Mage vs Priest

[Odin]

Who has the best spells, a mage or a priest?
And I dont meen overall, but attack vs attack. And defence vs defence.
And is it possible to dual-class mage/priest?
Or wouldnt that be recomendable...

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Odin - The Norse God

[Cloud]

well they are both very different, i would say that priests dont really have many offensive spells, they are mainly healing spells, some good attacking spells though, such as sunray, symbol stun etc. clerics have the advantage of being able to wear armour, shields and helmets. I prefer clerics to druids but it is difficult to compare priests to mages as they are so different

it is possible to dual and multi class priests and mages, however you will not be able to cast mage spells whilst wearing ANY armour (apart from helmets)

[Earcaraxe]

Overall, they're quite balanced. Both have powerful defensive spells, but while the Priest's spells are more specific (defend against a specific attack) the Wizard's spells are generic - they defend against spells. It's much easier to dispel a Wizard's protections, because there are many spells which do the trick (though Dispel Magic will take care of both of them).

On the offensive side, the Wizard has a lot of direct offense, either damage (Invocation/Evocation) or denial (enchantment), while the Priest usually have enchantments for party members, allowing them to fight better (Bless, Chant) or fight longer (the various heal spells, Ressurect Dead).

Of course this points are generic, and there are exceptions. You can dual class a wizard to a cleric or vice versa, though when it comes to that I prefer multi-classing with a non-human race, but it depends on your style.

[Crovax]

Aerie is priest/mage and for me this works perfectly. It was the reason why i kicked jaheira out of my party and and got a decent fighter. The fact is a priest is better at summoning elemantals (they dont turn on you if someone hits you while you're telepaticaly bonded) and you REALLY NEED THE HEALING SPELS. Dont become a priest/mage yourself because they only get really kewl after some aditional levels. Just let Aerie join you and tell her to shut up if she bothers you (she is such a cry baby).

But remember that a priest can save you a lot of time in BG2. Almost all BIG creatures are magic resistant so your kewl offensive mage spells are often worth ****. Its offensive weakness of a priest are compenstated by RAISE DEAD, RESTORATION, TURN UNDEAD and all kinds of PROTECTIONS. If u are evil you can have your priest destroying undeads by walking past them.

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beer-for-love