GNOME FIGHTER ILLUSIONIST BUILD, Baldur's Gate 2

Gnome Fighter Illusionist BG2

The Gnome Fighter Illusionist is a Fighter Mage Baldur's Gate build in BioWare's cRPG of 2000, Baldur's Gate 2. The purpose of this post is to compare the Gnome Fighter Illusionist build with the Kensai Mage and Berserker Mage Baldur's Gate dual-class builds.

Fighter Illusionist vs. Kensai Mage vs. Berserker Mage

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Assumptions: I'm assuming Max HPs on lvlup, Max weapon proficiencies and Max primary stats in chargen. In addition, I assume the selection of Extra Spell Slot 6-8 HLAs.

The following statistics for the Fighter Mage dual-class and Fighter Mage multi-class are cited from the Throne of Bhaal XP cap of 8 million, without stat boosts from quests and tomes factored in. Other than a generic weapon, items are not equipped on either character - just wait until they are!

Human Berserker & Kensai 9 / Mage 30 Dual-Class

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Stats for Berserker BG2 and Kensai BG2 Mages:

 

• THAC0: 7 for Berserker (9 Fighter THAC0, +2 GM, +3 18/00) and 4 for Kensai (9 Fighter THAC0, +2 GM, +3 18/00, +3 Ken nat. to-hit)
• Bonus Damage: +10 for Berserker (+4 GM, +6 18/00) and +13 for Kensai (+4 GM, +6 18/00, +3 Ken nat. dmg)
• Base AC: 6 for Berserker (18 Dex) and 4 for Kensai (18 Dex, +2 Ken nat. AC)
• Special Abilities: Enrage x3 for Berserker and Kai x3 for Ken
• HPs: 160 
• ApR:  2 (Base 1 + Grandmastery +½ + Warrior 7 +½)
• Lore: 110
• Spell Slots (arcane 1-9): 5-5-5-5-5-6-6-6-4
• Saving Throws: 8-5-7-9-6
• Proficiency allotments: 13
• HLAs: 8 HLAs drawn from the Mage pool only.
• Key HLAs: Extra Spell Slot 6-8, Comet, Dragon's Breath, Energy Blades, Improved Alacrity and Summon Planetar.

Most notably, Fighter duals receive +1 sixth, +2 seventh, +2 eighth and +2 ninth circle spell slots over the Fighter Mage multi, making them much more capable high-level spellcasters. They can also employ Tenser's Transformation in order to reduce their THAC0 and increase their hit point pool greatly (-7, 340), but this disables spellcasting for TT duration (not good).

Cons consist of dual downtime and a lack of Fighter HLAs which means no Critical Strike BG2 under Improved Haste, no Smite and no GWW (10 ApR wielding two-handers or sword n board).

Kensai Mage versus Berserker Mage

But which dual-class is better - Kensai or Berserker? I want to know! Well, the innate Kensai bonuses give the Kensai a clear raw lead over the Berserker in theory, but that doesn't tell the whole story. You see, the Kensai cannot wear gauntlets or helms while the Berserker can. That means the Berserker can wear the Helm of Balduran and Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization, granting +1 AC, +2 to-hit, +2 dmg, +1 saves, +5 HPs and +½ ApR.

The Berserker can also wear Vhailor's Helm BG2 to give itself Simulacrum long before it finds the spell scroll itemized or the spell is castable in a conventional manner.

Note also that helms negate the double damage inflicted by critical hits; granted, a minor consideration for Fighter Mages but Kensai can wear Ioun Stones or quest helms for crit-protection.

The lack of armor for the Kensai is not a big deal since combat protection spells such as Mirror Image, Stoneskin and PfWM are more effective than conventional armor class Baldur's Gate, but the lack of shields is detrimental in that the Shield of Harmony (best shield in BG2) and Shield of Balduran ward off annoying negative status effects (WA2SHIEL).

It's nice that Berserker Mages can wear elven chains such as the Trademeet, Drow, Sylvan, Bladesinger and Aslyferund chainmails (which don't disable arcane spellcasting, CHAN12, CHAN13, CHAN14, CHAN16, CHAN19) because we might have Edwin or Aerie wearing the Robe of Vecna and Bracers of AC3 (WA2ROBE, BRAC15).

Thus, when itemization is factored in, the Berserker suddenly becomes superior to the Kensage in terms of damage, survivability and flexibility.

Enrage is also much more useful than Kai because it is a blanket immunity that wards off quite a few of the most common and annoying negative status effects for 60 secs, including level drain and non-psionic stun (plus a couple of nasty specific ones such as Maze and demi-lich Imprisonment!); in addition granting the Berserker +15 HPs and +2 to-hit and dmg though also a 2 point penalty to AC, and Enrage inflicts fatigue when it wears off, penalizing to-hit, dmg and AC by 2 points for the cooldown interval.

Yes, it's nice to max your weapon dmg roll with Kai but I prefer the convenience of not needing to cast Spell Immunity to ward off negative status effects.

In conclusion, Berserkmage > Kensage. If you have your heart set on Kensai I would suggest that the Kensai Thief BG2 is the better way to go since you can take advantage of kai-charged backstabs and UAI to overcome the strict Kensai equipment restrictions. Plus, the dual downtime is more reasonable due to the faster level progression of the Thief. 

While not as powerful as Mage or Thief duals, the single-class Kensai BG2 can also be fun in that you can take full advantage of the scaling to-hit and dmg bonuses that no class can match (+13); indeed, it is my fave kit in BG2.

Elf or Gnome Fighter 20 Illusionist or Mage 24 Multi-Class

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I've said it before but what we have here is the god-class of the Bhaalspawn Saga - especially if we roll with the Gnome Illusionist.

Fighter Illusionist Stats

• THAC0: -4 (20 warrior THAC0, +1 Spec, +3 18/00)
• Bonus damage: +8 (+2 Spec, +6 18/00)
• Base AC: 6 (18 Dex)
• HPs: 124 
• Lore: 80
• ApR: 3 (Base 1 + Specialization +½ + Warrior 7 +½ + Warrior 13 +½, rounded up)
• Spell Slots (arcane): 5-5-5-5-5-5-4-4-2 (Gnome: +1 spell slot per circle) [4]
• Saving Throws: 3-5-4-4-6 (Gnome: 3-0-4-4-1)
• Proficiency allotments: 12
• HLAs: 18 HLAs drawn from the Warrior and Mage pools.
• Key HLAs: Greater Whirlwind (for 10 ApR under two-handed & sword n board setups), Critical Strike (for 10 crits per round on anything not crit-immune), Hardiness (60% DR with DoE off-hand adds another solid layer of defense), Smite (a nice opener against a demi-lich, followed up by IMoD GWW for disruption), Extra Spell Slot 6-8, Comet, Dragon's Breath, Energy Blades, Improved Alacrity and Summon Planetar.

Clearly, the Fighter Mage multi is superior to the Fighter Mage duals in all ways that count except for high level spellcasting.

Yes, I acknowledge that the extra 6-9 spell slots may be a big selling point to some players who prefer the slower playstyle, but bear in mind that the Gnome Illusionist gets +1 spell slots over the duals from circles 1 through 5, matches them on 6 and only gets beat out by 1 slot on 7 through 9.

Thus, one foregoes three high-circle spell slots in favor of flaunting full Fighter THAC0, full warrior ApR and the ability to unlock the Fighter HLA pool that includes Critical Strike which can be used in conjunction with 10 ApR Improved Haste for 10 crits per round.

In addition, Greater Whirlwind is also useful in that it grants 10 ApR outside of dual-wielding; that is, while wielding devastating two-handed weapons against bosses or while wielding negative status-warding shields in the off-hand such as Harmony and Balduran against the strongest mobs in the campaign, such as beholders (SHLD25, WA2SHIEL).

The multi does not need Tenser's Transformation in order to gain martial prowess; in fact, TT debuffs its THAC0, who needs the +HPs, and who wants their spellcasting disabled? That's clumsy.

Also, the multi does not suffer dual downtime: its power and versatility is solid throughout.

Plus, in addition to the superior multi-class saving throws, Gnomes net +1 saves vs. Wands and Spells for every 3.5 points in the Con score (+5 at 18 Con). Dual-classes don't because they must be Human.

Illusionists also benefit from the Specialist Mage saving throw bonus. Gnome multis are better at tanking spells than duals. They also cast the most powerful Blindness of any arcane spellcaster (a godly spell).

[4] The Opposition School of Necromancy means that Illusionists are barred from casting necromancy spells such as:

• Skull Trap
• Animate Dead
• Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting

But they still get:

• Cloudkill
• Spider Spawn
• Incendiary Cloud

So the extra spell slots are still preferable, overall. If you must have Necromancy spells (which most of the Mage companions have, anyway), roll with the Elven Fighter Mage multi-class.

Here is a comparison of spell circle progression, 1-9:

Gnome Fighter / Illusionist multi vs. Fighter (9) / Mage dual

89,000
5-3-3
0
¼mil
5-4-4-3
1
Wait! What does this mean so far? It means that for the entirety of BG1 + TotSC (161,000 XP cap), our dual-class-in-the-making cannot even cast a single spell; it is naught but a lowly warrior.
+½mil
5-5-4-3-3
4-4-4-3-3
1mil 
5-5-5-4-4
4-4-4-4-4-1
2mil 
5-5-5-5-5-2
5-5-5-5-5-2-1
3mil 
6-6-6-5-5-4-3
5-5-5-5-5-4-3-2-1
4mil 
6-6-6-6-6-4-3
5-5-5-5-5-5-4-4-2
5mil 
6-6-6-6-6-5-4-3
5-5-5-5-5-6-4-4-3
6mil 
6-6-6-6-6-5-5-4-2
5-5-5-5-5-6-5-5-3
7mil 
6-6-6-6-6-5-5-5-2
5-5-5-5-5-6-6-5-4
8mil 
6-6-6-6-6-5-5-5-3
5-5-5-5-5-6-6-6-4

Thus, the multi actually gets more circle one-through-five slots over the course of the campaign. These can be loaded with many BG2 Best Spells such as Web, Mirror Image, Blindness, Melf's Minute Meteors, Stoneskin and Chromatic Orb. And those spells are GODLY.

Let's not pretend that "higher-level spells" always means "better". 

It DOESN'T in AD&D 2nd Edition cRPGs.

Most of the best spells are low level ones because they are either godly in the first place, can be packed into slots and sequencers and/or scale handsomely with caster level in order to remain in high demand even at end-game.

The dual enjoys an overall slot lead on circle six and seven which include many godlies such as Improved Haste, PfMW and Project Image, but how many castings of those spells do we need?

It is at eighth and ninth that the dual pulls clearly ahead for 2 mil experience points -- in spellcasting; remember, the multi enjoys martial supremacy -- getting notably earlier access to the likes of ADHW, Improved Alacrity and Summon Planetar, but for the remaining 3 mil there isn't much in it.

It is also worth noting that most players will not need the extra spell slots offered by the dual; plus, the BG2 companion array is generous in offering up arcane spellcasters: 

In BG1, we have Imoen, Eldoth, Dynaheir, Edwin, Xan, Xzar, Garrick and Quayle

and in BG2 we have: Aerie, Nalia, Edwin, Jan and Haer'Dalis. 

Thus, there is never a shortage of spell slots. Ever. If you think that in most cases having more spell slots is preferable to having martial supremacy AND more than enough spell slots, then you are clearly clueless as it pertains to powergaming BG2, and should be thinking more about BG2's story, lore and romances instead.

It could be argued that there are no shortage of mundane warriors in the companion pool, either, but neither Minsc, Korgan, Keldorn or Valygar -- not even Jaheira or Anomen -- are comparable to Fighter Mages because they can't mitigate damage entirely. Yes, Sarevok may dual-class to Fighter Mage as early as Fighter 17 but that's still a downtime of 3 mil XP, and it's ToB-only. Thus, NOTHING compares with CHARNAME multis.

Therefore, with the above taken into account, the Fighter Mage multi deserves its crown as the best class in BG2, overall. You can't go wrong with any of the three juggernauts, though. Crash through the campaign, and enjoy!

Final Ranking

1. Fighter 20 (Illusionist) Mage 24 multi

2. Berserker (9) Mage 30 dual

3. Kensai (9) Mage 30 dual

Baldur's Gate 2 Walkthrough Guide

BG2 Best Classes	Fighter Mage BG2	Kensai Mage BG2	Fighter Mage Cleric BG2
Baldur's Gate 2 (Index)	Berserker Druid BG2	Kensai Thief BG2	Fighter Mage Thief BG2
Archer Cleric dual-class	Ranger Cleric dual-class	Cleric Ranger multi-class	Fighter Cleric multi-class