Confused about dual classing and multiclassing

[Matt [Reckless Boi]]

First off I'd like to apologize if I may be getting something wrong

So I get it, with multiclassing you get the opportunity to have 3 "classes", but the xp is divided between those 3, making progression somewhat slower.

With dual classing you get 2 classes, each leveling "indipendently" ( you choose which one ), However the benefits of both are on only when their class level is the same. This is where my issue arises. I read a post of a guy who was fighter 12, and decided to dual class into mage. Effectivelly disabling the fighter part of the class until the mage was at 12 ( or was it 13? ) aswell.

How is that possible? wouldn't be the character be lvl 25?

Thank you all fellas, have a great sunday

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Perhaps read up on dual-classing on the Internet.

* Multi-classing is specific to non-humans, and you can choose either two or three classes at once.

* Dual-classing is specific to humans. You start with one class and level up as normal. If you meet the minimum attributes for another class, you can CHANGE CLASS when you reach level 2 or higher. As soon as your new class is one level higher than your old class, abilities and skills of your old class become active again - but you only continue levelling up the second/new class.

For your example, it is the popular Fighter level 13 changing class to Mage. When becoming Mage level 14, the dual-classing procedure is complete, and it is a Fighter13>Mage14 who gains further levels as a mage.

[Centurion]

Let me add three things to this good response:

1) You can dual-class FROM a kit (like Berserker, Swashbuckler, etc.), but you cannot dual INTO a kit or have kits in Multi-class, except for Gnomes who have to be Illusionists (not mage).

2) If you wait to dual until level 13, you will be dual-class in BG2, not this game.

3) To dual into a new class your Primary Stat in that class must be 17 or higher. So, a Fighter>Mage dual needs 17 INT, minimum.

[Včelí medvídek]

I would also add few notes

1) first of all the level you ask for - contrary newer D&D rules there is no directly "character level" concept in D&D 2.5 {BG EE} for XP progress - each class progress is somehow independent on each using its on XP progress no matter if it is multi, dual or single class. Also note each class progress by different XP tables.

Clear example:
In D&D 3 let say you want make fighter/mage 12/13 so you first make 12 levels of fighter (reaching 66,000 XP) and need go on mage from lvl 13 on (hence for level 1 mage reach 78,000 XP, for level 2 91,000 and so on)

In BG dual class reach level 12 fighter (1M XP) and than start progress mage getting XP from lvl 1 by his XP table - so lvl 1 is for free, level 2 needs only 2.500, level 3 5.000... and so on

That means at least first levels in new class usually comes very fast at the stage of game.

In case of multiclass all XP gain is divided to two (three) classes progress equally.

The real limitation is XP cap (and also how many XP you can realistically get during the game) where seum of all XP in all character classes together can not go over set treshold

- so again example.
XP cap for BG1 EE is 161,000 (In BG2 EE the cap was effectively matched with TOB expansion and go to 8 M)

So pure fighter can reach level 8 {125.000), pure mage level 9 {135,000), while multiclass will have only 80,500 XP in both hence level 7 in fighter (64.000) and level 7 in mage (60.000). And if you want dual class Fighter-mage and still want get fighter levels back in BG1 you can go max to level 6 fighter prior dualing because that is only way how to have enough XP to cap to get reach Mage lvl 7.

Each has pros and cons but in case of lower levels of fighter you may have let say lower attack bonus, HP or weapon profficiencies while lower mage level can mean you are completely locked out top spell levels in game.

Where "character level" matter a bit is HD (Hit dice) - where sum up of all character levels is taken eg. Sleep spell dont affect monsters and characters with HD 5 or more - hence Fightter/mage lvl 3/2 already immune.

2) dual class is also possible only in combinations multiclass allows.

So for example you can not dual from/into paladin. Or only class that can dual into druid is fighters and its kits.

3) Also personal note - I look on dual classing mostly as on powergaming and one should really think twice and plan very well ahead. For example you want play fighter/mage - if you decide to dual class and more at level 13 for weapon grandmastery it means you play whole BG1 as pure fighter, than you play good part as BG2 as pure fighter and +/- rest of BG2 as (underleveled to rest of party) pure mage. Only along end of BG2> start TOB you get your fighter levels back and you become the character you want play.. for last 1/5 of game or something. Really pay off to think about if you really want/need combine classes in game where you play with party of 6, if yes if the multiclass is not better option and if you really want play human and dual class than consider how much of the game you want spend as suboptimal/diffrent type and when dual to make it worthy. For some people matter only how their characters will be at very end of game, for some may be more important the balanced progress from beginning to end - and in this case dual classing might be a bit trap if focused on max endgame theorycrafting.

[Wolfe]

I'm dual classing from fighter to mage at lv 9. Only 60k XP to go and have 18 int so fulfil the criteria. I had to play all of Baldur's Gate 1 and expansion content to get a Berserker to lv 8. Now in Siege of Dragonspear I'm getting really close to finally doing it. Been saving loads of spells and mage gear for the change.

Dual class fighter can get top weapon mastery of 5 but multi class fighter can only get 2, so dual class does have some advantages.

Mastery in axes gets you a ranged or melee option as it works for throwing and normal axes, that's what I'm using. I also have shield mastery 2, both will work well with mage build when I finally get the berserker levels back. Once switched to mage the first 5 levels should be pretty quick and you get to keep fighter HP, so will have over 100HP as a mage, even at low levels it's not bad.

[Wolfe]

Just to update if this helps anyone, I've now finally got my Level 9 Fighter/ Level 10 Mage, which means I've re-unlocked my original fighter skills. I can wear all armour again except for body that has to be mage robe or Elven chain mail to cast spells, can use all my fighter weapons, shields and skills to be an absolute powerhouse. 5 weapon axe skill and 2 shield skill already makes a good tank but add mage skills like haste and armour to make up for it, plus can cast all the mage spells, amazing class that will be great fun to play.

Downside to some but upside to others is it takes until Baldur's Gate 2 beginning dungeon to get that XP, so the character was built over three games including Siege of Dragonspear. First 7 mage levels are really fast, need less XP than fighter and as you have fighter HP you can still tank and even melee a bit with dagger mastery and be a front line offensive caster and buffer.

Though it takes a lot of patience to get there it's definitely been worth it, but above level 9 dual class from fighter would take so much patience.

To give you some perspective Fighter levels 1-9 takes 250K XP.

Due to huge increases just Fighter 9-10 takes another 250K XP

Mage 1-10 is 250 XP.

So you can either have a level 10 fighter, or a L9 Fighter + L10 Mage with the same amount of required XP. The fighter 9 mage 10 is massively more powerful than a lv 10 fighter alone, so it's turned out to be a very powerful class, but took a very long time to get there.

[rock.golem | trade.tf]

I just wish BG had a tome that gave me 1 more proficiency point so I could have just 1 point in bastard swords. But alas, alak! I cannot spare the point. Guess I'll just have to suffer the -2 to use grey wolfs sword.