A Modest Proposal

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Hmmm... I'm already thinking about my next run through of BG. I had been considering playing another gnome cleric/illusionist. However, the more I think about this, I think my better option may be to make a half-elf cleric/mage.

Here's my thinking. It's true that the big advantage of taking a specialist mage is that you'll get an extra spell per level. However, the other advantages I think are pretty moot. Many people correctly site that gnomes can start the game with a 19 in intelligence. To me, that's not a big advantage. It is true that with a 19 in intelligence, a mage can learn every spell available for a given level. But the thing is, as a specialist, you're already prohibited from learning spells from the school of necromancy. I haven't done the math on this, but I'm inclined to believe that once you throw out the necromancy spells, a character with an 18 in intelligence is probably capable of learning all the spells per level anyway.

The other thing that you get with playing a gnome is your max wisdom is reduced to 17. This causes a reduction of cleric spell memorization (specifically the ability to learn an additional 3rd level spell).

With a half-elf, you can still grab the tome of knowledge and raise your intelligence to 19. This will give you the ability to learn all spells of a given level, including the necromancy spells. Additionally, you'll still get the bonus cleric spells (and I think with a wisdom of 21, bonus spells go all the way into 5th level spells). Assuming you get all the tomes, I think it is more advantageous having your intelligence and wisdom scores to be 19/21 than 20/20. There is a very clear difference between a wisdom of 20 and 21 (bonus cleric spells), whereas the only difference I see between an intelligence of 19 and 20 is a slightly better chance to scribe a scroll (although not much).

The other thing is that there are a bunch of necromancy spells that I like to use. Off the top of my head, I like Larloch's Life Drain, Skull Trap, and Abi-Dalzhim's Horrid Wilting. I'm sure there are others that I use less often.

So the question is this: Is the ability to become a little bit better of a cleric and have a little more diversity in spell selection worth having one more spell per level memorized?

 

I'd say so, especially if you're taking all the tomes and taking the good path in the hell trials. And give the point of wisdom from the Machine of Lum the Mad to your PC.

Then there's vampiric touch as well, nice addition, although not entirely necessary.

Basically the difference is that do you want to have your character to be more of an arcane spell chucker, or to rely on her divine spells and necromancy.

But the thing about gnomes might be their spell resistance...

 

Of course half-elf is better. Lack of necromancy spells and less bonus cleric spells make gnome a poor choice. But you may want to choose a gnome instead of half-elf for role-playing.

An idea came to my mind now. Playing as a gnome ill/cleric and making a duo with Jan. Also there are other gnomes (Tiax and Quayle) in the first game.

 

Yes.

'Nuff said .

 

Awwwwwww. From your title I thought you were going suggest killing all the children in the game and eating them. . Long live Jonathan Swift!!

 

Two other advantages of the gnome: Saving throw bonuses & FUN! Well, I admit I'm a little biased from the "Quayle" run-through I've been doing, but I can't imagine a half-elf being quite so fun as RPing the little guy.

 

I would go for the Gnome. I just find mage spells more useful than Clerical equivilents.

More breaches, Mordi's swords etc.
And as Fel says the saves are a great boon.

 

From my perspective, the loss of Horrid Wilting is the only drawback to a cleric/illusionist (my aim was never good enough to make great use of Skull Trap ) and an extra spell per level more than makes up for that, plus saving throw bonuses for high Constitution are sweet. The loss of one 3rd level clerical spell and the other necromantic mage spells is nothing in comparison. Of course, there might be one other drawback - I can't remember whether this is the case - but don't gnome mages all use a bearded avatar? A bit annoying if you want to play a female gnome.

So, IMVHO, gnome>half-elf.

 

I agree with Luiz, gnome>HE.
You might even get a better experience if since you have to try out other tactics and spells than the necromancy spells you mentioned.

 

Well, I'm typically not patient enough to wait around for great rolls on stats, so my constitition probably isn't going to be particuarly high for this character, so that's a point against the gnome. Nor will my strength score. However, as I will be using missile weapons almost exclusively, I do intend to have a high dexterity.

The other thing is that the extra spells I get will be variable as I move through the game. At first, I'll get one bonus 3rd level spell. However, as my wisdom increases, I will start getting bonuses to higher level spells. I'm not sure how the progression works, but it's something like at 19, I get a extra 1st and a 4th, at 20 an extra 2nd and 4th, and at 21 an extra 1st and 5th. By the end of SoA, I'll be looking at 23, and 24 by the end of ToB.

What I'm thinking is something like this:

Str: 11/12 (10 is 50 lbs, 11 is 70lbs - much more useful)
Dex: 18/19
Con: 9/10
Int: 18/19
Wis: 18/21
Cha: 9/10

That is a very doable roll of 83. Whenever I get to the point where I have to decide on higher constitution vs. dexterity, when dealing with a non-melee character like this, I'll always go for the higher dexterity. My reasoning here is quite simple actually: the con bonus is good for your first 9 levels, whereas the dexterity bonus to AC is good forever. And also with non-melee characters, since the maximum con bonus is +2 hps per level, it comes out to a maximum bonus of only 18 hps.

Now that I think about it, I can always use SK and get the best of both worlds - make a half-elven cleric/wild mage.

 

Hey, I usually have 10 STR and have a carry capacity of 70. IIRC.

Gnomes are very durable than half-elves thanks to their saving throw bonuses, they make a huge difference when a Disintegrate or Finger of Death is shot at you.

 

10 & 11 are the same: 70 lbs. Just as 8 & 9 are the same (50), and 12 & 13 (90?), and 14 & 15 (120?).

I've heard duplicating wild surge probablity is somewhat difficult, so I'd suggest starting with a wild mage and switching the class, rather than trying to kit a C/M. You'll probably have to add the 1st level cleric spells yourself with this approach, but it might be worth the hassle to get it to actually work.