I have heard many people said that Kensai/mage is very powerful. But I had only tried swashbuckler/mage and like it very much. he was swashbuckler Lv10/mage Lv X. Now I want to try Kensai/mage, but don't know at which Lv should I start to dual-class. Can you all help me? Explaination on why which Lv to start dual-class will be helpful too. Thanks in advance!

I've heard that most people is dualing Kensai to Mage at level 9...

Take a multiclass fighter mage instead. You won't regret it. If you really want to dual class, do so at level 9. That will allow you grandmastery in whatever weapon you want (Katana I assume... how uncreative we all are.) and specialization in whatever fighting style you wish.

No katana for me. I'm sick of it and anyway, there are plenty of weapons much much better than the Hindo's doom and celestial fury.I'm going for long swords or hammer or flail or axe, most likely dual-wielding crom faer and flail of ages or crom faer and answerer or crom faer and axe of unyielding.In any case, crom faer is a must.
I want to try dual-class as I don't think I will need much of the weapon fighting part, instead I may need more of the magic skills.

It's occassionally claimed that fighter/mages aren't as powerful Kensai/mages. I don't think so my self. Each character build offers different advantages over the other.

Kensai/Mage advantages:

- faster spell progression
- grandmastery
- kai shot to maximize damage

fighter/mage advantages:

- access to fighter HLAs
- timestop + greater whirlwinds is a supremely deadly tactic
- ability to wear elven chain means stoneskin lasts longer
- Aslyferund Chain + Protection from Magical Weapons confers total immunity to any and all melee attacks for 4 rounds. Great for really intense melee situations.

Is fighter/mage not supposed to have grandmastery? As far as I know it does, however that could be somewhere in the whole assload of mods I have installed...

I got the point! So from what I have learn, dual-class Kensai/mage is more like powerful mage with a little fighter abilities and multi-class fighter/mage is more like powerful fighter with equal amount of fighter and mage abilities to combo together. Am I correct? Maybe I going to try out multi-class fighter/mage. But I still want to know why most people dual-class kensai at lv 9 instead of lv 12? It seems to me that a lv 12, a kensai will have +4 to hit and damages and also -3 to speed factor but at lv 9 he will only have +3 to hit and damages and -2 to speed factor.

[ July 14, 2003, 03:42: Message edited by: Skywind ]

Dual at level 13. There you can get additional 1/2 attack per round. With 5 points on the weapon, you can get 4 attack per round. Kensai's THACO is decreasing very fast, so at lvl13, if you are wearing good stuffs, you can get -4 or something like that... You are attacking 4 times in a round, and with the celestial fury, your opponents will be stunned quite frequently.

Is fighter/mage not supposed to have grandmastery? As far as I know it does, however that could be somewhere in the whole assload of mods I have installed...Multi-class should only be able to get specialized, whereas Dual-Class could get grandmastery.

I'd recommend dualling at level 12. I seem to remember a thread about this, and level 12 was the consensus (I think).

Sorry To everyone!I did a search and found many old topics which are the same as mine.... :doh:
But if anyone still want to add more info, pls add them, as I believe the info add here will be more updated. :wave:

why dont you check the different kits table and find out when they earn thac0, ac, attacks per rounds and so on.....

but dual at level 13
dont do it at level 12 since its quite useless to dual class right before you gain an extra half attack per round.

anyway.....a kensai\mage dualed at kensai level 21 is good to, you get 3 level 9 spells, top that with rings and other stuff that gives extra spells and u get a decent amount of spells...

anyway.....a kensai mage 21\22 will also be more meele oriented, imagine a kensai with stoneskin, mirror image, absolutely immunity, improved mantle and so on LOL :) its damn nice.

and 21\22 kensai\mage is extremely good meele character despite he's still kensai\mage.

but it depends wether if you wish a more mage oriented or a more fighter oriented kensai\mage.

i suggest you trie out both kensai\mage and multiclassed fighter\mage. (the dual classed gets the kensais advantages whereas fighter\mage do not).

since most parties have atleast 2 mages in their parties i cant see anything bad in trying out both in one and same party :)

one of the good sides of a dual class is that you can adapt your characters to the extreme....

With dualclasses you can decide if you wish more fighter oriented or mage oriented and so on.

whereas with a multiclass you cannot. with multiclassed chars you must stick with what it gives you.


dualclassing is the ultimate tool to tune your chars to the extreme.
and in my oppinion......that only humans can dualclass is a very small price to pay for the kits advantages. (and to get grandmastery).

So... huh... I believe you tried your kensai Lv21/mage Lv22 before? I did not anything bad, but I need to know if you really tried and found that it is really good. :)

yes i have tried both a level 13\xx kensai\mage and a 21\22 kensai\mage...they are both good....as i siad, it depends on if you like him\her to be meele or mage oriented........and thats whats great with dualclassing, u can tune the char :)

Ok. My bad. Install the Ease-of-Use mod, then take a fighter-mage. You won't regret it. :)

No offences meant, but I play games according to the way it is, so that it is fair...

Most likely, I am going to try the 21/22. I am the "swords not words" type and anyway I will have Jan and Edwin in my party, so my kensai/mage will concentrate on learning protection spells.