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I've never had very much experience with high level dual-classes, and want to give it a shot here. I plan on playing on insane mode for the higher XP.

1) Human Paladin LG -- Longsword/Axe/Mace
2) 1/2 Elf Fighter/Druid TN -- Scimitar/Sling
3) Gnome Fighter/Thief CN -- Longswords/ Throwing Daggers
4) 1/2 Elf Bard CN
5) Human Fighter 13 > Cleric NG ***** Mace, *** Sling
6) Human Fighter 13 > Mage CG ***** Greatsword, *** Longbow

I plan on having the Gnome F/T pull a lot of tank duties while the last two characters are waiting for their Fighter classes to reactivate, and the F/D and Paladin are naturally good in that role. I think my biggest worry is getting this party off the ground with only the F/D and Paladin there for healing, but I'm going to give it a try! Also, I'm trying to build proficiencies based on items I'm sure to find (as random drops are well, random!), what do you think of where I've placed them? The multiclassed characters are only able to place ** in any weapon, so these guys will be more versatile in weapon selection.

[ January 05, 2006, 02:25: Message edited by: Klorox ]

 

I guess your party is nice enough, BUT do you really need 6 people? If you get less people, they will level up a lot faster! And IWD, being the good old 2E rules, do not waste XP like IWD2 does due to ridiculously unbalanced challenge-rating system.

Your only mage will be the bard till your fighter duals? Ok, though you can do without a bard till you get the mage. And why dual at level 13 fighter? Isn'T it too much? For the sake of weapon proficiencies you will have a hard time.

I once had a 2 persons party, one fighter and one cleric, dualled into a mage at level 14. Ended the game with cleric 14/mage 18, he was VERY powerful! Disintegrating/Flesh to Stoning/Finger of Deathing monsters are fun!

Though you have HoF right? Then play on insane!

 

You have a priest, an arcane magic user and 5 fighters, you will overrun almost everything.
You might even get impressed and decide not to dual your killing machines at all.

Your party will be strong enough during the dualing period which will start in chapter5 or 6, the last chapter, and will end in HoW.

Your fighter13/mage will always be 2-3 mage levels behind a fighter dualed at level 9.
Your fighter13/cleric will even be 4-5 levels behind a fighter 9/cleric unless you reach the XPCap.

The question you have to answer for yourself is:

Is is worth to play half the game without a proper mage and cleric just to be slightly stronger at the end ?


Some things you should know about weapon profiencies:

The paladin doesn't have to be the second mace user since there are also war hammers and flails.

There is only one magical returning throwing dagger in the game and you won't find it before the HoW final.
So you'd better give your thief profiency points in a proper missile weapon (sling/bow) at the start.

Give your bard profiency in bow, there is no crossbow in the game he can use and the fighters get higher strength bonusses using slings.

The only magical throwing axe can be found in chapter2. It's +2 and you don't get a strength bonus using it (bug ?).

You'll find only 1-2 crossbows that are better than a simple composite longbow. One is a rare random item in chapter2 and a fantastic one can be found in chapter6.

 

Looks good but I would dual class at level 9 not 13 simply because of the xp requirements needed to get the fighter skills back. The extra star in the missile weapon is not so cool when compared against the huge THACO anyway, but still your call. Would be a fun party. If you into dual classing then perhaps a human fighter to druid instead of the dual classed half elf? I always liked that type of character.

 

Thanks for that advice: it will be considered heavily!

 

Some ideas about weapon proficiencies :
Bard - halberds, axes, because there are some with good bonusses.
Fighter/Druid - spear, staff, dagger. Can buy spear +3 from Colan early. Arundels staff +1, Presios poison dagger. Fun to poison monsters and watch them loosing HPs.

I think that with good tactic you can live with F/D and paladin for healing until you get cleric. And bard will have this healing song, war chant of ssith, if I remember correct.

 

I would start the fighter/druid with scimitar and sling profiency.
The spear +3 you can buy from Conlan isn't better than the lucky scimitar +2 which is much cheaper and buyable in endless numbers.
The money is better spend on Orrick's inventory (like the clasp of bron's cloak and spells) since it changes when chapter 2 and 4 start.
Scimitar profiency also effects thac0 and damage in polar bear form.

The fighter/druid can learn the other profiencies later.

 

Is the Clasp of Bron's Cloak really any good? I was thinking of buying it, but I was also thinking that I will probably find something better before too long to use in that slot.

 

Update time!

I decided against Fighter 13 for my F>C dualclasser. She switched classes at Fighter 9 with ***** in Maces and ** in Missile. I still plan on switching the Fighter>Illusionist at level 13 though.

I have a few reasons for my switch:

1) I like the idea of having the classes switch at different times. My party won't be nearly as crippled as it would have been had I lost 2 13th level Fighters at the same time. As a matter of fact, the F>C will be "complete" before I even switch the F>M out of the Fighter class.

2) I did an experiment and realized that you CAN put ***** in Missile weapons. Well, I didn't want to go that far, and there really isn't much a difference between ** and ***, so I may as well switch a tiny bit earlier.

EDIT: I went back to a previous save, and decided to dual both Fighters at level 9 (one to Cleric, on to Illusionist). It would take way too long to cover those four levels of Fighter, and the extra 1/2 ApR isn't worth it IMHO.

[ January 10, 2006, 09:15: Message edited by: Klorox ]

 

It's one of items which are useful for the whole game since you won't find too many good necklaces. It's not very expensive and except a few spells and the robe of enfusing the only useful thing you can't buy any more after chapter2 has started.

If the wearer has no other resistance bonus, +5 percent resistance is like +5 percent hitpoints when fighting monsters that do such kind of damage.

But if the wearer has 90 percent slashing resistance already, the slashing damage he takes is halved, and if he had 95, he gets immune by the extra +5.

There are other ways to get 100 percent damage resistance once your druid reaches level 15 (water elemental), but an extra resistance bonus is always nice since you even get healed by such attacks when you have more than 100.

I didn't buy it in my party game, the game is doable without the best equipment, so don't worry if you haven't bought it.