you're just a Beastmaster you can only cast so many 3rd-level spells, but if you dual-class to Cleric, you'll be able to cast lots of 3rd-level spells, so you can cast Animal Summoning III many, many times!

However, it takes a while for Beastmasters to get Animal Summoning III, and even as a 3rd-level spell it's worse than Animate Dead.

ElysianEchoes

I remember reading somewhere that such a dual class can result in an inability to level up due to running out of potential places to put weapon proficiency pips. Proceed with caution.

ZaramMaldovar

Yeah I think I'm going to stay a full Beastmaster. At least I can use Bows.

Grond0

ElysianEchoes wrote: »

I remember reading somewhere that such a dual class can result in an inability to level up due to running out of potential places to put weapon proficiency pips. Proceed with caution.

That's not a problem in the EE.

Chronicler

Biggest Pro I'd imagine is just that you're not a Beastmaster anymore.

ZaramMaldovar

@Chronicler
I love the Beastmaster class!

Danacm

Beastmaster always needed a proper and advancing animal companion familiar. The summon animal spells are poor man's solution for that, nobod from bioware think seriously this kit if they do, just add it something uniqe and thematical. The stealth bonus, mage familiar and huge and impractical weapon and armor restrictions are just fool. Can it even use ankheg plate or dragon hide armors ?

ZaramMaldovar

@Danacm
I'm sorry if you have that opinion, but as I stated before I love this class. I briefly toyed with the idea of dual-classing and realized that was a terrible idea and while I prefer the Archer class this is still a good one.

Danacm

ZaramMaldovar wrote: »

@Danacm
I'm sorry if you have that opinion, but as I stated before I love this class. I briefly toyed with the idea of dual-classing and realized that was a terrible idea and while I prefer the Archer class this is still a good one.

No you misunderstood, i like the idea of beastmaster, a wonderful concept with awful implementing.

ZaramMaldovar

@Danacm
Ah. Well I'm not so great at reading people, especially when I've just woken up. Forgive my assumption. In any case this thread is null and void because I was playing Beastmaster for a no reload run (my most successful one so far actually) but I died in Durlag's Tower.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/75807/zaram-maldovars-ill-fated-no-reload-journey-attempt-6-tan-the-skald

lroumen

Restart it Zaram!

ZaramMaldovar

@lroumen
I appreciate your enthusiasm but if you read the setup I made at the beginning of my no reload thread you would know that I'm playing a different class with each try. I'm not abandoning my Beastmaster save file. Its still there I'm just playing a different class now. I'm focused on this no reload challenge I've set for myself but if I like a character enough I'll return to it in the future.

lroumen

Ah yes, I remember now. So ambitious