As in the original game, throughout the expansion pack, it's possible to play as an evil character, a good character, or a complex character of mixed motivations. Gameplay is more linear, however, with fewer branching plot developments, so character alignment is less relevant in the expansion pack than in the original game. While there may be fewer opportunities to role-play different characters, it's now easier to manage a party of characters with differing alignments, so don't hesitate to pair cynical and evil Viconia with good and naïve Aerie if you want some entertaining banter. Alignment is now less of a consideration when designing your main character and choosing your companions. Similarly, while there are still quests that will increase or lower your reputation, you won't gain or be denied any meaningful gameplay based upon your reputation score. If it matters to you at all, you can always raise your party's reputation by donating at a temple or lower it by getting medieval on the local peasants.
If you had a character of good alignment in the original game and discover that the character's alignment has changed to evil when you start the expansion pack, the change in moral aptitude was caused by certain choices you made at the end of the original game. For example, if you elected to keep blackrazor, accept the nymph coat, sacrifice a member of your party, or kill the non-evil dragon or Sarevok in anger, you'll find that your main character has changed alignment. To regain your good alignment, you must either replay that section of the original game or just import the character, instead of the saved game, into the new expansion pack territories. Importing just the character will prevent you from continuing a romantic relationship with a companion, however, and you also won't retain all the items you acquired during the course of the game.
Devas are powerful allies, as the slain dragon behind this one found out. Summon deva is one of the best high-level abilities a paladin can choose. Greater whirlwind, hardiness and critical strike are other good abilities for fighter classes. |
The experience point cap in the expansion pack is high enough that it isn't meaningful for most players, so you don't need to factor in the cap when determining your character class. The number of available experience points is still relevant when deciding whether or not to dual-class your characters, however, since you want to ensure that you can gain enough experience points in your new class to gain a level higher than your old class. Dual-classed characters are the most powerful characters in the game, but it's risky to wait to dual class a character in the expansion pack, since you'll temporarily be stuck with a weakened character and won't gain access to your old abilities until very late in the game. The great advantage of characters that have already dual-classed, such as your companion Imoen, is that they can have some decent abilities in their original class and still attain all the high-level abilities of their new class. Sarevok is one of the best companions to dual-class, either to a thief or a mage, but you should do so immediately. You can only gain about 3.5 million experience points in the expansion pack, and you'll want to ensure that you get your old abilities back in time to use them during the tougher parts of the expansion pack.
Multiclass characters cannot attain all the high-level abilities of their different classes, although they can become quite powerful. Normally, multiclassed mages can just barely start casting ninth-level mage spells near the end of the expansion pack, so you shouldn't rely on one as your primary caster. They can, however, be strong supporting casters, assisting in a variety of roles. Multiclass characters gain access to the new high-level abilities earlier than single- or dual-classed characters. While the game's manual details the experience levels at which single- and dual-classed characters start acquiring the new high-level abilities, multiclassed characters will actually start gaining the new abilities at the following experience levels:
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Fighters |
14th (12th if the character has three classes) |
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Clerics |
15th (13th if the character has three classes) |
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Druids |
14th |
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Mages |
14th (13th if the character has three classes) |
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Thieves |
17th (15th if the character has three classes) |
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Rangers |
13th |
The game's manual also doesn't disclose that paladins can choose the powerful summon deva special ability and cast it once per day (for each time the paladin has selected the skill when gaining an experience level).
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