What would be the ultimate for BG2? no specific allignment, just power and amount of subquests. I've finished it before and I want to just dominate any enemies. please include any multiclassing ideas and relevant info. Shot!

Jaheira (F/D) has a cr*p load of quests and XP when she's in your party. Edwin (M) has good stuff and the funniest quest in the game. :lol: Nalia, (T/M) you can get more money with her in your party when you help her out. Anomen (F/C) has some good personal XP if you want him to stay good. Korgan (F)has lots of people to kill.

With those 5, I'd make the PC a F/T and take the fighter stronghold, which has more XP. :)

What about Imoen or Jan. Nalia is a pretty licking thief. shot for the help.

Imoen has nothing attached to her either quest wise or cash wise, unless you're hooked on having her in your party. I've played with her, but find her on the dull side. Jan has a quest with him, though I feel Nalia is more :money: and XP giving. Besides, if you play a thief type, it won't matter how cr*ptacular Nalia's thieving skills are.

Sounds good. I'll start as soon as i finish IWD2. i'm a little stuck in seldarine but i'll get there. shot!

Most powerful party members:

Fighters: Korgan, hands down. Keldorn for his dispel and Carsomyr. Valygar's backstab can be quite good.

Thieves: None really, although Jan is okay.

Clerics: Viconia is good, but Anomen is a better powergamer character (if you do his quest properly and get the boost to his wisdom). Jaheira is the best mage stopper in the game and can tank as well.

Mages: Edwin. He's the best spellcaster in the game.

So that gives: Korgan, Anomen, Jaheira, Edwin and one other. Plus the PC. The last NPC will depend on your character. Play a thief and take Keldorn, play a mage and take Jan (for a very powerful spellcasting party). A mage/thief, fighter/thief, or fighter/mage are all good combos for the PC (dual or multiclassed). You can even get two strongholds if you use a fighter combo and play your cards right.

A good party can be quite powerful in this game: Anomen, Jaheira, Keldorn, Aerie and Imoen in the party with a cavalier or undead slayer will chew through most evil encounters (which is nearly all of them). The PC would need to be proficient in axes (for Azuredge). You need to go after Imoen early. With the undead slayer, three characters are immune to level drain.

Quests: Mosts quests do not require the NPC along. For example, you don't need Nalia along for the keep or Keldorn along for the Unseeing Eye. Valygar has a great quest, but you only need his dead body. You need HD for a very short time to get his quest. You need Edwin (funny quest) and Jaheira (a few quests) along for their quests -- which are probably the best NPC quests in the game. Mazzy, Korgan, Keldorn, Nalia (not the keep quest) and Jan all have small quests they need to be in the party for. There are encounters associated with Viconia and Jaheira in their romance quests. And Yoshimo must be with you in Spellhold for a big XP bonus quest.

[ November 11, 2005, 17:47: Message edited by: T2Bruno ]

You need HD for a very short time to get his quest. Gotta disagree with you there. Just tell Haer'Dalis to beat it and he'll run home to Raelis. Everything goes as normal from there, and he'll be there at the end of the Planar Prison for the escape dialogue.

But your idea for Korgan, Anomen, Jaheira, Edwin, and Keldorn with a F/T PC is a great one. :thumb:
(Provided Edwin doesn't get too close to Keldorn and start a fight. :mommy: )

PC HalfElf F/T (Archer)
Anomen (Primary high AC Tank)
Jaheira (Secondary Tank)
Keldorn (Two-Handed Weapons)
Edwin (Spellcaster)

Rotate the rest of the NPCs for the duration of their quest or as required.

If you let Jan join you in the Government District, you get 45,000XP.
Yoshi nets you 45GP for joining.
Nalia will only give you the full reward if she is present for Torgal's killing.

The most powerful party would be one made up entirely of player made characters in multiplayer mode then saved to single player, but it would be rather boring. You could make 5 of your own choosing and leave the last open for NPC's to do their quests...

Gnome Fighter/Illusionist
Jaheira
Keldorn
Mazzy
Imoen
Anomen

2 healers, 2 wizards, and everybody can tank it except for Imoen.

Personally, I favour 4-character parties because of the rapidity of XP gain vs. a party of 6. Granted, in vanilla SoA (sans XP cap remover or ToB) this is less of a killer move, but it still holds for chapters 2 - 3, at least. The "best" party, I think, would be:

PC - either a Kensai/Thief or Elven FMT (for vanilla SoA, I'd choose FMT, but the K/T is still very effective) Korgan - ridiculous Berserker Rage immunities make him a peerless tank Edwin - the best mage in the game, bar none. Anomen - buff 'n' bash. Very effective & Turn Undead can be handy too. Have him pass his knight's test and he's much better than Viconia, imo.Those would be my top 4. If you feel as though you need another two members, then these are the two I'd choose:
Jaheira - Insect Plague is a superb anti-mage spell and can practically win fights on its own. Also, she has cool sub quests. Keldorn - Dispel & True Sight rule, as does Carsomyr.Also, you could switch Jaheira in for Anomen in the 4 (perhaps dependent on your PC's gender ;) ), if you find her spells more useful.

Wow! This is all sounding sick. for those of you who told me to multiclass, when would be the best time seeing as once you multiclass you can only level in that particular class.But thanks to everyone for being so interested!

I usually dual my chars at lvl 9 or 13, depends on how many party members I have... If I got a 6 character game, I may end up dualing at 9 to catch up quicker.

Dual classing is fun and versatile, but definitely not for newbies. It is stronger than Multi Class in SoA, but in ToB, that is a different tale, thanks to HLAs and better XP cap.

It depends on your class and playing style. Generally, with SoA'S terribly low XPcap, you should dual at lvl 9(max HD, and decent spells, proficiencies or whatever you are after) or you will have a hard time, if you dual after lvl13 or so you will most likely not be able to surpass your old class.

Dualling to a thief is easy as thieves gain levels faster, they tend to live fast and die young. :D

Dualling to a mage is easy, sure mages need so much XP, but if you dump everybody from the party (except your romance interest or she/he may be sory), and write tons of scrolls to your book, you will get amazing XP and instantly become a good level. Why, in ToB, you can delete spells and re-write them! Ah the challenge!

Generally, dualling to a class who has bigger HD is kinda bad (ie:you dual a cleric to a fighter, or a mage to a cleric) as you will miss HP. But these can make solid RPG-wise characters, mind you.

Do you have an XP cap remover or are you thinking on installing ToB?

BTW good luck in IWD2, and its spiffy final battle! You will need it! :)

[ November 12, 2005, 12:34: Message edited by: Silverstar ]

Shot Silverstar. believe it or not i'm not a newbie, I just never ventured into the world of multiclassing. I'm gonna need all the help I can get with IWD2. I just can't find that last friggen' Xvim holy symbol. anyway shot to everyone who helped.

chris DC, this isn't the IWD2 forum.

Easy Klorox, I am sure he knows that this is not IWD2 thread, plus I already posted for his trouble in IWD2 forums. Hope he reads! (He just likes playing both games at once methinks)

Anyway chris DC, if you are fairly experienced player you can really abuse dual-classing to create uber powerful characters. Try kensai-thief for example, kai+backstab does massive damage. Or combine priestly power with that of an arch-mage! Possibilities are endless, and even deadlier if you have ToB.

If you do not have ToB, simply dual at low levels like 9.

Example:If you dual a cleric to mage at level 9, you can still reach the maximum level for a mage at SoA's low xp cap, which is 17, but you will be more powerful than a regular mage as:

*You will have cleric HP, bigger than mere mage
*You will be able to use cleric weapons (which is better than only mage weapons)
*Your save vs death will be a little bit better than a regular mage and it helps against poison, paralyzation and dreadful WoB which JonBon likes to cast.
*You can cast up to lvl 5 cleric spells, which is a welcomed bonus. There are very good picks like restoration, Holy Smite, Deathward, Remove Paralysis, Chaotic Commands etc.
*You will have two extra special abilities if you choose a kit for your cleric.
*You can use cleric only wands and items, as well as mage only items and wands.
*You can wear a helmet to be protected from crit.hits!
*You can wear any armor if you run out of mage spells.
*You will have much more proficiencies than a regular mage.

So in pure SoA, your Dualclass cleric/mage will be much more powerful than a pure mage, and have much more mage spells than a cleric/mage Multiclass.

Just so you know, I get the impression you do not know the difference between dual-classing and multi-classing. They are very different concepts in BG2, unlike in IWD2 which uses new spiffy 3E rules. So what I mean, if you have troubles about MC/DC just ask, and I, along with other guys here will help you. OK?

As a Cleric Mage there is also the added Bonus that you can wear certain armors and still cast your mage spells. Such as the Elven Chains that you can pick up in a few places and The Bladesinger chain off of the black Dragon in the elf City towards the end of SoA.

chris DC: Multiclassing is different than dual classing.

Humans dual class. They choose one profession, then give it up ENTIRELY for a new profession. They reap virtually no benefits of the previous class until the characters surpasses the level of the old class by the new class. To go over all the pro and cons of when to dual would be difficult. It would be best to let us know what classes you are interested in and then get very specific suggestions.

Multiclassing is for non-humans. The multiclass character cannot have a kit, but gains levels in the two or three classes chosen at the same time. All abilities for those classes are available at all times.

I didn't know that to be honest. I'll ask more specific questions when I get my computer back and I have my character generation in front of me. thanks again for all the responses and i'll be back soon.

Hey everyone. my computer is back and i'm ready to jump into BG2
To any one interested, I do have ToB but my game isn't modded and I don't have an xp cap remover.
I'm planning to play right through with a thief/kensai. does that sound cool? Should I be a human and duel class my character or would a multi class half elf be a better idea.
shoud I install all the mods? is it necessary?
thanks.

[ November 21, 2005, 16:47: Message edited by: chris DC ]

Well, a half-orc fighter/thief with a 19str and con is deadly and tough! Get ++ in katanas and two weapon fighting, backstab with a 19 str is overkill. And add that you will have BOTH fighter HLAs like GWW and hardiness which are damn useful, and also spiffy thief HLAs like Assasination (it would be perfect with imp. haste) Use Any Item and all those spiffy traps! A kensai/thief can not get fighter HLAs, on the contrary he will have something like +3 +4 to hit and damage and weapon speed, but that is all. Your call.

Shot Silverstar. the half orc sounds like a better deal but would you mind telling me what levels and when I should I should distribute them throughout the game. does it matter wether i start with F or T? Is charisma important as he will probably lead my party and the NPC's will be more likely to talk to him. shot for letting me know and sorry if i'm annoying you.

@Dear ChrisDC

My, it seems you do not know what multi-classing is. HalfOrc Fighter thief HAS to be a multi-class. It starts the game with both fighter and thief levels. You do not choose anything. Its XP will be divided by half for each class. You do not choose anything, but skills and proficiencies.

Dual-classing is very different and ONLY humans can do it. Starting with a T or F really counts then as it decides what class you can have a kit, and what class you will continue on advancing later. In your case, a level 12 kensai can dual into a thief. Once it reaches lvl13 in thief, his kensai abilities will be active. However, he will ONLY gain levels in thievery, contrary to multi-class. This means he will ONLY get thief HLAs. If you want both thief and fighter HLAs, only solution is Multi-classing and demi-humans. Half-orc is a good bet.

Your cha will most likely suck, but it is not that important. There is ring of human inf. found VERY early in the game, which sets it to 18. Cha helps in purchasing items, bartering some costs in dialogues, and in general dialogues. It also affects the moral of NPCs. Other than that, it has no use.

Major case is, if you choose Half-orc, you will not be able to romance anyone. There is a mod though that disables race-and even gender restrictions so you might try it out.

BTW No, you do not annoy me the slightest! :wink:

Shot man. this is pretty embarrasing as I am I good player (and humble too) but I was nervous about multi and dual classing as I always figured I would just stuff up my game. I guess i'll just have to be more adventurous whan i play (and what better time than playing BG2?). shot for the help and i'll probably post plenty of Q's about the game itself from now on. you've really helped a lot. shot.

Well, if you multi-class, you start with both class levels, but you will have lower levels in both classes as your XP will be divided, but it will be easier and you will eventually have BOTH class HLAs.

If you dual, you start as one class; that first class can have a kit, which is a bonus, but it will stay at its last level (low!) forever after you dual it. On the other hand you will reach highest levels with the second class you dualled into, but you will ONLY get the HLAs for the second class. They seem blanced between thus. Not that hard huh? It is easy enough.

These are (except HLAs ofcourse) standart rules of second edition AD&D. If you do not know the rules, you can find the summary of all rules here in SP.

[We don't support illegal links of any kind.] -dmc

And you can always ask anything if you are confused.

No offense intended, but do you know the basics of THAC0, AC, saves etc? It is complex at first but easy when you get the hang of it.

[ November 22, 2005, 16:18: Message edited by: dmc ]