Hi i am somewhat new to Bg2 and since there are many kits in this one i dont know what to choose? I like the "dungeon crawling" thief idea but there are 4 to choose from. and only 3 that have the backstab which i like doing 8). I have chosen a multi mage/thief is that a good idea or should i duel the mage at what level? or duel the thief at what level? What spells are good to have because i dont like to use magic a lot if any. and a few spell combos maybe? how many of each spell should be memorized etc, etc,

Natael elven thief/mage, good neutral male
str 18
dex 18
con 16
int 18
wis 14
chr 8

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I am Demoquin, Agent from Hell

Ah, yes, thieves are good! However, I recommend that you leave the magic up to Npcs if you don't 'really' like using magic, Edwin is a great mage but he's evil which 'may be a problem. For your character, well, IMO, i think either dualing fighter to thief at level 12 or vice versa is better, the backstab will be higher because of your fighter sidehttp://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif Starting as a fighter gives you more hitpoints and better thief skills but starting as a thief gives less hitpoints, less Thief skills but better fighting ability.

If you playing multiclass, i guess Thief/mage of Thief/fighter are good combinations. If you have a Thief/mage, get all the invisibilty spells like shadow door etc, they good for backstabbing. Oh and again, if playing Thief mage, try to find elven chainmail, they give great AC for thieves and mages alike AND let you cast spells while wearing it http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

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Bristowe, Master Assassin
"Everyone dies sooner or later, why not sooner?"

personaly if i were going to dual class a character id wait until there wasnt really anything else to gain by staying in the original class. If you max out for example a thief, so that there are no more lock picking skills ect., then id dual him to a mage. youll have high skills and better hit points as Bristowe stated. After gaining all the possible skills and weapon proficiencies THEN id dual class him. then he starts out as a mage with decent hit points.

the other thing i supose i should mention is if you take, say a thief, and dual him to mage, make sure he has 18 intelligence. That way you can learn ALL the higher level spells. Spells are limited by the intelligence of the mage. the higherthe intelligence the more fun and effective hell be. I think there is also a limit on how low the intelligence can be in order for you to be able to dual class him. I think its 14. but who wants a mage that cant learn any of the really good spells???? make it 18 and youll enjoy playing him alot more.

IMO a fighter should have a strength of 18 and dextarity of 18 so that hes more effective with missile weapons and has a lower armour class. If said fighter has an 18 strength and 18 dextarity with decent intelligence then hed make a good theif.... or even better....... an assassin. Backstab for lots of damage http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

Whatever the classes you want to dual from and to, the character should have very high numbers (preferably 18) in the prime attributes of each class.

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THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

A thief mage isn't bad. You'll have your thief character, who is backed up by spells. Your HP won't quite be as good as with a pure thief, but you shouldn't have any problems.
Some spells you would need. Definetly defensive spells like blur, mirror image, stoneskin are nice. Invisibility spells are incredible, you can backstab, cast invisibility, backstab, cast invisibility, etc. You can't use your stealth ability in combat, but you can use invisibility.
As you get better with your mage, you will learn the spells. Magic missile is of course I think the best level 1 spell. You can be in a fight, cast magic missile quick (1 casting time) and then continue to fight all in the same round.
Another great advantage of the thief/mage is the ability to cast a area spell like a cloudkill or death cloud out of sight of a enemy party or room, and then use your thieves STEALTH ability to hide once you cast the spell. The monsters won't see you if you hide, and they will just take damage from the spell effects. Ive cleared entire beholder lairs this way.

Personally I favour multi classed (not dual) fighter/thieves. They can defend themselves properly if caught out whilst scouting or thieving, they can go "toe to toe" with a bad enemy after a backstab attempt as well and they get some great special abilities. Theres plenty of decent armour and equipment out there for them too. Yes i know they take longer to level up but youre still getting your fighter THAC0 bonuses, weapon prof's etc all the way through and you get 25 thief points to divvy out when your thief levels. They are a brilliant class later in the game when theyve gone up a few levels. Try one http://www.tgeweb.com/cgi-bin/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

EDIT: PS. i play with no XP cap so if you dont remove it i dont know where you would max out for the 2 classes.

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It's bleedin dark down here, slippery too.
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[This message has been edited by Cavern Sniffer (edited 06-19-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Cavern Sniffer (edited 06-19-2001).]

how about a fighter/thief/mage??? soloing throught out the game???

unless you have the xp cap turned off, a F/M/T would be a bad idea as you're going to level VERY slowly.

my suggestion, start as a human thief and put ALL your thief points into hide in shadows and move silently. this will let you scout and backstab, and there are many other thief npc's as well as items and spells that can do the other thief functions. before you even pick up jaheira or minsc, go ahead and dual to fighter (must have at least 17 in STR and DEX). with the xp just from getting out of irenicus' dungeon, you should emerge at about 6th level (i always tell imoen to leave; more xp for the rest of us). from that point a few minor quests later you'll get your thief abilities back in a character with a far superior thaco.