Fastest Multiclass (Leveling) ?

GammaPhase

I don't know the game statistics enough. What multiclass levels the fastest? I know this has to be a two-class setup, that's about all I can figure out. My first instinct was thief plus something else, but I'm not sure.

jmerry

A table of experience requirements for leveling, up to level 30. It's easy to extrapolate past that; the additional XP required for each new level stays the same after that up to the cap, with the exception that level 40 requires at least 8 million XP (the cap).

.                                             Shaman
.     Bard    Monk            Paladin         Sorcerer
Level Thief   Cleric  Fighter Ranger  Druid   Mage
2     1.25    1.5     2       2.25    2       2.5
3     2.5     3       4       4.5     4       5
4     5       6       8       9       7.5     10
5     10      13      16      18      12.5    20
6     20      27.5    32      36      20      40
7     40      55      64      75      35      60
8     70      110     125     150     60      90
9     110     225     250     300     90      135
10    160     450     500     600     125     250
11    220     675     750     900     200     375
12    440     900     1000    1200    300     750
13    660     1125    1250    1500    750     1125
14    880     1350    1500    1800    1500    1500
15    1100    1575    1750    2100    3000    1875
16    1320    1800    2000    2400    3150    2250
17    1540    2025    2250    2700    3300    2625
18    1760    2250    2500    3000    3450    3000
19    1980    2475    2750    3300    3600    3375
20    2200    2700    3000    3600    3750    3750
21    2420    2925    3250    3900    3900    4125
22    2640    3150    3500    4200    4150    4500
23    2860    3375    3750    4500    4400    4875
24    3080    3600    4000    4800    4700    5250
25    3300    3825    4250    5100    5000    5625
26    3520    4050    4500    5400    5500    6000
27    3740    4275    4750    5700    6000    6375
28    3960    4500    5000    6000    6500    6750
29    4180    4725    5250    6300    7000    7125
30    4400    4950    5500    6600    7500    7500

Classes in the same column share the same table. Only the bottom class in each column can multiclass. Experience numbers are in thousands; that entry of "2" for a level 2 fighter means it takes 2000 XP for a fighter to reach level 2.

A multiclass character splits XP evenly between their two classes, so the way to get fast leveling is to combine two fast-leveling classes. A cleric/thief (available to half-orcs and gnomes) is fastest.

GammaPhase

Nice chart dude, thanks for taking the time to post it. I was on the right track then. For some reason I thought it would have been Fighter/Thief, but Cleric beats that! That's unexpected I thought the spell casters would have been the worst for sure.

And mostly they are. I wonder why Cleric is so cheap? They can cast in armor.

iosfrustration

My totally unresearched, and unsupported by any facts view is this.
Both Clerics and Thieves were mostly support characters in D&D2.5.
I like to imagine that the level tables were tweaked like this to make them attractive to play during group adventures. Every party needs a Thief, and a Cleric - fast leveling was probably a way to encourage pen and paper players to choose those classes and round out the party.

DenKel

iosfrustration wrote: »

My totally unresearched, and unsupported by any facts view is this.
Both Clerics and Thieves were mostly support characters in D&D2.5.
I like to imagine that the level tables were tweaked like this to make them attractive to play during group adventures. Every party needs a Thief, and a Cleric - fast leveling was probably a way to encourage pen and paper players to choose those classes and round out the party.

Makes sense for Thief. I may just suck with them, but I find a pure thief like Yoshimo to be not that useful outside of skill monkey work. I think they can be good but you have to do a lot of micromanaging.

masteraleph

Pure thieves can be frustrating because they do take some management. Keep in mind that Yoshimo is a Bounty Hunter and so he has both normal traps and Bounty Hunter special traps, and the latter can be "thrown" (targeted like a spell). Otherwise, backstabbing, if possible, is the name of the game, but yes that does require dodging around corners and such.

ithildurnew

Repeatedly one shotting unsuspecting enemies into small chunks with x4-x5 damage does have it's appeal, especially vs the very lame unmodded AI enemy mages.

Khyron

Thieves are awesome.. but if you expect it to deliver as good as an archer, fighter, or any type of "standard attack" character, do face-tanking or anything of the sort, you'll be disappointed.

However, if you do bother to use the skills they got for theft, scouting, traps and backstabs, then you have a very very potent party member.. the traps alone are entirely gamebreaking if you actually start using them.. you can blow down dragons in a single round.. (Lay traps, debuff dragon and kite into traps)

A swashbuckler on the other hand can hold it's own in just about any situation.

GammaPhase

Khyron wrote: »

the traps alone are entirely gamebreaking if you actually start using them..

Are traps effective if you don't know the game inside and out? I've never actually made it past.. probably Act 2, I'm guessing in the second game. The last thing I remember is somehow making it through a dungeon with a black (shadow?) dragon.

I'm going to do a full playthrough from BG1 though (never finished that one either). I'm determined to finish them this time, by any means necessary. I should probably start a new topic about class choice, but I think I'm going to go with either a plain fighter or fighter/thief. Being gimped on levels bothers me, so I'll probably go single class, even if it's not awesome from the powergamer perspective.

Pokota

Traps can still be helpful even if you don't know the game back-to-front - if nothing else, setting down snares before resting in wilderness areas on the off-chance you get ambushed while resting gives you an edge in that battle, and if you're in a situation where you're scouting invisibly/stealthily, you can also scout out good spots to lay traps and lure foes through.

GammaPhase

That's such an incredible tip! Never would have thought of that. Usually I just hit rest and hope to god we don't get ambushed in the middle of it.

Maurvir

The game also telegraphs most fights if you are paying attention. This doesn't always help you, especially late in BG2, but in BG1 you can often kite vulnerable enemies into your traps.

Selerel

It's funny, I always think the same thing about a single-class Yoshimo-esque thief in my party, when I carry one. Like, very boring and useless in combat, and almost like there's some feeling of it being a waste, even with the full knowledge of their non-combat utilities.

Buuuut I'm a person that generally scouts everything ahead with MS/HiS and Find Traps. So the Thief character is the one I end micromanaging the most, including listening to their little selection and command vocal clips. Again and again and again. So while they seem extraneous in combat, I got to thinking they're generally my most utilized/selected/manipulated character, and I definitely hear their voice the most...so maybe not that extraneous, even if they're a single class.

ThacoBell

In a casual playthrough, the thief is probably the parties' MVP. Just think of all the traps you'd stumble into, loot you'd NEVER get from locked chests, not mention all the missed exp for disarming either.