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I just beat the game as a dwarven fighter lvl 19 with a bezerk kit. Amazingly, i rarely used this kit at all, but the bezerker from what I saw was VERY powerful. By the end of the game with a blackrazer, each hit was 30-40 and critical hits 65+, no hacks or anything, just pure brute ownage. I found that in bg2 mages seem a tad weak, I mainly used Viconia and Jaheira to summon and tank. I find magics ultimately boring, but thats just me. Going to start a new character, im shooting for a monk or a mage of some sort. (paladins are gay cause im a evil guy always > ). Any thoughts? Respond to the thread

Magic is fun. Mages are a little underpowered becaused they never reach the level where thei obtain level 9 spells. That aside, with my level 17 mage there isn't a single character in the game that i couldn't asswhup. It would really rock if interplay could make some kinda online arena where people could battle it out

I agree, dwarwen berserker ownzzz
Great saving throws and enrage mode - the REAL wizard slayer (the so-called wizard slayer kit suck imo)

Most people like half-orcs for fighters, for their extra strength, and underestimating dwarwes because of low dex, but the magic resistance is VERY important in BG2 - mostly, the only serious enemies is spellcasters. And the dwarwen bonus in saving throws is very significant. As for dex 17, gauntlets of dexterity solves the problem.

I'm using two-handed style(3) and long swords(5) - slicing machine Two berserkers are just unstoppable - i killed firkraag in a pure melee fight with my character and korgan, only with a few protections cast on them (fire, evil).

I just love to play with magic. It's a pitty that you're not able to get leve 9 spells, but there are some other pretty nice level 7 and 8 spells. Sometimes it is so much fun.

If you really want to play with magic, use the XP cap remover and play a cleric/mage. You get so many spells you don't even know where to put half of them.

What is the maximum Level you can reach as Mage and as Cleric using the EXPcap? And how many Lev9mage/Lev7cleric spells can be obtained?

i think the limit is level 30 with the cap since that is the limit in the "pnp" game.

I don't know the excat answer, but alot
I would guess like 7 of each

7 of each ???
COOL !!!
I think I have to restart the game as a Cleric/Mage using a Level cap.
Thanks a lot

The best class imo, is the kensai/mage hands down.

First, and most important reason is because the kensai/mage is the ONLY melee/caster class that suffers absolutely no penalties on either side. You don't have to worry about not being able to use certain number of weapons. A kensai can't wear armor anyways, so dualing into a mage actually improves it's AC. The Robe of Vecna , Robe of the Good Archmagi, Robe of the Evil Archmagi, all has the same AC as a Chain Mail +1, added onto the natural -2 AC that kensai's get for their kit bonus.

Second, if you look at all the spells that a mage has that would improve it's survival chances in battle, and add that to a fighter. Spells like Tenser's, Stoneskin, Shadow Door, Reflected Image, all that stuff, give that to a kensai, you become an unstopable killing machine.

I am going through the game as a fighter/mage/cleric right now and I think it is a very good class. I'm most pleased with the HP I have, 113, as I expected it to be lower. It gives me easy access to some personal spell protections. I am mostly just a backup cleric and mage. Even though right now I have Jaheira, Anomen, and Imoen as my other spell casters, I am considering dropping Jaheira for Aerie so I will have 3 clerics, and 3 mages in the party. Not bad because I will still have 1 cleric and 1 mage able to reach the cap. The only reason I don't want to drop Jaheira is because she is turning into a pretty decent fighter, and Aerie's HP suck. 30 when you get her. Bleah.

I disagree with Matias.I beat the game being a Kavalier and i am on my second try as an Inquisitor.Simply put,paladins are great for BG2 because their combat abilities are well suited for this game.As a kavalier you have +3 to hit dragons (makes the difference in these battles)+priest spells,as a inquisitor you have dispel magic at double the level of your character (spell works as level 20 if you are a level 10) and true sight (invaluable in the middle of a battle to disrupt protections from mages such as mirror image,mislead etc).I haven't played as undead hunter but i suspect its immunity in level drain and hold will be very useful too.And don't forget the Carsomyr-the best sword in the game with this extremely useful 50% magic resistance+critical hits around 70 all the time+dispel magic with every hit.
Also playing as a paladin doesn't mean you must be lawful good (that's why they have the reputation number).I had in my party several neutral or evil NPCs like Viconia and my reputation was 18 (that is the maximum since Viconia subtracts two points of reputation).
Finally,playing as a mage may seem interesting but since you can't memorize 9th level spells,no mage for me.
(PS:i have played Torment being a mage most of the time and i reached lvl 22,being able to learn and cast every spell in the game up to 9th lvl.I wish they have made the same with BG2.It is annoying to cast 9th lvl spells from scrolls-they are practically useless)

I can only comment on the classes I've played so far:

Sorcerer: Lots of fun, but challenging. Since you only get a few per level and are stuck with them it takes thought to choose your spells. If you want to use level 9 spells, learn Simulacrum as your first level 8 spell and keep all your level 9 scrolls around. (See the Simulacrum strategy)

Monk: Brutally effective. Someone said berzerker was the real wizard slayer, but they must not have used a monk. 3x the magic resistance of a wizard slayer and with the Scarlett Ninja-To each hit is a save vs poison (which mages are weak against) or 100% spellcasting failure for 2 rounds due to poison damage. They act as proficient in every 1-h bladed weapon even if they don't actually have proficiency (even katanas which they CAN'T put proficiency into), get decent AC (mine is at -9), many attacks, and the best Thac0 in the game (2 better than a normal fighter since they level out at 21 instead of 19). And to top it all off they get quivering palm and stunning blow.

Druid: Great until they hit the level limit of 14. I was originally trying to use my Shapeshifter as a fighter but they're second-line at best. Greater Werewolf is much weaker than I think it should be--shouldn't it be about equal to a Greater Wolfwere?? On the plus side, it does get 40-50% resistance to just about everything (40% magic, 50% fire/ice/electricity/acid/cold). They're a little better as spell casters. Basically, if you think of them as Fighter/Clerics they work out ok, but not great. I wish they would have at least given them some really cool items through the stronghold to make up for stopping their level advancement.

Barbarian: I've only played around with this a little, but it looks to be a monster. Loads of hit points and combining natural resistance with the Defender of Easthaven can get his resistance to physical damage up to 40%. Enrage gives 25 Str when used with the Girdle of Frost Giant Strength.

Others I really want to try: Kensai/Mage (As Yuusuke said, excellent combination - I'm just not sure whether I want to go to level 9 with the fighter and max out the mage or take the fighter to level 12.), Blade, Fighter/Cleric, Swashbuckler (need to do ALL the strongholds)

[This message has been edited by Nighthawk (edited 10-30-2000).]

i am playing a humand beserker right now and so far it has been pretty fun....I really wanna check out a mage char also...but from what i seen the level 9 spells do kinda suck in a way and alot of the level 8 and 7 are better..just my opinion...Also for al u evil pees out there, how do u like to play your evil chars? do u go around wacking out everybody or what?

Thanks for all of the replys, after my bezerker putting out mass ownage, I have decided to go to a monk. Paladins will always be gay, no matter what you say. Evil is the only fun path, because you get to be mean about everything . And the Carsomyr sucks my balls, Lilacor 4 life (funny sword).

What kind of HP do your Barbarians have? Mine is level 18 and has 130. This doesn't seem as high as you all make it seem. Does my Barb just suck? 18 Con btw...

that sounds a little weak for a barb... tho' you never know what kind of hp you're gonna get unless playing on easy where all the hp rolls are maxed out. Once Edwin even had 132 hp for a while when i got him weird bug. didn't last. BTW I play a sorcerer 15th right now... kicks ass. Thinking about a fighter dual-up to cleric at lvl 9 next. Any thoughts on that?

Matias:I thought you would be able to do some serious comments about the game and not these silly remarks.

[This message has been edited by Bill (edited 10-31-2000).]

Barbarian HP depends on Con and rules selection. If you're playing Normal you get 12/level 1-9 plus bonuses. If you're playing Core Rules or higher and don't re-roll your levels you get d12/level which gives an expected value of 6.5. Either way you get 3/level for levels 10+. Also, you get Con bonuses for level 1-9 (off the top of my head since I don't have the book here: 16=2, 17=3, 18=4, 19=5).

So for a level 18 Barbarian:

Normal Core
Con 17 159 112.5
Con 18 168 121.5
Con 19 177 130.5

If you're playing Core Rules and have a Con of 19 (and I have the Con bonuses right) you're right on target.

The barbarian extra hp are a bigger bonus compared to fighters if Normal rules are used since they get 2hp more per level rather than an expected 1hp more.

All in fun Bill. Yes paladins might be strong and well suited, but I personally like to be evil and keep an evil party. (usually evil npc's are the best). Besides that, its no big deal, I can still use Keldorn as my Inquisitor with a Carsomyr, but I find playing a paladin not to my liking

I'm playing with a preist of Helm (lvl 17 currently). Clerics make good fighters by themselves (especially with the hammers and mace you can get in BGII) and if you boost them with Righteous Magic (or any other spell of that kind), they can really hurt. Add cleric spells to that and you've got yourself a pretty nice character.