who is the best mage (aligned good or neutral) or multiclassed mage you can find?

xan is quite good and does good damage in combat (yep even my mages wade on in with my party) with his sword but cant cast any evocation spells which means all the nice big damage ones.

dynaheir would be good but for the fact minsc comes with her and i dont want that nutter in my party

red mage in nashkel is a psycho and evil and i dont want him.

quayle in baldurs gate seemed a good choice but i dont know what armour and stuff i can give him without comprimising his abilities, as hes cleric and illusionist

there any other good mages worth hiring? (with evocation [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

Unfortunetly no, unless you'd consider taking a bard - and I wouldn't bother. If you go and get Dynaheir you don't have to have Minsc in tow. Just go to the stronghold off of your own back. Upon getting back to Nashkel, don't talk to Minsc. If you do decide to go the traditional way i.e. have Minsc "hire" you to retrieve her, you can get him killed (which is easy in BG) or leave him in a house somewhere. They only leave together if they can talk to each other.

There is one other option available.

You can dual class Imoen, she makes an excellent mage. I am not a big fan of dual classing but I did this in my last game and she is one slot but is worth two party members. If you do go this route I recommend going to level 5 as a theif without TotSC and level 6 if you have the expansion. Concentate most of your theif skills in traps and locks. Before you know it (By the time you get to the city) she will get her thief skills back and you can ditch any theives in your party. Plus you get to make your own mage the way you want the mage to be.

Good point pritchke. I answered literally, and missed this option out. Thanks for the remind. Dualling Imoen is a better idea with TotSC; as you say, the only two skills you really need are Find/Remove Traps and Open Locks. Converting at the level 6 mark (with TotSC) would still allow you to get Imoen to level 9 as a mage.

Stick with Dynaheir. To get rid of Minsc, go to a map border so you can travel. Quickly boot out Minsc, and then click the travel wheel. Travel to anyplace, and you got yourself a great Mage.

works better in a building you never plan on going into again(like somebodies house), very cheesy though

well personally id just get him killed, but i decided against dynaheir anyhows

erm with the dual classing i toyed with the idea but:

equipment wise ill lose some ac and what about my great thief eq wont that be useless till i get one level over?

my thief is lvl 8 i think, can i still do it? and will she go up fast in the dual class?

whats advantage of specialised mage over general mage?

imoen doesnt havent the wisdom or int needed for a spellcaster..... does she?

I have to disagree. I regard stealth the most important thief skill.. there is usually another option in opening doors than lockpicking, and for me, that is forcing them open. But stealth, now that is important. Boots of stealth aren´t good enough to make someone with low stealth score good just by that.. obviously, you can avoid nasty surprises if you to sneak in and check out places before rambling there with your whole party.

As for the original topic... Dynaheir is my lady. If I feel like not taking her along sometimes, then I´ll take the mage role myself because there aren´t worthy replacements if you look my tactic.

[ 10-23-2002, 07:58 AM: Message edited by: NiceWorg ]

The only thief skill that is useless in my world is pickpocket...I mean really, who puts a healthy share of their ponts into this and how silly do you feel when you get to Durlags Tower or the Catacombs of the Thieves Guild and get torn apart by traps?

pickpocket is pointless because by the time you get it high enough to steal off shopkeepers etc you already own decent eq (or should do) so its not worth it (unless you use it on drizzt and get his stuff i spose [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

and stealth is my fave skill and thats why i didnt want to dual class imoen not being able to use it till she hits level 9 would be nasty! i love my 3X backstab damage and the fact i can advance scout enemies so no nasty surprises

I have to disagree. I regard stealth the most important thief skill.. there is usually another option in opening doors than lockpicking, and for me, that is forcing them open. But stealth, now that is important. Boots of stealth aren´t good enough to make someone with low stealth score good just by that.. obviously, you can avoid nasty surprises if you to sneak in and check out places before rambling there with your whole party.[QB]</font>[/QUOTE]Ah! see that just shows the different playing styles. There are alternatives to stealth as well, namely improved invisibility, which allows you to detect traps or pick locks while remaining hiden. The theif doesn't really need stealth because you can take along a ranger as well. However you are going to lose the backstab ability.

As for picpocketing there are several quest that it is required (well you can always kill them)but usually I just find a decent thief and drop them after completing the quest.

[ 10-23-2002, 11:00 AM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

I suppose it does go to show how different styles of play affect NPC choice. Stealth is not a prime concern of mine, as there are items that can boost it off the bottom rung for Imoen, even if you get her at level two and place no more additional points in that skill. As pritchke states, rangers seem to shoot up in stealth skill for doing nothing at all, and most people play with Minsc in the party as their primary tank (even if their character is a fighter). Backstab is a small price to pay.

Grungi, in answer to your questions, level 8 is too late to dual to a mage I'm afraid. Imoen would never get her thief skills back before the game had finished. That would mean having another thief along in the party. However, you may not need another mage is Imoen did dual over. Advancement rates for mages is a fair bit slower then thieves, so it would take awhile anyway. Also, wisdom is only of primary concern to religious types in the main; that means druids and paladins as well as clerics. Mages only get a benefit from higher Wis, the same as other classes.

oh well spose it doesnt matter too much, just means i got a master thief [img]smile.gif[/img] , should get x4 backstab next too hopefully