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at how much exp or what lvl should u duel your kensai to a mage at? just post what u think is best i need help i dont know how high to go

Well, I dualed mine at lvl 9, why? Because he gets +3 to hit and damage, plus he can reach the highest level as a mage.
Somepeople dual at 12 for the +4 bonuses. You lose a couple levels off your maximum. Either way, enjoy.

but at lvl 9 wouldnt his thaco be quite crappy and he wouldnt have that many prof?

go for 12, since you still have plenty of experience room with TOB

any preference to what weapons to use

I myself prefer to get grandmastery in two handed sword, quaterstaff, and two stars in two handed weapons, i mean that crit on 20 and 19 is so useful

two handed sword so i can switch between staff of magi and the other good swords like psion blade, or litahor's sword, war blade, etc...

Weapons dont really matter, just make sure to have a combonation that includes a blunt weapon, like flail, or staff depending on 1-2 handed weapons. Long sword, Katana and Flail worked well for me.
I guess depending on your fighting to casting abilities is when to change. Personaly, I now wish I had dueled at 12 or even 15

I'd recommend level 9 - the advantages of waiting til level 12 just ain't worth it. For the tougher fights you'll probably use Tenser's anyway. Why not dual wield Celestial Fury and Dak'kon's Zerth Blade?

Go for 13 to get an extra half attack and some THAC0. Level 9 won't kick much a$$ in ToB...

My first BG2 character was a kensai/mage dualled at level 9, and she kicked ass all the way through SoA and ToB, both as a mage and a front-liner. Dualling at 12th or even 13th level just didn't offer enough benefits to be worth the time spent waiting for her first class to reactivate, in my mind (and yes, I did use the kick-out-party-members-then-learn-spells trick, and also solved most side quests).

To those who did dual at level 12 or 13, when did you regain your kensai abilities? Chapter Four? Five?

It's not as if you're completely lame during the extra time you spend being either a level 9-12 Kensai or a level 10-13 Mage... Those kick a$$ too (you're a Mage with 130 HP!), only less than the almighty dual.

True, you're still quite powerful as either a kensai or a mage, but I suppose what it comes down to is this: are you more interested in the ultimate result of having a slightly better fighter once you regain your kensai abilities (dualling at higher levels), or in playing a kensai/mage, meaning with both classes enabled, for as large a part of the game as possible (dualling at 9th). I obviously went for the second option.

If I replay the game with the same character and party, though, I might dual at 12th or 13th just to see the difference. My question was a serious one: when can you expect to reactivate the kensai class if you spend a lot of time questing in Chapters 2&3? If my first game is anything to go by, I'd have reached that point somewhere in Spellhold if I had dualled at 12th ...

13 of course!

What are the advantages of dual at level 12 compared to 13? I can see none. The cap lets you reach lvl 28 as mage is both cases and you lose the 1/2 extra attack.

Mage spell progression caps at level 28. The couple of HP you get from further level-ups is eh, not worth 4 kensai levels.

A lvl 13 dualed kensai/mage would re-activate kensai at 2750K experience. With full party and all side-quests, that'd be in underdark. Soloing, that'd be in Chapter 2.

There's yet another point in favor of the 13 dual. Kensai-mage isn't exactly a 'role-player's choice'. Anyone using a K/M is a power-gamer. If you're to power-gaming, you like ultimate results and are good enough a player not to have problems with a long re-activation time. Dual at lvl 13 is ultimate results, as there isn't really anything to be gained from dealying the dual even further.

Perhaps you want GWW+TS combo? Then dual at L21. Not sure if you get enough mage levels to reactivate tough. You will propably reactivate kensai in the very end of TOB but I think it will make the best character.