[Lharae]

I dualed at lvl 9 because I wanted to get all the mage lvls and she's plenty strong enough. It all depends on whether you want a more fighting or magic oriented character. IMO, given how much insanely powerful, not to mention fun, high lvl BG2 mages are, I'd say the latter is the way to go, but it's all preference. Keep in mind too, that when you dual you will loss ALL your Kensai abilities, including THAC0, until your mage lvl surpasses your highest Kensai lvl. It's really kind of stupid when you think about it. How does one suddenly forget how to fight after years of training and combat experience, then magically "remember" a month or so later? Never made sense to me, but that's 2nd Ed. game balance for you. Anyway, my point is, the longer you wait the longer it will take to get back your Kensai levels. That was easily the worst part of the game for me, but maybe I'm just not used to playing pure mages.