Dual classing in IWD

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 1:50 pm

Hi there,

Can someone please explain to me how do I dual class a character in this game? For example, if I would like to have a cleric fighter , how would i do this? shoulkd I create him as a cleric or a fighter...?
At what level would I then dual class him then?

Thank-you!!

Annette · Post by **Annette** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 3:27 pm

I'm not totally sure what you mean. If you're asking for a build, then I can't really help you (I dislike dual classing/multi classing in AD&D, so I never min-maxed it). If you're simply asking how you would go about making a dual classed character, then yes, you have to start as one of the two classes you want to be, then upon gaining whatever level you decide to switch at, you'll select the dual class button on the level up menu. I'm fairly sure you have to be human as well.

Hope I helped!

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:20 pm

How dualclassing works is explained in the manual (page 8 and 22 in my manual). You can only dual two classes which exist as multiclass combination.

For dualclassing it's recommended to start as warrior and dual to caster to get a caster with additional fighting power.
Your party thief shouldn't be dualclassed, you want to have thieving skills all the time and thief multiclasses work very well.

In order to be able to dualclass from fighter to cleric you have to be a human with at least 15 str and 17 wis.
You could start as fighter with with 18/00 str, 18 dex, 18 wis, 18 con, 3 int, 3 cha and put all proficiency points into slings and one melee weapon type (maces or flails or hammers). At level 3 switch to cleric and put proficiency points into other weapon types.
If you don't have a second healer (fighter/druid multiclass for example) in your party you won't have healing spells available before dualclassing starts, if playing so long without healing spells is annoying for you consider dualing at level 2 or starting with a dwarf fighter/cleric multiclass or pure cleric instead.

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 11:32 pm

Annette wrote:I'm not totally sure what you mean...

Hi,
What I mean by this dual class, is that I wish to make a more useful character in combat especially. I am now playing IWD again, and I want it more intersting this time.
So for example if I wish to make me a healer/fighter, I would then have to create him/her as a ..... Fighter? If so, then I am stuck with a 100% fighter until who know what level and have no healing abilities. This can be tough for a new party...
Plus, at what level should I dual class if I wish to do so eventually?

I built a party of 5 initially but then I saw that things were getting too tough for me so I built a 6th character...
1 last thing, can the difficulty of the game be set from within the game and does it change the difficulty imeediately? Can it be possible that for the default difficulty and the next level of diffculty I get the same XP for ORC's for example?

Thank-you.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 11:07 am

If you play at Hard difficulty, you get double XP, and monsters do +50% damage.

If you have a full party of six, I think two healers isn't a bad idea. By this I mean two of Druid or Cleric, single, multi or dual class. That should enable you to hold out untill your Cleric reaches a sufficiently high lvl.

Some good points to switch from Fighter to Cleric: Fighter3 (3 stars in a weapon), Fighter 7 (extra half attack), Fighter9 (5 stars in a weapon). I regularly play a Fighter9/Mage and he is plenty powerful and gets his Fighter abilities back well before the end of the game. Clerics require fewer XP than mages.

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 12:50 pm

Ok, so this is my party, can you advise??

I have already started the game, now at Kuldahar.
I have: paladin, fighter, cleric, mageX2, thief
Now I understand that the dual class characters should have started as fighter, for example, the mages and at a certain level switch to mage. I guess then I should start over? If I dual the mage to fighter is there any point in this?

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Thu Feb 03, 2011 1:36 pm

Switching from mage to fighter isn't a good idea, you get a fighter without 18/.. strength who is missing many HP and can only cast low level mage spells.

You can finish your game even without dualclassing (that's the normal way), but if you want the game to be easier consider restarting.

You can change the game difficulty anytime during the game. The effect depends on whether you have the HoW expansion installed or not. Without HoW any difficulty easier than normal will grant less XP, with HoW any diffculty different from normal will grant an XP bonus.

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 12:38 am

kmonster wrote: You can change the game difficulty anytime during the game. The effect depends on whether you have the HoW expansion installed or not. Without HoW any difficulty easier than normal will grant less XP, with HoW any diffculty different from normal will grant an XP bonus.

So if I am playing IWD only (no HOW installed yet) I am getting the same XP for all monsters but they simply bash my head a lot harder?

I do consider restarting the game, though, I did invest a long time in creating my characters with 18/92+ stregnth. Damn shame...
Any other ideas are welcome..!

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 4:43 am

liorde wrote: So if I am playing IWD only (no HOW installed yet) I am getting the same XP for all monsters but they simply bash my head a lot harder?

Exactly. Without HoW the harder difficulties are harder and game difficulty should only be set to easy temporarily for too hard encounters.
Due to popular demand this was changed with the expansion, with HoW the hard difficulties are now a way to get more XP to make the game easier on the long run.

I do consider restarting the game, though, I did invest a long time in creating my characters with 18/92+ stregnth. Damn shame...
Any other ideas are welcome..!

You can export the characters you want to keep and import them when you start a new game.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 9:23 am

Moreover, STR 18/51+ is generally as good as 18/99. I believe two damage less.

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 3:02 pm

Does someone have an idea why the paladin cannot "turn undead" ?

kmonster · Post by **kmonster** » Fri Feb 04, 2011 4:39 pm

For turn undead paladins are treated 2 levels lower than clerics, so you need a few levels to be able to use it

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Fri Feb 11, 2011 11:36 pm

GawainBS wrote:Moreover, STR 18/51+ is generally as good as 18/99. I believe two damage less.

What does this mean, "two damage less"..?
I saw a guide thru utube that says that characters should be created with STR at 18/90+ (STR needing characters I mean..)

Any ideas about this?

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 3:11 am

If you follow guides, you should also understand them: flip to IWD manual p.109. The table there explains the benefits of each ability score.
In our example, STR 18/51 provides melee attacks with +2 to hit bonus, and +3 damage. STR18/92 provides +2 to hit and +5 damage. STR 18/00 provides +3 to hit and +6 to damage.

Personally, I consider the difference between 18/51 and 18/92 not worth the effort of keepong on rerolling, especially if you need other high stats. The chance of rolling 18/51 combined with enough for an 18 in CON, DEX & WIS is much higher than the same for 18/92.

The advantage of having +1 extra to hit is higher than 2 extra damage.

liorde · Post by **liorde** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 11:39 pm

The manual is something I have not seen in years... got lost somewhere .
Anyway, thank-you for the answer, very good and very clear!

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:16 am

Check http://www.replacementdocs.com , if you want to browse through the manual again.