How do you dual-class?
Albatr055
Member Posts: 28
I've looked online for the answer but none of the sources actually tell me how to dual-class.
How do you dual-class?
Do I need to be at a certain location to dual-class? Is it just a few clicks away? How do I do it?
How do you dual-class?
Do I need to be at a certain location to dual-class? Is it just a few clicks away? How do I do it?
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- Create a human character. Only humans can dual-class.
- Choose a class that is part of a multiclass available to some race. No paladins, monks, or sorcerers. For example, since fighter/clerics, fighter/druids, fighter/mages, and fighter/thieves all exist, a fighter can dual-class into cleric, druid, mage, or thief.
- Choose a kit. Most kits can dual-class, but a few (barbarian, wild mage) are forbidden.
- Give that character sufficiently high stats. 15 or more in the starting class's key stat, 17 or more in the second class's key stat. For example, a fighter dual-classing into thief needs at least 15 strength and 17 dexterity.
- Make sure other requirements such as alignment for the second class are met. For example, our prospective fighter-thief can be chaotic neutral but can't be lawful good.
- Play the game until the character is at least level 2. The best time to dual-class is immediately after you level up, since experience in the new class will be reset to zero no matter what.
- On the character record screen, there should be a button saying "Dual Class". Press it, and follow the steps for starting your new class.
- Continue playing until the character's level in their new class exceeds their level in their old class. They will regain their prior abilities (such as weapon proficiencies, THAC0 and saves if better than in the current class, and spellcasting) and be a fully realized dual class. They will continue to progress in their new class, maintaining those old abilities at that fixed level indefinitely.
The three most important steps are
1) Play as a human.
Under AD&D, only Humans are allowed to "dual-class," which is to sacrifice progression in Class A in order to advance in Class B. Non-humans are instead allowed to "multi-class", which splits the progression across all selected classes.
2) Have high stats.
You need 15+ in the prime stats of the class you are leaving, and 17+ in the prime stats of the class you are joining. For example, a Fighter would need 15 Strength in order to Dual Class at all, and would need 17 Intelligence in order to dual-class to a Magic-User Mage.
3) You must at least be Level 2 in your departing class.
You also need to be able to surpass your first class's level in order to get those abilities back, so be mindful of the experience cap - both classes, active or otherwise, count towards the cap, so if you're playing BG1 without Siege of Dragonspear you need to be mindful of the 161k barrier. Here's a wiki page with the experience tables for the separate classes; Kits follow the same table as their respective Trueclass (a Wizard Slayer, a Berserker, and a Kensai all have the same level boundaries). Your inactive class will backtrack to exactly the EXP needed for their level, but any excess points will be "lost" - they don't carry over to the new class.
The actual "Dual Class" menu is in the Character Record screen, just below the "Level Up" button.
Due to what are presumably engine limitations, certain classes cannot be involved in a Dual Class: Bards, Paladins, Barbarians, Shamans, Sorcerers and Monks.
While the engine does support it, there is no built-in mechanism for Dual Classing into a kit, only out of one (you can go Berserker -> Mage, but not Fighter -> Wild Mage), and due to how character data is saved I don't believe it's possible to have two kits at once (so Berserker -> Wild Mage is right out).
To my knowledge, the engine does not support taking a second Dual Class for a human triple class (so you can't go Defiler -> Psionicist -> Dragon), but that is legal in Pen and Paper AD&D
Indeed, if you have a save-editing tool you can easily force a dual class into a kit. Assign that kit to the character before dual-classing (while still in the wrong base class for it) and then dual. It ... mostly works. Some kit features, particularly for thief kits, don't work properly in the second half of a dual.
There is no way to give a character multiple kits, as there's only one slot for a kit in the character data. You can simulate it by giving the other kit's abilities, but that's all.
Oh, and another point on those stat minimums. Some potions and spells grant temporary stat boosts, and some items grant stat boosts while equipped. These do not count for meeting dual class stat requirements. Only base stats before such buffs do; if the stat is shown as white in the character record screen, it's at its base value.
AND make sure you are true neutral as well