Question Regarding Fighter/Mage

[CyberNinja]

Greetings all. I am currently playing a Fighter/Mage, and have a few questions from those more experienced at it. I have a party of Jaheira, Viconia, Nalia, Kitanya, and Saerilith, and we are doing very well, having tackled a number of the larger quests already with nary a problem and even taking down everyone's favorite Red Dragon. However, despite our relative success, and the fact that my PC has roughly 50% of kills, I cannot help but feel like I am not playing the class to it's full potential. It seems like all I am doing is casting mirror image/stone skin, with the occasional ghost armor, improved invisiblity or fire shield, and just wading in and slicing and dicing. He's currently dual wielding katans, Dakons and Celstial Fury, but that will later change to long swords. My question, after all that digression, is whether or not there is something about the class I've overlooked, especially in my application of battle tactics? Is there a way to utilize the combination of magical might with melee capabilities that I have not hit upon? Or am I just thinking too much about this whole thing, and should be content with using the standard buff spells. I know his spell repertoire will never rival that of a pure mage, and I don't intend to use him to cast spells of instant destruction, but it just seems that I'm not utilizing him to his full potential.

[RBitG]

Think you could tell me your level, and maximum spell level?

[CyberNinja]

Hmm...I could have sworn I mentioned it. I am currently 10/11 and have 3 level 5 spell slots.

[RBitG]

Level Five, hmmm, i'll think about it, i think mislead might be a level six spell.

Ah yes, i've looked up the spells, and you won't get most of the best F/M spells untill you can cast level six, but right now you have sunfire (Very good at close range damage), and a few confusion/chaos type spells, which make it easy to hack away at your enemies. Once you reach level six, you can get things like mislead (Invisible and invulrenable to direct damage), Tensers transformation (makes you and even better warrior) and things like peirce magic, protection from magical weapons, improved haste, will turn you into more of a killing machine.

EG. Cast 'mislead' 'improved haste' on yourself 'pierce magic' on enemy mage, wade in, cast 'sunfire' start hacking the the enemy mage, kill him. Cast 'pro. magic weapons' kill his bodyguard/fighters. The end

[VonDondu]

[QUOTE=CyberNinja]My question, after all that digression, is whether or not there is something about the class I've overlooked, especially in my application of battle tactics? Is there a way to utilize the combination of magical might with melee capabilities that I have not hit upon?[/QUOTE]
That's an interesting question. You've already determined two important things: 1) you are playing a with a well-rounded, full party of six (as opposed to playing a solo character), and 2) you want your Fighter/Mage to be primarily a buffed-up melee warrior. Here are some suggestions.

First of all, you should let the rest of your party play specialized roles of their own while you let your Fighter/Mage concentrate on what he does best. For example, Nalia can cast spells that will dispel your enemies' protection spells while your Fighter/Mage is battling their minions. She can also cast crippling spells against your enemies such as Greater Malison/Glitterdust/Emotion (one of my favorite combinations) and Hold Monster. Nalia will also be casting massive-damage-inflicting spells, especially later on when she is high in level. Jaheira can also cast crippling spells against enemies at higher levels, such as Insect Plague and Nature's Beauty. She can also cast some nice summoning spells. Viconia can cast protection spells such as Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Free Action, etc., as well as buffing spells of her own such as Draw Upon Holy Might and Righteous Magic. She can also cast offensive spells such as Glyph of Warding, Hold Person, etc. and summon Skeleton Warriors with Animate Dead. You'll need True Sight or True Seeing against a lot of opponents, and that can be cast by Nalia, Viconia, or your Fighter/Mage. Your party is too in level to do much more than they are already doing, but just give it time and make the most of their new spells as they become available.

As you know, your Fighter/Mage can buff himself up before a fight, but he's only 10th/11th level right now, and you ain't seen nothing yet. If you have Throne of Bhaal, he can do some interesting things when he gets High Level Abilities, such as combining Energy Blades with Critical Strike. (A lower-level version of this strategy is to have a Blade cast Melf's Minute Meteors in combination with Offensive Spin.) Spells like Simulacrum and Project Image will let you create clones that can do amazing things. As for buffing spells, Spell Immunity is necessary at higher levels since there are enemy Mages who will rain on your parade if you don't counter-act the spells they will use against you. You can cast more than one Spell Immunity at a time, to protect against Dispel Magic (Abjuration), death spells (Necromancy), and True Seeing (Divination) at the same time. For example, if you cast Stoneskin and Improved Haste, Spell Immunity Abjuration will prevent an enemy Mage from slowing you down. If you cast Improved Invisibility, Spell Immunity Divination will prevent an enemy Mage from seeing you. I suggested Spell Immunity Necromancy because Fighter/Mages might be vulnerable to enemy spells such as Wail of the Banshee, Finger of Death, etc. because they will be targeted at close range. You might play around with Spell Trigger and Contingency later on. Contingency can automatically cast Stoneskin when you're wounded, for example. Spell Triggers can be used to cast area effect spells on yourself to target all of the enemies who are surrounding you--other people can describe things like that better than I can.

The guidelines are pretty simple: increase resistance to damage (Stoneskin, Mirror Image, etc.), make yourself harder to hit (Improved Invisibility, Mislead), increase your number of attacks (Improved Haste), make your attacks do more damage (Strength potions), increase resistance to non-melee damage (various protection spells and potions), prevent enemy mages from dispelling your defenses (Spell Immunity), and make clones of yourself (Simulacrum, Project Image).

When you think about spells, think about combinations and try to make your spells work together to create an inpenetrable defense. By the same token, try to use combinations of offensive spells like the ones I've mentioned. Greater Malison and Glitterdust can really soften up your enemies, so I like to cast them before I cast spells that allow saving throws. At lower levels, Emotion and Hold Monster would work great for you.

[CyberNinja]

Thank you both for your insight and advice, especially VonDondu and his doctoral thesis on the subject . I guess I'll just play around with different defensive spell combinations, coupled with Improved Haste and Tensor's for more offensive might. When I'm not feeling too lazy to bother, which is often, and then I just wade in with Mirror Image and Stoneskin, and gulp a haste potion.

[CFM]

Doctoral Thesis Addendum (minor spoiler)

[QUOTE=CyberNinja]especially VonDondu and his doctoral thesis on the subject[/QUOTE]
When I go as a Fighter/Mage, I plan on having him wear the Robe of Vecna & Amulet of Power, to quicken his casting speed, because I plan on being in the thick of combat, bashing 'n casting away with my mad skillz.

Those items will go far with preventing spell interuptions, and allowing the execution of strategies in the above post's superbly written 'doctoral thesis'.

I rarely do pre-combat buffing, as I assume my dude does NOT know what's around the corner (even though I do). It somehow makes the game feel more realistic, which is paramount in a game dealing with Dungeons & Dragons.

btw- I think VonDondu's a chick.

[CyberNinja]

@CFM
While I understand your logic, I find that the Robe of Vecna is better served in the hands of the primary mage, who can use the decrease in casting speed to dispel enemy mages and deal lots o' damage fast. Similarly, I like to give the Amulet of Power to my Cleric, as the Negative Plane Protection helps to ensure he/she always has the spell slots for Restorations. Plus, if I don't want to hog all the magic items And as for VonDondu's gender, I plead ignorance if there was any offence taken, and offer my humblest apologies.

[Celacena]

haven't done it but...

Staff of the Magi is a pretty neat offensive weapon against spell-catsers - playing team tag, I had Nalia buffed up and wielding the SotM with str19 and my PC dual-wielding katanas (5 in katana and I think 4 in dualling) - Celestial Fury's stun is pretty neat - I also sometimes added Aerie with the wand of spell-striking to further expose the mage.
another useful stick to beat them with is Everard's Mace which strips spells.
I wonder is a F/M ought to put a lot of points into quarterstaff and double-handed weapons? getting through all the spell protections you could then switch to a good damage-dealing weapon.

I have Jaheira with the staff of Arundal - adds decent extra spells - and so put her points into staff so that she gets the best of it. also have her slinging from distance usually - so points there. it's important to adapt your party to specialise in weapons you want used. same with Nalia - stick the points into staff and bow. I find Minsc a problem - he's your tank, but how best to specialise?

it's important to know where you want your character to go and commit the points there early on - I usually put points into dualling and katana or long-sword if a fighter or flail/mace if a cleric. you need to anticipate what weapons you will get and then go on a quest to get them.
the slaver's stockade may be difficult, but I like to try to get celestial fury ASAP pretty much unless I am a cleric.

with the following I usually specialise as follows:

Minsc - bow/2 handed sword
Aerie - Mace (so she gets bets of Mauler's arm str18) and sling (seeking)
Nalia - staff/bow (magi/tuigan)
Anomen - hammer/flail
Yoshimo - katana/s-bow
Mazzy - 2 handed sword
Valgyar - longsword/bow
Jan - x-bow/staff
Keldorn - 2 handed sword/x-bow
Jaheira - scimitar/staff

minsc, yoshimo and jaheira can be worth dual-wielding (J with Belm etc is OK)

all pretty obvious stuff, but it can be easy to waste points in a weapon that doesn't last the game or doesn't fit the mix. also, the starting abilities may not fit as well as you would like and it is sometimes easy to yield to the temptation to give a character a weapon that doesn't help balance the party.
it is important to look at HP and how much attrition a character can take, when deciding whether to use ranged or close weapons. low HP characters should fight from distance where possible, even if you can get their close-quarters skills up.

it is all about balancing and one benefit of being a fighter/mu is the ability to use items that might otherwise be forbidden. i think the staff of the magi is one such weapon.

[VonDondu]

CyberNinja, you didn't offend me, so don't worry about it. This is the internet, where millions of people who don't know each other come together, and it's no big deal.

CFM, I find it amusing to be called a "chick", so I'm not offended. But you might be careful about using that word in a public forum. Most of the time I put it in the same category as "dude", but some people think it's sexist and they're offended by it. To put things in perspective, there was once a bloke on here who was grateful for the advice I gave him, and he said, "If you were a bird, I'd offer you a good shag." I thought it was amusing, but other forum members came down pretty hard on him for that.

Back to the subject at hand. If you want some really good advice about tactics, I suggest that you search for messages by UserUnfriendly, Xyx, and nephtu, to name a few off the top of my head. I picked up a lot of tips from them. Other people have also made some excellent suggestions in older message threads.

Personally, I've never really used the Staff of the Magi. It's probably the best weapon for a solo Sorcerer, but I always play with a party (small or large), and I don't like to give my spellcasters melee weapons (not even the Staff of the Magi). I once tried to edit the Staff to turn it into a ranged weapon that shot magic missiles at opponents (like weapons you see in other games), but I couldn't get it to work right. If you want your Fighter/Mage to use a staff, you should definitely put a couple of proficiency points in Two-Handed Weapon Style.

I agree that you should give nice items to all of your party members, not just your Fighter/Mage. I want all of my party members to be the best they can be. If Nalia was your main character, what equipment would you give her? If your Fighter/Mage was an NPC like Solafein, what equipment would you give him? That's the best way to determine item distribution.

I also agree that your party will get the most benefit if Nalia wears the Robe of Vecna. She will be casting offensive spells nearly every round during combat, while your Fighter/Mage will do most of his spellcasting prior to combat. Besides, there are some other nice items your Fighter/Mage can wear.

As for the Amulet of Power, I think it's best to give it to the party member who needs protection against level drain the most. In this case, your Fighter/Mage is a spellcaster and he's doing most of the melee fighting (where he's the one who is most likely to be threatened by a level drain attack), so I think he needs it the most.