Cleric/thief or Mage/Thief?

[New Willinium]

Essentially the title says it all. My question to you all is this. I am wondering what you all preferred between the two and which one did you have the most fun with? I can see advantages to both and sadly we are unable to triple-class the three. So.... Thoughts?

[ÄmJii]

IMO Thief/Mage is better and less awkward to use. You get to use bows despite being a mage, which helps you conserve spells and lets you participate in combat from back row, you get to use those nifty mage spells (including Invisibility, which lets you invest points elsewhere than Hide in Shadows/Move Silently AND lets you disarm traps while remaining undetected).

Cleric/Thief prohibits you from using bows, daggers and short swords, but as a minor consolation price you'll gain access to helmets and shields (until you reach BG2's expansion and start unlocking High Level Abilities). I don't think cleric spells blend well with thieves that well, Fighter/Cleric benefits a lot more from clerical buffs.


You'll encounter one Cleric/Thief companion in BG1 (albeit quite late in the game) and three Thief/Mage companions (two of them are dual-class T/M's and one of them is Illusionist/Thief multi-class) in BG2.
Just something to keep in mind when rolling your character.

[New Willinium]

^ Thank you for the swift responce and I will keep what you said in mind. I guess that i'll just have to keep playing and see. (I really need to learn how to communicate online without sounding so stiff.)

[voehringer_nitron]

Bear in mind that only thief-usable weapons are suitable for backstabs. so a C/T can only achieve this with clubs and quarterstaffs, not maces , flails or war hammers. Though you probably wont be going into melee much. The Cleric spell Detect Traps has a 100% success rate, but you still use your Find Traps skill level to determine your chance of disarming a trap. A C/T can use heavier armor such as chain mail or plate mail, provided they meet the stat reqs, but will be unable to use their thieving abilities.