Is it worth it for a Kensai/Thief to wait to get high-level fighter abilities?
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I know that level 13 is the highest level that gives bonuses to the number of attacks you can have and the hit-point increases stop there also but should I wait to get some of the High-Level fighter abilities before Dual-Classing to a Thief?
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There are a few places where Hardiness becomes quite useful (and Stoneskin from scroll is useless because No Magic), but they're few and far between. I haven't tried it, but I expect Armor (UAI) and health potions can make up the difference.
EDIT: Oh, I should say: There may be an argument for waiting until F17 just to maximize saving throws from the Fighter class.
i am considering a bg2 run only as this is the bg2 sub forum, but what i tell is also somehow true for a complete run starting in candlekeep.
a kensai that has the level to get hla has also a very relevant dmg and thac0 bonus, but until he gets uai as thief is a glass cannon, at least in the case of dualing to mage he can use the robes (arch mage or vecna) to get some AC. his final thac0 will be very good, as will be the one of a fighter + kensai bonus, while dualing earlier is sub optimal, even at 13 he has only 8 natural thac0 + 3 from the kit so 5 total, while a plain fighter or a multi FT has 0.
in a small party that level up fast and even better if quest mods are used to get more xp he can be fully developed eariler, but he needs at minimum 6M xp, 3M to get the first fighter HLA (and is it worth to go trough the challenge of using a glass cannon for a single gww or hardness?), then 3M as thief to get uai.
in that small party and used with a returning dagger for the initial kensai only phase and when he has completed the dual but is not still at 3M thief xp, can be an useful ranged support.
getting only 1 fighter hla he complete the dual at 5.42M, so it is not fast.
i find that the kai is not so powerful for a kensai or K->T, to roll 8 automatically or 1d8 so an average of 4.5 makes little difference, as late game the bulk of the damage comes from str, the weapon enchantment level and other factors like the weapon proficiency and items. kai is useful when stabbing, but stabbing is not so important and game changer in end game.
i find much more relevant the kai of a kensage, that can roll 40 every time if shapeshifted in golem, or the same ability of a CM using RM, the same is true if BBOD is used. but there are too few scrolls to make it relevant for a K->T without under powering the party mages.
also the party has to use a different thief until at least charname has 3M xp, then the other thief becomes redundant.
it can be done, but i would never do it, imho the disadvantages are way more then the advantages. for me the upper limit is to dual at 13, for the 1/2 apr bonus, and even so the real advantage from the kit is not worth the problems the kit generates.
the dual F->T is way less problematic at the beginning and still powerful in the end and the multi is the easiest way, that grants in end game proper fighter's thac0 and gets hla starting from 3M xp, giving access to both the pools, the multi can have uai, spike traps, hardness and every other possible hla way sooner then a very high level dual, and 1.25M xp before a lev 13 dual.