Are multiclass characters worth it?

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I'm planning my party for ToB and I am thinking of including at least two multiclass characters - my question is, are they worth it? What level do they eventually cap at, and do they miss out on the high-level abilities of their two classes? Am I better off taking single-class characters?

(Whee! I am now a Xvart.)

[This message has been edited by Tiamat (edited August 31, 2001).]

 

Multiclass caps (2 Classes, each class caps at 4,000,000 XP)
Fighter: 24
Ranger: 21
Cleric: 25
Druid: 21
Thief: 28
Mage: 20

Multiclass caps (3 Classes, each class caps at 2,666,666 XP)
Fighter: 18
Cleric: 19
Thief: 22
Mage: 17

 

I believe that each ccharacter starts getting high level abilities as soon as they have 3 million XP. This is the same whether it is 1.5 million in wither class for a multi class, or 3 million in a character with only one class. They will get the abilities from both of their classes. Dual-class characters will get the high level abiliteis when they have a total of 3,000,000 XP, however, they will only get high level abilities for their active class.

 

They certainly are ... for some obvious reasons:
-the receive all the special ToB abilities for both classes
-You improve in both classes during the whole game, resulting in a versatile and pretty powerful char (espesially in fighter/* combos). This somewhat compensate the skill advantages of the dc chars (like grandmastery). However, it can be pretty painful to play since level up takes a loooooong time and iirc you receive less proficiency slots compared to a dc char (at least I felt like that with my halfling mc fighter-thief

 

Thanks. Just as long as I *do* get the high-level abilities, I think I will keep my MC characters.

...Oh, yeah, one more thing. Are pure fighters worth it, or is it better to dual-class or multi-class them to something if possible? (Sarevok, Keldorn, Mazzy are all pure fighters.)

[This message has been edited by Tiamat (edited August 31, 2001).]

 

Pure fighters are awesome, especially Mazzy since she has great saving throws and, with a strength girdle, she will be excellent in melee as well.
And about dualling Sarevok ... I don't know - I think he's a fabulous melee char, no reason to change that (he will replace minsc in my next game).

 

In a party of me (Sorcerer), Keldorn, Mazzy, Jaheira, Aerie, and Imoen, whom do I boot to make room for Sarevok, then?

 

That depends on how you want your party to look, really, and what you do with those npc's you have. Druid high-level abilities are pretty funky and terribly useful, but if you boot Keldorn you're going to miss out on the +6 Carsomyr. Aerie and Imoen together might be a little overkill, frankly...though I used SK to turn Imoen back into a pure thief midway through SoA, so I kept them both.

My two centavos.

 

I played with a multi-class Elf F/M/T. I loved it! Very powerful character. Exp. is a problem, however, so I usually did NOT travel with a full party, usually only a few characters at a time. Mostly, Saravok and Imoen only. The three happy siblings!

 

dont bother trying to dual class sarevok - he rules as a pure fighter

and a party consisting of only the pc, imoen and sarevok would be pretty cool - 3 happy siblings indeed!

 

I always say the more mages, the better. I had Imoen, Aerie, and myself (Kensai/Mage). Anyway, if you feel you must have Casomyr +6 (I lived without it simply because I can't stand Pladins), boot Mazzy. Sarevok is a much better fighter, though I'd use SK to get rid of those 2 handed proficiency slots and take bastard sword.

As far as multiclassing, I've tried it a couple of ways. I had a multiclass fighter/druid, and she did fairly well by the end of the game. She was only a 14 level druid, but that was more because of their stupid druid levels than anything else. But she was a fairly good fighter and had 2 level 7 spell slots. A fighter/cleric would likely be equally good. I'd also recommend perhaps a multiclass fighter/thief and a cleric/mage. I don't think I would multiclass a fighter/mage though. Dual class characters from fighters start to show their weaknesses about the middle of ToB. If you want a dual class character, dual later than 9, perhaps at at least 13.

 

I agree with Crwal about he weakness of dc chars in ToB. My first BG-2 thief was a lvl-6 fighter/ * thief (dualled in BG-1) and he was powerful in SoA to the end but he always needed to backstab when dealing with real fighters. In ToB he was just a better thief with grandmastery and a silly THACO, so if I wanted to play him like through SoA I would have been disappointed. He was a brillant thief anyway.

Comparing him to my halfling mc fighter-thief was interesting since it showed the clear advantages of a high fighter level: more attacks, better THACO, more hitpoints etc. The lack of grandmastery in an mc char is not so grave since BG-2 does not implement the additional attack for grandmastery.
Anyway, dualling the fighter to anything at lvl-13 helps a lot to overcome that weakness. But the high-level abilities in ToB imho make the mc char more attractive and versatile than a dc char.

The basic problem is not so much the "weakness" of an low fighter-level dc char but more the perception of this char by the player. When your char (usually as a frontliner) fought his way through SoA with ease, you might have problems to understand that in ToB he is no longer a fighter-type char but a very potent thief or a mage or a cleric for the use in a position *behind* the party or the restriction to hit & run backstabbing tactics when playing a dc fighter-thief ...

 

Most people who dual class, dual from a fighter class and is really just interested in the hit point boost and the ability to get grand mastery in one weapon type for 250,000 xp (you can get an extra 1/2 attack for 1,000,000 xp as a 13th level fighter).
But lets get real here.

So, after 250,000 or 1,250,000 xp you end up with a first level character of the class you want to play except they have 126 or 140 hit points. When your second class gets high you suddenly get grandmastery in some weapon type and you can now fight as a fighter of 9th or 13th level.

First of all, the ability to fight at 9th or 13th level and the grandmastery get pretty useless as the game progresses (and remember that you are pretty well into the game by the time you get to your second class to 13th level). The hit points become less and less of a concern as you rarely need more than 50 or so hit points to survive a battle (you usually die from instadeaths). M/c fighters usually get somewhere around 150 or so when they hit points by the time they hit the experience cap (more than enough).

Finally, m/c characters are so much more versatiole and they don't have to deal with that incubation period that dual classes have to deal with.

Dual classing sucks from a ease and fun of play as well as from a powergaming basis.

now if you could dual class a monk.... wellll......

 

But one of the key things people are missing when talking about Dual Classing is the fact that you can use kits while you dual class. Now SK users may just laugh, as they can change to Kits with muilti-classes, but when your legit, there is no way for your mc fighter/thief to get Kai, or your Cleric/Mage to get Shield of Talos. Just my two cents.

 

Quite true. That's been one of the frustrating things about the BG games for me, as I really want to play a mc Swashbuckler/Mage.

 

I do think it depends on the experince cap whether dual or multi is better. Now I know this is in the ToB forum, of course. But dual class character do have big advantages over multiclass characters around the middle of the experience levels for the whole BG saga. What I mean is that dual class character work very well after about level 7 pretty much through level 17 or so. Only early in the game or midway through ToB did I feel dual class character really showed a weakness. And pretty much the entire game a dual class mage will fair better than a multi class variety (I've tried both). I'm a firm believe from a practicallity standpoint that certaing class combos work better from a multi class perspective than others (and vice versa). But for the most part, as long as you dualed at a high enough level (and that can get pretty high in ToB) a dual class character has the definate potential to be better.