GameBanshee Forums

A solo priest would be challenging indeed. you get a whole lot of defensive buffs but alot less in terms of offense than a mage. Regarding the beast master, I'm surprised. The +4 thac0 would definitly help early on but later when thac0 is in the negative teens it dosn't really matter. I get the point though, the beast master is more complicated than I gave him credit for. I for one would be interested to see what other hidden bonuses he has. I'd love to see a mod ala rouge rebalancing to give the beast master better summons that level with you.

As for the whole Assasin/wizard slayer, I know you can't multi class kits but I'm still sooo tempted to shadow keep a char like that and play the stealthy type while backstabbing. From a role playing perspective it makes alot more sense than some of the legal combinations like cleric/thief Kensai>thief ect. On the other hand such a char would be mad powerful, A wizard slayer with with UAI, x8 backstab (from the short sword), and a healthy melee capacity. I wouldn't abuse a blatant ceat like the backstabbing bug. though I admit I have no idea how you actually do that.

The cleric may not have the same offensive power as a mage, but can easily rival a fighter, especially priests of Helm and Lathender.

I'm pretty sure that there are no swords in the unmodded game that give a bonus to your multiplier.

A very interesting and powerful combination is the Kensai/Cleric. It's the one combination that has a sure chance to deliver the harm spell without relying on Critical Strike. That's a real death dealer right there.

Can a Kensai dual-class to a Cleric in an un-modded game, without using ShadowKeeper?

I've never heard anyone talk about such a combination; it's always been about the Kensai/Mage or Thief all of the time.

^^Yes. People just like Kensai/Mages better because it's easy to fire off a bunch of protections at once with contingencies. Kensai/Thieves are popular too because of UAI. You just don't hear too much about Kensai/Clerics because they're not as popular/overpowered.

Both, the Kensai/Cleric and the Kensai/Druid combinations are possible within the unmodded game without the use of Shadowkeeper. Both are powerful as well.

The divine spells aren't too popular with many players, however, as you can probably tell, having a good chance at delivering Harm, greatly reduces the difficulty of some fights meaning that yes, you CAN two shot any dragon, given that you time it right.

Jedi_Sauraus wrote:As for the whole Assasin/wizard slayer, I know you can't multi class kits but I'm still sooo tempted to shadow keep a char like that and play the stealthy type while backstabbing. From a role playing perspective it makes alot more sense than some of the legal combinations like cleric/thief Kensai>thief ect. On the other hand such a char would be mad powerful, A wizard slayer with with UAI, x8 backstab (from the short sword), and a healthy melee capacity. I wouldn't abuse a blatant ceat like the backstabbing bug. though I admit I have no idea how you actually do that.

Cleric/thief and Kensai>thief makes a lot of sense, considering that Faerûn deities are far from our traditional deities and many of them support thieves, and why would a thief *not* want to train in the arts of mastering a blade without having to carry armor?

Eitherhow, the difference between a regular fighter/thief and an assassin/wizard slayer won't be that big. He can easily accumulate 75+ magical resistance simply using items and as for the assassin part... well... assassin>fighter?

The cleric/thief combination isn't that good in my opinnion, but I believe that the class combination makes sense as it's essentially the Demarch of Mask.

The spell faliure chance isn't really anything special and as Thrifalas said, magic resistance is very easy to increase through items, or better yet, nullify it through spell immunity.

I view the Kensai as a Monk but with blades insead of fists. In my view a Kensai > Thief is someone like a samurai who started out as a perfectionist with honor being their top value and mastery of the blade their highest priority and then suddenly said char decided to do a 180 degree turn and become a common backstabbing street thief.

The Kensai > Mage makes alo more sense IMHO since that's simply a Kensai who decided to master his mind after he reached sufficient skill with the sword which is in line with the whole perfectionist mentality. I guess though that everybody interprets classes in their own way though.

Crenshinibon wrote:The cleric/thief combination isn't that good in my opinnion, but I believe that the class combination makes sense as it's essentially the Demarch of Mask.

The spell faliure chance isn't really anything special and as Thrifalas said, magic resistance is very easy to increase through items, or better yet, nullify it through spell immunity.

The Cleric/Thief combination has always intrigued me, but it's weapon proficiencies always turned me away. Staves and Staff-maces are not really ideal for the Thief aspect of the character.

I might try it one day, just for kicks.

Well, you can always try the Swashbuckler/Cleric for a more offensive edge. Don't forget that you CAN use thief weapons to backstab once you gain Use Any Item.

Yeah, but the only problem I see with that is the fact that in order to acquire UAI, you will either need to play as a vanilla thief/swashbuckler for much of SoA, or multi-class.

With multi-class, there is another problem. If I remember correctly, only Dwarves and Half-Orcs can be multi-classed thief/clerics.

Well, as you don't really need Constitution above 16, dwarves wouldn't do well here. The high strength of a half-orc however would benefit you in getting bonus THAC0 and damage. Even then, when dual wielding you'll be barely making -10 THAC0 in your main hand and -5 in the offhand. But then again, you'll be making two attacks per round, and that's best case scenario with using two +5 weapons.

The dual classed combinations are much better.

The dual-class options that force me to level past the early teens are almost completely out of the question for one such as myself. I don't have the patience to level a vanilla anything for more than a couple of chapters.

Kensai/XX, or any other early dual-classers I can do, because they can get away with dual-classing at around level 13.

I don't know if I'd be able to push myself to get a Beast Master or Thief high enough to get HLA's before dual-classing.

I usually like to dual late when soloing as it leads to the most powerful combination. Also, it is entirely possible to nearly hit the eight million experience cap before finishing chapter two.

What quests would you recommend doing first, in order to get a few levels under my belt?

I would assume that the Copper Coronet and Circus are among them, but that only gives you so much EXP.

I usually do all possible quests. Depending on class, I can usually manage to solo the party at the Promenade for some quick gold and experience. All the liches gives you some 22k experience, and by using Protection From Magic, they're easy enough.

The easy quests off the top of my head are:
All Stronghold Quests Except Windspear and Umar Hills. (Unseeing Eye is made easier by having the Shield of Balduran. The only thing that might give you trouble in the Mage Stronghold quest are the demons)
All Trademeet Quests
Paying Galean and doing the Shadow Thief quests (the amulet of power makes your life much easier when dealing with shadows, specters and vampires)
Lilarcor
Stuffed Toy
Temple District Sewers
Pirates at the Docks (each one gives some 4k and the Pirate Leader gives 6k)
Tanner Quest
Graveyard Crypts (not a quest)
Start doing Watcher's Keep
If you're dualing to a cleric, try undead infested places. Invisibility and Turn Undead bring in loads of experience.

Keep in mind that by the time you dual class, you'll have nice items in your inventory, so it won't be as slow as when you started out. If dual classing to a caster class, DON'T FORGET TO USE WANDS. They are infinitely useful and make your life so much easier. Personally, I just keep the ones from Irenicus's dungeon and recharge them as soon as I can.

The quests provided bellow can be used in a mix, as those when you're starting out as your first class and as your second. The experience you gain will make you jump a few levels at a time at first, so you're not left completely defenseless.

How would someone solo Ascension with a character such as a Beast Master or another weak-ish class?

Or, for that matter, even the final fight in ToB without Ascension? These battles seem somewhat trivial to power parties, but I don't know how a less capable class would fare.

EDIT: On that note, how do I install Ascension? I did it a long time ago, but I've since uninstalled a few times and I can't remember how to get it back.

The first level of watcher's Keep can be fairly easy IF you go there straight away. Once you reach a level where Vampiric Mists start spawning then it's a whole new ballgame. Don't rest there though, I've found those things spawning at even low level as wanderers.

Unfortunately I can't say much about Ascension, but I'd think that any class can solo the last fight given that they utilize their items and skills.

**Spoilerish for Ascension**
Beastmaster might be able to solo the last battle because of all the animal summonings. The animals won't score much damage, but they can distract your enemies while you pound on them. Remember to divide and conquer. One strategy I haven't tried in the last battle is saving a couple mind flayer control circlets and using them on the most beefy of Melissan's puppets, namely Yaga-Shura and Abazigal. Remember to jack up your wisdom and charisma before you go and face Balthazar too. In Ascension, you can persuade him to join you in the last battle if you have high wisdom and charisma and you pick the correct responses when talking to him.