Skip to content

Which type of magic is more useful in IWD?

TheRaven476TheRaven476 Member Posts: 44
in Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
So I've got my party mostly decided down to the last spot. I'm just trying to decide which school I want as my "1.5". I've got a primary divine caster in a druid, and a primary arcane caster in a sorcerer. But need to decide what to multi class my thief into.

My party is:

Undead Hunter
Dwarf Defender
Archer
Druid
Sorcerer
Thief/?????????????????

So what should it be? Should I multi class the thief into a cleric or a mage? Which spell set would provide the most utility? I was thinking mage at first because paladins get a little bit of divine, but I'm really wondering if I want even more divine spells with a multi cleric.

Any help is appreciated! Thank you.

Comments

  • artificial_sunlightartificial_sunlight Member Posts: 601
    You could go evil cleric to get alignment resticted spells (like Harm) that are not useable by you Pally.
  • KoyoteKoyote Member Posts: 89
    You could try a half-orc assassin instead of multiclassing. He'd certainly wouldn't be a slouch in combat. Conventional wisdom says you multiclass thief with fighter to take advantage of sneak attack, but since you don't have a bard I'd do cleric/thief.
  • TheRaven476TheRaven476 Member Posts: 44
    Yeah I was thinking of doing the standard fighter multiclass, but when I saw I already had 3 combat focused characters in my Defender/Undead Hunter/Archer I thought more magic would be advisable.

    Can you get alignment cleric kits with multi class?

    If this was BG I'd probably need to go arcane since the game devolves into "More magic piercing!", but it sounds like I'd be better off with more divine kits in Icewind dale.
  • PibaroPibaro Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 2,989
    Multi thief/mage
    Your only arcane caster is a sorcerer.
    You need someone to be able to cast those arcane spells your sorcerer won't ever be able to know, and there're too few scrools to rely on them.
    In IWDEE there are tons of arcane spells, and a sorcerer can learn not more than 5 spells per level.
  • KoyoteKoyote Member Posts: 89
    I'm pretty sure you can't take a cleric kit when multiclassing. IWD involves a lot of grinding against large numbers of enemies. Melee power and healing are a lot more valuable and essential than in BG. That said, you can always take whatever you want and if you get stuck just export your party and start over again. Part of the charm of IWD is walking into it blind and going "good lord this game is hard". Gives you a real sense of accomplishment when you finally beat it.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,315
    Hehe, somehow I read the title as "which kind of music is more useful in iwd"

    Anyways I'd go with a mage/thief. The druid will give you access to a lot of healing spells. Not as much as a cleric (including no resurrection) but it will be enough. A mage on the otherhand would give you access to any mage spell you don't have the opportunity to pick with the sorcerer.
  • TheRaven476TheRaven476 Member Posts: 44
    If I change my sorcerer to just a mage would that sway the preferred dual class to be cleric?
  • artificial_sunlightartificial_sunlight Member Posts: 601
    The question is : has a neutral cleric acces to all cleric spells?
  • RAM021RAM021 Member Posts: 403
    artificial_sunlight said:

    The question is : has a neutral cleric acces to all cleric spells?

    No - Neutral misses out on Evil & Good only spells.
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    Pibaro said:

    Multi thief/mage
    Your only arcane caster is a sorcerer.
    You need someone to be able to cast those arcane spells your sorcerer won't ever be able to know, and there're too few scrools to rely on them.
    In IWDEE there are tons of arcane spells, and a sorcerer can learn not more than 5 spells per level.

    You don't need to be able to cast all (or even any) of them though.
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    RAM021 said:

    artificial_sunlight said:

    The question is : has a neutral cleric acces to all cleric spells?

    No - Neutral misses out on Evil & Good only spells.
    There are also a couple of lawful only and chaotic only spells.
  • FardragonFardragon Member Posts: 4,511
    You can multiclass OUT of a cleric kit.
  • PibaroPibaro Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 2,989
    Fardragon said:

    Pibaro said:

    Multi thief/mage
    Your only arcane caster is a sorcerer.
    You need someone to be able to cast those arcane spells your sorcerer won't ever be able to know, and there're too few scrools to rely on them.
    In IWDEE there are tons of arcane spells, and a sorcerer can learn not more than 5 spells per level.

    You don't need to be able to cast all (or even any) of them though.
    You don't need to cast all spells, that's true, but surely being abel to cast more than 5 spells per level is useful and funny.
  • ZyzzogetonZyzzogeton Member Posts: 526
    If it's your first time playing you really shouldn't be brining a Sorcerer along unless you have more than two Arcane casters (and only because of a possible scroll shortage). There's a lot of fluff in the IWD spellbooks so it's a good idea if you at least try out each spell once to know how utterly pointless stuff like Ghoul Touch can be. And you have prior knowledge of what to expect.

    Sorcerers are extremely good casters, but only if the player picks the right 5 spells.
  • TheRaven476TheRaven476 Member Posts: 44
    Turns out my decision was made for me, I wanted to Multi-Class into cleric with my thief but you can't Cleric/Thief, elves, or even half elves. I think the only one for that exact class combo was gnome? Not sure why.... but whatever...... I took people's advice and switched my pure arcane caster to just a specialist mage and made the second character an elf mage/thief. Thanks for the feedback.
  • RAM021RAM021 Member Posts: 403
    HOrcs can be C/T along with Gnomes.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,211
    TheRaven476 said:

    Turns out my decision was made for me, I wanted to Multi-Class into cleric with my thief but you can't Cleric/Thief, elves, or even half elves. I think the only one for that exact class combo was gnome? Not sure why.... but whatever...... I took people's advice and switched my pure arcane caster to just a specialist mage and made the second character an elf mage/thief. Thanks for the feedback.

    Are you confusing multi- and dual-class perhaps? You dual "into" something, with multi-class you are two classes from the start. Note that ONLY humans can dual-class and only NON-humans can multi-class. Thief -> Cleric dual class should be possible for a human with the right stats (you need fairly high stats).

  • old_jolly2old_jolly2 Member Posts: 453
    Righteous Wrath of the Faithful
  • TheRaven476TheRaven476 Member Posts: 44
    Lord_Tansheron said:

    TheRaven476 said:

    Turns out my decision was made for me, I wanted to Multi-Class into cleric with my thief but you can't Cleric/Thief, elves, or even half elves. I think the only one for that exact class combo was gnome? Not sure why.... but whatever...... I took people's advice and switched my pure arcane caster to just a specialist mage and made the second character an elf mage/thief. Thanks for the feedback.

    Are you confusing multi- and dual-class perhaps? You dual "into" something, with multi-class you are two classes from the start. Note that ONLY humans can dual-class and only NON-humans can multi-class. Thief -> Cleric dual class should be possible for a human with the right stats (you need fairly high stats).

    Nope, I specifically wanted Multi-Class not dual class. That's why I didn't pick a human. I had a specific portrait I wanted to use (I went over the top customizing 6 perfect portraits for my party..... I'm weird), which was why I didn't want to pick something strange like a gnome of orc character model.
Sign In or Register to comment.

2024 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2024 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.