Dumb Qs: DaleKeeper and Mage/Thief dualling.

[Eris]

Hiya, guys. I'm new here and I guess that's pretty obvious, so I'll skip right to the making-an-idiot-of-myself part.

Dumb Question Numero Uno: In DaleKeeper, you have the option of switching your character's cute l'il avatar to that of a different race, class, whatever. (The primary reason I dl'ed the prog. Sad, no?) On the list, you've got stuff like "Human Female Fighter" and "Human Female Fighter Low." I've been fiddling around with it, but I haven't noticed any difference between the "low" sprite and the regular one. Does it only show up if the chick's in heavy armor or something? (The experimental group was a really low-LVL party.)

Second Stupid Q: I've got two mage/thief duals in the "working" party. I maxed them out in lock-picking and traps, respectively, then dualed them into specialists (Conjurer and Transmuter.) That's 6 and 7 LVLs of theif. The rest of the party has XP on par with their mage class -- 50000-60000 XP. Was the dual-class thing a Big Mistake, or are these guys playable?

Bonus stupid question: Why do some sprites come with special colors? Like the HoW drow; you can't pick her purple skin from the defaults. I've noticed this with some NPCs in BGII as well (Jan, Haer'Dallis.) Yup, this is incredibly superficial gripe, but it makes my brain itch. =P

------------------
"Fire bad. DR 10/+1 good."
Eris Nightblade: Cleric, mage, and infernal (wait, Abyssal) pain in the @$$.

[Leafy]

As for the Dalekeeper questions; i dunno. But i can suggest this about your Thief/Mages. They are essentially mages with thief proficiencies and some extra hitpoints. 6 and 7 lvl thiefs you say? that's about 12 and 14 more HP from the typical mage, who's hitpoints suck anyway. For a dualed thief mage, i'd suggest going to at least level 9 with the thief to get more hitpoints and an extra weapon prof. I guess i never tested it in IWD, but i noticed something in BG2 where an intelligent thief/mage could "detect traps" during battle to get chances to foil enemy mages' mirror image spells.
But who wants a thief/mage anyways? they're forever doomed to scout, fling spells and run away. a Fighter/Mage(or fighter/thief) is much cooler! I always imagined the perfect Dual classed Fighter Mage in IWD to be about a 12th level fighter who then dualed to become a 30th level mage (no specializing unless you dalekeep). This way the Mage could master the Bow and possibly one other weapon, have the ability to use all fighter related items. As a high level mage, he could even cast Tenser's Transformation to become a fighter of the same level (and if i'm not mistaken, keeps the weapon skills leared) up to 30!
As for Thiefs; they're better multiclassed into a fighter or a cleric so they actually gain some hitpoints

[This message has been edited by Leafy (edited 07-15-2001).]

[Eris]

Maybe I shoulda mentioned the rest of the party... There's a bard, a druid, a cleric, and a paladin -- and the paladin's only there 'cause she gets to lecture the baddies for varied RP. (Don't think I'll play another paladin until you can follow a god that isn't lawful good. LG... eck. ) Spell-flingin's what they do best! Or are supposed to do best; I don't know if the mages' theif XP will keep 'em from using the high-level spells.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, a mage/theif only gets one (ONE! ONE BLIPPIN' LOUSY) weapon slot, so another proficiency won't do much for 'em. =/

------------------
"Fire bad. DR 10/+1 good."
Eris Nightblade: Cleric, mage, and infernal (wait, Abyssal) pain in the @$$.