I realize this may seem like a silly question.......

However here goes, it would be a good idea to wait until Imoen has her thief abilities at a fairly high level before you dual class her right? Or would it be better to do it when she is lower level and why?

Dual at low Level--
PRO: You can essentially turn her into a straight Mage who's a lousy Thief, but can at least use Swords and Bows. Since Imoen has really good Mage stats and is potentially the ONLY pure Mage in the game (except for the PC, of course), this isn't a bad idea.
CON: She doesn't get many hitpoints, and she's utterly worthless as a Thief.

Dual at high Level--
PRO: You can invest a great deal of Thieving points, getting her up to 100% or more in 2 or 3 skills. I find that using your 100% Stealth, sneaking around, casting a Fireball, then going right back into Stealth is a deliciously wicked trick to play. She gets a Thief's hitpoints for the first few levels, too.
CON: She can't advance to really high levels as a Mage, and you have to wait FOREVER to get her Thief half back. Imoen's 100% in Find Traps won't do you a damn bit of good if she's still stuck halfway through her Dual. Also, you risk going too far: If you wait too long to Dual, you might not EVER be able to regain her Thief half while you're under the EXP cap.

Excellent answer Sixofspades!

I dualed Imoen to Thief/Mage when she was a fifth level thief. But my paladin set off a lot of traps waiting for Imoen to get her thief skills back!

When I dual, should I specialize or not? And what do you mean regain thieving skills. Do you lose them? Why and for how long?

Whether or not you want to Dual Imoen to a Specialist Mage is your own decision to make. I just pointed out that since ALL of the other NPC Mages are Specialists, you might want a pure Mage in the party for once. I should note that the option to choose a kit (a Speciality) for your SECOND class is legal in BG1 only, and cannot be done in BG2.

When you Dual-class a character, you will LOSE all of the abilities they had in their FIRST class, temporarily. Whatever Mage spells, Priest spells, Theiving skills, weapon proficiencies, THAC0, Saving Throws, ALL of it, GONE. It will STAY gone until they progress one level higher in their SECOND class than they got in their FIRST class. The only quality that you keep is your hitpoints. For instance, Keraptisdm says that he Dualed Imoen to a Mage at Level 5. Imoen kept her Level 5 Thief hitpoints, but lost EVERYTHING else, including her ability to wear Leather armor and use a Bow. She is now a plain Level 1 Mage, and will continue to be a pure Mage until she reaches Level 6 as a Mage--one level higher than she got as a Thief. At this point, all of her previous class's abilities (the ability to wear armor, use Thief weapons, her old weapon proficiences, her Thieving skills) come back to her.

Take the link in my sig and read Chapter 5.

[ 09-25-2002, 03:50 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]