Good Thief/Mage Combo for SOA and TOB
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MasterChef
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Good Thief/Mage Combo for SOA and TOB
I'm the kinda guy who is into RPing and powerplaying. I want to use some sort of thief/mage combo to go through BG2, but I also want a combo who will be useful. The thing is, I plan to bring Imoen through, so I don't know how to make a build that will be that much different than her. Any advice? Thanks.
This might not be what you're looking for, but I played all the way through BG1, BG2, and TOB with a Cleric/Ranger and Imoen (9th level Thief dualled to Conjurer). When Imoen wasn't available for thieving (first class inactive in BG1 or not around in Chapters Two and Three of SOA), I recruited temporary help (Coran, Yoshimo, and Nalia). When I got to TOB, I needed another melee warrior, so I recruited Sarevok--pitting my own Three Bhaalspawn against the Five. I installed the Ascension mod, which gave the end of the game some new twists. It was a great combination of roleplaying and powergaming in my opinion.
If you want to play a Mage/Thief, I don't see why you can't do so with Imoen in your party. I think you might need a strong melee warrior in your party when you reach TOB (Sarevok and Keldorn are good choices), but you can solve that problem easily if you are flexible and are willing to recruit NPCs when you need them. I think a multi-class Illusionist/Thief would be a lot of fun, and you could play him a lot differently than you'd play Imoen, so I don't think that lack of variety would be a problem.
If you want to play a Mage/Thief, I don't see why you can't do so with Imoen in your party. I think you might need a strong melee warrior in your party when you reach TOB (Sarevok and Keldorn are good choices), but you can solve that problem easily if you are flexible and are willing to recruit NPCs when you need them. I think a multi-class Illusionist/Thief would be a lot of fun, and you could play him a lot differently than you'd play Imoen, so I don't think that lack of variety would be a problem.
Imoen, the dualclass Thief-Mage, is more focussed on magic than on melee. Basically, she's a mage with a bit of thieving skills to complement her arcane side. So logically speaking, if you want your character to differ from Imoen, you should focus more on melee than magic. That would bring you to some sort of Fighter/Mage combo, although you're perfectly capable of reaching the same goals with a Thief/Mage.
mr_sir made the good suggestion to use an assassin or swashbuckler. Both are very decent classes, both are melee orientated, and for both you can use your mage spells to complement your thieving class. What would you think of an Assassin with Improved Invisibility combined with Spell Immunity: Divination or Mislead active? You've got yourself a little backstabbing party.
The same reasoning goes for the swashbuckler. Use spells such a Ironskin, Mirror Image, Tenser's Transformation, Protection from Magic Weapons, etc. to make your swashbuckler a formidable melee fighter. Once you get your Use Any Item High Level Ability, you can practically do everything, anything, anywhere. Versatility galore.
A multi Mage/Thief (with perhaps the class edited with the use of Shadowkeeper) is a great class for a small party. You level up fast enough and your arcane side will carry you through the beginning of the game until the thief and mage class reach a balance where both start to be very useful. If that's not your cup of tea, you could always start out as specialized thief and then dual to a mage, but if you're going all the way through SoA and ToB with just Imoen, I suggest the multiclass. If you're going with an entire party, a coin toss is as useful to determine which is more powerful (dual or multi) as anything else.
mr_sir made the good suggestion to use an assassin or swashbuckler. Both are very decent classes, both are melee orientated, and for both you can use your mage spells to complement your thieving class. What would you think of an Assassin with Improved Invisibility combined with Spell Immunity: Divination or Mislead active? You've got yourself a little backstabbing party.
The same reasoning goes for the swashbuckler. Use spells such a Ironskin, Mirror Image, Tenser's Transformation, Protection from Magic Weapons, etc. to make your swashbuckler a formidable melee fighter. Once you get your Use Any Item High Level Ability, you can practically do everything, anything, anywhere. Versatility galore.
A multi Mage/Thief (with perhaps the class edited with the use of Shadowkeeper) is a great class for a small party. You level up fast enough and your arcane side will carry you through the beginning of the game until the thief and mage class reach a balance where both start to be very useful. If that's not your cup of tea, you could always start out as specialized thief and then dual to a mage, but if you're going all the way through SoA and ToB with just Imoen, I suggest the multiclass. If you're going with an entire party, a coin toss is as useful to determine which is more powerful (dual or multi) as anything else.
"Sometimes Dreams are wiser than waking"
I'd take a gnomish thief/illusionist multi.
Imoen as dualclassed mage gets the spells fast so you can afford a little slower spell progression for your character.
With ToB installed you can still get level 9 and 10 spells as multiclass mage during the game, mage level 20 at which spell effects are capped is still below the XPCap.
Gnomes are great since they get 19 int, saving throw bonusses and can even be a specialist multiclass (extra spells), the few spells illusionists don't get can be cast by Imoen.
The thief multi allows you to take all the powerful thief HLAs Imoen can't get and other useful things she can't do properly (sneaking, trapsetting, backstabbing, pickpocketing).
Another option is just starting as specialist mage (like illusionist or conjurer) and dualclassing after level 10. So you have a fast levelling thief with 20 missing HP who can protect himself with spells like mirror image, stoneskin and invisibility.
You can even wait until level 12 or 14 for more spell power if you don't mind the longer dualclassing period.
Such a character can be fun, but regarding power he's inferior to the multiclass version.
Another powergaming option would be a fighter/mage/thief multiclass, a character who gets all the fighter and thief benefits during the game while still being able to cast powerful mage spells.
The physical fighting power (up to 1.5 extra attacks/round unhasted) which also supports many thief skills is something Imoen just doesn't have.
Dualclassing from thief kit won't yield a much different character from Imoen, but if you prefer getting those cheesy mage spells faster over playing a proper thief and the powerful thief HLAs you can give it a try..
A bounty hunter dualed to mage at level 11 is the dualclass T>M version which is both most powerful and most different from Imoen.
Imoen as dualclassed mage gets the spells fast so you can afford a little slower spell progression for your character.
With ToB installed you can still get level 9 and 10 spells as multiclass mage during the game, mage level 20 at which spell effects are capped is still below the XPCap.
Gnomes are great since they get 19 int, saving throw bonusses and can even be a specialist multiclass (extra spells), the few spells illusionists don't get can be cast by Imoen.
The thief multi allows you to take all the powerful thief HLAs Imoen can't get and other useful things she can't do properly (sneaking, trapsetting, backstabbing, pickpocketing).
Another option is just starting as specialist mage (like illusionist or conjurer) and dualclassing after level 10. So you have a fast levelling thief with 20 missing HP who can protect himself with spells like mirror image, stoneskin and invisibility.
You can even wait until level 12 or 14 for more spell power if you don't mind the longer dualclassing period.
Such a character can be fun, but regarding power he's inferior to the multiclass version.
Another powergaming option would be a fighter/mage/thief multiclass, a character who gets all the fighter and thief benefits during the game while still being able to cast powerful mage spells.
The physical fighting power (up to 1.5 extra attacks/round unhasted) which also supports many thief skills is something Imoen just doesn't have.
Dualclassing from thief kit won't yield a much different character from Imoen, but if you prefer getting those cheesy mage spells faster over playing a proper thief and the powerful thief HLAs you can give it a try..
A bounty hunter dualed to mage at level 11 is the dualclass T>M version which is both most powerful and most different from Imoen.
what about Yoshimo?
does anybody dual him? I keep having the temptation to see what he could do in another class.
Many of my PCs have the stats to dual, but I always seem to start out as fighter and dual to mage - the HP difference of starting off as a fighter is worth the slow start to magery. then, when the abilities are recovered - the range of weapons is a lot better than a mage.
perhaps a thief dualled to mage would be almost as good, but you do not get the HLAs of the thief, which might prove useful.
does anybody dual him? I keep having the temptation to see what he could do in another class.
Many of my PCs have the stats to dual, but I always seem to start out as fighter and dual to mage - the HP difference of starting off as a fighter is worth the slow start to magery. then, when the abilities are recovered - the range of weapons is a lot better than a mage.
perhaps a thief dualled to mage would be almost as good, but you do not get the HLAs of the thief, which might prove useful.
"All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players"
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MasterChef
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very useful.
At 192,000 XP he already has 2 instead of 1 attack per round, can cast stoneskin twice and mirror image even more often and backstab for triple damage.
At 1,980,000 he's already earned 340 thieving skill points and the perfect backstab x5 multiplier.
At 3,000,000 he gets his first HLA and he will get many more afterwards.
At 3,750,000 he gets the last extra half attack for reaching fighter level 13, he's gained all important fighter and thief benefits then while being able to cast cheesy mage spells to make him nearly immune in combat.
At 192,000 XP he already has 2 instead of 1 attack per round, can cast stoneskin twice and mirror image even more often and backstab for triple damage.
At 1,980,000 he's already earned 340 thieving skill points and the perfect backstab x5 multiplier.
At 3,000,000 he gets his first HLA and he will get many more afterwards.
At 3,750,000 he gets the last extra half attack for reaching fighter level 13, he's gained all important fighter and thief benefits then while being able to cast cheesy mage spells to make him nearly immune in combat.
I have to disagree with kmonster on this one. I think his usefulness won't be that much. You actually level up too slowly if you want to utilize the class to its full potential. You're basically getting a weakened Bard if you decide to take a Fighter/Mage/Thief multiclass and I can imagine that's not exactly what you're looking for. No high level mage spells, a so-so fighter, and a Thief who could've been much, much more. Sure, the power will come to you sometime during the game, but when it comes, you're practically walking into Suldanesselar already. At the first three experience levels kmonster mentioned, a multiclass Mage/Thief is probably more useful (or powerful, they go hand in hand here). When he reaches the maximum number of XP, it'll likely be a standoff. Fact remains, you’re probably keeping him out of combat a lot because he’s just to weak during the greater portion of the game. Especially compared to your other characters (NPC’s).MasterChef wrote:Well, how useful is the F/M/T if I plan to use a full 6 person party?
And, of course, you'll be micromanaging your PC a lot, which can be a slight annoyance when you already got a full party tagging along. Personally, I'd take the Mage/Thief multiclass over de triple multiclass any day. Particularly in a six person party.
Now, if you were soloing or journeying with just two characters, it would be a different matter.
"Sometimes Dreams are wiser than waking"
I disagree. You don't have to keep the FMT out of combat because he isn't weak. The FMT's power doesn't come late in the game in Suldanessar, it comes just after leaving Irenicus' Dungeon. The FMT really shines if you compare him to the mage/thief early in the game.
At 192,000 XP the MT is level 8/8, can cast level 4 mage spells, gets one attack per round with a base thac0 of 17, can backstab x3 and gets 56 HP (16+ con)
The FMT is level 7/7/7, can cast level 4 mage spells, gets 2 attacks per round with a base thac0 of 14, specialisation bonus to thac0 and damage (+2), can backstab x3 and gets 70 HP (18 con).
Triple class characters don't level much slower than 2-class multis. The gap between single and 2-class is far bigger. At the SoA XPCap of 2,950,000 for example the F/M/T is level 11/12/14, the M/T is 13/16 while a pure mage or thief is 17 or 23.
If you ignore the 6,000,000 - 6,750,000 XP period the F/M/T is never more than 1 spell level behind the M/T, often the triple class has the same spell levels available as the double class.
It's just a rumor that triple classes level much slower than double classes, just like the rumor that triple classes need a long time to get powerful.
Adding the fighter to the M/T will yield
- far more HP
- far better thac0
- more damage (both fighting and backstabbing)
- 2.5 instead of 1 attack/round
- access to fighter HLAs
- can use helmets, shields and weapons more effectively
The costs are low. You'll loose a mage level every 2,250,000 XP and a thief level every 1,320,000 XP which doesn't matter since thieves don't really get better after level 13.
At 192,000 XP the MT is level 8/8, can cast level 4 mage spells, gets one attack per round with a base thac0 of 17, can backstab x3 and gets 56 HP (16+ con)
The FMT is level 7/7/7, can cast level 4 mage spells, gets 2 attacks per round with a base thac0 of 14, specialisation bonus to thac0 and damage (+2), can backstab x3 and gets 70 HP (18 con).
Triple class characters don't level much slower than 2-class multis. The gap between single and 2-class is far bigger. At the SoA XPCap of 2,950,000 for example the F/M/T is level 11/12/14, the M/T is 13/16 while a pure mage or thief is 17 or 23.
If you ignore the 6,000,000 - 6,750,000 XP period the F/M/T is never more than 1 spell level behind the M/T, often the triple class has the same spell levels available as the double class.
It's just a rumor that triple classes level much slower than double classes, just like the rumor that triple classes need a long time to get powerful.
Adding the fighter to the M/T will yield
- far more HP
- far better thac0
- more damage (both fighting and backstabbing)
- 2.5 instead of 1 attack/round
- access to fighter HLAs
- can use helmets, shields and weapons more effectively
The costs are low. You'll loose a mage level every 2,250,000 XP and a thief level every 1,320,000 XP which doesn't matter since thieves don't really get better after level 13.
I agree with kmonster. I remember when I was a newb, everybody telling me that a FMT advances too slowly to be useful in a 6 person party. It's just not true though!
Will Korgan (or Keldorn) be a better fighter than the PC? Yes (You're not the main tank anyway)
Will Edwin (or Nalia) be a better spellcaster than the PC? Yes (You're not the main spellchucker anyway)
Will Yoshimo (or Jan) be a better Thief than the PC? Yes (This just doesn't matter... some people go through the game with Nalia as their thief)
It just doesn't matter though. A FMT is so insanely powerful it's crazy. They won't get 9th level spells, which is the only drawback I can realize, but that's okay as well. They have so many HLAs to pick from (use the patch that allows them to choose Mage HLAs), and are so versatile throughout the whole game there aren't too many things he can't do!
BTW, I played my FMT as anyone would play a FM, except I'd search for traps when the time was right, go on scouting duties, and start every combat with a backstab. It was awesome.
Will Korgan (or Keldorn) be a better fighter than the PC? Yes (You're not the main tank anyway)
Will Edwin (or Nalia) be a better spellcaster than the PC? Yes (You're not the main spellchucker anyway)
Will Yoshimo (or Jan) be a better Thief than the PC? Yes (This just doesn't matter... some people go through the game with Nalia as their thief)
It just doesn't matter though. A FMT is so insanely powerful it's crazy. They won't get 9th level spells, which is the only drawback I can realize, but that's okay as well. They have so many HLAs to pick from (use the patch that allows them to choose Mage HLAs), and are so versatile throughout the whole game there aren't too many things he can't do!
BTW, I played my FMT as anyone would play a FM, except I'd search for traps when the time was right, go on scouting duties, and start every combat with a backstab. It was awesome.
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MasterChef
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Level 10 is the usual choice. You just gained another +1 to hit/damage and AC then and the dualing period will be quite short.
Level 11 is also worth considering. Trapsetting gets better from level 10 to 11 and you gain 25 extra skillpoints for 60,000 additional XP. But the drawback is the much longer dualing period. It makes a big difference if you have to gain 750,000 instead of 375,000 XP as mage until you get your thieving abilities back.
Waiting longer won't yield much while slowing down the mage spell progression considerably.
As for skillpoints: Imoen has 95 in "open locks" which should allow her to handle all locks and 85 in "detect traps" which allows her to detect all traps but not to disarm all of them. Her other thieving skills are weak.
I'd ignore "detect illusions", it's useless.
Getting 100 in trapsetting will probably yield the largest gain in power, especially if you took the 11th level.
100 in pickpocket is also useful if you want to get nice things this way and make the game easier early on. More than 100 doesn't help unless you are robbing a thief or a shop.
But even with perfect stats there's always a little chance to fail.
Most powergamers just ignore this stat and reload all the time until they succeed, for shoplifting they drink several potions of master thievery.
For "open locks" "disarm traps" or "set traps" I'd either put the skill to 90-100 or ignore it, 50 isn't much better than 0.
For scouting "hide in shadow" seems to be a bit more useful than "move silently".
As for stats: 18 dex, 16 con and 18 int are most important. For powergaming you could set strength and charisma to 18 and lower wisdom to 3.
Dualing from swashbuckler will yield a mage with boosted defensive ability (+3 AC, +20 HP), don't exspect this character to be good in physical combat, his thac0 will be very bad and he won't gain extra attacks like fighters do.
Therefore weapon profiencies won't matter that much.
Make sure you don't take any profiencies during your dualing period you already took as swashbuckler.
Quarterstaves are astonishingly powerful as are throwing daggers (if you find them), katanas are rare, long- and shortswords are more common.
Level 11 is also worth considering. Trapsetting gets better from level 10 to 11 and you gain 25 extra skillpoints for 60,000 additional XP. But the drawback is the much longer dualing period. It makes a big difference if you have to gain 750,000 instead of 375,000 XP as mage until you get your thieving abilities back.
Waiting longer won't yield much while slowing down the mage spell progression considerably.
As for skillpoints: Imoen has 95 in "open locks" which should allow her to handle all locks and 85 in "detect traps" which allows her to detect all traps but not to disarm all of them. Her other thieving skills are weak.
I'd ignore "detect illusions", it's useless.
Getting 100 in trapsetting will probably yield the largest gain in power, especially if you took the 11th level.
100 in pickpocket is also useful if you want to get nice things this way and make the game easier early on. More than 100 doesn't help unless you are robbing a thief or a shop.
But even with perfect stats there's always a little chance to fail.
Most powergamers just ignore this stat and reload all the time until they succeed, for shoplifting they drink several potions of master thievery.
For "open locks" "disarm traps" or "set traps" I'd either put the skill to 90-100 or ignore it, 50 isn't much better than 0.
For scouting "hide in shadow" seems to be a bit more useful than "move silently".
As for stats: 18 dex, 16 con and 18 int are most important. For powergaming you could set strength and charisma to 18 and lower wisdom to 3.
Dualing from swashbuckler will yield a mage with boosted defensive ability (+3 AC, +20 HP), don't exspect this character to be good in physical combat, his thac0 will be very bad and he won't gain extra attacks like fighters do.
Therefore weapon profiencies won't matter that much.
Make sure you don't take any profiencies during your dualing period you already took as swashbuckler.
Quarterstaves are astonishingly powerful as are throwing daggers (if you find them), katanas are rare, long- and shortswords are more common.
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MasterChef
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I am absolutely not consent. It's thief's strongest ability, allowing to dispell every combat illusions: mirror image, invisibility, mislead, project image, simulacrum. And the most important - mage can't protect himself with Spell Immunity: Divination.kmonster wrote: I'd ignore "detect illusions", it's useless.
That is useless.Getting 100 in trapsetting ... 100 in pickpocket
I'm inclined to agree with Toxeus, but it depends on your own personal style. If you never use Detect Illusion, then it's useless to put any points in it. But if you use it, then you probably like it. I rarely use traps, so that makes the Set Traps skill useless for someone like me. As for Pickpocketing, I don't think it's necessary to add any extra points to it. The vast majority of NPCs aren't worth pickpocketing, and if you want to rob the stores, all you have to do is quaff about five Potions of Master Thievery and you can steal everything you want in a few hours of game time. Even if your character' has 100 points in Pickpocketing, that isn't anywhere near enough to steal from the best stores without getting caught, so you want to use Potions of Master Thievery, anyway.
I don’t have the manual near me, so I’m trusting what you wrote, kmonster. If you have an online resource, I would be grateful; saves me the time to go and trash through all my stuff in the attic.
When it comes to the number of mage and thief levels, the two class multiclass is sometimes one, often two levels ahead of the triple class. Meaning, one spell level and depending on the experience level you’re at, a few spell slots (ranging from two to perhaps five). For a Thief this means almost an extra ability to use the further you are during the game in experience.
Now, I guess it depends what you prefer from a power type of perspective. You might not consider and extra spell level and thief ability much, but I consider it the difference between being able to cast one Sunfire or three. To have PfMW and to don’t have it. To have PI and not. To be able to set traps, to be unable. I’m getting nitpicky here, but you get my drift.
Then there’re of course the ninth level spells. Timestop and Shapechange are for me two spells I’m really looking forward to throughout the game and once I get them, I make liberal use of them. Of course you can get yourself Spell Immunity or Simulacrum, get a few of those scrolls and then cast them over and over, but it’ll cost you a few precious spell slots, of which you already have a few less.
Then again, you do get the fighter THACO, proficiency points and its HLA which offset the previously mentioned advantages. So to get back to my former comment, it depends what type of power you prefer: slightly more mage and thieving skills due to leveling, or a fighter class.
When it comes to the number of mage and thief levels, the two class multiclass is sometimes one, often two levels ahead of the triple class. Meaning, one spell level and depending on the experience level you’re at, a few spell slots (ranging from two to perhaps five). For a Thief this means almost an extra ability to use the further you are during the game in experience.
Now, I guess it depends what you prefer from a power type of perspective. You might not consider and extra spell level and thief ability much, but I consider it the difference between being able to cast one Sunfire or three. To have PfMW and to don’t have it. To have PI and not. To be able to set traps, to be unable. I’m getting nitpicky here, but you get my drift.
Then there’re of course the ninth level spells. Timestop and Shapechange are for me two spells I’m really looking forward to throughout the game and once I get them, I make liberal use of them. Of course you can get yourself Spell Immunity or Simulacrum, get a few of those scrolls and then cast them over and over, but it’ll cost you a few precious spell slots, of which you already have a few less.
Then again, you do get the fighter THACO, proficiency points and its HLA which offset the previously mentioned advantages. So to get back to my former comment, it depends what type of power you prefer: slightly more mage and thieving skills due to leveling, or a fighter class.
"Sometimes Dreams are wiser than waking"
@Toxeus
I consider "detect illusion" useless since there's the "true sight" spell clerics and mages can cast even before combat.
While the thief detects illusions he can't cast spells or attack, the true sight spell works while doing other things.
"Spell Immunity: Divination" is nothing to bother since enemy mages prefer casting other spells during combat.
Traps can be extremely powerful, they can often be set before combat, fighting seriously injured enemies (or not fighting dead enemies) is much easier than fighting enemies at full health.
Other skills won't help that much making the game easier (stealth can be replaced by invisibilty). You can take a low value in it, but reloading all the time because a trapsetting fails is too painful to bear.
For pickpocketing I've already stated that most powergamers use the reload/drink potion approach, real roleplayers probably won't pickpocket at all because it's not neccessary and the game is usually messed up if you fail,
but being able to try a spontaneous pickpocket without reloading painfully often or heavy potion gulping can still be advantadgeous.
@Sytze
The difference is even lower for some time during the game. One example:
At 1,125,000 - 1,319,999 XP you can have a fighter9/mage11/thief11 or a mage11/thief12, so while the triple class has far better thac0, does more damage and gets twice as many attacks per round the double class gets only 315 instead of 290 thieving skill points, that's all.
Adding a second class costs far more than adding a third. Adding thief to mage costs three times as much as adding fighter afterwards.
The first 10 levels can be considered free, but afterwards for each 6 levels a pure mage gets the double class gets only 3 and the triple class 2.
16:13 or 22:16 yields a far bigger gap than 13:12 or 16:14.
It takes 6,000,000 XP for the double class to get level 9 spells, in a party of 6 the game is nearly over then.
Thief level 11 already allows to get nearly perfect in 4 skills, more is nice but not neccessary. Keep in mind that the gap isn't that big early on (13:12, 16:14) and when it gets bigger (19:16, 22:18) even the triple class will have too many skill points to bother. The fighter levels even support one thieving skill, backstabbing.
If you are playing a party without other mage the double class is surely superior, but not with Imoen in the party imho. As dual class she'll level so fast that even the double class will fall behind rapidly.
But I agree with you that it depends what type of power you prefer, everyone has his own playing style.
I consider "detect illusion" useless since there's the "true sight" spell clerics and mages can cast even before combat.
While the thief detects illusions he can't cast spells or attack, the true sight spell works while doing other things.
"Spell Immunity: Divination" is nothing to bother since enemy mages prefer casting other spells during combat.
Traps can be extremely powerful, they can often be set before combat, fighting seriously injured enemies (or not fighting dead enemies) is much easier than fighting enemies at full health.
Other skills won't help that much making the game easier (stealth can be replaced by invisibilty). You can take a low value in it, but reloading all the time because a trapsetting fails is too painful to bear.
For pickpocketing I've already stated that most powergamers use the reload/drink potion approach, real roleplayers probably won't pickpocket at all because it's not neccessary and the game is usually messed up if you fail,
but being able to try a spontaneous pickpocket without reloading painfully often or heavy potion gulping can still be advantadgeous.
@Sytze
The difference is even lower for some time during the game. One example:
At 1,125,000 - 1,319,999 XP you can have a fighter9/mage11/thief11 or a mage11/thief12, so while the triple class has far better thac0, does more damage and gets twice as many attacks per round the double class gets only 315 instead of 290 thieving skill points, that's all.
Adding a second class costs far more than adding a third. Adding thief to mage costs three times as much as adding fighter afterwards.
The first 10 levels can be considered free, but afterwards for each 6 levels a pure mage gets the double class gets only 3 and the triple class 2.
16:13 or 22:16 yields a far bigger gap than 13:12 or 16:14.
It takes 6,000,000 XP for the double class to get level 9 spells, in a party of 6 the game is nearly over then.
Thief level 11 already allows to get nearly perfect in 4 skills, more is nice but not neccessary. Keep in mind that the gap isn't that big early on (13:12, 16:14) and when it gets bigger (19:16, 22:18) even the triple class will have too many skill points to bother. The fighter levels even support one thieving skill, backstabbing.
If you are playing a party without other mage the double class is surely superior, but not with Imoen in the party imho. As dual class she'll level so fast that even the double class will fall behind rapidly.
But I agree with you that it depends what type of power you prefer, everyone has his own playing style.
