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My son Alex and I were looking for a new challange in BG2 so we decided to start a party of 2 with just a fighter and a half elf mage / fighter /thief.

The multi class character was so effective that we wondered how it would go on its own.

We loaded some ease of use mods to allow some stacking etc. as carrying capacity was a big issue. We also loaded some additional traders to get so special equipment. We set the game at standard difficulty D&D rules

We were amazed at just how effective the single character went. The mix of back stab, hide in shadows and area effect magic spells that the thief and magic user classes give you plus the fighting skills of the comparatively high level fighter was an amazing mix. You do have to work hard as you can tend to be swamped if you get caught in a long melee. Though the big help was the magic rings, amulets and magical armour stacking that gve us a big bonus in combat and saving throws. This is needed because if you are charmed or dominated or confused the game stops even though the character would have come out of the spell in a duration of time.

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Glad to hear it.

But regarding the special equipment - hope its not too over-powered.

Elven F/M/T may have been a better character however, bonuses in long swod and longbow (and install aPack mod from AvengersRealm to restore the 90% charm and sleep resistance as was suppose to be for Elves) would make the char a force to be reckon with.

However, minor changes, nothing major and thus for can be completely disregarded !

Good to hear someone happy with their character.

Solo BG2

Dear Amran

Yes game balance is essential , it is a long game and you do not want it to be too easy.

I moded to allow magic rings , cloaks, and armour which really helps with your armour class. I did this because of the importance of making saving throws in solo playing , because the game is lost if you are stunned , dominated , mazed etc.. I would have prefered to have the mod you suggest that would have given better saving throws but normal armour. Rings of regeneration are also needed as you cannot always get to a priest when you need one.

It is a credit to the craetors of BG 2 that the game is balanced enough to allow such a range of characters types and numbers of characters to complete the same story and still have a challange.

David

Soloing with a Fighter/Mage/Thief is about as hard as shooting the ground with a lead arrow. I really don't think there's a need to use all those mods to help you since that multiclass is perfectly suited to every possible situation.

Inventory room is a royal pain but use of scroll containers, gem bags and later the bag of holding are sufficient.

Any class with a mage component is capable of soloing the game already, anything ontop of the mage class is extra cream to the cheesecake.

Sorry to put it this way but I just have an extreme dislike of the triple multi classes.

[QUOTE=Deadalready]

Sorry to put it this way but I just have an extreme dislike of the triple multi classes.[/QUOTE]

One of my favourites for cheesy situations

Solo characters

Dear Deadalready

Further play has proved you correct and we have lost interest in this character now. As you say the 3 discipline multi character is really a party in one character.

We have tended to have fighter and archer based parties and had clerics , magic users and thieves to fill out the group. So once we started to explore the potential of the high level thieving with similar levels of magic user we found the game did get very easy. In fact the fighter levels are the least powerful of the 3 types .

Do you have any suggestions to how we could get another challange out of the game that we enjoy so much? What have you tried?

David

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Swashbuckler/Cleric tends to raise a few eyebrows as does the Skald because it is a weaker F/M/T in all aspects.

Swashbuckler/Cleric would most likely pose you a good challenge so try it.

Note about the magic equipment wearing, consider that cheating. If you want to improve your saving throws how about use better tactics so that it is not required and that can free up some item slots.

If I had a gold coin for everyone that equipped a red dragon armor with ring and cloak of protection +1...

[QUOTE=Amran_X_Kaiser]Note about the magic equipment wearing, consider that cheating. If you want to improve your saving throws how about use better tactics so that it is not required and that can free up some item slots.

If I had a gold coin for everyone that equipped a red dragon armor with ring and cloak of protection +1...[/QUOTE]

Interesting how you think that the restoration of using magic armor and rings is cheating, and yet you recommend the restoration of the charm/sleep immunities.

One man's cheating is another man's modding. If he wants to play with EoU, why don't we let him?

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More interesting is the fact that the resistances/immunities are part of the elven/half-elven race that were initially suppose to have but were cut but restored in an a mod that restores original content of the game.

Magic equipment and the such although in BG2 (wear as far as I know you could wear the red dragon armor and a protection item) but not in TOB was implemented, depending on which of the two games this chap has installed it boils down to - is just a mod that helps the user but is not a part of the original content and only use is to help them survive and win - why not wear all the +1 and +2's with magical armor - or better yet to prove my point, have a cleric dual-wield celestial fury and axe of unyielding while being able to cast all mage spells innately.

In comparison to restoring an innate elven resistance that is stated in the description when selecting the Elves as a character race, its cheating.

all mage characters find soloing easier simply because of the amount of mages you face.

f/m/t, sorceror and the kensai->mage are the easiest to solo with. HOWEVER, a simple fighter/theif can do the game but provide the challenge of absolutely no magic at all. what it does give you is detect illusions (just as effective as true sight when at 100%). you have to be very, very patient to wait for protections to wear off and so on.

a mage/cleric would make you appreciate the spells far far more as if you get caught you are in serious trouble.

the ranger cleric character was my first solo and it was pretty tough.

Solo BG 2

Dear Thrain

Thanks for your input I will have a chat to Alex and see if what he thinks.

I take your point about the Mage type making it easy. The area effect spells make the character very powerful. This mixed with the virtual invisibility of the thief and the armour of the fighter make for ( as has been suggested) a powerful and perhaps unfair mix. I think the fighter /thief might be interesting. The ranger /cleric sounds good too. My son Alex likes the Ranger kit archer this might be fun too although he gets very good to hit and the damage mounts up as well. We have also found they can be a servicable swordsman.

Anyway we will have another try and as always I appreciate the assistance of the Banshee site and its members.

Yours

David

Unfortunately, the archer kit cannot dual or multiclass, unless you use ShadowKeeper to assist you. I believe there is a Mod that implements the Archer kit to the fighter class, which allows you to dualclass, but you'd still need ShadowKeeper to make I multiclass. I'm currently playing a Archer/Thief, and since they day I've discovered it, I've never started a game without it. It's too much fun: a lot of versatility, power, but also weaknesses. But I'll stop my advertisement for the Archer/Thief here.

You wanted to play a Fighter/Mage/Thief, but thought it was too powerful? Play the class and everything it has, but then as a Bard (Blade would be the best choice, probably). The Bard is the jack of all trades, master of none. He can do everything a F/M/T is capable of, just not as good. A fun class to use, truly, and one that requires quite a lot of work in order to turn him into a good character.

Ignoring that, a Ranger/Cleric is a fine choice too. Just do a search and you will find countless threads saluting the class’ power. Then again, I thought that was exactly what you didn't want: a very powerful character.

Choices.

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Try a monk.

because monks aren't powerful at all

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Ah but monks require a little ingenuity to make it through on solo

The Bounty Hunter is one of my favourite solos, there's lots of very long winded and tough battles. One of the toughest fights is doing the slavers mission early on as a bounty hunter.

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Bounty Hunters relies on traps, backstab and items of power etc but monks use wands, no armor, hand-to-nonmagical weapon combat etc. thats why i think their nifty - lack of need to use items etc and relying on sole ability - being as naked as the day they were created - much like irenicus in slayer form.

Monkeying about

monk as solo can be challenging - I enjoyed it for being good RPG.

Dual classing can be a challenge - although you have the HP of the stronger class, dropping to being a level 1 mage where the game expects you to be level 10 something can make you vulnerable and solving the problems not as easy as before.

the worst aspect of soloing is when you get mazed, charmed, dominated etc and lose, even though the PC should come back out after a short time.
Imprisoned, I understand and accept, but the others seem too harsh.

I prefer dual class to multi-class for the PC - having to decide the point of losing your abilities and relegating yourself to near cannon-fodder is nerve-wracking experience. it certainly feels good to get your abilities back - I'm DC as fighter/mage a present and still trying to get my abilities back. the drop in AC, the THAC0 requirements, the lack of decent kit and the uselessness of just a few mage spells have all increased the enjoyment. to me, I feel it is worth sacrificing the XP in the mage class that you gain as fighter to get decent HP and the ability to handle a weapon with reasonable proficiency. I've done it the other way - DC a low level mage to a fighter and you can use the staff of the magi as a fairly devastating weapon to de-buff opponents and also have the use the wands etc.
DC clerics have some good points, but I prefer fighter/mage combinations.

after all Gandalf was hardly the worst fighter in the Fellowship, so why should mages be such wusses?

theoretically, I wonder why it is not possible to change class to any other than the PC has the stats for - I know that it might make the playing interface awkward, but not that much worse that F/M/T - and having low level abilities spread amongst the classes could make soloing much more realistic. OK so the class-system is an artificial game-construct, but lots can be done within it.

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Dual-class before you give Adalon her eggs. That way the experience of saving those eggs, leaving the underdark and also having yoshimo's heart and recruiting drizzt will get you around 250000 xp.

[QUOTE=Celacena]
theoretically, I wonder why it is not possible to change class to any other than the PC has the stats for - I know that it might make the playing interface awkward, but not that much worse that F/M/T - and having low level abilities spread amongst the classes could make soloing much more realistic. OK so the class-system is an artificial game-construct, but lots can be done within it.[/QUOTE]
In pen and paper AD&D, you could dual-class as many times as your stats would allow for it. Sweet!

[QUOTE=Amran_X_Kaiser]Dual-class before you give Adalon her eggs. That way the experience of saving those eggs, leaving the underdark and also having yoshimo's heart and recruiting drizzt will get you around 250000 xp.[/QUOTE]Yeah, but by the time you get there, you'll have so many levels in your first class that it'll take such a long time to get your original class back.

I fully take advantage of memorizing a ton of scrolls if dual-classing to mage, or opening locks and finding as many traps as possible when dualclassing to a thief. Please dont erase and rememorize scrolls though, it's cheesey.