Dual-classing from a mage

[Kinuskipyyri]

Okay, so, has anyone here played some kind of build where you start out as a mage and later dual-class to something else? Because on the surface, that seems like such a terrible idea. Not that I'm personally planning anything like this, but I'm curious.

Since most people seem to dual-class either from a fighter or a thief. Both of which make relatively speaking more sense. Since in comparison evne up to a lvl 10 mage doesn't get all the juiciest or the most useful things to get a proper use out of towards BG2 endgame.

So, out of overall curiosity, has anyone here played with the idea of dual-classing from a mage? Can you make that owrk or useful in some way?

(I cdould also open up a discussion about some other unorthodox dual-classing choices. Like I very rarely see anyone talking about dual-classed rangers)

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Level 10 would be too much, since you would suffer from low HP - not only on your way to becoming a level 11 Fighter. Afterwards, you cannot wear armor without disabling spell casting. And you would be missing interesting spells

A Fighter using potions or a multi-class Fighter/Mage would be the superior choice.

[Kinuskipyyri]

Yeah, exactly the thing I mean. :p
I mean, the whole level 10 was jsut something I pulled out of my hat, but the poitn being like it seems like the whole idea of dual-classing from a mage base seems just.. utterly pointless and I can't think of anything to do with that. Hence why I was curious if anyone's ever played aroudn with that.

I mean, if we're like super technical, the game does allow doing this sort of stuff, so I suppose there is some way in the mechanics to use it in a good and sensible way. But really, when it comes to dual-classing, it always takes a lot of imagination (well.. mostly) to play with it properly.

I mena, personally if I ever dual-class it's usually fighter to thief or fighter to mage, which are super useful and functional forms of dual-class (and seem to be overall the most popular for obvious reasons).

Honeslty, in retrospectI should've just made this thread about unusual/inventive dual-classing to find out what sort of stuff peopel have done overall.

[obamafish]

Originally posted by Kinuskipyyri:

I mean, if we're like super technical, the game does allow doing this sort of stuff, so I suppose there is some way in the mechanics to use it in a good and sensible way.

The game just follows the AD&D ruleset as verbatim as possible, which wasn't designed with the game's relatively low level cap in mind. If you can level your characters nearly ad infinitum, exchanging some of your warrior's HP for quite a few handy spells would not be such a bad idea, making them not having to rely on other mages for buffs or an occasional fireball or two.

[Wicket W. Warrick]

Mage dual clas to fighter will never be an option in a powerplaying mode.
It's a choice that gives some problems, since at the beginning you'll have a weak and almost unuseful character, then you will have a weak warrior until you reach mage level. In the long run you will have a strong warrior (almost as a pure fighter) with average-weak spells that can be casted only without armor. So you have to decide before combat if you wear armor or not. Spell level will be low.

Anyway, I think that could be an interesting character to play, with 18 StR, CON, DEX, INT. I would build it most as a warrior, i.e. dualclassing quite early (5? 6? 7?). In the first part you will have a pure mage, covering the arcane caster role, then, when you dual class, you will have a warrior, weak but not too much. I mean, he will do few damage, but he will have very low AC and avarage HP, that means that he could be a good tank. In the long run he will be a warrior almost as strong as a pure warrior (and stronger than a fighter/mage) with some spell and the possibility to use mage item.

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Dual-classing design decision should be based on your role within the party and what spells you would want to cast when.

Casting prior to combat, then equipping heavy armor and jumping into the fray is about the only thing I could imagine with a dual-class Mage/Fighter. If you dual-class much earlier, you lose even more of the interesting lower level spells, such as Mirror Image (2), Invisibility (2), Resist Fear (2), Haste (3) or Stoneskin and Spider Spawn (4) - spell level in brackets - or you limit yourself to less spells per spell level. And spell level 5 gets better due to more protection spells that would aid the Fighter's role.

[ÄmJii]

I can think of two instances where dualing FROM Mage nets any benefits:

1) Mage, possibly illusionist (1) -> Fighter(x): You're basically a pure Fighter with added benefit of getting a freebie Identify, Shield or Blindness cast (or two) per day. You can cast Find Familiar to off-set the small HP loss from initial Mage level.

2) Specialist Mage(1) -> Cleric (x): Basically a pure Cleric, except you're taking advantage of Specialist Mages bonus (your enemies roll saves at -2 penalty when saving vs your speciality school spells).
Beneficial specs would be:
- Enchanter (Clerics have lots of charm/confusion CCs)
- Evoker (Blade/Globe of Blades, Flame Strike,Sunray)
- Necromancy (Holy Smite, Poison, Slay Living, Finger of Death)

Another benefit you're getting from one Mage level is the ability to cast spells from scrolls & ability to use Mage-only items (Staff of Magi comes to mind).

I guess they'd be marginally better than just pure Fighter or Cleric, but not considerably better.