Understanding Dual/Multi Classing.

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i'm having some problem with the dual/multi classing and some class related issues of IWD2. i'm gonna say what i understand about it and hope someone would confirm or correct it. or maybe provide me a link explaining it(i can't seem to find one in sp).

1. there's is no class restriction for races. any race can be any class.
2. any character can have up to 3 classes.
3. for dual and multi, all class abilities are active irregardless of level.
4. for dual and multi, all class will continue to level up until ex cap is attained. this is true, except for certain class such as paladins that can level-up only when dualed with certain class/kit.

things that i don't know and need some enlightenment.

1. how does skill works for dual/multi class. are they cummulative or the highest skill level becomes the basis. or the skill of the race favored class becomes the basis?
2. same as 1. but this time features.
3. what's the experience cap value?
4. abilities are gained every 4 levels, that means 7 ability points was awarded when you attained level 30. does that mean that a dual class having levels of 16/16 be awarded 8 ability points? while a multi having 12/12/12 be awarded 9 points?
5. are dual/multi classing dependent on a characters ability score?

 

1. they are cumulative, for example, if you start in rogue so the intimidate skill is your class skill, which means you only spend 1 skill point to advance 1 point in this skill. Say you now have 10 intimidate skill, then you decide to up 1 level in sorcerer, now you are given some skill points, and you still have 10 intimidate, however now it's not your class skill and you need to spend two skill points to get 1 point up.

2. same with skills. so if you are a fighter and put two points in long sword proficiency feat, then one level up wizard, you will still have the two long sword feat, but you cannot add in more feat there during the "wizard level-up".

3. It's around 500000 I think, which caps the total levle to 30, so...

4. no you can't have a 16/16 or 12/12/12 character. It's not like in 2e D&D where when you dual class the XP to gain one level is also lowered to a level 1 amount. Now there are two types of "levels", a "class level" and a "character level". you gain XP to level up in "character level", and once you get one character level, you can "assign" it to a class so that class get a "class level". a 16th level mage need the same amount of experience to gain another "mage class level" as a 15 Mage/1 Rogue need to gain a level in his "rogue class level". since they are both in "character level 16" and trying to reach "character level 17". So in the end you can only be a 16/14, 12/8/10, x/y/z (x+y+z=30) character. Also there's no such thing that "rogue level up faster than wizard" now since the XP gained are to advance your "character level".

5. I think you can multi to any class independent of your ability score.

 

You do not need any particular characteristic score to add a class. You can gain levels in wizard even if your Int is too low to allow you to cast spells. That sort of thing happens all the time to new players who forget sorcerors cast spells based on Charisma instead of Int.

 

You also have to add in the concept of favored class. Your favored class can be any level in respect to your other classes but the rest of your classes need to be within one level of the other or you take an experience penalty.

For example a Tiefling's favored class is rogue. So you can be a level 10 rogue and suddenly take on a level 1 fighter and not have an experience penalty. But if you later bring your fighter up to level 5 then add a level of Sorcerer you'll begin to take an experience penalty because your Sorcerer and Fighter levels are more than one level apart. Once you get Sorcerer up to level 4 (within one level of your fighter levels), you'll stop taking the experience penalty.

 

Are there any classes that will retain the full benefits of that class if you lower an attribute to 3?

Obviously constitution. Whether you're a wizard or a fighter, you still can cast level 7 spells and use platemail if your consitiution is 3. Can you lower charisma "safely" for a fighter? What about wisdom for a wizard?

What's some other classes/attributes?

(I'd use the manual and trial/error it, but I was just wondering if anyone knew off the top of their head)

 

Bards and sorcerers both depend on charisma, I'd say strength is the most meaningless for sorcerers, maybe wisdom or int for bards.

You can lower a pallie's int with only skill penalties, same goes for fighters. Wisdom IIRC increases will saves, so don't lower it. Con and Dex are the other ones that improve saves.

 

IIRC, Wisdom is fairly important for Wizards and Sorcerors, too. I'm not entirely up to date on 3E-version spells, but I remember that some of them do added damage with a high Wis, or even rely entirely on it. Wish is a great example, though I don't know if it's in ID2...only in Chapter 2

 

In 3e D&D a lot of spells have "will saves" which actually take your own wisdom into account to decide how difficult for the enemy make the save.

And don't underestimate constitution, not only you get low hitpoints, a lot of spells also have "con saves" which means you must rely on your constitution to make a successful save, Considering your fighters are those at the frontline taking most of the spells and things, they better not sacrifice too much dexterity, constitution or wisdom.

The only thing I know that a fighter or wizard (excluding paladin, bard and sorcerer) can sacrifice safely is charisma, as long as you can bear the thought that your fighters are all ugly, unattractive beasts... Clerics also don;t need charisma if you don't want to turn undead often...

I'd say don't lower too much points in any stats, in 3e D&D the stats system are much more mature that most stats have some use somewhere.

 

alighter,

charisma may mean physical beauty but i don't think it necessarily means that in ad&d. it is a general term used for the ability to influence other people. leadership, ways with spoken or written words, and diplomatic skills are good examples of that.

 

Hmm... then make that extremely ugly or extremely rude or extremely dull etc. etc. generally extremely dislikable characters...

 

Ok let me set a few things straight on saves. Lots of your spells tell you what save the target needs to make to resist (Fort, Ref, and Will). These saves are calculated using the following formula 10+Modifier for your casters attribute (ie your charisma modifier for a sorcerer, int mod for wizard, wis mod for cleric) + spell level. e.g. Your first level wizard casts chromatic orb (which is a first level spell with a ref save). If your wizard had an 18 int (+4 mod). The save for the spell is 10+4+1 = 15. Taking spell focus increases that value (if you had spell focus: evocation and cast a first level evocation spell with the above wizard it would be 10+4+1+2 = 17).

So for a sorcerer wisdom has zero effect on your spells. Now it does affect your will save. Having a low int also won't directly affect your sorcerer's spells. He will have next to no skill points if you drop out their int.