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times the druid can deliver some serious damage in creature form and expect to dish out substantially more than they receive.  However, during the endgame, the creature forms (even the high level ones) tend not to have enough AC and get pummeled, although they are still useful for rapid healing effects, getaways (the wolf and panther are fast), and special tactics.


VIII)  Multiclassing

One of the most interesting changes to the D&D rules that came with the 3rd edition was the extensive revamping of the multiclassing system.  IWD2 does an excellent job of capturing a lot of the interesting possibilities that this new system provides.  This guide encourages players to take advantage of multiclassing in order to build characters that are entertaining and unique (as well as deadly).

A)  Multiclassing Basics

Depending on how dedicated you are about doing the subquests and completely cleaning out each area, you can expect the characters in a party of six to reach about level 16 before completing IWD2 (see "Developing Your Party" for a few tips on how you might have at least some of your characters reach higher levels during normal play).

Since 16 levels is just enough to get 8th level spells, you need to think ahead.
For one thing, except for the most carefully orchestrated builds, the author recommends that you have at most two classes per character.  Three-class builds tend to be too diluted unless you are using mix in classes with care.  An example of an effective three-class build might be 4th level fighter/3rd level rogue/9 level druid, resulting in a spell sword with elements of tank, scout, and mage killer, with Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, +2d6 Sneak Attack, Weapon
Specialization, and a wide array of weaponry and offensive magics.

In short, the first rule of thumb for multiclassing is to know exactly what you are going to do from the moment you create the character.  This in turn requires some understanding of the D&D rules.  The sections below provide some crucial information, but as mentioned in the introduction it is strongly advised that you read the character-design portions of the manual and review the in-game information on classes, races, orders and feats.

B) Favored Class

The most important requirement for mastering the multiclassing system is understanding what a "favored class" is.  This is described in the manual, but is summarized here.  Basically, in D&D, a multiclassed character will receive a
-20% penalty to experience gained for every class that is more than one level away from their highest level class.  For example (ignoring favored classes), a 3rd level fighter/1st level wizard will be penalized because the wizard and fighter levels are more than one away from each other, but a 3rd level fighter/2nd level wizard won't be penalized.  In the latter case, the fighter/wizard will want to put their next level into the wizard class in order to continue to avoid receiving an experience penalty.

The function of a race's favored class is simply that this class is totally ignored when determining if a penalty applies.  That means that if a character has only two classes and one of those is the favored class, then no penalty will ever be levied, regardless of the difference in class levels.

The bottom line is this: if you are going to multiclass, be sure one of the classes is the favored class for that character's race.  That way, you never have to worry about being penalized for a two-class build.  This is part of why humans are so flexible, because whereas most races have a specific favored class (e.g., fighter for dwarves), for humans their highest level class is considered to be their favored class.  Therefore, a two-class human character never has to worry about experience penalties regardless of what classes they have chosen.

If you are going to have heroes with three or more classes, you will need to think carefully about the ramifications of the favored class rules; this is one of the reasons why this guide generally recommends that your characters have at most two classes.  Note also that for certain three-class builds, the flexible favored class of humans may no longer be an advantage.  Consider a level 3 rogue/level 5 wizard/level 6 fighter.  A human will receive an experience penalty for this build, because their favored class will be fighter, and the rogue and wizard levels are more than one away from each other.  However, a halfling or tiefling, whose favored class is rogue, can be given this build without penalty, as the rogue class is ignored and the wizard and fighter levels are within one of each other.

C)  To Multiclass or Not to Multiclass

The point of multiclassing a character is to make them stronger or more flexible.  This must be determined carefully because excessive multiclassing can result in characters that are too "shallow" to handle the final chapters.
Spellcasters, in particular, should be multiclassed with care because multiclassing them can delay or even prevent their ability to get the more powerful, high-level spells.  A party that has no pure or near-pure spellcasters is likely to have a tough time in the final battles of IWD2 for lack of high- level magical power.

That being said, there are some excellent reasons to multiclass.  Most of these have to do with adding in some useful support capabilities to your hero's primary class.  To that end, the next section has a list of valuable "mix in" classes.

As for the more "traditional" multiclass combinations that were the norm in 2nd
Edition AD&D, in which the two classes are kept at roughly the same level (e.g., 8th level cleric/8th level wizard), the author does not in general recommend these types of builds.  The reason is that most classes get their best spells or abilities at higher levels, and the aforementioned cleric/wizard is almost certainly going to be less powerful than a 16th level cleric or a 16th level wizard.

However, there are a few exceptions.  Builds like fighter/rogue can succeed with roughly equal numbers of levels in both classes, since you don't need to worry about getting high-level spells.  And if you already have one or more pure spellcasters who will be practicing high levels of magic, an auxiliary spellcaster with mid-level coverage in multiple classes (like a cleric/wizard), can provide a solid foundation of supporting magic and thus free up your higher level spellcasters to focus on memorizing and casting their primary offensive or defensive spells.

D)  Multiclass Mix Ins

As has been mentioned, a "mix in" is the addition of a few levels of a support class to a build that will be emphasizing some other class.  Common examples of mix ins include adding a few levels of fighter to a spellcaster to gain the extra hit points, weapon proficiencies, and feats, adding a few levels of rogue to a ranger or druid to get better scout and thief skills, etc.

Characters with mix in builds are fun to play and can prove a welcome change from the traditional single-class heroes.  Moreover, clever use of mix ins will still allow you to build characters that can cast the higher level spells.  A lot of the information in this guide is oriented towards the use of mix ins, both because they are entertaining  and because they make economical use of the limited number of levels you can expect your characters to receive in IWD2.

E) Detailed Multiclassing Possibilities

This section contains a discussion of the multiclassing possibilities for all classes, with an emphasis on what classes make good mix ins and what levels to consider achieving in those classes.

1) Fighter

The fighter class is an excellent class for multiclassing.  Mixing in some levels of fighter can provide several useful qualities: good hit points; extra feats; automatic proficiency in all martial weapons, shields, and all three levels of armor.  The extra feats are particularly important, because whereas in pen-and-paper D&D you are constrained as to which feats are available when selecting a fighter's bonus feats, in IWD2 you are under no such constraints.
This means that you can use your extra feats from the fighter class to boost your spellcasting capabilities, if you so desire.

Fighters are the only class that can get the Weapon Specialization feat (which is only available to a character with at least four levels in fighter).  This in itself can be a good reason to mix in four levels of fighter.  See the section on feats below for more on Weapon Specialization.

2) Paladin

The paladin class has strict limitations on multiclassing, so care is needed when planning a multiclass paladin build.  This is doubly true if you are hoping to take advantage of a paladin's spellcasting, as they can't cast even second level spells until level 10!

If you are considering a multiclass build with paladin as one of the classes, pay special attention to the possibilities presented by the three orders of paladin in IWD2 (Mystra, Helm, and Ilmater, which allow for flexible multiclassing with wizard, fighter, and cleric, respectively).  In particular, although a fighter/paladin build might seem redundant, it actually works well: the fighter class offers additional feats and the ability to attain Weapon
Specialization (at level four), and the paladin class offers the potential for superior saving throws (due to the Cha bonus) and a modest but useful array of other special abilities.

Another paladin mix in option is to start with just a small number of paladin levels (perhaps just one, but levels two through four also add additional benefits you may want).  Then switch to some other class.  Although you will no longer be able to level as a paladin, you will retain the paladin's special abilities, the most important probably being the saving throw bonuses.  Because the saving throw bonuses are based on Charisma, this build strategy is particularly well-suited for creating spell sword sorcerers.

3) Ranger

For a character who will only ever wear light or no armor, mixing in just one level of ranger is the same as buying the Ambidexterity and Two Weapon Fighting feats.  This is true even if the character doesn't have the usual 15 Dex required to buy Ambidexterity!  You also get most of the benefits of the fighter, including good hit points and the full gamut of martial weapon proficiencies etc.  (You also get a favored enemy, although this is only marginally useful.)  In short, a small number of levels in ranger (maybe just one) can be an excellent mix in for a rogue or for a spellcaster who wants to act as a spell sword.

4) Rogue

In order to succeed in IWD2, you don't really need a "full time" rogue.
Instead, it can be a wise party design strategy to get coverage for the scout and thief roles by adding a few levels of rogue to one or more other characters.
If you are going to do this, it is recommended that you create such characters as rogues, even if rogue won't be their primary class.  This gives you the full benefit of the rogue's massive number of starting skill points.  Also, keep in mind that two levels of rogue gives you the extremely useful Evasion special ability, and three levels gives you the Uncanny Dodge ability and adds an additional +1d6 of Sneak Attack damage.  This makes those good target levels to shoot for when mixing in the rogue class.

4) Monk

Monks are very limited in terms of their multiclassing capabilities.  You should read the discussion on monks in the character creation screens in the game, but, to summarize, if you want to multiclass freely between monk and one other class then that other class has to be either rogue, cleric (Lawful Good characters,
Painbearer of Ilmater cleric only), or sorcerer (Lawful Evil characters only).

Nevertheless, these combinations can be very powerful.  Monks in general have good saving throws for all three categories, so every monk level helps the weaker saving throws for your other class.  The monk/rogue can cover all your scout/thief needs and makes a great mage killer.  A monk/cleric makes a valuable "field medic" because of the monk's accelerated movement speed, and the Wisdom
AC bonus for monks meshes nicely with the high Wisdom you will want for a cleric.  And a monk/sorcerer can serve in a variety of hit and run scout and bombardier applications, making them highly suitable for "special ops."

When multiclassing a monk, if you are only using monk as a mix in, the target levels to keep in mind are level three (which gives you some additional saving throw bonuses and an increase in movement speed), level four (an increase in hand-to-hand damage), and level six (an extra hand-to-hand attack).  Each level of monk also gives you another charge for your Stunning Attack ability.  (Don't forget to use it!  Stunning a key enemy spellcaster can be a battle-winning maneuver.)  Finally, note that the Monk's bonus to AC for high Wisdom carries over to a Druid's alternate forms when shapeshifting.  This makes starting a character with one to three levels of monk and then shifting to druid an interesting and viable build.

Another option to keep in mind is to start with one to four levels in one of the warrior classes and then switch over to monk exclusively.  This gets around the monk's multiclassing limitations since once you switch you won't be leveling any class except monk.  This build enhances the basic monk with additional capabilities, hit points, and proficiencies in all the martial weapons (so if for whatever reason you aren't using the monk's unarmed attack you can use the best weapon available; this is particularly useful early in the game when the monk's unarmed attack is weak).

5) Bard

Even one level in bard can be useful for a spellcaster or support character for two main reasons: you can use the level one bard song (which provides non- negligible combat bonuses for when you have nothing better to do) and you can use any of the several bard-only magic items scattered throughout the game (a couple of which are quite powerful).  Additional levels of bard can provide some helpful spellcasting capabilities and more songs.

Keep in mind, however, that as a bard's main contribution to the party is potentially their singing, which in turn requires that they do nothing else but move.  Thus, you don't want to build multiclass characters that need to switch too often between singing bard songs and doing something else.  This means that if you are multiclassing a bard-based character, try to add in capabilities such as those of the thief, healer or summoner, which don't require constant activity