A Fighter/Thief is useful for a few more things than just detecting illusion. They're great scouts, handle every lock and trap in the game, start every combat off in a good step by backstabbing, and handle themselves just fine in melee afterwards (you even say yourself that come ToB, most monsters hit you anyway). Add the BEST HLA pools to choose from, and you've got what might be the most powerful character in the game.
A Cleric/Ranger is better than a Barbarian all the time, from the second Irenicus lets you out of the cage 'til the end. They have almost as many hit points, can cast Ironskin (who cares about damage reduction when you don't take any), and have DuHM as a spell the whole game, which is much better offensively than Rage. Since you don't need the defensive bonuses from a Rage often, memorizing a few Chaotic Commands should easily handle the situations.
No offense, but your argument makes it seem like you really don't have much knowledge of this game.[/QUOTE]
You should have mentioned the very reason why the thief part of F/T is so necessary, namely UAI. Compared to that, handling traps and backstabbing seems like a joke. I mean come on, now you can wield Carsomyr, use scrolls (F/T casting Mislead is so nasty) and well... the overpowering/cheesing has just begun. xD
Still not close to the most powerful character in the game though. But not bad, not bad at all. Very soloable.
And for Cleric/Ranger: This goes out to you all. THEY - ARE - INSANELY - STRONG. Probably one, if not THE, best class out there. Poor weapons? Say that to my dualwielding C/R dualwielding FoA/Crom who outdamaged my fighter/kensai(mod) and Paladin with Carso with big ease.
To put that one simple: They are good warriors who have access to all divine spells they'll ever need. And come on, you cannot possibly compare them to a barbarian, they can easily wipe two or more of those guys at the same time. xD
[QUOTE=snoopyofour]I've always felt that not being able to wear the best armor wasn't really that big a deal since most of the later enemies can hit you with just about any armor class, figured that hp always comes in handy. I really suggest you play a shapeshifter. I mean, I don't understand your aversion to their inability to wear armor (they actually can wear black and white dragon scale, little slip up in the game) but when he shifts to gw he has a natural -12 armor class. I've never gotten that low with regular armor on any character.[/QUOTE]
-12 armor is nothing... you can almost hit that at the end of BG1. If you put effort into it, you can get a guy to hit below -30.
And you're both right and wrong. Yes, most ToB-enemies hits you despite of your AC (especially if you never hit below -12 ^^) but hit points is usually not a big factor either. *If* something big get it hit's into you, that extra 2 hp/level of a barbarian won't help you very much. What really matters are the defensive spells and buffs.
[QUOTE=snoopyofour]As for druids, you are right that they can't move between fighting and casting spells as easily as a r/c can. But thats what the barbarian is around for. And one thing that clerics cannot do is cast the insect summonings (spells that were, for me, useful until the very end) however, as a werewolf a druid is a much more effective combatant than a c/r.[/QUOTE]
Telling us that R/C can't cast insect summoning just shows how much you know about this game. Don't flame people when you don't even know the basis of powergaming. (No flaming here fable, it's the truth, don't think you can disagree ^^)
[QUOTE=Lord Tansheron]Beating the Fire Temple solo: Fighter/Mage/Thief anyone? Breeze through that place in no time. The only trouble I have is the Amelyssan fight at the very end, tough to do for a solo. F/M/T has access to so many unfair combinations, everything but the boss fights will not make you sweat. Timestop + Greater Whirlwind. Spike Traps. Horrid Wilting. Planetars and friends. Backstabs. Basically, you can do anything you like and enemies fall like leaves.[/QUOTE]
You are right that F/M/T can solo most places, if played correcly. However, tellins us that they can summon planetars makes it hard to believe that you've done it yourself. If you had, you would know that a 3-way class won't hit enough xp/class to cast lvl9 arcane spells. It's impossible for a F/T/M to cast lvl9 spells, thus it's impossible cast Time Stop or Summon Planetar with them.
[QUOTE=Cwell the fine]A) You're out of your mind. If you have ToB installed, multiclass characters are far and away better than single classed characters.
B) I've tried a Cleric/Ranger, Sorcerer, and Fighter/Thief party, and they were unstoppable. The game got too easy.[/QUOTE]
And to round things up, I would like to pinpoint the only clever thing in this topic so far. If you're going for a 3-men party with full efficiecy it will looks something like Cwell said. Each of those powerhouses would easily wipe your whole party of... ah come on... shapeshifter, barbarians?..
And while multiclass characters is only slightly stronger than single-classed, dual-classed is in a totally different league.
First of all, a sorceress is the backbone of every strong group. With Time Stop+Imprisonment he can make hard battles very laughable. I don't think I need to introduce this class any more.
Secondly, a ranger/cleric is a devestating warrior when wielding FoA/Crom, has every divine spell available and thus fill both the spot for a great warrior and a priest. Definately a must-have in a 3-men party.
Thirdly is fillout. For maximum efficiency in battles, I'd say a K>M, but as you might want someone to dispel traps, I'd say F/T/M instead of your F/T. Loosing out on some thac0 and thieving points it easilly weighed up by being able to protect oneself with stoneskin, pro-mw, dispel magic, triggers, w/e. A great backup caster for your sorcerer.
Otherwise, just play three sorceresses. Definately a challenge as it can be both the weakest or strongest group ever, depending on how you decide to play them.
