i'll have a go then

i've recently experienced this with my kensai(15)->thief plus Aerie duo (tactics and XP cap remover)

it's got to the point where i don't really care when i level up - aerie never seems to get any extra level 9 mage spell slots which is what would make the real difference and she's already picked all the HLAs

my kensai/thief's THACO has been static since i reactivated the kensai class - i barely use the thief HLAs and am dumping points into thief skills and vaguely worrying about taking them over 255(?) and messing them up

so yes - i feel your pain

the only thing that occurs to me is rather than think about specific characters what about party set up - what i wondered was to have a reasonable size party (4+ ?) and have them all on a planned programme of high-ish level duals - that way there might be someone that always needs the XP

Hmmm, interesting.

While you've definitely muddied the waters a bit with that XP cap removed, I do think that a 3 or 4 person party is optimal. I also think that unless you're going for the aforementioned Wizard Slayer > Thief dual, you'd probably be better off with a multiclassed character in regards to power and "putting off" those diminishing returns.

Think about it: If you calculated out your XP and switched from a Kensai 15>Thief to a multiclassed Fighter/Thief, wouldn't you be better off? Sure, you'd be limited to only ** in every proficiency (*** in TWF), but you could be stacking up a bunch of those Fighter HLA's as well, most notably Greater Whirl Wind.

I hear what you're saying about having the characters planned out as dual classers though. While I don't really agree, you could definitely have some powerful guys on your hands there.

i wasn't thinking so much maximising power as putting off the point at which you no longer care about getting XP because your characters aren't improving from them

part of my inspiration is the experience ofdualling {ToB NPC} to thief or mage - you're often not that fussed about the rest of your party progressing at that point but you sure as hell care about him doing so