Hey everyone. I joined today and bought my favourite RPG of all time, BG2. I had a little trip down memory lane and remember when I used to play the game all those years ago on Gamespy (shudders).

A friend and I used to try and create fun and power characters to compete against each other in PvP so I thought I'd share the ones I remember.

Swashbuckler/Fighter

Dual-class Human Swashbuckler into Fighter at level 10. If recall you can get at least -26 AC making you unhittable in melee combat. It takes a few items to achieve this but its pretty beardy.

Kensai/Mage

Another dual-class. I cant remember from what level exactly but if you go for buffing spells you become a monstrous melee wizard. Since kensais cant wear armor, casting isn't a problem at all.

Paladin/Fighter

Simply to use the beardy two-handed sword exclusive to only Paladins.

Paladin/Fighter = not possible in BG2

Oh yeah they cant, I remember now. You can only dual class what can be multi-classed right?

Correct. You might be thinking about IWD2, which has 3e rules where you can do Paladin/Fighter multiclass.

You can multi-class a Kensai/mage? Or would that be Fighter/mage?

Multiclasses can't have kits (exception: gnome illusionists), but you can dualclass from a kit.
So kensai/mage is only possible as dualclass. If you create a human kensai with at least 15 str and 17 int you can dualclass to mage.

I think a kensai-mage multi-class is available through an outside editor, either through Shadowkeeper, Sword Coast Keeper, or Infinity Engine Save Game Editor. I'm not sure though.

It'd be bigtime overpowered though. You're literally someone who spent all his/her time growing up developing as a black belt samurai *and* a wizard. This as a multi-class or dual-class.

You can assign kits to multiclassed pc's with the DLTCEP tool, as well as to NPC's with the level1npc's mod for bgt/tutu.

But there's no way to legitimately assign them without being a gnome mage/whatever

I tend to do that a lot for multiclass X/thieves though, especially for bg2 games. multi fighter/assassin is so much fun later on.

Id vote for Kensai/Mage as well along with fighter dualed to cleric for the same reason. In a game where its easy to scout ahead and see whats coming up with divination or illusion spells or hide in shadows. Having a mediocre fighter that can use spells to buff themselves into overdrive is much better than having a straight fighter build.

The inquisitor, monk and straight or wild mage are pretty awesome too without having to spend time dual classing.

My vote goes to Fighter/Mage/Thief.

^ I feel a triple-class takes way too long to level up in, at every juncture in the series. That might be a good build in 3-3.5 edition AD&D rules games (like Neverwinter Nights 1& 2, Icewind Dale 2, and Temple of Elemental Evil), but I think its too weak in 2e AD&D games (BG1, BG2 & IWD1), unless your whole party can compensate for the triple-class player's weaknesses.

Yeah, it's leveling slowly, but in BG2 you get this pretty early in the game:

thief skills: backstab, hide in shadows, lock picking, detect traps, + some nice thief abilities later in the game
mage skills: stone skin + a few other good buffs.
Fighter: more attacks per round, better chance to hit and able to use more weapons.

So even at low levels compared to other classes, you can use this character as a tank. That way, it is always in the lead, and always available for lock picking, scouting, backstabbing etc. I like it to dual-wield two fast weapons for a lot of attacks/round.

This does depend on the party though. If I have a thief already, I don't see any reason to use fi/ma/thi class, but I never liked thief classes, because they are weak in combat. Also, I don't like dual-classing a thief class, because at some point those thief skills will not be available. Multi-class thief/fighter is okay, but you can't always use this class as a tank (no stoneskin). Other thief combinations are not okay. I mean, I rather have a specialized mage or sorcerer than a thief/mage or thief/cleric.

Dual human Fighter 3 / Specialist Mage.

Basically you lose nothing (4000 XP, is nothing in the long run) and you gain a 3 proficiency points in bows and a good number of HPs which really help midgame.

Don't know if it's possible to switch it to Wild Mage (best magic class ever - creates tons of unforgettable moments) in BG2.

But, I'm a wild mage lover.. so you cannot trust me on reliable builds ;)

Sorceror kensai

Make a kensai, use cheats to level up to 40, pick mage weapon proficiencies. Use shadowkeeper to remove all hp, change to level one sorceror, then set number of attacks per turn to 2-4. Trounce dragons solo. In a single round. And Boo is giggling...

I joined to buy and download BG2/Tob. I love them.

I got a bunch of Mods I've been wanting to play some time, and I'm trying to settle some preferences.

Offensive or defensive?

Should I even hack in defensive abilities when I'm ridiculously powerful? (don't even bother asking, it would make you sick...)

None of the mods I'm planning have uber enemies...not like mods I've played in the past...i created sorc kensai for Tactics mod...which is not for the faint of heart.

Hacker in me wants everything...roleplayer says "balance!"

What to do...what to do?

Play it twice. Blow through the game with your uber party then play again with a normal one.