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It's been a long time since I have played anything D&D related and I have a character in mind that I want to play but am having trouble making the right decisions upfront so I don't find myself restarting.

I want to build a Dwarven Fighter/Cleric (Berserker)
I envisioned dual wielding battle axes.

1.) I don't know if it would be better to dual class or multi class?
2.) What stats should I be shooting for when rolling?
3.) If dual classing is the best choice, at what level should I begin?
4.) What are some of the best cleric spells to shoot for when leveling as a cleric?

1. Dwarves can't dual class.

2. High Str, Wis and Con; good dex would be a bonus

3. See 1

You also will not be able to wield battle axes.

galraen wrote:1. Dwarves can't dual class.

2. High Str, Wis and Con; good dex would be a bonus

3. See 1

You also will not be able to wield battle axes.

Good to know about the dual class and the battle axes.
What weapons would be recommended? After some research it looks like I am looking at either warhammers or maces as a best option.
Any suggestions on cleric spells to choose during the characters leveling process?

I would strongly suggest choosing flails as your main weapons. As for spells, I personally like to use "self-buff" spells and play clerics more like fighters, so choose anything that augments your stats and damage. As soon as you hit the appropriate level all cleric spells of a certain level will be available to you, so you can try them out and rememorize them, if you don't like your selection.

Flails + Maces (for MoD+2) and you're set.

I must say though, i prefer to take this dual class the other way around. Cleric of Talos / Fighter is a beast :laugh:

Stworca wrote:Flails + Maces (for MoD+2) and you're set.

I must say though, i prefer to take this dual class the other way around. Cleric of Talos / Fighter is a beast :laugh:

cleric kit dual class to a fighter...interesting, at what levels would be good to dual to a fighter?

spiritualis wrote:cleric kit dual class to a fighter...interesting, at what levels would be good to dual to a fighter?

Once you reach level 7 spells I think.

If he insists on playing a dwarf, then he's going to have to play a fighter/cleric multiclass because he can't dual class. No worries, F/C will be a strong class to play.

The obvious choice for weapon would be either Warhammer or Flail but definitely not Mace.

Sykar wrote:Once you reach level 7 spells I think.

I for one dual right off the bat. Storm shield, armor of faith, sanctuary & co are what makes me roll the cleric class in the first place.

Armor of Faith doesn't add much damage reduction at lower levels afaik.

Other spells are quite potent, too like Flame Strike, Mass Heal, Prot. f N.E., Prot f. Evil Circle, Harmony, Summon Aerial Servant, False Dawn, etc.
Your Turn Undead abiity will become obsolete quite fast.

Dualing right at start means you want a fighter with a clerical splash.

Dualing from cleric to fighter is inferior to multiclassing. As multiclass you get both the fighter and cleric benefits. Storm shell is overrated, it doesn't even even out the hitpoints you loose for starting as cleric.

Armor of Faith is a fixed value, add it on top of Hardiness and DoE, and you're ready to go. IIRC Yaga, Ameli and Balthazar deal blunt damage (roranach). AoF and DoE alone are quite a change!

Point about Turn Undead is of course true, though i rarely depend on this ability. Can vampires or liches be affected by it anyway?

Later cleric spells are potent, but taking only low level essentials allows you to gain fighter levels fast, unlike multiclass, where the character is pathetic early on, unlike late dual where one needs party to protect him during "downtime" - unless you metagame naturally.

Now, all three : high level dual FC, high level dual CF and multi CF can be amazing characters, but each has its drawbacks. (well, so does this one)

C7/FXX is an amazing fighter, and survivalist, a great party tank when you dont have arcane casters or for extremely long / mutli-threat fights. It's not a party support build, it's a low-spell-usage tank. A tank that is ready in chapter 2, not 5
I often use such a character, and it has served me from Ilyich to Ascension.

Ahoy

Armor of Faith improves with caster level is what was probably meant by it being less good at lower levels. Unless you use the Spell Revisions mod, which sets it to 20%.

In my opinion it is only worth dual classing a fighter (Kensai) to a Cleric at a high level (22). This is primarily due to the THAC0 and damage bonuses that he will receive. However, the multiclass, while less powerful offensively is easier to manage.

I strongly recommend AGAINST dualclassing a low level fighter into a cleric primarily because you miss out on a few very important high level abilities:

Critical Strike
Hardiness
Whirlwind/Greater Whirlwind

The fighting ability of the character doesn't really matter, especially because of Critical Strike.

kmonster: In my opinion, for one on one (boss) fights, cleric to fighter dual-class is still acceptable, as long you dual class after you attain level 6 spells. With the power of the fighter's HLAs and the cleric's spells, hitpoints hardly even matter.

Stworca: Vampires CAN be affected by this ability. I'm unsure about the liches though, perhaps low-level ones can. Nonetheless, this is what makes the "I wish to be protected from undead" backfire wish so powerful - you get about a dozen of vampires under your control to demolish everything in the area.

prune1: I believe that all spells stop improving at level 20, so that would put the highest resistance gained from Armor of Faith at 25%.

Stworca wrote:Armor of Faith is a fixed value, add it on top of Hardiness and DoE, and you're ready to go. IIRC Yaga, Ameli and Balthazar deal blunt damage (roranach). AoF and DoE alone are quite a change!

What does DoE stand for?

Mr.Waesel wrote:What does DoE stand for?

Defender of Easthaven, which grants 20% resistances to all physical damage.

Armor of Faith improves with caster level is what was probably meant by it being less good at lower levels. Unless you use the Spell Revisions mod, which sets it to 20%.

You're... correct! I must have mistaken the two! Kudos!

Other

As i've stated before, i'm not a huge fun of "downtime" that high level dual classes bring to the game. While a C20/F20 dual is much better than a C7/F33, C7/F33 downtime is from C7/F1 to C7/F8, while the first is down for twenty levels.
While it's not a problem in vanilla, where you can win each fight with ring of ram and simulacrum, one would suffer greatly with a lvl 1 fighter in impr. asylum or so.

Still i must apologize for the confusion, it's been very long time since i played vanilla BG2, and thus my opinions and builds are focused on modded game.

Sincere regards!

I did mention that multiclassing is easier to stick with, though I don't see why anyone would choose a fighter/cleric over a ranger/cleric, except for roleplaying reasons.

In any case, the main point of such a combination is to do the Harm-Strike one-two combo, which pretty much demolishes any non-dead, non-construct, non-slime opponent.

Crenshinibon wrote:Stworca: Vampires CAN be affected by this ability. I'm unsure about the liches though, perhaps low-level ones can. Nonetheless, this is what makes the "I wish to be protected from undead" backfire wish so powerful - you get about a dozen of vampires under your control to demolish everything in the area.

For the record, Liches are also affected though you have to be at a reasonably high class level (about 20 or so to chunk them). The big plus TU has against liches is that it bypasses protective spells and magic resistance.

back to the OP's post, if you're doing mods, there are several mods (Level 1 NPCs for sure, possibly aTweaks) that let dual- and multi-class Fighter/Clerics use all weapons available to a fighter, so if you really want a Dwarven Multiclass F/C that uses Axes you can.