[Rataxes]

Do not dual a Swashbuckler to a Mage. In the end, all you will get is a regular mage with some puny Combat bonuses which your mage will rarely ever be able to make use of anyway. A Swashie does not get the Kensage's Grand Mastery, neither does he get his Fighter THAC0 or his ApR, and the AC bonus will be quite pointless since your mage will never otherwise get a decent AC to begin with. Don't get me wrong, a Swashbuckler is an amazing kit, but he only begins to truly shine at higher levels, so you must let him develop in peace. He can later on, if you have ToB, gain the ability to read mage scrolls, so for those really difficult or critical fights, you WILL still be able to use arcane spells, without the need to dual. He also misses out on Backstab, which is usually one of the main reasons to combine a Mage with a Thief.

If you want a Thief/Mage, it'd be better to get a regular Thief, or possibly even an Assassin or Bounty hunter. Those will at least get 5x Backstab and potentially some other abilities you can make use of.

[ 01-26-2003, 10:27 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]