Personally, I agreee about the Mages being the best class.
A high priest or Grand druid can compete, but that is about it.

Personally, I dual-class from a fighter if I can - because then, the mage at low levels has planty of hit points, correcting the largest deficit of mages.

In SoA I dual classed my fighter I brought in from winning BG & now have a L11 mage/L9 fighter - with 135 HP & a base THACO of 12. I actually planned to dual-class, but the level limits in BG were so low, after I got SoA I decided to wait. Oh, but I miss my cloak of balduran http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/frown.gif

Ye, IF the wizard dies. I have never suceeded in killing an unhramed wizard with ONE backstab (ofcourse, I have not played thief that much). Så if the wizard have a chaincontegnecy, you are still dead

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We call him Bobby Corwen
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It's do able.

Admittedly its harder with player wizards because a lot of players mx their hit points each level and give their mages 16 con so you have to do at least 70 damage in a single hit. But that is where the poison damage comes in.

A high level thief will have a backstab damage modifier of x7 or so, will be using a +3 or +4 weapon at least and will also get his strength damage bonus (if he has 15 or better str)

Normal mages at 30/40 level will have about 50 hit points-the thief will only need to get 7 or 8 or better on his damage (including magical damage) to kill the mage outright.(The mage dies about 50 per cent of the time if the thief has a short sword, about 75 per cent of the time if he's using a bastard sword or a long sword. The percentage is higher if the thief has 15 or better strength)

I tend to dual class fighter mages so they don't die if they get backstabbed incidently, but there are very few mages in BG2 that cannot be backstabbed to death before their contingencies come online.)

Assassins is the best class. In my oppinion. Both fun and useful. No mage has yet survived my poisoned little blade (Celestial Fury - Of course!)

Question: How did all of you solo mages fare in the underdark against the Illithid and Drow? You'd need an awful lot of summoning spells and lower resistances by my reckoning......



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Any Solo Mage is DEAD MEAT, unless he/she has max level and keeps away from all larger groups of enemies and those with magic resistance/damn good saving throws, thieves will backstab, fighters will use magical weapons which will bypass many of the protection spells, mages will remove protection spells, clerics will remove protection and bash with magical maces and flails, druids will use summoning and magical scimitars, monsters will use combinations of these various tactics, but here is the invincible mage: Sorcerer aided by one or two fighters, a thief, a cleric and maybe a psionic, nothing beats it, here is how this little group will defeat Drow and Illithids, while a solo Mage will be dead meat:

Drow: Death Spell, how many Drow have over 8 HD? Not many of those in the Underdark, besides, a Sorcerer would be foolish to enter the Underdark without his Warrior friends.

Illithid: My thief friends helped me there, and so did my druid friend with her summoning.

everyone assumes the that you'll stick around to fight the mage, how often do you do that with a lich? Run away, run away bravely etc. Also what do mages do about traps, knock, yep theres a trap.... hmmm.... well.... hmm.... oh dear...., I dunno this whole argument seems daft...

backstabing a mage?? no mage with half a brain would walk through potentially hostile invironment without a stoneskin http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif and unlike other protection spells Stoneskin lasts for hours.
there are also the Gargoyle boots that give imunity to backstab...

I've run several characters but my 9Kensai-23mage is by far the best. Decent fighting abilities with incredible spell potential. Time stop coupled with the Kiai and Soul Reaver absolutely wreak havoc.

I disagree with a lot of posters, though, in that I can't stand Tensers Transformation- you lose a lot of flexibility in casting it. I'd rather have lesser fighting abilities and still be able to cast spells when needed.

Just my two copper.

Thsi si going to turn into another Magic vs Melee deebate isn't it *sigh*, well don't mind me if I watch from afar with knives drawn (or robe sleeves rolled back depending on what you think is more dangerous).