[Midget Gems]

Hi guys.
I am currently adventuring in BG1 with a Solo Multi-Class Gnome Cleric/Illusionist, so I thought I'd share my experiances with you. Only a few weeks ago Dace De'Briago suggested that Cleric/Mage would be good for soloing and I had to agree. Having played with one in IWD and BG2 I knew of the potential of C/M but soloing is a different matter! I am nearing the end of my game now and looking back here are a few observations:

Firstly the Stat Role for C/M is quite hard - there are very few minimum values to help push up the numbers, but it would be nice to have high stats in every catagory. In the end I compromised on Strength - which was a mistake when soloing. Up until Ch5 I was having trouble carrying my equipment, which left nothing spare for loot and/or quest items. I had hoped that the Mage spell Strength would help but it doesn't work as described (the duration is very short). I did get some benefit from the Wolf Cloak, which increases strength when active, but all in all it was a struggle to carry things. So with hindsight I would take a couple of points out of Intellegance and increase Strength to nearly the maximum.

Early in the game, I found that staying alive was not a big problem but fighting was rather slow and boring. As a Cleric the weapon restrictions have to be accepted, however the low number of attacks per round was a big handicap when fighting big groups of low level enemies. If the fight lasts a long time then sooner or later you get caught by a critical hit or two. Once I had Animate Dead and Mirror Image life became a lot easier.

A Cleric/Mage is the ultimate spellcaster, so I always had a spell for every occation. I used a lot of Charm and Hold spells to gain a tactical advantage and I am also very fond of Sanctuary - a very flexible spell with many uses. There is much power in the spellcasting but in most cases there is not enough time to make full use of the potential, I always end up with unused spells when it is time to rest.

Another thing that impressed me about my Gnome Cleric/Mage is the saving throws. I don't usually take much notice of Saves, you miss one now and again which is bad news for a solo adventurer - it's one of the hazards I accept. But this guy never misses a Save, with all the bonuses in place he gets a Save less than 1 in most catagories. No worries there then ! And another other good attribute is Turn Undead. Just for fun I exploded all the Zombies on the Farm Map - I never really bothered much with TU in Bg1, but it can make a nice change from fighting low level undead.

So Cleric/Mage is definitly a good choice, even if you don't solo it's still a good choice. Have fun.