When to dual class imoen
SirFrancealot
Member Posts: 56
Ok, so Imoen has just hit level 6, she has 100 points in open locks and 85 in find traps. The question is, should I dual class her now and be stuck with her 85 traps ability, or take her up another level, get 100 in traps, then drual class at level 7 to a mage.
Imoen lvl 6 thief current exp = 20,137
Required for next level up to lvl 7 thief = 40,000
BG:EE exp cap = 161,000 (NEEDS CONFIRMATION)
Exp required to get a mage to level 6 = 40,000
Exp required to get a mage to level 7 = 60,000
Exp required to get a mage to level 8 = 90,000
So basically I need as much exp as I have thus far acquired in the game up till now just to get her up one more level. I'm at the cloakwood mine, so not far from getting into baldurs gate.
It's been a LONG time since I've played BG, and I never played any of the sword coast content. My questions are as follows:
1) Does the original thief class reactivate then the new mage class hits the SAME level or the level after? E.G: If Imoen is a lvl 6 thief and dual classes, does she need to reach level 6 or 7 as a mage for her thief abilities to reactivate?
2) Are there traps in the game that require 100 to disarm? I don't want to stuff around with potions
3) I've read in separate forums that the EXP cap for TotSC is 161,000. Does that apply to BG:EE?
4) How likely is it that you reach the exp cap ingame, in a single playthough? If not then is it likely I will reach the minimum required EXP to reactivate her thief class again, given her current level?
5) With the starts of BG2:EE, does imoen take her stats from my saved, imported game or use her default BG2 character sheet?
Any assistance greatly appreciated!
Imoen lvl 6 thief current exp = 20,137
Required for next level up to lvl 7 thief = 40,000
BG:EE exp cap = 161,000 (NEEDS CONFIRMATION)
Exp required to get a mage to level 6 = 40,000
Exp required to get a mage to level 7 = 60,000
Exp required to get a mage to level 8 = 90,000
So basically I need as much exp as I have thus far acquired in the game up till now just to get her up one more level. I'm at the cloakwood mine, so not far from getting into baldurs gate.
It's been a LONG time since I've played BG, and I never played any of the sword coast content. My questions are as follows:
1) Does the original thief class reactivate then the new mage class hits the SAME level or the level after? E.G: If Imoen is a lvl 6 thief and dual classes, does she need to reach level 6 or 7 as a mage for her thief abilities to reactivate?
2) Are there traps in the game that require 100 to disarm? I don't want to stuff around with potions
3) I've read in separate forums that the EXP cap for TotSC is 161,000. Does that apply to BG:EE?
4) How likely is it that you reach the exp cap ingame, in a single playthough? If not then is it likely I will reach the minimum required EXP to reactivate her thief class again, given her current level?
5) With the starts of BG2:EE, does imoen take her stats from my saved, imported game or use her default BG2 character sheet?
Any assistance greatly appreciated!
0
Comments
1) After.
4) I always did when playing the original game
5) That’s not been announced yet.
Btw, canon Imoen in BG2 was a Level 7 Thief.
3) 161 000 xp is the limit
2) from what Ive heard there are traps and locks that need 100, but that's it
3) yup 161k
4) from around the boards it sounds like it wont be too outlandish to hit cap
5) no idea, but I'd have to guess no.. if they did this they would have to look at importing stats from the entire user party. i.e. if you were using Edwin, Viconia, Minsc, Jaheira, etc who all appear in BG2 would all of their customization from BG1 pass into the next game? Doubtful, although that would encourage a lot of people to take better care of their party
It will be interesting to see where beamdog go with point 5, as I just left jaheria to drown in the flooded mines (replaced her with Yeslick, finally)
Min/Max:
Thief6/Mage9
Thief7/Mage8
I actually prefer Thief6/Mage9 because the max level for mage is 9 anyway. That's when you get level 5 spells, too, which is a very good thing.
To the best of my knowledge, the only traps that require over 85% find traps are in the lower levels of Durlag's Tower.
I doubt 5 since they seem to have their hands tied on what they can touch with changes to the original, and that would require basically re-writing...the entire opening dungeon, an entire chapter, and your motivations for the main story. Though I actually wouldn't mind as railroading things like they did is pretty meh...especially when you played Baldur's Gate as evil incarnate and personally chunked every good and neutral character for the lulz. (Though I'm hoping that changes, I want Yoshimo's originally intended storyline implemented. I've read some posts about it from DG about how they wanted to do things but ran out of time and cut it off where they did..the rest sounded pretty sweet.)
compare this to imowen, level 6, using a shortbow +1 with an adjusted THAC0 of only 15.... crap damage as well with only 4-9, 2 attacks per round.
Sure she could backstab, but it requires so much micromanagement, and with the mage class ends up quite happily sitting at range and with the added versatility of having arcane spells. Not classing her seems a mistake to me. I'm not really all that fussed about the lore of it, and imoen being a dual classed mage... as far as I'm concerned canon is just how I decide how to play my latest game.
Unless you're planning to import her to BG2 (which is probably not possible), dual classing her at level 2 seems to me the thing to do. You can get her trapdetection to 60% at level 2, which should suffice you until your real thief catches up for the final part of the gam.
Considering so many other viable thief guys show up right around the time it's best to dual-class her, I don't see why to not make the switch at 6. Theoretically, you should be able to pick up Coran at least to fill your thief needs in the meantime right about then and he's a pretty baller NPC in and of his own right.
It is also strong to dual her at 4 and use Shar'teel as your thief.
But BG is a single player game with fixed content. In this context, min/maxing refers to what is optimal for completing the game, and not getting the optimal stats as you reach the end credits. By dualling Imoen at 6 you have to run a small party in order to level her to 7 mage before reaching the final few zones (totsc and final battle).
Also, the difference between 5/9 and 6/9 will only be a maximum of 1 hp, 1 thaco and 25 stealth. Not worth slowing down your progress for, assuming that you have to run without coran or without a trapsmith until Imoen's trap skills unlock.
The "canon" Imoen is 7/8, so I like to do that when I run a "canon" playthrough. 6/9 is a more powerful character from a pure damage perspective because of level 5 spells.
We make Imoen a mage because she's a better mage than the others (high dexterity and use of a shortbow), while she would be an inferior thief compared to, say, Coran. At least not much better.
If you dual class at level 7 you have a mediocre thief for the first part of the game and an unexceptional magefor the second part. Only at the very end Imoen becomes something better (even that is doubtful because of the lacking level 5 spells.
It's OK to plan ahead, but as John Lennon said about life: the game is what happens while you're busy making other plans.
If you plan to use him, I would suggest moving through the storyline quickly so you can acquire him at level 3. You can always go back to all those side quests.