BG1 and Imoen

[Shikton]

Right, I'm torn on this matter: dual class Imoen to mage or not? And if so, at what level?

I just can't decide if I want a semi-mage alongside Dynaheir, and Imoen would be used mainly for buffing I suppose. The storyline doesn't really matter in this decision, you know, her starting out as dual classed in BG2. Is it worth it at all to dual class her..?

If you need my party it's this:
Shikton (half-orc barbarian (playing with Tutu))
Minsc
Kivan
Branwen
Imoen
Dynaheir

[Nerd-o-rama]

I like dual-classing her at...was it level 5 or level 7? Thief skills beyond a certain level aren't really necessary, but having an extra mage for buffing and ranged damage (and in BG2, removing enemy mage defenses) is always good.

Load up Imoen with spells from Dynaheir's prohibited schools, whatever they are, and make her your party's Swiss Army Knife while Dynaheir is their gorgeous artillery piece.

[Remmirath]

If you're planning on doing Durlag's Tower, I'd wait until after you've done that, since you'll need her thieving abilities there (or at least wait until you're at the point where she can disarm most of the traps).

Honestly, I probably wouldn't dual-class her, or I'd do it to fighter instead of mage (I've always thought fighter-thief works better than fighter-mage).
I've never actually played through the game with the NPCs, though. I always make my own group. So I don't really recall what her stats are like.

[Terraoblivion]

Her best stat is intelligence followed by dex. She is pretty much perfect as a wizard, except that she happens to be a thief. So dual-classing her is generally a great idea once her thief abilities are good enough that they don't need improving.

[Shikton]

Yeah, I've decided to dual her at 7. Found out I need her to do the summoning for my party, as Dynaheir can't do that. Me neeeeeds teh summ0nz.

[Cubey]

Yeah, I've decided to dual her at 7. Found out I need her to do the summoning for my party, as Dynaheir can't do that. Me neeeeeds teh summ0nz.

Just like how she is in BG II then. Thief 7/Wizard X.

EDIT: Or was it 6? Close enough.

[Rutskarn]

I wasn't a big fan of dual-classing any of my party, but then, I'm not great at optimization.

My BGI and BGII party makeups were night and day. I didn't have Dynheir, Minsc, Viconia or Edwin in my BGI party, if memory serves me correctly.

BGII was all about Fireball spam.

[DranWork]

Edwin is just to much lols to leave out of a party in BG2, cant remeber how he was like in BG1 but yeah loved the character in bg2.. became so powerful by the end as well. So much bs mage gear in that game.

Dual classing her to a mage is proberly a good idea from about 5th lvl onward. From then she should have good enough thief skills to get you through most of the games difficult traps and that way she'll have access to decent spells. Then again pretty sure most of the decent spells have wands in BG1 just like 2 so stock up on wands for her and she can help with the the party mage quite a bit.

[Moonshadow]

If you're gonna dual her to mage, just pump Find Traps and Open Locks. You won't need the rest. There isn't much good stuff to pickpocket in BG 1. BG 2, however...

[Altima]

In BG2, however, you can always use the potions to increase skill rates.

There's, *ahem*, a rather evil exploit--which I would never do, of course--that allows you to sell something to a certain merchant, then steal it back, for millions of gold. No one would do it, of course, so I don't know why I brought it up.

[Tirian]

It's been ages, but wasn't BG2 completely broken wrt setting traps? I mean like killing Asmodeus in one round broken?

[Semidi]

They patched it (I think) where there was a limit to the number of traps in a room.

But before they did... I killed many a dragon with Yoshimo's traps.

[Altima]

It's been ages, but wasn't BG2 completely broken wrt setting traps? I mean like killing Asmodeus in one round broken?

You're thinking of Demogorgan. In fact, arguably, the only reason you were able to kill him was because

He wanted you to

[Tirian]

You're thinking of Demogorgan.

Whoops, I knew that it was one of the headliners.

[Lord of the Helms]

Not just Demogorgon. Even with the Tougher Demogorgon mod by David Gaider (which really did make him a huge bizzach to fight), All it took was Jan's enormous repertoire of Epic and normal traps to one-shot him. Which is not actually a smart route, you lose out on the precious XPs provided by his many Marilith summons.

For BG 1: Multiclass Imoen at 5th level. Beyond that, I found that it just took too long to catch up (remember, you need her to become Wizard X+1, where X is her thief level, to unlock her thief skills, and wizards level much slower than thieves). Dynaheir, as an Evoker, lacks enchantment spells, which are very useful in BG 1, and I believe also lacks conjuration. In fact, she doesn't have all that many spells to choose from at all, so Imoen is a great second mage.

Edwin, by the way, is a huge powerhouse, he has +3 spells/day of every level over a normal wizard, and loses...divination, of which you only kind of need one spell, and not even that if you have a bard or start gaining good cash. I'm currently replaying BG II with a Sorceress and Edwin romance mod, which throws comedy gold into the almighty arcane power mix. And Imoen is also in the party, which is just cheese to the max. Only the Improved Shapeshifter mod is worse, because then Cernd is a Druidzilla even before he uses his buffs.