Benefits of DC over MC?
Whiteheart
Member Posts: 6
I'm certain this has been asked and answered, probably numerous times, but I didn't find the answer in my, admittedly half-hearted, search through the forums. So I shall ask again and hope someone takes pity and is willing to answer. :-)
I am gearing up for another full run through this amazing game and I had a few questions:
-1) What are the benefits of doing a dual-class character over a multiclass character? It seems to me that you loose the racial benefits, and you gimp the progression of one of your classes. Doesn't it makes more sense to have a 30/30 Half-orc Fighter/Cleric rather than a 13/30 Human Fighter->Cleric?
-2) In an opposite line of thinking is there ANY benefit at all of taking say a Kensai all the way up to level 29 then dual-classing and level as like a rogue or cleric all the way up to 30? I realize this would take a LOT of time and probably a couple play throughs but... I'm ok with that.
I am gearing up for another full run through this amazing game and I had a few questions:
-1) What are the benefits of doing a dual-class character over a multiclass character? It seems to me that you loose the racial benefits, and you gimp the progression of one of your classes. Doesn't it makes more sense to have a 30/30 Half-orc Fighter/Cleric rather than a 13/30 Human Fighter->Cleric?
-2) In an opposite line of thinking is there ANY benefit at all of taking say a Kensai all the way up to level 29 then dual-classing and level as like a rogue or cleric all the way up to 30? I realize this would take a LOT of time and probably a couple play throughs but... I'm ok with that.
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Comments
1) If dualled early (somewhere between levels 2-9), the level progression in the second class will be almost as good as with single-class characters. This matters especially with spellcasters. For example, dualled Fighter 7/Mage X could reach 8th and 9th level spells in one playthrough, but multiclassed Fighter/Mage might not (depending on party size and difficulty level).
2) Dual-classed fighters can reach grandmastery while multiclassed fighters cannot.
3) Dual-classed characters can choose a kit for the first class while multiclassed characters cannot choose kits at all. For some kits, like Kensai and their Kai ability, this makes a big difference.
And the disadvantages would be:
1) In the long run, MC characters tend usually to get more powerful than early dualled DC characters. However, I have experience only with ordinary parties, I guess solo games would be another story.
2) Sometimes the downtime between dualling and getting back the abilities of the first class can be painful, especially if the character is dualled in later levels. For example, that Kensai 29/Cleric X sounds a bit crazy unless soloing/playing small party/playing HoF.
Multiclass characters on the other hand retain their abilities from all of their classes all the time.
Addition: so, actually, dual-classed characters are usually considered to be more power-gamey since they have advantages of a single-class character (fast level progression) and also the advantages of the first class. My own view is that DC characters are fun to play since they require more planning. You could also experiment with some less usual DC options like Cleric->Mage and Cleric->Thief.
The real question is whether you would prefer a fighter7/cleric35, a fighter9/cleric34, a fighter13/cleric30, or a fighter21/cleric21? Because those characters all have the same amount of XP.
Looking at it from that point of view, the tradeoffs because clearer. With a 7/35 or 9/34, you're gaining a significant amount of martial prowess without sacrificing much turning/dispelling ability. In fact a singleclass cleric would be level 35 so in the case of the 7/35 you aren't sacrificing any clerical power at all.
Whereas a 21/21 takes a MUCH more significant hit to his clerical power in exchange for a proportionally smaller increase in melee DPS. Whether that's worthwhile depends on what you are wanting to get out of the character.
Don't care about turning/dispelling? Great, go for the 21/21. Want to maximize turning/dispelling? Go for the 7/35 or 9/34. Want to hedge your bets and be somewhere in the middle? Go for the 13/30. You just want to first think through your plan before deciding whether to dual or multi.
without mods you can only grow to level 30 in IWD
also when thinking about MC or DC you need to ask two questions basically;
what difficulty and do you have extra XP turned on
and
are you willing to play the game over and over again?
for me, i play on insane with the extra XP turned off, and after I complete all of IWD, TotLM and HoW the play through is done, i never have multiple play throughs with the same party for the sake of trying to hit level 30 in everything
so with that being said, if you just do a single play through and do all the stuff possible and without grinding you will probably hit around 3 million XP per character with a 6 person team at the end of HoW
so if you are dual classing ( lets say a fighter into something which is usually the most common ) these are the times you would get your original class back if you play with a group of 6;
level 2 - somewhere in the vale of shadows
level 7 - somewhere near the end of dragon's eye, maybe the beginning of the severed hand
level 9 - probably near the end of dorn's deep or beginning of wyrm's tooth
level 13 - somewhere in HoW usually near the end, and that can even include completing TotLM
usually for dual classing you want fighter levels, this makes it so your second class will have more HP, deal more damage, have better to hit and more APR, for example;
a level 7 fighter dual to level 30 cleric is infinitely better in every way to just a level 30 cleric
for practicality reasons if i were you i would dual either at level 7 or 9, even if you have a small team or plan on doing a million play throughs or are play HoF mode or whatever, those 7 to 9 levels of fighter will give that class some extra oomph and you will not be disappointed
another good dual class option is a swashbuckler 10 then change over to fighter, once your fighter hits level 11 ( which will probably be in wyrm's tooth ) you will have someone with some insane AC and deal some extraordinary damage and have great to hit, personally i like giving this character the throwing axe +2 because it never runs out and this character can totally tear it up in the back
with MC characters, based on a team of 6 characters and one play through, a 2 class character is going to hit maybe around 1.5 million XP per class, which is level 7 spells at best, and a 3 class character is going to hit around 1 million XP per class, which is level 6 spells at best, although starting right out of the gate you can use the abilities of both classes
but at the end of the day it doesn't really matter if you have DC or MC characters because the game it beatable with any team combo anyway
my suggestion would be, is make the characters you want to make and have fun with it, perhaps have both dual class and multi class characters in your next play through and see how it goes