Character presentation - the Cleric/Mage
MWO
Member Posts: 214
I thought there were alittlebit too few discussions on the forums about the characters you are playing in the Baldur's Gate series (EE). Therefore, I'd like to present mine - perhaps it might help future generations when deciding which character they will play. I'd also like to point out that I am roleplaying through and through and are not powergaming whatsoever. I also have all the addons added by SCS, insane difficulty etc. I've changed his avatar to that of an half-elven/elven mage, instead of that of a half-elven/elven cleric, with Shadowkeeper.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Let me present Gaius, or Gaius the Wise as some of you might know him. Or as he calls himself, Gaius the Scholar of Candlekeep. Gaius was inspired by his foster father's knowledge of the magical arts and made especially productive use of his library home. He have learnt as much as he can as he pored over the vast treasury of magical lore and holy books. The strength and power of faith inspired him and from this he came to worship the God of Azuth, the Lord of Spells. Gorion instructed him in the basics of the Art, while the Avowed graciously fielded his many questions and taught him much about the clergy. Gaius know, however, that experience could teach him so much more, and he yearn to travel the Sword Coast in search for knowledge and wisdom.
A cleric/mage is a spellcaster through and through. As such, this character is in dire need of martial protection. Since I'm roleplaying I'm not using shields and helmets (spellcasters should get spellcasting failure from this!), but are instead using more magelike weapons such as staffs, slings or ceremonial maces.
The cleric/mage has a vast amount of spells compared to any other mage class in the game. This opens up many interesting strategies in the game. As a cleric you have access to many good spells early on such as command, hold person and silence among with the other protective spells. This opens up the possibility to use damaging spells or crowd controlling spells through your magebook, which on a low level caster mostly consists of sleep, blindness, spook, web, stinking clouds and/or glitterdust. The cleric spells complements the mages' spellbook.
The cleric/mage is as good as the gnomish cleric/illusionist since you'll have plentiful of cleric spells along with your wizardbook. Remember to use damaging spells such as Holy Smite and Flame Strike along with mindcontroll such as Mental Domination and Hold Person. You'll also be able to summon powerful Aerial Servants from the plane of air. Summoning the undead will likely not be as effectful as that of a singleclassed cleric, but when you reach level 11 and above they start smashing (especially if hasted and otherwise buffed). This let you use your mage spells more inclined to protection and the various removal spells along with the otherwise awsome magespells of course.
At later levels, the gnome cleric/illusionist will have an advantage of getting 1 extra mage spell per level (level 7-9 mage spells are very powerful!) which of course is slightly better than the half-elven variant. However, I find it more interesting using necromancy spells (e.g. skull trap, death spell and ABHW) aswell as playing as a half-elf for roleplaying purposes since I never play of good alignment. For me the gnomish Pantheon is just too limited and I don't like the gnomish Gods that much. I could argue for a netural good gnome of Baravar Cloakshadow though, but then again, I would have to play good.
Lastly, the cleric/mage opens up many interesting party combination since you're both a mage and a cleric. Being multiclassed slows your leveling progression somewhat, but clericwise this is more than enough depending on your playstyle. I do recommend having more mages in the party.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Let me present Gaius, or Gaius the Wise as some of you might know him. Or as he calls himself, Gaius the Scholar of Candlekeep. Gaius was inspired by his foster father's knowledge of the magical arts and made especially productive use of his library home. He have learnt as much as he can as he pored over the vast treasury of magical lore and holy books. The strength and power of faith inspired him and from this he came to worship the God of Azuth, the Lord of Spells. Gorion instructed him in the basics of the Art, while the Avowed graciously fielded his many questions and taught him much about the clergy. Gaius know, however, that experience could teach him so much more, and he yearn to travel the Sword Coast in search for knowledge and wisdom.
A cleric/mage is a spellcaster through and through. As such, this character is in dire need of martial protection. Since I'm roleplaying I'm not using shields and helmets (spellcasters should get spellcasting failure from this!), but are instead using more magelike weapons such as staffs, slings or ceremonial maces.
The cleric/mage has a vast amount of spells compared to any other mage class in the game. This opens up many interesting strategies in the game. As a cleric you have access to many good spells early on such as command, hold person and silence among with the other protective spells. This opens up the possibility to use damaging spells or crowd controlling spells through your magebook, which on a low level caster mostly consists of sleep, blindness, spook, web, stinking clouds and/or glitterdust. The cleric spells complements the mages' spellbook.
The cleric/mage is as good as the gnomish cleric/illusionist since you'll have plentiful of cleric spells along with your wizardbook. Remember to use damaging spells such as Holy Smite and Flame Strike along with mindcontroll such as Mental Domination and Hold Person. You'll also be able to summon powerful Aerial Servants from the plane of air. Summoning the undead will likely not be as effectful as that of a singleclassed cleric, but when you reach level 11 and above they start smashing (especially if hasted and otherwise buffed). This let you use your mage spells more inclined to protection and the various removal spells along with the otherwise awsome magespells of course.
At later levels, the gnome cleric/illusionist will have an advantage of getting 1 extra mage spell per level (level 7-9 mage spells are very powerful!) which of course is slightly better than the half-elven variant. However, I find it more interesting using necromancy spells (e.g. skull trap, death spell and ABHW) aswell as playing as a half-elf for roleplaying purposes since I never play of good alignment. For me the gnomish Pantheon is just too limited and I don't like the gnomish Gods that much. I could argue for a netural good gnome of Baravar Cloakshadow though, but then again, I would have to play good.
Lastly, the cleric/mage opens up many interesting party combination since you're both a mage and a cleric. Being multiclassed slows your leveling progression somewhat, but clericwise this is more than enough depending on your playstyle. I do recommend having more mages in the party.
6
Comments
You start BG1 with Heal spells which helps alot and the ability to summon a Familiar, I focus on Sling and Warhammer + Shield for ages as they are easy magic weapons to get and just support the party, than you get 3rd LVL spells like Holy Smite, Skull Trap than Stoneskin & Sequencers that can use Cleric spells = Instant Heal on target than when you get to LVL 18 Wizard you combine Contingency and Heal to emergency full heal yourself and my personal favourite Spell Sequencer + 3 Holy Smite's vs Evil...very nice.
Holy Smite does 1d4 magic damage per Caster LVL, which is small at first but 3 at once against a group of demon's can be very delicious.
I agree the extra spell slots of the Gnome would be better but loosing Skull Trap alone is bad enough for me but Horrid Wilting too, 9 extra spells per day vs using Death Magic...?.
Creating this Character will need good stats, obviously 18 WIS for the extra spell slots, you can get away with lower Intelligence but I don't go below 16, DEX 18 for the AC and Sling AB, 14 CON than get +1 from Tome and Machine, STR you can compensate with LVL 2 STR spell to set 18/50 until you get Items to compensate.
Having higher LVL Mage spells to protect you from damage on the frontline is invaluable during those big fights and having you and perhaps Jaheira curing and healing greatly increases the time your fighter can stay on the frontline and having Khalid or Minsc with you means you need alot of heals ready.
Khalid is pretty average and needs alot of support but he'll do.