Leveling Up/Dual Classing with Unsecured Party Member

Squanchy69

I just completed the theives guild quest where i reported to Renal after killing Mae'Var and hit lvl 9 where I plan to dual class berserker to mage. I haven't secured Korgan or Edwin yet and was planning to drop party to level up fast by learning a bunch of scrolls.

does dropping them from the party to level up prevent me from securing them as party members going forward?

If so, should I go ahead and level up and select dual class to mage and then complete their quests to secure them before dropping party to learn scrolls?

or,

can i continue gaining experience after reaching lvl 9 but without applying the points/completing the level up process so that i can be competent and do their quests as my lvl 8 berserker?

if the latter is true i was planning to keep earning the xp i would by completing their quests to secure them as a berserker (while hopefully still earning xp) and then once they are secured drop them and do the scroll xp trick.

can anybody confirm which of these is true or suggest what actions i take at this point?

Thanks
(sorry if the questions laid out are fragmented as i went back and forth how to phrase it all...i hope my question makes sense)

jmerry

When you dual class, your XP in the new class is reset to zero no matter what. Any experience over the minimum required to reach your level in the previous class is wasted.

Neither Edwin nor Korgan have any quest requirements for coming back if dismissed; they don't need to be "secured". If you confirm dismissing Korgan on that initial "Did you really want to dump me?" dialogue, he'll require a bribe to come back, but that's all. Do your scribing quick enough, and you won't even have to worry about this.

Squanchy69

will dropping jaheira ruin romance potential when i do this? if so, will it hurt my xp gain too much if i keep her with me when i learn scrolls?

Thanks

jmerry

Allowing Jaheira to fully leave will kill the romance. And if she's far enough along in the Harper plot, she'll leave forever. Dropping her for ten seconds while you scribe, only to reclaim her at her "Did you really mean that?" dialogue, is fine.

The experience gained scribing works like kill XP, and is evenly shared among party members. If all you care about is the protagonist's new class XP, one party member (protag only) is twice as efficient as two, two is 50% more efficient than three, and so on.