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I sort of had a funny feeling dualling him as a thief, but it was really worth it. I did it when he was at level 21, a good time because he has hit his maximum THAC0. It only takes 2.6M experience to get to level 22 as a thief, but during that time you do have to baby him a bit.

Things get awesome as soon as he regains his fighter skills. He can "use any item" and develops a taste for the Holy Avenger. I loved the irony, too! (I summoned forth Keldorn just so that Sarevok could kill him with it. Hey, we're evil. EVIL!) Too bad it doesn't backstab. Have him set some time traps and then clean up while his foe are frozen. In the end he makes it to level 31 as a thief, and I think much more deadly than a simple 40th level fighter.

The downside of this plan is that you have to go a long time without the party's best fighter. I recommend a three-member party, definitely with a good mage and a good fighter. You don't want more people because experience will roll in too slowly.

Now that I've done this, I found myself wondering whether anyone else tried.

And how is Sarevok as a mage? Is that even worth it, given that magi take so long to gain levels?

I don't know about it taking so long to level up Sarevok as a mage. Just to be cheesy, I brought him into the party, swapped him over to mage, gave him all of the scroll cases, and read him up to 8th level. About a days worth of playing later (for me at least), he's sporting 12th. Not too shabby for not even getting to the siege camp.
R.Carter

Yeah, getting him to level 12 is easy. From there, each additional level will require more XP than it took to get from 1 to 12! Reading scrolls at the start is a good idea though; at least he's not totally helpless right after the class change.

(Poor Sarevok, reduced to throwing darts for a while...)

I don't think you'd need him as a mage, for good ones, Nalia and Imoen are better, for evil Edwin...

dual classing sarevok???????hmmm.......not gonna try it..

well, anyway, i still like minsc better, he kicked his ass in Bg1, and he can kick his ass now.

although sarevok IS extremely useful against them mindflayers (i have the psion + 5 on him)

Yea, but a baby squirrel, a crippled midget or my dead grandmother with the psi +5 would all still be extremely useful against mind flayers...

Bah. minsc is a cool character but he is not too good because he has sucky hp boo!

Since we strayed to the "Minsc can/can't kill Sarevok" topic, let me vent a bit:

Minsc got on my nerves. I didn't see it coming, but it happened. Sure, the silly stuff is cute at first, but BG2 is a long game. By the end, Minsc was out of my party, replaced S., a much more 3D character (also good for some comic relief).

If you actually try to ROLE PLAY these characters, about all you could realistically do with Minsc is charge him towards the danger. I used a rather intricate combat strategy to minimize damage/risk/wasting of spells, the sort of thing Minsc would not be able to grasp. It fits Sarevok perfectly, though.

Oh, and if you want these two to go mano a mano, do it right:

1. Both are at their XP cap.
2. Each gets to pick 10 magic items. Let's say Minsc picks one first, then Sarevok, then Minsc, etc.
3. Then, any strategy goes (special abilities, items, etc.)

My honest opinion is that if Sarevok doesn't win EVERY TIME, your Minsc favoritism got the better of you.

Somewhat back on topic: A Sarevok who duals to thief at level 21 would be much better at this sort of a battle than an ordinary fighter Sarevok (backstabbing, using wands, invisibility with the magi staff, time traps, etc.) If you insisted on just a straightforward hackfest (no moving; just swinging) Sarevok would still win but it might be closer. Since the dual-classed Sarevok would be able to use any item, his best bet would be to whirlwind with Haer'Dalis' chaos blade right at the start. Minsc would be at 0 Dex in one round. If Minsc were dual-weilding Backrazor and Crom Fayer he might be able to deal out damage pretty fast, but not nearly fast enough. Hell, I'm gonna try it.

Hmm. I actually dualled Sarevok right away - at lvl.18. Still, when regained his Fighter abilities, his is great. But even before that, when he has x3 backstub with his 18/00 strenght...cute

I did it too (being tired of weak NPC thieves and therefore retiring Imoen) and I'm eager to see the the result, one small lvl left.

Using all items could prove to be a killer ...

I didn't try Sarevok but I did dual myself(fighter) right at the start of TOB to a thief. I took myself and Sarevok and when we made it to Gromnir I was only level 7!