Posted January 04, 2017
I constantly read forums where new players are directed away from Fighter/Clerics, even when they're not even asking about Cleric/Rangers, simply because some wise guy chimes in and recommends Cleric/Ranger. Okay, so there's a glitch that allows C/Rs access to all druid spells. Even considering this, I am going to list the reasons why I believe that line of thinking is wrong in the hopes of steering any new players back onto the road of sanity.
With C/Rs, you don't get anymore spell slots! So having access to Druid spells is nice but in practice you're only going to be casting an x amount of spells, anyway. Basically it's all about Insect Swarms and Iron Skins. And yes, those are nice spells (one is a veritable mage destroyer and the other is a great defensive spell). But here's what you're giving up:
1. You have to be a puny, pathetic little half-elf runt instead of a Dwarf (Master Race).
2. You have slower leveling thanks to Ranger instead of Fighter.
3. You have worse saves (Dwarven F/Cs have the best saves in the game).
4. Dwarven F/Cs can acheive regeneration (20con) an hour into the first game.
5. Dwarven F/Cs w/ 20con can equip the Claw of Kazaroth (shorty bonuses stop at 18) and the +4 to poison/death still nets a -1 overall (Dwarves gain -5 to poison/death) while lowering all other saves to -3, bonus to AC and huge bonus against missiles!
6. The Half-Elf's extra point of Dex won't matter in the long run because there's no AC difference between 18 and 19 (which is what they will be after using the Dex tome), and it won't matter in the next game either (no AC difference between 19-20). It only counts towards ranged - which neither class can use bows and won't be using ranged anyway. So bye bye dex advantage (but con advantage is ALWAYS relevant).
7. The F/C will end up with an extra HLA.
8. The F/C has a better stronghold (opinion).
9. ONLY THE DWARF can use the Dwarven Thrower (BG2), which, by the way, grants a +8 against giants/ogres, making up for the lack of a favored enemy.
10. You have to be a goodie goodie to be a C/R. F/Cs can be any alignment.
And the extra two pips in two-weapon fighting don't matter either, 'cause neither the F/C or C/R can use Belm. So sword n board is better.
All said, this is my case as to why the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric multi is better than the Cleric/Ranger multi. I do not believe druid spells make up for all the other deficiencies.
With C/Rs, you don't get anymore spell slots! So having access to Druid spells is nice but in practice you're only going to be casting an x amount of spells, anyway. Basically it's all about Insect Swarms and Iron Skins. And yes, those are nice spells (one is a veritable mage destroyer and the other is a great defensive spell). But here's what you're giving up:
1. You have to be a puny, pathetic little half-elf runt instead of a Dwarf (Master Race).
2. You have slower leveling thanks to Ranger instead of Fighter.
3. You have worse saves (Dwarven F/Cs have the best saves in the game).
4. Dwarven F/Cs can acheive regeneration (20con) an hour into the first game.
5. Dwarven F/Cs w/ 20con can equip the Claw of Kazaroth (shorty bonuses stop at 18) and the +4 to poison/death still nets a -1 overall (Dwarves gain -5 to poison/death) while lowering all other saves to -3, bonus to AC and huge bonus against missiles!
6. The Half-Elf's extra point of Dex won't matter in the long run because there's no AC difference between 18 and 19 (which is what they will be after using the Dex tome), and it won't matter in the next game either (no AC difference between 19-20). It only counts towards ranged - which neither class can use bows and won't be using ranged anyway. So bye bye dex advantage (but con advantage is ALWAYS relevant).
7. The F/C will end up with an extra HLA.
8. The F/C has a better stronghold (opinion).
9. ONLY THE DWARF can use the Dwarven Thrower (BG2), which, by the way, grants a +8 against giants/ogres, making up for the lack of a favored enemy.
10. You have to be a goodie goodie to be a C/R. F/Cs can be any alignment.
And the extra two pips in two-weapon fighting don't matter either, 'cause neither the F/C or C/R can use Belm. So sword n board is better.
All said, this is my case as to why the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric multi is better than the Cleric/Ranger multi. I do not believe druid spells make up for all the other deficiencies.
Post edited January 04, 2017 by Darkul81