Is one or the other multiclass noticeably better for SOA only, no mods? Keep in mind that under the SOA XP cap, the Mage or Illusionist half of each multiclass only reaches 13th level and can cast only up to 6th level spells, so considerations involving 7th - 9th spells are moot. Of course, if someone wants to start up a paralell TOB discussion in that forum, feel free...

Races: Fighter/Illusionist is Gnome only. Fighter/Mage is Half-Elf or Elf only.

Attributes: As a Gnome, Fighter/Illusionist can get 19int, which is handy to allow you to fill your spellbook without needing INT potions. Half-Elf can get 18s in everything, Elf can get 19dex which adds a tad to missle THACO, but only 17con, which lops off about 9 max HP. (Is there more HP potential lost due to rounding with all the half-levels?)

Saving Throws: Gnomes get significant saving throw bonuses for high CON. Half-Elves and Elves get some saving throw bonuses, but I don't believe they compare to what high CON gnomes get.

Spell selection: As far as I can tell, for SOA the only spell of note that the Fighter/Illusionist would miss is Skull Trap. (You won't hit 15th level mage in SOA for Animate Dead to make Skeleton Warriors, and you won't come close to 17th level to get ADHW. Any other Necromancy spells of note?) In return, the Fighter/Illusionist can memorize 1 extra spell per level.

Items: No difference as far as I know... I think every item useful to either can be used by both.

I can't think of anything else, except possibly race-based romance differences. Right now I'm leaning pretty strongly towards the Gnome... I don't see any big advantages to regular Fighter/Mage.

Death Spell is also quite handy in certain situations. Still, you are right the drawbacks are far outweighed by the advantages.


What is significant is not the extra point in intelligence though. It is the fact that specialist mages get an extra spell per day at each spell level.

Gnomes might be forced to choose the Illusionist specialist mage class, but they are also the only ones who can multiclass a specialist mage.

Also I think gnomes have some racial saving throw modifier somewhere. All the "short" races seems to have those.

Yes. Dwarves,Halflings and Gnomes have +5 saves Vs. Death and Spells.

All in all, if we are talking about SoA only multiclass fighter/mages the gnomish fighter/illusionist seems like the best bet.

The only thing you are missing out on is the Elf's ability to have 19 in dexterity.

19 DEX is not *that* important. In any way with Stoneskins,PfMW,PfMA you really don`t need 19 DEX.

You just need to read more carefully...

Death spell I hadn't thought of. Most, but not all, of the enemies a Death spell takes care of can be taken care of by a Wand of Cloudkill (even Baldurdashed).

Don't they also miss out on ADHW?

Yes but as he mentioned before that is not an issue. He is talking regular SoA XP cap and that won't allow multi-class mages to get lvl8 spells.

Fighter/Illusionists clearly take the prize in SoA, and even once you hit ToB levels and can finally cast high-level spells, the only Necromancy spell you're going to miss is ADHW. So, as long as you've got at least 1 Primary Wizard who can cast ADHW for you, the only drawback for the Fighter/Illusionist is the lack of Skeleton Warriors--and should your Gnome want a decent Level 5 Summon, there's always Lesser Fire Elementals.
(And it's not like a Tank is going to be casting offensive spells in the middle of a battle anyway; they usually have better things to do.)

Spells that Illusionists cannot use (Good spells in white, decent spells in gray):
Level 1:
Chill Touch
<font color=gray>Larloch's Minor Drain</font>
Level 2:
Ghoul Touch
<font color=gray>Horror</font>
Level 3:
Hold Undead
<font color=gray>Skull Trap</font>
Vampiric Touch
Level 4:
Contagion
Spirit Armor
Level 5:
<font color=white>Animate Dead</font>
Level 6:
<font color=gray>Death Spell</font>
Level 7:
Control Undead
<font color=gray>Finger of Death</font>
Level 8:
<font color=white>Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting</font>
Level 9:
Energy Drain
Wail of the Banshee

Definitely go with the fighter/illusionist. As Six mentioned, you could have another mage in the group to cast any necromancy spells that you can't live without (or a cleric can handle the Animate Dead)

Plus, being a fighter mage, the important thing is that you're not missing out on any critical combat boosting spells.

--I've used an illusionist/cleric before, and they are great fun because there is no other class that can cast as many spells per day.