【Q】Is multiclassing a must?

marcnivar · Post by **marcnivar** » Sun May 21, 2006 2:18 am

today i had a look of others threads, and found that most of the players were used to multiclass their characters~

is it ok to use a single class character for a solo game?
i'm using a barbarian now, and i donno whether he can survive in this game without a second class or prestige class~
(when i play baldurs gate,i found that a fighter was very hard to solo without powerfull mage assistance~)

or if i choose a prestige class in the future, which one will b more suitable for a barbarian?

looking for advice

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Sun May 21, 2006 4:23 am

Yeah you can do the game easily enough as a single class - I've done it as a single class sorceror, monk, cleric, paladin before and without henchman, although the first run through I'd recommend a henchman while you get a feel for the game, plus they give quests. The only time I really found it hard as a single class was during the first few levels as a sorceror, but if you have a fighter type henchman then this wouldn't be a problem. After a few levels, most single classes become very powerful (especially sorceror, cleric and paladin

)

marcnivar · Post by **marcnivar** » Sun May 21, 2006 6:32 am

====post double====

marcnivar · Post by **marcnivar** » Sun May 21, 2006 6:33 am

[QUOTE=mr_sir]Yeah you can do the game easily enough as a single class - I've done it as a single class sorceror, monk, cleric, paladin before and without henchman, although the first run through I'd recommend a henchman while you get a feel for the game, plus they give quests. The only time I really found it hard as a single class was during the first few levels as a sorceror, but if you have a fighter type henchman then this wouldn't be a problem. After a few levels, most single classes become very powerful (especially sorceror, cleric and paladin

)[/QUOTE]

paladin..i used it few years before when i just new to this game,look really cool when turning undead...
(however i didnt complete the game that time..)

how about barbarian?is it a powerfull class comparing with others?
(exspecially fighter,what are the main differences between fighters and barbarians?)
barbarian sound cool in kit description, but sometimes i feel that he was only slashing the enemies slowly with his "great AXE"...and always "miss" +_+
and nearly die when he was hit by a fireball from the mage in the prison..
cant imagine how if there are many mages in front of me=.=

what should i concern when i'm developing a powerfull barbarian?
is there any feat or skill that i should not miss out?

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Mon May 22, 2006 12:36 am

I've never actually played a a barbarian so I can't help too much but I'd imagine you'd need to really focus on melee combat, in which case I'd highly suggest things like tumble (adds to ac and helps you dodge attacks of opportunity) and if I was you I'd definately get the cleave feats. These can make battles so much easier when fighting lots of enemies at once. You'd also prob need reasonably high dexterity as Barabarians are not proficient in heavy armour IIRC. I'd also choose one weapon and get the weapon specialisation feats etc. for that weapon.

I always find the mages in the prison hard going early on as the fireball can do a lot of damage to any starting character so I wouldn't worry too much about that. The trick with spellcasters is to use a potion of invisibility and sneak up behind them - you can do loads of damage before they even cast a spell

With the hit/miss thing, thats pretty normal for a low level character - the weapon focus/specialisation feats can help this a lot, plus as you gain levels you will get better to hit roll modifiers.

Piff · Post by **Piff** » Mon May 22, 2006 5:56 pm

The first time i played the game i solo'ed it with a cleric (with some henchmen help to open chest here and there for hte most part). The only time i ever had problems in the whole game was at the boss of the beggers nest and most part of the docks. And lastly in the 4th act (Second form last) Because some of the people were hitting me for 40+ damage untill i discovered the blessing of 9th level spells that are 1 hit KO's.

But to your Question on Barabian, i cant really help you here because i never played one before. But I doubt that you will have to multi class if you have the right henchmen to help you at times

marcnivar · Post by **marcnivar** » Wed May 24, 2006 12:15 am

thanks MR sir and P

i added nth on tumble because it was not a barbarian class skill...
and i thought that it was not important==
now i know that i should not neglect it==

anyway i decide to let my barbarian has some levels of cleric~
however i don understand with the XP penalties rule~
is it means that i will suffer a XP penalty with a multiclassing character?
and i heard somebody said that human can multiclass without XP penalties, is that ture?

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Wed May 24, 2006 4:32 am

The XP penalty thing can seems complicated at first but its not once you get used to how it works. Basically each race has a favoured class. If one of you classes is this class then you don't have to worry about an XP penalty at all if you only have 2 classes. If it is not then as long as you keep your two classes within 1 level of each other then there will be no penalty. If you have 3 classes they all should be no more than one level apart (eg. a wizard 2, cleric 3, fighter 4 would have no XP penalty but a wizard 1, cleric 3, fighter 4 would). If one of your classes is a prestige class then that class is considered a favored class by the game and does not count towards any XP penalties, so you could have something like wizard 20, Red Dragon Disciple 1 and still have no penalty.

What race are you? If you are human then you can always have 2 classes with no XP penalty at all, and I think (but not sure) the same goes for Half-Elf, as they have whatever your highest class is as their favored class. If you are half-Orc then I think they have Barbarian as their favored class so you will have no XP penalty. All over races you will need to keep Cleric and Barbarian within 1 level of each other or you will get a 20% XP penalty. The penalty is not really that noticeable though and probably only equates to a level or so less by the end of the game.

marcnivar · Post by **marcnivar** » Wed May 24, 2006 7:39 am

[QUOTE=mr_sir]The XP penalty thing can seems complicated at first but its not once you get used to how it works. Basically each race has a favoured class. If one of you classes is this class then you don't have to worry about an XP penalty at all if you only have 2 classes. If it is not then as long as you keep your two classes within 1 level of each other then there will be no penalty. If you have 3 classes they all should be no more than one level apart (eg. a wizard 2, cleric 3, fighter 4 would have no XP penalty but a wizard 1, cleric 3, fighter 4 would). If one of your classes is a prestige class then that class is considered a favored class by the game and does not count towards any XP penalties, so you could have something like wizard 20, Red Dragon Disciple 1 and still have no penalty.

What race are you? If you are human then you can always have 2 classes with no XP penalty at all, and I think (but not sure) the same goes for Half-Elf, as they have whatever your highest class is as their favored class. If you are half-Orc then I think they have Barbarian as their favored class so you will have no XP penalty. All over races you will need to keep Cleric and Barbarian within 1 level of each other or you will get a 20% XP penalty. The penalty is not really that noticeable though and probably only equates to a level or so less by the end of the game.[/QUOTE]

thanks for your explanation^^

now i'm absolutely clear with the XP penalty rules~
i was using a human barbarian, so i can have 2 classes without any penalty,right?

erm...i would like to ask one more thing:
is it better to have a pure barbarian or a barbarian multiclass with cleric(maybe other class?)
today i found that a character with a 20 levels class will gain extra bonus from that class~
so is it better to have a character specialize in a single class?

mr_sir · Post by **mr_sir** » Wed May 24, 2006 9:21 am

Yeah a human barbarian/cleric will have no XP penalty at all.

As for pure Barbarian vs multiclass, I have never once got above level 18 in the main campaign so its not really an issue. If you have the expansions and use the same character in HOTU you will get up to level 26-30 by the end so again its not really an issue as you could still get Barbarian above level 20 with a few levels of cleric. In my opinion though, pure classes end up more powerful in the long run - at least they do with arcane types which is what I tend to play. As I've never played Barbarian I can't say if this is the case with that class. Also, in HOTU, after level 20 (total, not one class) you start getting Epic feats etc. whether you multiclass or not.

A Barbarian/Cleric would be handy for the cleric's healing and buffing spells. However you could also think about Barbarian/Thief as this will help with stuff like traps and locks (although this isn't a necessity as you can always take Tomi along as your thief).