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I want to start a new game. I am thinking about starting a thief/mage. I want to get as far as i can in each class. Would i get farther dualing or multiclassing? Oh and could people also post some tactics to use in the game wiith the thief/mage

Originally posted by Gorgan
I want to get as far as i can in each class. Would i get farther dualing or multiclassing?

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. If you dual, you'll no longer be able to advance in your first class. If you multi, you'll never get to the highest level in any in the two classes.

Thief/Mages can be fun. However, I rarely play one myself in BG2 as there is Jan. Not only is he a specialist, but he also comes with very good personal equipement that enhances his thief skills.

I agree with Astafas: if you want a multi-class Thief/Mage in your party, you can take Jan with you. He's a really funny character. I'd also like to mention that Imoen is a Thief dualled to a Mage; she can advance to become a very high level Mage, and she has enough thieving skills to get by (though just barely).

As far as tactics go, I basically play a Thief/Mage as a Mage who can look for traps and open locks. I have to confess that I hardly ever use traps, and I don't try to do much backstabbing unless my thief is dual-classed or multi-classed with some type of warrior-class. I stick with missile weapons such as shortbows or the throwing dagger called Firetooth. Spells are the primary contribution to the party: spells such as Glitterdust, Resist Fear, Dispel Magic, Hold Monster, and Breach, etc., can improve the effectiveness of your entire party, and your Mage can also cast offensive spells such as Magic Missile, Flame Arrow, or whatever you like. When fighting other Mages, you want to use spells such as Secret Word, Spell Thrust, Pierce Magic, etc., to counter-act the enemies' defenses. If you think your Mage will come under attack, there are lots of buffing spells and protection spells you can use.

If you have installed Throne of Bhaal, it's very desirable to have your Thief advance far enough to acquire the special ability Use Any Item. Assassination is also a nice high level ability (but only if your character has a good THAC0). But if you're playing a multi-class Thief/Mage, I'd choose most of the Mage high level abilities over the Thief high level abilities after you have Use Any Item.

I hope this helps.

If you have ToB, multi-classes generally have the advantage. If you want to play a dual-class, try assassin-mage - they can poison their MMM's.

I recommend as stated above, using dual class to become a thief with basic skills that last the whole game and generate XP and an uber-powerful mage at the end of SoA and continued badassery throughout ToB.

As mentioned, Jan performs this role, and he is clearly not a good choice of NPCs, However consider Imoen as well, with 2 secondary thieves and 2 very decent mages (IIRC 4-5 lvl 9 spells in the end of ToB) then you can be free to fill your party with fighters and mayber a cleric.