Solo adventure -- is a Swashbuckler/Mage a good solo?

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I'm looking for something a bit different here. I've never been a huge fan of Thieves or Mages, viewing them as a necessary evil in my games, as I'm much more "tank orientated."

I was thinking of giving this combo a try though. I figure the Swashbuckler is a slightly better fighter than any of the other Thief kits (or a plain Thief), and the abilities work well with a Mage.

Would this combo work? Since I have ToB, what's a good level to dualclass at (I was thinking 15)?

 

I'm not a big fan of mages and thieves either Klorox. Like you said, a necessary evil. One thing I may recommend is to use SK to make a multi-class Swashbuckler/Mage. That way you have access to both classes simultaneously, and since the Swashie keeps getting better as he levels, you'll benefit from that.

For the dual class route, the real question comes up as to how many bonuses to AC and to hit you want. I think the bonuses occur every 4 levels, so I do not think it is in your best interest to go to 15. It seems like either 12 or 16 would be more logical transition points.

I think 12 is probably sufficient. Since Swashies can't backstab (technically they can, they just don't receive any damage multiplier), there's no real advantage to gaining levels in this regard, and since they gain 25 ability points per level up, 12th level should be adequate to max out most of your stats. If you want to max out all of your ability points, then you may have to go to 16 to do it, since the only thief related equipment you are likely going to be using is the boots of stealth. While there are a few good rings, you are probably going to use ring slots to increase the amount of spells you can cast, so 16 may be necessary.

It really depends on what you want your thief abilities to be. You can probably ignore detect illusion and pick pockets completely. You may even be able to cheat a bit on move silently and hide in shadows as you can't backstab, and there's always the spell invisibility if you wish to avoid being seen. So that means the only thing you REALLY need to spend points on are pick locks, find traps, and set traps, and 12th level is more than enough for that.

 

Swashbucklers get their bonuses every five levels, so 15 is a good level to dual. That gives you -4 AC, +3 to hit and damage, and 390 discretionary skill points. Arabwel in my BoM party is doing exactly this, and she is already kick-a$$ with Tuigan even before her dual.

SKing is another possibility, but really, the best part of the swashbuckler is getting the combat bonuses without having to lose skill points. And since you don't lose skill points, you don't really need to go to 30th level or whatever to max out your skills.

If you are going to dual, I would strongly suggest some way to have thieving skills while you're getting your previous levels back. 2.25m XP can take a long time, even with exploits on spell scribing or deferred quest XP.

 

My bad - I thought you got it like proficiencies for thieves - every 4 levels. But Fel is the expert, so if he says it's 5, I'll go with that. And as such, yes, I agree that 15 is the best level to dual at, especially since 10 is probably insufficient to get your thief skills up to what you'd like them to be.

The only potential pitfall I see in this is what Fel points out - you'll fly through the game as a swashbuckler up through level 15, but getting a mage to level 16 is going to be a painful process after level 9 or 10. I suppose the most logical way of going about this would be to do quests that don't have any traps at the very least, where you can handle the larger battles. Hmmm... All of the quests associated with Trademeet seem to fit the bill. Good XPs, only two large encounters, both of which you should be able to handle by exploiting the fog of war if necessary, and no traps. Also, saving up a ton of scrolls and not taking quest XPs until after you dual is highly recommended.

 

Erasing spells and rewriting them if you have multiple copies of a scroll also helps a lot in regaining levels. It can be quite time consuming, and I really don't think it's worth it for the lower levels, but doing it for level 5 spells and above can give you a significant XP boost.

 

I would leave some quest rewards, and will have a lot of scrolls to scribe before switching classes, but there's no way I'll erase and rescribe scrolls. That's too cheesey.

BTW, why would it be such a problem? Don't a lot of people dual-class a Kensai into a Mage at level 13? The XP can't be that far off, can it?

Also worth noting: I'm going to play the Thief through BG1 for the extra stat bonuses, extra starting XP, and most important, the extra fun! What's really cool about that is that I'll hopefully be able to boost my STR from 18 to 19 (enormous difference) and my INT to 19 as well (no limit on number of spells per level).

 

Actually, yes it is. Getting a mage to level 16 compared to level 14 is the difference between 2.25m and 1.5m XP. A 50% increase is significant. Also, while Thief skills are, as you put it, a *necessary* evil, I daresay Kensai skills are not.

 

Wow, that is a lot. Sounds like a fun challenge though, Fel.

BTW, wouldn't I reach Swashbuckler level 15 faster than I would Kensai level 13? That might help me a little bit (leaving me more "easy" quests to do with a single-classed mage).

 

Yes, slightly: 1.1m vs. 1.25 m XP. I ran into this very thing in the BoM party I was talking about, since The Magpie is going to be a Kensai 13 / Thief x. It leaves me without a thief for a moment, but the scribing of spells cut that to almost nothing.

 

No...

I'd never play it. Way too boring for my blood...

You don't get any of the high end thief perks...and Swashbucklers can't backstab, OR melee...

You're better off playing a vanilla Mage/Thief multiclass...now THAT's a fun game!

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

Any truth to the rumor that Swasbucklers gain access to WhirlWind and Greater WhirlWind feats? If this is true, I might stay as a Swashbuckler long enough to learn these feats, as well as UAI and a Trap setting feat or two before switching.


I'm just fishing around a few ideas, there's a very good chane I'll go with a Gnome Thief/Illusionist, or a boring Elf FMT instead.

 

IIRC,Swashbucklers can choose the WW attack (but not the GWW attack) as HLA.
But you don't need it at all since he will dual in mage.Improved Haste will be like a WW attack with a much longer duration.

He won't need UAI either.The mage class will make him too powerful, although I agree that a Gnome Thief/Illusionist is an easier/more powerful character to solo.

 

Besides...Swashies are a waste of XP.

If you want to set traps...go MC, seriously! If you dual-class from Swashbuckler at lvl 28 (if you want WW attack, Spike traps x2 MIN, UAI) and then wait till you re-activate THAT with a Mage...

Phew...I wouldn't try it!

 

You don't go Swash->Mage for the traps or the HLAs. You go Swash->Mage for the thief skills and the combat bonuses for someone who isn't going to be backstabbing anyway. (Though if you are going to backstab, a swashie would be a piss poor choice. ) An I/T or F/M/T would indeed make a better solo, but the Swash->Mage would still be decent.