i've been playing around with differnt 3 man groups, trying to get a feel of how i play best

i plan to dual class 2 of them, right now my party is

kensai
swashbuckler
ranger


if i make my kensai into a mage,, can i still fight with 2 swords?

if i turn my ranger into a cleric,, can i still fight with a bow?


also i plan on playing amn, then importing into ToB,, so whats a good lvl to switch classes at? is it 12 or 13 or what?


thanks so much

The kensai/mage can use swords again when the mage level surpasses the fighter level.

The ranger/cleric will lose bows for good.

Dunno about levels, I never dual class.

You have to at least get the Whirlwind HLA for the Kensai. Then you can dualclass :D

thanks so much,, ironworks is the best place. Best gaming advice forum on the net, with most the time, the nicest people [img]smile.gif[/img]

thanks again

With the party you describe, Dualing will cause problems, largely because you'd be Dualing two party members at about the same time, meaning you go from a group of 3 skilled Warriors, to a Thief babysitting two thoroughly incompetent spellcasters.

1) The level at which you choose to Dual should, in terms of overall power, be right after the character gains some benefit that would prove very useful later on. For instance, the "correct" level for Dualing Warriors is Level 13, because of the base 1/2 attack per round gained at that level. I prefer to wait until Level 15, myself.

2) The level at which you Dual should also be based on how powerful you want your second class to be. A Dualclassed character is basically a variation of their second class: A Berserker->Cleric is more Cleric than Berserker. So look at the EXP tables, decide what level you think you need to be in your second class, and then see how much EXP is left over for your first class.

3) As I said, having more than one party member in the middle of a Dual at the same time is just asking for trouble. Stagger them if at all possible, or just experiment with Multiclassing instead, and avoid the whole "blackout period" problem altogether.

4) Have you considered Swashbuckler->Mage instead of Kensai->Mage? Once you've got the requisite Thieving skills covered, which is anything but difficult when you consider all the Thief items in the game, there's very little point to remaining a trueclass Thief.

Just a question for SoSpades. Why 15 instead of 13? For the additional proficiency and saving throws? The Mage class will end up losing a spell slot in Lvl 8 and 9 spells you know.

read thetruth's write up on fighter mage combos, it should give you a good insight on when and how to dual your kensai.
If you wanted to have a ranger cleric, it would have been a more powerful class to multi, not dual. but i guess you can play how you want ;)

[ 05-17-2006, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: timothy trotter ]

Precisely. Saving Throws are the primary means of defense in BG2 (well, unless you're playing Tactics, in which case only outright immunity will do), and a Human needs all the boosts he can get. So a -2 bonus there and one more step towards Grandmastery are worth the 2 extra levels, methinks.

There are other classes besides Mage to Dual to, you know. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
And with the EXP cap removed (not that I ever get much beyond it anyway, but still), the drawback becomes moot.

[ 05-17-2006, 03:19 AM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]

i'm inclined to agree

it depends a bit on who you see your characters doing in the long term but if it was me i'd be thinking that the main point of the ranger->cleric is improved fighting, druid and cleric spells and the ability to wear the best armours - also worth bearing in mind is that the THACO progression for clerics isn't that bad and that you have a number of combat-boosting spells available

having a mage part kensai means you're going to want to use the kensai damage dealing to best effect - your mage levels aren;t going to help you warrior THACO and you haven't got sensible combat buffing spells (i'm not counting haste and don't know about tenser's transformation)

so what that leads me to suggest is to dual the ranger at 9 and the kensai at 13 (or 15)

I forgot to add that it's sometimes to your advantage to Dual a character almost immediately, at Level 2. (Dualing this low is not an option if you don't have BG1, but it's still worth mentioning.) A Thief(2)->Mage is exactly like a pureclass Mage (ooh, their Mage level is 1,250 EXP behind, big whoop), but with the ability to use a much wider array of weapons, and do things like chug multiple Potions of Master Thievery. A Mage(2)->Fighter has exactly the same THAC0 and Saving Throws as a regular Fighter, even more hitpoints (after Find Familiar), and can do things like reading Stoneskin and PfMW scrolls while in Full Plate. Etc.