Dual Classing

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I have read about dual-classing, and have been thinking about dual-classing my kensai to a mage. But when I did, I found I lost all my kensai abilities, including being able to use swords, etc, etc.

Excuse my ignorance, but do I get those abilities back?

 

When you are 1 lvl higher as mage than kenzai. i.e. 12 lvl kenzai needs to be a 13 lvl mage, to gain his/hers old abillities back. This goes for all dual classing.

 

Hi,

Yep you will get those abilities back when your mage lvl exceeds your kensai level. Until that time your kensai class is inactive.

What level did you dual and do you have just SOA or SOA with TOB?

Cheers,

WittyNewt.

 

I don't know if I'm getting this whole thing, but I had a chance to dual Minsc to a cleric but he would have lost the ability to use bladed weapons so I said nay.
If you do it this way though, does that mean that after a little inconvenience, you could have, for example, a mage who could weild swords etc?

 

Yup you will, and even be Grand Master in it, but you gotta remember the character you dual, will be vunerable. So if you dual a fighter to mage, dont let him/her be in the front row and attack, cuz a lvl 1 mage cant really be usefull untill lvl 6 or 7

 

Minsc? Cleric? Is that even possible? If I remember correctly, he has 6 (you need 17 to dual to cleric) wisdom, and occasionally fails to cast even Cure Light Wounds!

But Minsc as a cleric! What a sight it would be!

 

Lol, they could make a new kit called "Priest of Rasheman", or better yet "Priest of Boo" . They would get the special ability to summon a giant space hamster .

 

Dear Lord.....a mage, dual weilding crom fayre and cel. fury, casting time stop......oh the possiblities.
And why didn't they give minsc the innate ability to just "Summon Boo"....a fearsome space hamster immune to cold and magic, a to-hit of -5 and an affinity for sawdust!

 

Oh yes, it is true!
Thanks for the replies.

My Kensai is currently level 13...me thinks it is time to dual to mage.

 

Hi,

Yep lvl 13 is the best time to dual if you are planning on playing through to TOB.

A mc f/m will be able to dual wield and cast timestop, except he/she won't get 9th level spells until TOB. Of course, he will get access to all of those high level fighter abilities that the dc f/m won't get.

Cheers,

WittyNewt.

 

I just started a new game with a pure fighter(something that i have never done before.) and was thinking about dualing him, but i am not sure i want him to be a mage or theif or sometheing else.

can anyone enlighten me on the advantages that you have seen personally from dualing in different classes?

EDIT: oh yea, and if i am a pure fighter, does that mean i will be able to choose a kit since i don't already have one?

[This message has been edited by jack-of-all-trades (edited November 23, 2001).]

 

I don't think you can dual to kits m8.

I prefer the fighter/cleric, because it is WAY more powerful than my current fighter mage. Thief could be cool, but would be pretty useless if you already have a good thief in your party

 

Hi,

Well first off, to dual him/her you will need at least 15 in strength and 17 in the prime stat for the new class (dex for thief, int for mage).


The advantages of a fighter/mage dual are the following IMHO:

1. Your mage has more hitpoints than a single class mage, tougher.
2. Your mage has access to fighter type weapons and so can not only take advantage of the better damage characteristics they typically have but gets the benefit of some of the abilities they sometimes bestow, e.g can wield crom and have 25 str. Can wield mace of disruption and get neg plane protection etc etc.
3. You have a mage who can specialise in weapons and have the THACO of a fighter and so hit harder and better
4. You have a fighter who can protect himself with magic, such as stoneskin, protect magic weapons etc etc.
5. You can use items for both mage and fighter classes - obviously useful ones that come to mind are amulet of power, strength and invulnerability potions, wands, scrolls, armor and shields and helms (can cast spells if equiped with helm and shield and a very few special armors.

Which class is the dominant one will depend on what level you dual them at. Decide how you want to play them (tough mage / well protected fighter) and dual appropiately, early for mage bias and later for fighter.

Take the points above and I think you can see how they would apply to the fighter/thief, better backstabs, better melee potential, etc.

If you plan to play them only in SOA then dual at lvl 9 otherwise you will be playing a large portion of the game with the fighter bit inactive. If you want to take them into TOB I would recommend dualing at lvl 13 (gets additional attack at this lvl), but as I mentioned earlier, the lvl you dual at is dependent on how you want to play them.

Personally, I prefer a mc class rather than a dual class and I think that this class is more powerful in TOB than SOA. A dual tends to be better in SOA. But duals are fun. I have two

You can only choose a kit with your first class (silly I know, but thats how they coded it)
However, if you don't mind altering your characters with SK (sorry Tal ) you can change the second class to a kit fairly easily after dualing.
Hence, you could have a fighter/conjurer or fighter/assasin.
My two duals are a mage->kensai and a fighter->assasin, hacks I know, but I can't think of a good reason why the kit can't be chosen second, when DM'ing I allow it .

Cheers,

WittyNewt.

 

Ok, just a quick one.

When you finally dual to the mage, kick all members out of the party (except Jaheira if your plan is to have a romance with her), go to the nearest scrolls shop, buy all scrolls you can and then: learn them.

With experience you acquire that way, you'll get many levels, maybe even enough to regain "frozen" abilities back.

See? You don't need cheating utils for such an easy thingie.

 

Always with a way around cheating huh extreamist?

Now I think i am leaning towards a theif because i remembered some very benificial abilities that are apparently unofficially forbidden to be discussed here.

I think that instead of restarting my game i'll just use sk to get an assasin. I feel it's not really cheating since i don't have a kit from creation but will still only have one kit(IMHO).

Thanks for all the tips.(lvl. 13 it is)

 

Extremist, would that work really, that scrolls thing I mean? I can't see why it wouldn't, but if that's the case, then I think it's best to leave dual-classing until really late. OKay, so you can't cast half the spells you learn, but the second class will come up pretty quick with the amounts of xp you get in the later part of the game.
Thanks for all that info wittynewt. It's really helpful stuff. But kensais can't use armour can they? I like the bonuses they get but why sacrifice such a big thing for the bonuses? Using certain items more than make up for that anyway...crom being the obvious one...speaking of which, I feel a new post coming up...

 

Hi Kingsgambit,

Yes, a kensai cannot wear armor. Nor can a mage. Of course, a fighter/mage can wear a very few special armors and still cast spells.

What is actually much more limiting for the kensai is the restriction of no bracers and the lack of a robe they can wear (Bioware really should have created a robe item that a monk or kensai could wear).

Still with the correct items and a good dex score you can get your kensai down to -4 AC quite easily.

Kensai's are the best fighters in the game. Play one through the first dungeon and just see how quickly they take those monsters down, I know the enemy in this case is fairly low level, but it is still impressive.

Only the monk is better, but not straightaway, the monk does not reach his peak until later.

The attraction of the kensai/mage is that you have a fighter that deals the best damage in the fastest time "married" to the best "armor" in the game. The magical protections a mage has access to can be so much better than armor.

My mage->kensai was dualed at lvl 4 and so is not much of a mage, I like to think of him as a kensai who can use mage stuff. Hence, he can wear a decent robe for better AC and can cast magic protections on himself, but his fighting skills are not compromised and will improve during the game. Something the fighter->mage dual will not have.

Cheers,

WittyNewt.

 

Extremist's idea is pretty good and I'd like to add another one:
After doing some quests with your party you'll receive the XP when you go to *cash* them (like unseeing eye, illithium, neb's head, trademeet quests and others ... ). When you wait until you have dualled, the reward may very well boost you up for some 5 levels or so, and it's cheaper than buying scrolls btw .....

 

Hi,

The scrolls idea is a good one, you shouldn't have to buy much though. You find so many scrolls in the game anyway, just fill up all the scroll cases you can and learn (and erase if multiple copies - if have TOB installed)

Cheers,

WittyNewt.