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Can I Dual Class Sarevok Fighter -> Mage After Completionist Run of SoA?

ConwanConwan Member Posts: 39
in Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition
I'm interested in making him a Fighter -> Mage, but since I intend to do a full completionist playthrough this time (and actually start ToB) I have no idea how much xp he'll get if you recruit him with Charname having 3,5m+ xp.

I've read that you recruit him at lvl 17, so does that mean he'll 'only' get 2,25m xp regardless of how much xp you have? Or will he get extra xp added if he joins like the other companions?

And perhaps a second question, but can you ignore this xp and just dual class immediately without leveling him up first?

Comments

  • WatchForWolvesWatchForWolves Member Posts: 183
    edited May 2022
    From what I understand he will be level 17(because that's his base level) but with 2,700,000 XP which will allow him to immediately level up to 18 and be only 50,000 XP away from 19.

    Normal NPCs summoned in ToB scale only up to 2,500,000 XP. Sarevok just gets special treatment.
    And perhaps a second question, but can you ignore this xp and just dual class immediately without leveling him up first?

    Yes although you will lose his extra XP that way.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,829
    As for what it'll be like after a completionist playthrough? He'll definitely be behind your party in total XP. Quite possibly by a lot. I've had full parties (in modded games) that could reach the XP cap in SoA, and even when I don't go that far in exploiting scroll XP I still end up at well over 4 million XP each by the end of SoA.

    The "catch up" XP triggers are only present in BGEE and SoA. Up to 32K XP in BGEE, up to 1.25 million in SoA. Once ToB comes around, all you get is the initial XP of 2.5 million (or 2.7 million in Sarevok's case).
  • jsavingjsaving Member Posts: 1,083
    I'd add that it takes a LONG time for Sarevok to regain his fighter abilities after dualing to mage. And remember that his unique vorpal ability is considered part of his fighter kit, so you'll lose that for almost the entirety of ToB. Not worth it in my view, though YMMV.
  • StummvonBordwehrStummvonBordwehr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 1,351
    One way of reducing the down time, is climbing the eastern wall in Saradush. There are respawning Fore Giants, who yield 8.000 xp.

    With a returning dagger you and autopause off, you could see what happened in a couple of hours. You might get hit by a foreball once in a while, so some regeneration and fire resistance is a good idea.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    another way to catch up in xp for Sarevok if you plan to do this, is if you can rush to the fourth level of watcher's keep and once you finish that level off you can input random combos in the machine of the lum the mad

    although there are far more negative combos than good ones, but some of them aren't all that bad ( mostly just damage like poison, fire or electric ) or 10 levels of level drain or imprisonment which in theory can all be healed/ countered / fixed ( or the good ol' reload button )

    the only real bad option is the permanent decrease in DEX and i think there might be an INT one as well, but not sure....

    but anyhow, you will eventually find out that casting enough protection spells of the appropriate type/ wearing items of the appropriate type will make him either immune or not take as much dam/ effects from the machine

    so with that being said, there are 2 good results;

    one is that it gives you x1 potion of superior healing

    or

    the character that selected the machine gains 100 000 XP immediately

    so if good ol' Sarevok is behind 1000 000 XP all you need is the 100 000 XP result 10 times and now he is up to snuff with the rest of your party


    or.........


    you could always just use the handy dandy console to "adjust" his XP to your liking... ;)
  • KhyronKhyron Member Posts: 627
    sarevok57 wrote: »
    so if good ol' Sarevok is behind 1000 000 XP all you need is the 100 000 XP result 10 times and now he is up to snuff with the rest of your party
    )

    That's infinitely repeatable...? :open_mouth:
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,829
    Yes. Ten random effects which can come up repeatedly. In order of how they're listed in the dialogue file:
    - Imprisonment
    - 50 fire damage
    - Flesh to Stone (no save, no MR)
    - Create a potion of superior healing
    - Lose 1 Int, permanently
    - 75 electric damage
    - Gain 100K XP
    - 1/sec poison for ten rounds
    - Drain 15 levels
    - Lose 1 Dex, permanently

    Most of these are terrible. Some of them are unavoidably terrible. Hitting random buttons is a very bad idea unless you're save-scumming it.

    If you want a ton of XP without the risk ... get a lot of gold in SoA, buy an enormous number of Freedom scrolls from Ribald, and stash them in a Watcher's Keep chest until you're ready to pick them up and use them in ToB. 2000 of those scrolls is 3 million XP for everyone in a six-person party, and that's quite manageable even without the infinite-gold exploits because Freedom scrolls are so cheap compared to other high-level scrolls.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    jmerry wrote: »
    Yes. Ten random effects which can come up repeatedly. In order of how they're listed in the dialogue file:
    - Imprisonment
    - 50 fire damage
    - Flesh to Stone (no save, no MR)
    - Create a potion of superior healing
    - Lose 1 Int, permanently
    - 75 electric damage
    - Gain 100K XP
    - 1/sec poison for ten rounds
    - Drain 15 levels
    - Lose 1 Dex, permanently

    Most of these are terrible. Some of them are unavoidably terrible. Hitting random buttons is a very bad idea unless you're save-scumming it.

    If you want a ton of XP without the risk ... get a lot of gold in SoA, buy an enormous number of Freedom scrolls from Ribald, and stash them in a Watcher's Keep chest until you're ready to pick them up and use them in ToB. 2000 of those scrolls is 3 million XP for everyone in a six-person party, and that's quite manageable even without the infinite-gold exploits because Freedom scrolls are so cheap compared to other high-level scrolls.

    ribald only has one freedom scroll in my game, so how are you getting so many? and he only has the one in his special wares, are you using a mod that gives him more? because in the base game he only has the one
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,525
    edited May 2022
    TBH, I would go with @sarevok57 ’s suggestion to just use the console and give Sarevok whatever amount of XP suits your needs. Sure, there might be exploits that let you achieve the same result “legitimately” (insofar as you consider exploits to be legitimate), but you’d be spending time and effort on menial, tedious grinding which I don’t think is what you’re playing the game for.

    If you want to play with a specific Sarevok build, who’s to stop you from doing so? It’s a single player game; you should play it however is enjoyable.
  • StummvonBordwehrStummvonBordwehr Member, Mobile Tester Posts: 1,351
    Yes. The console is the answer - your ingame excuses (if you really need it) for giving can be found in the above.

    As stated it is a single player game. You are not cheating anybody
  • SelerelSelerel Member Posts: 172
    I can't answer about mage specifically, but here's some tangential insight from when I dualed Sarevok to a THIEF initially, at level 17 with 2.25m xp...

    Note: I used no xp-farming tactics, no scroll-scribing, nothing metagamey at all. Just played in a natural, roleplay-heavy way in a 4-person party (incl all levels of WK). So this post might not be relevant to the previous couple of responses.

    But I think the main key is, playing this way with a thief, you won't get HLAs until like the later Abazigal/Sendai era, since the dual class still needs to hit 3m xp before you can start taking them. I really want UAI for Sarevok, but if I'm lucky I'll have it during the final Ravager and Amelyssan fights. Now I definitely don't maximize xp when I play, but this has been what I've seen.

    SOOOO in your case....Translating into a Mage...that 3m xp level is where you'll be getting those level 9 HLA spells, which coincidentally is also when you'll get the Fighter skills back. So really the whole point of doing it. So my verdict is it's going to be very, very late unless you do something metagamey as described above to get huge chunks of XP.



  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,829
    sarevok57 wrote: »
    ribald only has one freedom scroll in my game, so how are you getting so many? and he only has the one in his special wares, are you using a mod that gives him more? because in the base game he only has the one

    That store item has the "infinite supply" flag set, like many merchants have for basic nonmagical item. Just enter whatever number you want, and he'll sell you that many if you have the gold.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    jmerry wrote: »
    sarevok57 wrote: »
    ribald only has one freedom scroll in my game, so how are you getting so many? and he only has the one in his special wares, are you using a mod that gives him more? because in the base game he only has the one

    That store item has the "infinite supply" flag set, like many merchants have for basic nonmagical item. Just enter whatever number you want, and he'll sell you that many if you have the gold.

    interesting, never noticed, the more you know
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